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Report on the Starfishes of the West
Indies, Florida, and Brazil, including
those obtained by Bahama Expedition from
the University of Iowa in 1893,
Bull. of the State University of Iowa,
Bull. from the Laboratories of Nat. Hist.
VII, Noe Ie ppe 5-232. March, 1915. pls.
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» NEW) SERIES NO. 92 ates toate yee di 2 MARCH 20,1915.
BULLETIN OF THE STATE.) 2¥
we RA
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
BULLETINS. F ROM THE LABORATORIES
.OF NATURAL HISTORY
VOLUME VII NUMBER 1
Report on the Starfishes of the
West Indies, Florida, and Brazil
INCLUDING THOSE OBTAINED BY
BAHAMA EXPEDITION FROM THE —
UNIVERSITY..OF: IOWA IN’ 1893.) coeereweens
BY
ADDISON EMERY VERRILL
PROFESSOR EMERITUS, YALE UNIVERSITY
NEW HAVEN. CONNECTICUT
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY, IOWA CITY
ISSUED TWENTY-ONE TIMES DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR: MONTHLY FROM
OCTOBER TO JANUARY, WEEKLY FROM FEBRUARY TO JUNE. ENTERED
AT THE POST OFFICE AT IOWA CITY AS SECOND CLASS MAIL MATTER
QL
so
“4 § VOSS
)GN/ THE SERIES OF RESEARCH BULLETINS OF THE UNIVERSITY
In V é yt ‘
ECU VU 1
| BULLETINS FROM THE
_ LABORATORIES OF NATURAL
| HISTORY
EDITORIAL STAFF
CHARLES C. NUTTING - - - - - Zoology
GEORGE F. KAY - - - - - - - Geology
BOHUMIL SHIMEK - - - - - - - Botany
VOLUME VII NUMBER 1
CONTENTS
Report on the Starfishes of the West Indies, Florida, and Brazil, including
those obtained by the Bahama expedition from the
University of Iowa in 1893.
ADDISON EMERY VERRILL, Professor Emeritus, Yale University
1 \
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY SCO
IOWA CITY, IOWA dus
Since several years have elapsed since the publication of the last re-
port on material secured by the Bahama Eapedition of 1893 from the
State University of Iowa, it has been deemed advisable at this
time to give a list of papers in which the results of the expedition are
discussed, together with the full titles, authors and dates of issue.
Contribution to the anatomy of the Gorgonidae, together with observa-
tions on living specimens. Pages 97-160, and 10 plates. C. C. Nut-
TING. Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist., 8. U. I, Vol. I, No. 2. Nov., 1889
(This paper was based on material secured during @ preliminary Expedition
to the Bahamas by the author in 1888, and therefore should find a place here.)
Narrative and preliminary report of the Bahama Expedition. 251
pages, and 20 full-page illustrations. C. C. Nurtine. Bull. Lab.
Nat. Hist., S. U. I., Vol. III, Nos. 1 and .2. Jan., 1895
The mollusks and brachyopods of the Bahama Expedition of the State
University of Iowa. 20 pages, and 1 plate. Wm. H. Dau. Bull.
Lab. Nat. Hist., S. U. I., Vol. TV, No.1. Dec., 1896
Notes on the Hymenoptera collected by the Bahama Expedition from
the State University of Iowa. 4 pages. WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD.
Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist., S. U. L., Vol. IV, No. 1. Dec., 1896
Report on the fishes collected by the Bahama Expedition, of the State
University of Iowa, under Professor C. C. Nutting. 20 pages. 4
plates. SAMUEL GARMAN. Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist., S. U. I., Vol. IV,
No. 1. Dee., 1896
Report on the Actinaria collected by the Bahama Expedition of the
State University of Iowa. 25 pages, 3 plates. J. Puayrair Mc-
MurricH. Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist., S. U. L, Vol. IV, No. 3. June,
1898
The Brachyura of the expedition to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas
in 1893. 65 pages. 9 plates. Mary J. RaTHBUN. Bull. Lab. Nat.
Hist:; Sy Us hs Vols GV, Nows.) June 1898
Report on the Ophiuroidea collected by the Bahama Expedition in
1898. 88 pages. 8 plates. A. E. VERRILL. Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist.,
8S.) Us, Voll) 5 No. 1.) Sept.; 1899
American Hydroids. C. C. Nurrine. Smithsonian Institution, U. S.
Nat. Museum, Special Bulletin No. 4, Part 1, issued 1900; part 2,
issued 1904; part 3, issued 1915
(The writer, in undertaking to prepare this monograph, agreed to publish in
it all descriptions of hydroids secured by the Bahama Expedition instead of
issuing a separate Report on that group).
West Indian Starfishes found at a depth of 40 fathoms or less, includ-
ing a report on material secured by the Bahama Expedition from —
the State University of Iowa. 230 pages, and 29 plates. A. E.
VERRILL. Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist., S. U. I. Vol. , No. , 1915
Descriptions of about 70 new species of marine invertebrates from
the Bahama expedition collections are found in the papers listed above.
Some important groups, such as the Echinoidea, Vermes, and Corals
are still to be reported on; but it is hoped that the series will be com-
plete at a reasonably early date.
The material upon which these papers are based is in the museum of
natural history of the University. C. C. NuTTING
_ ae
INTRODUCTION
That portion of this memoir relating to the special collection
of the Bahama Expedition was nearly completed and the plates
were made more than ten years ago, but its publication was de-
layed for several reasons, but largely because of the desirability
of publishing, in advance of it, a much more extensive work, by
the writer, on the starfishes of the North Pacific coast of Amer-
ica (Harriman Series) then in type, and in which the classifica-
tion and many of the families and genera are revised.
Unavoidable and unexpected delay of the larger work had like-
wise delayed this. In the meantime, owing to the lack of any
general work on the shallow water starfishes of the West Indies,
and to the very scattered and unsatisfactory condition of the
literature relating to them, it has been thought desirable to en-
large the report so as to include descriptions of ail the families,
genera, and species known to occur in the West Indian fauna, in
waters less than 150 fathoms deep.
The West Indian faunal region is here extended so as to in-
clude the entire region from northern Florida to Rio de J aneiro,
Brazil, and to include, also, the Bermudas and the whole of the
Gulf of Mexico.
As compared with other tropical seas, the West Indian starfish
fauna is very poor in littoral and shallow water species. It is
rarely that more than twelve to fifteen species can be found by
careful shore and reef-collecting at any one place.
Professor Clark (1898), after two seasons of shore and reef
collecting of the echinoderms at Jamaica, enumerated only four-
teen species of starfishes, although he visited both sides of the
island, as well as outlying reefs. The entire number of littoral
and very shallow water species probably does not exceed twenty
to twenty-two over large areas.
This is not more than one-half or one-third the number to be
found in many other similar regions.
4 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
At depths of 100 to 1,000 fathoms, however, the starfishes are
very numerous, both in species and individuals.
The most prolific zone for starfishes, as well as for most other
groups, is on the continental border in 100 to 500 fathoms.
The Bahama Expedition dredged at a number of localities be-
tween 100 and 200 fathoms, especially at. the famous crinoid
ground, off Havana, which isa locality very favorable for marine
invertebrates of many kinds. Therefore, the collection obtained
includes an unusual number of species, considering the small
number of dredgings made, and the smallness of the equipment,
as compared with that of the ‘‘Blake’’ or the ‘‘ Albatross.”’
A few of the more common West Indian and conspicuous
shallow water starfishes were mentioned by the early writers,
such as Maregraft (1648) ; Sloane (1725) ; Linek (1733) ; Seba
(1761), and others.
This was especially the case with the very large and conspic-
uous species, the ‘‘large warted starfish’’ of Brown, 1756, now
known as Oreaster reticulatus, which is very common in many
places in very shallow water, and therefore sure to attract the at-
tention of the most casual observers.
Yet the number of species actually known to occur in the West
Indies was very small up to the period of Gray (1840) and of
Miiller and Troschel (1842).
Linné referred only two or three of his species to the West
Indies and some of those doubtfully. Lamarck (1816) recog-
nized only two or three as West Indian. Thomas Say (1825)
recorded six species from the southern coast of the United States,
five of which he described as new. All of these, except two, are
also West Indian species.
Gray, 1840, gave the West Indian region as the source of eight
of his species. Miiller and Troschel (1842) recorded but five as
West Indian, though they described others from this fauna
whose origin was unknown.
The first attempt to give a critical synopsis of the West Indian
species was made by Prof. Christian Liitken,’ a most careful
1 Dr. Christian Frederik Liitken, professor of the University of Copen-
hagen; lieutenant in the war of 1849-50; died February 6, 1901, aged
73 years.
His works on the starfishes and ophiurans of northern Europe, Green-
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 4)
writer, in 1859. He then described with care thirteen species,
in the Museum of Copenhagen, mostly from the Lesser Antilles.
Six were described as new, mostly with doubt. At least four of
these proved to be synonymous with those of Gray and other pre-
vious writers, who had poorly described them. His careful de-
scriptions are, however, invaluable for the determination of most
of the early known species, and mark an era in work of this kind.
In 1867 the present writer published a faunal list of West
Indian species, for comparison with that of the Panama region.
This list included twenty-four nominal species, but at least five
of these have since become synonymous. On the other hand, two
or three previously described species were omitted. Thus the
number of species of this fauna actually known at that time was
about twenty.
The beginning of dredging in somewhat deep water was made
by Pourtales in 1867 and 1868, but only one additional species
of starfish was then added by him.? Subsequently, these investi-
gations were carried on by the ‘‘Bibb,’’ in 1869, and the ‘‘ Hass-
ler’’ in 1872, under the direction of Pourtales, and in 1872, un-
der Dr. Wm. Stimpson by the ‘‘Bibb’’ and ‘‘Bache.’’ But no
separate lists of the starfishes taken in those years has been pub-
lished. Some are included in the ‘‘Revision’”’ by Perrier, 1875
and 1876 (see Bibliography) ; others in his 1884 report on the
Blake starfishes.
Mr. Alexander Agassiz carried out his extensive dredgings in
the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, ete., on the ‘‘Blake’’ in
1877, 1878, 1879, and 1880. About 350 stations were occupied
by the Blake.
These explorations * added numerous species of starfishes to
the fauna, not only from great depths, but also many from com-
paratively shallow water.
The starfishes thus obtained by Agassiz were described by Per-
land, and both coasts of tropical America are classical and indispensable.
He also wrote on fishes, ascidians, actinians, and other subjects.
For many years he was a most esteemed correspondent of the writer.
2 Catalogued by Agassiz as Pteraster militaris, now called P. caribbeus
Perrier.
3 A very complete and interesting account of these explorations is given
by Mr. A. Agassiz in ‘‘ Three Cruises of the Blake.’’ Vols. I, II. 1888.
6 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
rier in several articles from 1880 to 1894, but most were brought
together in his memoir of 1884.
Dredging operations of great extent were carried on by the
U. S. Fish Comm. steamer ‘‘ Albatross,’’ in the West Indian re-
gion during the winters of 1884, 1885, and 1886.* Many species
of starfishes were then obtained, including a considerable num-
ber of new species. But those collections have not yet been sys-
tematically reported upon, though the writer described and fig-
ured a number of the species in 1899.
According to Mr. A. Agassiz (1888, p. 4), the Blake took 54
species of starfishes, of which 46 were considered new species by
Perrier. The actual number has since proved to be slightly
larger.
The Bahama Expedition, from the University of Iowa, dredged
mostly in waters less than 200 fathoms deep. The most interest-
ing were off Havana, on the crinoid grounds, where a number of
additions to the starfish fauna were taken. Others of interest
were from off E. Florida, on the ‘‘Pourtales Plateau.’’ The
total number of species taken was about thirty.
In consequence of these more modern dredging expeditions the
number of species of West Indian shallow-water starfishes, living
in less than 150 fathoms, has been very much increased, while the
deep-water species have become even more numerous.
I have had opportunity to examine most of the types of the
‘‘Blake Expedition’’ starfishes, described by Perrier, and also
many of those taken in the West Indies by the Albatross. But I
have not had opportunities to make any thorough studies of the
latter as a whole, and, therefore, can not give any useful state-
ment as to the number of additions to the fauna contained in |
them. Some of the species from the Albatross explorations were
revised, and a number of new species were described and figured
by me in 1899. (Revision of Genera and Species of Starfishes,
see Bibliography. )
At present about 125 species are known to me from that gen-
eral faunal region, or from Florida to Brazil. Of these about 42
4Lists of all the dredging stations occupied by the Albatross, Blake,
and other U. S. vessels up to 1887, with physical data, were published by
Sanderson Smith, in the Annual Report of the U. S. Fish Commission, for
1886, pp. 873-1014.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 7
species have not been taken in less than 150 fathoms, and several
are still undescribed.
Some of the West Indian shallow-water species have a wide
range. A few range from Florida to the Abrolhos reefs, Brazil,
or to Bahia. Two or three are said to be found on the West
Coast of Africa, or at the Cape Verde Islands. Four reach Ber-
muda. None are identified with those of Panama, though some
are closely related. Among the deep-water species a few have
been taken also off the eastern coast of the United States, north of
Cape Hatteras, and three or four are thought to be identical with
Kast Atlantic species from similar depths. Yet most of the
species are peculiar to this fauna.
Very little is known concerning the starfishes to be found on
the extended coasts of the Gulf of Mexico, beyond the coasts of
western Florida and Alabama. Mr. Ives has listed several species
from Vera Cruz and Yucatan. Two are peculiar to Vera Cruz,
so far as known. Yet there are more than two thousand miles of
that coast line about the marine fauna of which we know almost
nothing.
That coast is almost everywhere sandy, and therefore not fa-
vorable to many shallow-water invertebrates, except in sheltered
localities.
It is known, however, that several of the Florida species reach
Vera Cruz and Yucatan; others reach Colon. I can now add that
one species (Astropecten americanus), common at moderate
depths north of Cape Hatteras, occurs at similar depths on the
northern coast of Colombia.
The Brazilian species are here included, because several, or the
majority, are identical with West Indian and Florida species.
The Brazilian starfishes have been listed by Mr. Richard Rath-
bun, 13 species (1879), and later by Ludwig, 1882. At least nine
or ten of the Brazilian species occur also in the West Indies.
In this report all those species which are known to have been
obtained in less than 150 fathoms are included, though a num-
ber of them really belong to the deeper water series, but find
their upward limits in 100 to 150 fathoms. Doubtless other deep-
water species will hereafter be found at such depths, especially
the young. A few other deep-water species have been included
for the sake of comparisons with their shallow-water allies,
8 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
It is proposed to include, at the end, a special list of the other
deep-water species (about 40) not reported upon, for the sake
of completeness.
Thus the systematic part of this report will include about 82
species and subspecies, nearly all of which are redescribed in de-
tail, with their known distribution, ete.
Comparatively few, even of the shallow-water species, have
ever been figured. Therefore some of them, though not new,
have been figured in this report.
The drawings of structural details are by A. Hyatt Verrill, and
also most of the photographs.
Class ASTERIOIDEA
MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES
The Asterioidea® have a polygonal or star-shaped body, in
which the rays are direct prolongations of the body itself, and
contain extensions of the body-cavity and more or less of the
viscera, especially one or more pairs of gonads and a pair of di-
gestive glands; generally, also, a lobe of the saccular stomach.
The actinal or ventral side of the disk and rays has deep,
radial, ambulacral grooves, extending to the tips of the rays. The
roof of the groove is supported by two rows of ambulacral os-
sicles, arranged like rafters, or in close, inverted, V-shaped pairs
of plates or bars, between which are rows of pores for the pas-
sage of the tubular ambulacral feet or ‘‘podia,’’ which are usual-
ly terminated by a muscular sucker, but are pointed in the sub-
order Paxillosa.
In the middle line of each ray and external to the ambulacral
plates are situated the radial nerve and blood-vessel; and deeper ~
within, the median radial ‘‘water-tube’’ or ambulacral tube.
The radial water-tube supplies water to the podia through the
medium of muscular ampulle situated internally, above the
ambulacral plates. Usually there are two of these to each podium,
but in Echinaster, Ctenodiscus, and some other genera there is
only one.
The grooves are bordered on each side by a row of plates
called adambulacral, which always bear spines.
5This spelling of the name is preferred because it is derived from As-
terias (not from Aster.)
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 9
The mouth is central, dilatable, and surrounded by soft mem-
brane. The so-called jaws are merely the adoral ambulacral and
adambulacral plates, more or less modified and coalesced. The
‘‘teeth’’ are only slightly modified adambulacral spines.
The stomach is very saccular and usually evertible. It usually
has a lobe and a pair of digestive glands extending into the
cavity of each ray, but in the case of some multiple-rayed species
(Heliaster), it has lobes corresponding only to the primary five
rays. In this case the five stomach-lobes do not enter the rays,
but the five pairs of digestive glands do. In a few slender-rayed
genera, also, the stomach is confined to the disk. The intestine
is rudimentary or abortive, and not functional in most cases;
usually there is a median dorsal nephridial or ‘‘anal’’ pore, main-
ly for the discharge of the secretions from a lobulated gland.
The respiration is partly dermal, but especially by tubular
dermal outgrowths, called papule. The madreporic plate is dor-
sal, usually single, but sometimes two or more are present in
autotomous species. The rays terminate in an enlarged apical
or ocular plate, carrying an ocellus.
The skeleton is made up of large numbers of ossicles and plates
of various kinds, mostly articulated so as to be more or less mov-
able, giving flexibility, both to the rays and to the disk, though
in some species (e. g. certain Goniasteride) the flexibility is
slight, except at the tips of the rays.
The external skeletal plates are classed as dorsal or abactinal;
marginal; interactinal; adambulacral; ambulacral; oral; and
ocular or apical. The dorsal plates are very diverse in form and
arrangement. They may be irregularly reticulate, tesselated, or
imbricated. They may form regular radial rows; sometimes they
are abortive, or nearly so. They are concealed by a thick dermis
in certain genera.
The dorsal plates, like the marginals and interactinals, com-
monly bear spines or small spinules, but they may be covered
with granules, or with a smooth soft integument, or even appear
quite naked, being then covered only with a thin membrane.
These plates and their armatures of spinules take several
special names, according to their forms and structure, and are
often characteristic of special genera and families and higher
groups.
10 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
When they become columnar or of hour-glass shape, and have
the summit covered with a radiating cluster of small slender
spinules, they are called paxille. These are the most typically
formed in Astropecten, Luwidia, and allied genera, and are char-
acteristic of the suborder Paxillosa.®
In nearly all the families there are two rows of specialized
plates on each side of each ray, known as superomarginal and
inferomarginal plates. These are often the largest and most con-
spicuous of all the plates, especially in the Phanerozona, such as
Astropecten, Goniaster, ete. In other cases both rows are much
reduced in size and are not easily distinguished, as in some of
the Asteriide. Or only the upper row may be reduced and in-
distinct, as in Lwidia. Rarely one or both rows are abortive in
certain deep-sea genera. Secondary intermarginal rows of plates
are often interpolated between the marginal rows in some fam-
ilies.
Between the inferomarginals and the adambulacral plates
there may be one or more rows of plates called interactinals. The
first and most important of these is next the inferomarginal row,
and is called the peractinal row in this article. It may extend
nearly or quite to the tip of the Ray. The other rows are called
subactinal rows, and may be much shorter and later formed. All
these interactinal rows may be lacking in many genera, or they
may be rudimentary and spineless.
They appear later in development than the marginal plates,
and the new ones are not formed next the ocular plates, as are
the marginals.
Pedicellarie of one or more kinds are generally present, but
are rare or entirely lacking in certain families, such as the Solas-
teride, Echinasteridw, Pterasteride, and in some genera of other
families. Their uses are imperfectly known. One use it to keep
the body free from dirt and parasites.
These curious organs are not found in other classes of Echino-
derms, except in the Echinoidea. In the latter they are com-
monly mounted on long stalks and generally have three valves —
sometimes four or more or only two.
In the Asterioidea they are usually sessile, but in the order
6 For various other special forms and their names, see below, under
Phanerozona and Valvulata.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 11
Forcipulosa they have very short pedicels, and they are most fre-
quently bivalved.
They are of several different types, which are commonly char-
acteristic of the orders and families, and often of the genera.
Sometimes there may be bivalved, trivalved, four-valved, and
five-valved ones on a single specimen, as in Dermastervas im-
bricata. In some cases they are not really valvular, but consist
of several movable spinules, arranged in convergent groups or
opposed rows. ‘The sessile valvular forms are generally situated
over a pore, penetrating a plate, for the passage of nerves, etc.
Some of the special forms are described below, under the sev-
eral orders.
In nearly all species there are numerous small, soft, tubular
outgrowths from the body-wall, called papule, serving for respir-
atory purposes. They may be in large groups, especially be-
tween the dorsal and lateral ossicles, or stand singly, or they may
occur only in special areas. Rarely they are branched, as in
Luidia.
Most shallow-water starfishes that have been studied in this
respect have a free-swimming, bilateral larval form, known as a
brachiolaria. A considerable number carry their eggs and young
till they develop the starfish form. These have an abbreviated
metamorphosis. The two methods may occur in different genera
of the same family (e. g., Asteriide@).
The embryology of the deep-sea species is unknown in most
cases, and may be diverse, or even more abbreviated.
CLASSIFICATION OF ASTERIOIDEA.
In this report I have adopted the division of the class into
three large orders, viz. :
I. Forcreu.osa or ForcIPpULATA.
II. Sprnuosa, with suborders, AVELATA and VELATA.
IIT. PHANEROZONA.
The last has three suborders, considered orders by some writers,
viz. :
I. VALVuLOosA or VALVATA.
II. Noromyora Ludwig (as an order).
III. PaxiLuosa.
12 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Order Forcreuuosa Verrill or ForcrPuLATA Perrier.
Stelleride forcipulate Perrier, Mem. Etoiles de Mer, pp. 166, 188, 1876.
Forcipulata Perrier, Exped. Sci. Trav. et Talisman, p. 27, 1894.
Asteries Ambulacraires VicuIER, Squellette des Stellerides, Arch, Zodl.
Exper., Vil, p. 93, 1878.
Cryptozonia (pars) Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, pp. xxxiv, 397, 1889.
Adetopneusia (pars) Sladen and Leptostroteria (pars), op. cit., p. xxxiv.
Forcipulosa Verrill, op. cit., p. 24, 1914a.
In this order the form is always stellate, often with long rays,
commonly five, but often multiple. Ambulacral plates, except
the orals, are usually short and closely crowded (leptostroterial),
but not in Brisingide. The proximal pair is elongated and, ex-
cept in Pedicellaster and a few others, forms the inner end of the
jaw. Ambulacral feet are generally arranged in four rows;
but in two rows in Pedicellasteride, Brisingide, and Zoroaster-
ide. In certain large species of Pisaster there may be more than
four rows.
Aside from the ambulacral and adambulacral plates, the skel-
eton of the rays consists of five fundamental or primary rows of
ossicles, viz., the median dorsal or carinal; the two swperomar-
ginals; and the two inferomarginals. The latter may or may
not be confined to the ventral side.
The ossicles of adjacent rows may be articulated directly by
their lobes, or small, simple connecting ossicles may intervene.
This simple or primitive type of skeleton is found in Cor-
onaster briareus (see pl. ix, fig. 4) and some other genera, espe-
cially when young.
In most cases more or less numerous ossicles or rows of ossicles
are interpolated during growth between the five primary rows,
either above or below, or between the marginals, thus giving rise
to many different styles of skeleton in the more complex genera.
The carinal or median dorsal plates usually remain distinct,
but are often small and not easily recognizable. The two mar-
ginal rows are nearly always easily recognizable, though small,
and they generally bear spines larger than the dorsals. They
never form a stout margin, as they do in the Paxillosa.
Interactinal plates are various. Usually there is at least one
row, the peractinals, but these are often small and spineless and
sometimes are lacking. In other genera there may be several
rows of spiniferous interactinals.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 13
The Forcipulosa, as the name implies, are specially character-
ized by the possession of forcipate pedicellarie, not found in
other orders. Two forms of pedicellarie are nearly always pres-
ent, except in the young.
The minor or forcipulate pedicellariz, peculiar to this order,
generally form wreaths or large or small clusters on the spines,
but they may also occur, either singly or in clusters, on the in-
tegument of the dorsal or lateral plates, on the papular areas, and
in other situations. Their two blades are prolonged proximally
and crossed, with muscles attached to the ends, so that they can
open and shut like forceps or scissors. Their valves are concave
and are usually armed with denticles.
The major or forficulate pedicellarie are generally ovate or
lanceolate, sometimes wedge-shaped, stone-hammer-shaped, lyrate,
or spatulate. The tips may be acute, plain, flat or denticulate.
They are mostly dermal, but may also occur on the ventral and
oral spines, or along the inner edges of the grooves, or attached
to pedicels in clusters within the grooves, or even on the pedicels
of the ambulacral feet. They may be of several sizes and forms
on one specimen.
Certain species of Asteriide, Coronaster, ete., have a peculiar
very large form of dermal pedicellariz, often as thick as the
spines, in which the broad valves terminate in a series of curved
denticles, so that when closed the valves resemble a pair of
clasped hands, or better still, a pair of clasped feet of a cat, with
the claws protruded. These may be called felipedal or unguicu-
late. (See pl. ix, fig. 4c.)
FAMILIES AND SUB-FAMILIES OF FORCIPULOSA.
This order now includes the following families and sub-families :
I. Family Astrermp2.
Subfamilies ASTERIINE ; STICHASTERIN” ; PYCNOPODIN2 ;
HELIASTERIN 2.
II. Family ZoroastErw2.
III. Family PepicenLAsTEriDZ.
IV. Family Bristnew.
Subfamilies Bristncinz; LABIDIASTERINZ (Type, Lab-
idiaster Lutk.).
14 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The first three families are represented in depths less than 150
fathoms, though all except the first family are essentially deep-
sea groups.
Family Astrerupa Gray (emended).
Astertide Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., vi, p. 178, 1840; Synopsis, p. i,
1866. Perrier, Revis. Stell., Arch. Zod]. Exper. et Gen., iv, p. 302,
1875; Mem. Etoiles de Mer, pp. 167, 198, 1876. Viguier, Squellette
des Stellerides, pp. 93, 99, pl. v, figs. 1-10, 11-12, 1878.
Asteriide (emended) + Stichasteride Sladen, Voyage Chall., xxx, pp. 430,
560, 1889. Perrier, Exp. Trav. et Talisman, pp. 43, 105, 107, 128,
1894; Contrib. 1’étude des Stellerides Atlan. Nords, pp. 25, 31, 1896.
Verrill, Monog. Starfishes, North Pacific, pp. 27-44, 1914a (emended.)
Stellate starfishes, most often with five or six elongated rays;
sometimes with a variable number of unequal rays in autotomous
species; sometimes with numerous rays, increasing with age by
the outgrowth of interpolated rays, as in Heliaster and in Pycno-
podia. Madreporic plate generally single in five-rayed and six-
rayed forms, but often two or more in those with a variable num-
ber of rays, due to autotomy or budding. Dorsal and actinal
plates various in form and arrangement, most often reticulated.
Odontophore usually formed of a single piece. Oral ambulacral
plates elongated and forming the jaws. Those along the grooves
become very short and compressed. Papule occur both on the
actinal and dorsal sides. Ambulacral feet usually crowded in
four rows, sometimes more. Pedicellariz of two kinds are pres-
ent. Dorsal plates generally bear spines or spinules, various in
size and kind, and sometimes granules. They are never true
paxille.
The minor pedicellarie may be attached directly to the in-
tegument, either singly or in clusters, or to the spines, to the
pedicels of the larger forms, to saccular dermal growths around
the spines, to the inner edge of the ambulacral grooves, or rarely
even to the ambulacral feet. They are most commonly attached
by slender and sometimes long pedicels, and aggregated into
wreaths or clusters attached to a contractile fold of dermis on
the spines. They are often so abundant, in the wreaths around
the dorsal spines, that they nearly or quite conceal the spines
and integument in living specimens. In some eases they are at-
tached in large numbers to large muscular dermal sheaths or
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 15
sacks loosely surrounding the spines nearly or quite to the tips
when extended in life. They often have a formidable array of
minute sharp denticles, and are frequently very characteristic of
species.
Subfamily AsTERINz.
Asteriide (restr.) Sladen, op. cit., 480, 560, 1889. Perrier, 1894, pp. 105,
128; 1896, pp. 25-31.
Asteriine Verrill, op. cit., p. 42, 1914a.
The Astertine are chiefly characterized by the more or less
openly reticulated arrangement of the dorsal and lateral ossicles,
especially of the dorsal ossicles, which are usually more stellate
or lobulate and more slender than in the Stichaster group, and
generally united either by the ends of the lobes or apophyses, or
else by means of interpolated ossicles, thus allowing more flexi-
bility in the rays, and larger papular areas. The dorsal plates
may be in definite rows or irregularly reticulated.
The Stichasterine, on the contrary, are chiefly characterized
by the more or less regular subtesselated or imbricated arrange-
ment of the ossicles, both on the sides and dorsal surface of the
rays, the ossicles themselves being larger, broader, and more
rhombic, and usually united in more definite, longitudinal and
transverse rows, with smaller and more regular intervening pap-
ular areas. In either group, as at present understood, the inter-
actinal plates may have the regular serial and subtesselated ar-
rangement.
The discovery of many new generic and specific types inter-
mediate between typical Stichaster’ and Asterias, renders it
difficult to define the limits of the two so-called families, typified
by these genera.
The only West Indian genus that has been referred to the
Stichasterine is Stephanasterias. To me this seems to be more
nearly related to Leptasterias and therefore one of the Asteriine.
Genus OrTHASTERIAS Verrill.
Orthasterias Verrill, Starfishes North Pacific, pp. 168-185, 1914a.
Long-rayed diplacanthid starfishes with a small disk. Dorsal
7 The type of Stichaster is S. striatus M. and Tr. = S. aurantiacus of
later writers. It is a Chilian species.
16 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
skeleton consists of lobed, wide, subimbricated or contingent
plates, arranged in three, five, or rarely more regular radial rows,
and sometimes with extra interpolated ossicles; the rows are con-
nected by transverse ossicles. The principal plates bear, on a
central boss, large, isolated spines, usually making three or five
longitudinal rows above the marginal rows.
Superomarginals are large, usually monacanthid, four-lobed;
the descending lobe is large and usually joined directly to the
inferomarginals.
The inferomarginals are strong, convex ossicles, each bearing
usually two large spines.
Uusually there is one row of interactinal plates, with or with-
out spines, closely united to the adambulacrals and inferomar-
ginals; sometimes they are rudimentary and without spines.
(Stylasterias. )
Papule are numerous and clustered.
The lateral and dorsal major pedicellarie are large, and are
usually of two or more forms. The larger are erect, wedge-
shaped, stone-hammer-shaped, or ovate, with the tips of the valves
wide and usually denticulate. Others are more slender, with the
valves spatulate or narrowed in the middle and the tips unguicu-
late, with interlocking teeth. Others similar, or smaller, with
acute tips, often occur on the adambulacral spines and margin.
Type, O. columbiana V.
This genus includes several large species on the North Pacific
coast. Off the eastern coast of the United States one species
(O. tanneri Ver.) is abundant at moderate depths, from south
of Cape Hatteras to southern New England.
The subgenus Stylasterias Ver. (op. cit., p. 48, 1914@), was sep-
arated mainly because it has only rudimentary and spineless
interradial plates, which are not visible without preparation.
The following West Indian species belong to this group or sub-
genus. The young of OQ. tanneri, when two or three inches
across, have the same features.
ORTHASTERIAS SUBANGULOSA Verrill.
Asterias angulosa Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodlogy, vol. ix, p. 3, 1882;
Mem. Etoiles de Mer, p. 202, 1884 (non Miiller.)
Orthasterias (Stylasterias) subangulosa Verrill, Starfishes N. Pacific Coast,
pp. 168, 370, 1914a.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 17
Plate ii; figures 1, 2. Plate ix; figures 1, 1a.
The largest specimen has the radii 9™™ and OGM ratio, 1 27230.
This was from the Bahama Expedition, station 43, in 15 fathoms.
The disk is small and has a very evident central pentagon of
plates and spines. The rays are slender, somewhat angular, reg-
ularly tapered to subacute tips.
The dorsal plates form a conspicuous raised median carina,
and a smaller dorso-lateral row on each side, well separated from
the prominent superomarginal row by a wide lane, containing
large papular areas and crossed by stout transverse ossicles
uniting the plates of the two rows, but without spines,
The spines generally stand singly on all the dorsal, radial, and
superomarginal plates, and all have the same form. They are
rather long, terete, regularly tapered, and acute. They are sur-
rounded, near the base, with a dense wreath of minor pedicel-
larie of small size.
The inferomarginal plates form a conspicuous row well sep-
arated from the upper ones by a wide lane, which contains a row
of large papular areas and bears many rather large, erect, lanceo-
late or subacute major pedicellariz.
Each plate usually bears two spines, one nearly above the
other. The upper one is the larger. It is larger than the supero-
marginals and dorsals, and is somewhat flattened, often a little
expanded distally or sublanceolate, and subacute; the other is
distinctly smaller and more acute. Sometimes there is prox-
imally a much smaller third spine below the second, apparently
arising from the same plate, but perhaps, in some eases, arising
from a rudimentary interactinal ossicle not visible at the surface.
The third spine is lacking in specimens a little smaller.
The upper inferomarginal spines bear, at about midheight, a
dense cluster of numerous minor pedicellariz on the upper side.
There are also some of the rather large lanceolate major pedicel-
larie between their bases. Similar major pedicellariz occur on
and between the adambulacral spines, on the inner margins of
the ambulacral furrows, and on the interradial areas.
The adambulacral plates bear each two rather long, slender,
flattened, subequal spines, which form two regular rows; the
and more flattened or subspatulate. The peroral spines are
outer ones are the larger. The adoral spines are longer, larger,
18 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
rather stout and blunt. It appears to be the undetermined star-
fish described by Nutting (Narrative Bahama Exped., bottom of
page 168). This species was dredged by the Bahama Expedition
at station 43, off Sand Key, Florida, in 15 fathoms; at station 47,
off Key West, in 80 fathoms; and at station 61, off Key West, in
75 to 80 fathoms. Several specimens were obtained. Perrier
recorded it from the Blake stations, off Florida, in 85 and 110
fathoms, one from each place. The type had the radii 6™ and
43mm,
ORTHASTERIAS CONTORTA (Per.) Verrill.
Asterias contorta Perrier, Bull. M. C. Z., vol. ix, p. 1, 1881; Mem. Etoiles
de Mer, p. 199, 1884.
O. contorta Verrill, op. cit., p. 48, 1914a.
This species was not figured by Perrier and only imperfectly
described. The size was not given. I did not examine his cotypes,
in the Museum of Comp. Zodlogy, except in the case of a single
lot of small specimens (sta. 155, 88 fathoms). These appeared
to me to be the young of O. subangulosa.
According to Perrier’s description it has no dorsal rows of
plates except the carinals, which might be due to immaturity.
He also mentions that the submarginal papule are large and
placed singly. In O. subangulosa they are rather small and
stand two or three together.
Without farther study of the types it is not possible to say
whether they are distinct species.
Perrier recorded this from ten Blake stations, in 11 to 188
fathoms, from Florida reefs to Cariacou and Barbadoes.
Genus CoscINASTERIAS Verrill.
Cosinasterias Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., i, p. 248, 1867. (Type, C.
muricata V. = (%) C. calamaria (Lam.).)
Stolasterias (pars) Sladen, Voyage Chall., vol. xxx, pp. 563, 583, 1889.
(Type, C. tenuispina.) Non Perrier.
Coscinasterias and Polyasterias Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talisman, p. 108,
1894,
Coscinasterias Verrill, op. cit., pp. 45, 46, 1814a.
Disk small, rays elongated, somewhat angular, usually carinate.
Dorsal plates of the rays stout, four-lobed, usually arranged in
three or five regular rows, besides the upper marginals, which
form regular lateral rows. Interactinal plates form one primary
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 19
(peractinal) row, like the lower marginals, but they may be rudi-
mentary and spineless in half-grown specimens, and only bear
spines in large, mature individuals, as in C. tenwspina.
Minor pedicellarie are abundant. Large forficulate or major
pedicellariz of the usual forms are present, often in considerable
numbers, on the dorsal and lateral plates, and smaller ones occur
on the marginal areas. Large unguiculate pedicellarie are lack-
ing. Adambulacral plates are monacanthid or nearly so.
Stolasterias, which was proposed as a subgenus by Sladen in
1889, was nearly identical with Coscinasterias, characterized by
me in 1867. He gave no reason for changing the name. It
should be regarded as a synonym of the latter and be eliminated.
Sladen’s type was A. tenuispina, which is a Coscinasterias with
the interactinal plates rudimentary and without spines, except
in the larger specimens.
As C. tenuispina often divides spontaneously, it belongs to
Polyasterias in Perrier’s arrangement. This would make the lat-
ter strictly synonymous with Sladen’s typical Stolasterias.
M. Perrier (1894) correctly retained Coscinasterias for the
typical forms, like calamaria, but separated those species that
are known to undergo spontaneous fission under the name of
Polyasterias = typical Stolasterias Sla., though they do not ap-
pear to differ much in structure from the preceding. He re-
tained Stolasterias Sla., in a restricted sense, for those allied to
glacialis, although C. tenwispina was named by Sladen as the
type.
A. glacialis had, long before, been made the type of Marthas-
terias by Julien.
COSCINASTERIAS TENUISPINA (Lam.) Ver.
Asterias tenuispina Lamarck, op. cit., 1816, vol. ii, p. 561. Perrier, Re-
vision, op. cit., p. 306, 1875.
Asteracanthion tenuwispinus Mill. and Trosch., Syst. Asteriden, p. 16, pl. i,
fig. 1, a. b., 1842. Perrier, Pédicellaires, p. 32, pl. i, figs. 3-3c, 1859.
Liitken, op. cit., 1859, p. 95.
Asterias (Stolasterias) tenuispina Sladen, pp. 565, 583, 1889. Verrill, The
Bermuda Islands, vol. ii, part v, p. 324, in Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci.,
vol. xii, p. 280, plates xxxiv, fig. 2; xxxiv ©, fig. 2, 1907.
Coscinasterias tenuispina Verrill, op. cit., 1814a, p. 45.
Asterias atlantica (pars) Verrill, Transactions Conn. Acad. Sci., vol. i, p.
368, 1868. R. Rathbun, Brazilian Echinoderms, in Trans. Conn. Acad.,
vol. v, p. 144, 1879.
20 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Plate xxvi; figure 2. Plate xxvii; figure 4.
Disk small. Rays long, rather slender, angular, variable in
number. Dorsal and marginal spines are elongated and rather
slender. Adambulacral spines slender, one to a plate. Color
in life usually pale purplish or violaceous above, yellowish below.
This species is autotomous and therefore is commonly found
with the rays unequal and variable in number, from two or three
to nine or more, but most frequently with six to eight, three or
four being often much shorter than the others. There are usual-
ly two or more madreporie plates. Sometimes it is regularly six-
rayed or five-rayed. It becomes six to eight inches in diameter
at the Bermudas.
The dorsal plates are rather openly united and form a definite
median or carinal row and one main dorsolateral row on each
side, often with one imperfect second row proximally in large
specimens. Each dorsal plate usually has a rather strong, some-
what elongated spine.
The superomarginal row of plates is well marked and forms
the lateral margin of the ray. Each plate bears one, or some-
times two, elongated spines, longer than the dorsals. The supero-
marginals are also strongly developed and have a row of large
spines close to the adambulacrals.
The interactinal plates are small and usually without spines,
but in very large specimens some of them may bear a small spine.
The adambulacral plates normally bear one long slender spine,
but in very large specimens a few bear two spines. In life the
color varies. It is usually some light shade of violet or pale
purple; yellow below.
This is a common Mediterranean species. It has been reported
from Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Brazil,
Abrolhos Reefs, Brazil (coll. C. F. Hartt, Yale Mus.), Cuba, the
Bermudas, and West Indies. It is the only common starfish at
the Bermudas.
It is well adapted, by its habits, to be carried from one country
to another, adherent to the bottoms of vessels.
COSCINASTERIAS TENUISPINA, var. ATLANTICA Verrill.
Asterias atlantica (pars) Verrill, Corals and Echinod. of Brazil, Trans.
Conn, Acad. Science, vol. i, p. 368, 1868.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 21
One of the types of this supposed species was a regularly five-
rayed specimen from Cuba. It differs sufficiently from the ord-
inary form of the species to receive a varietal name, and there-
fore I propose to designate it as above.
‘The rays of the type of this form are decidedly angular, rel-
atively shorter and stouter than in the ordinary form. The
median radial and two marginal rows of spines and plates are
strongly developed, and one dorso-lateral row is less so. The
adambulacral spines are monacanthid, as in the typical form.
The dorsal and marginal spines are shorter and stouter than in
the latter.
The type was from Cuba. I am not prepared to say that the
other American forms are fully identical with those of Europe,
for I have never been able to study a good series of both in any
museum. Valid specific characters may have been overlooked
by authors. who unite them.
COSCINASTERIAS LINEARIS (Perrier) Verrill.
Asterias linearis Perrier, op. cit., p. 2, 1881; Etoiles de Mer, p. 201, pl.
iii, fig. 5, 1884.
The type of this species is small and evidently young. It is
monacanthid and evidently a Coscinasterias. It may, perhaps,
prove to be the young of C. tenuispina when a good series can be
studied.
The type had the radii 5™™ and 50™"; ratio, 1:10. The rays
are five, slender, angular. The dorsal side of the rays has three
rows of plates, each of which bears a single elongated spine, thus
forming three longitudinal rows of spines. There are three rows
of ventral spines. The outer one forms the lateral, larger (in-
feromarginal) row of spines. Between these and the upper lat-
eral row are large isolated papule ; on the dorsal side the papule
are smaller and clustered. There appear to be two rows of in-
teractinal spines proximally. Major pedicellarix, elongated in
form, were found on the disk.
Adambulacral spines are one to a plate. They are straight
and not tapered. (Condensed from Perrier’s description.) The
type was from Blake station 45, in 101 fathoms, off West Florida.
22 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Genus LeprasTerias Verrill.
Leptasterias Verrill, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., x, p. 350, 1866. Type,
A, miilleri Sars. Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, p. 563, 1889. Perrier, Exp.
Tray. et Talism., p. 108, 1894. Verrill, op. cit., p. 116, 1814a.
An extensive group of small, more or less diplacanthid star- ~
fishes, closely related to typical Asterias, usually with a single
row of peractinal plates and spines. Rays five or six. The more
typical forms have slender rays and a small disk, with the dorsal
ossicles irregularly arranged, or showing several imbricated ra-
dial rows, with numerous spines. It differs from typical Astervas
in the diminished number and larger size of the dorsal and lat-
eral papule, and the small number of actinal plates, of which
there is generally only a single row, but more profoundly in hav-
ing the genital pores on the actinal side, near the mouth, and in
the ovaries, which are different in form and produce larger eggs,
which have an abbreviated development, passing through no
free-swimming larval stages.
The eggs and young are carried in clusters, adhering in front
of or around the mouth in all the species studied in the breeding
season.
LEPTASTERIAS FASCICULARIS (Per.) Verrill.
Asterias fascicularis Perrier, op. cit., 1881, p. 1; Mem. Etoiles de Mer,
p- 200, pl. iii, fig. 3, 1884.
The type had the radii 9™™ and 57™™; ratio, 1—6.3. The five
slender rays are slightly contracted proximally. The dorsal and
dorso-lateral surfaces of the rays have about seven alternating
rows of plates, separated by papular areas smaller than the
plates, and containing usually two papule, and holding about
two or three dermal minor pedicellarie.
The plates of the median row have a curved row of three or
four short, blunt spines; those of the other rows have one or two
similar spines; some single spines are also situated on the inter-
polated ossicles.
The disk is small and covered with spines like those of the
rays; between them are some oval major pedicellarize with curved
valves, touching only at tips.
On the under side of the rays there are two rows of plates,
near the adambulacrals; each plate bears a single spine and often
a dermal minor pedicellaria.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 23
The adambulacral spines are rather long and slender, two to a
plate, divergent, forming two regular rows.
This species seems to be a true Leptasterias, allied to L. compta
of New England. Its mode of reproduction and position of
genital pores are unknown, and therefore its generic position
cannot be positively determined.
The type was from off Guadaloupe, in 309 fathoms.
LEPTASTERIAS HARTI R. Rathbun.
Leptasterias hartti R. Rathbun, Echinoderms of Brazil, Trans. Conn.
Acad. Science, vol. v, p. 145, 1879.
This is a small, six-rayed species. Radii of the type were
about 3.27" and 19™; ratio, 1:6.
Rays are well rounded above, tapering regularly to slender
tips. The row of median radial plates is distinct; each plate
bears a V-shaped row of about five small spines, becoming re-
duced to two or three distally. Spines on the disk are similar
to those on the rays, closely and irregularly arranged.
Above the first lateral radial row there are, on each side, about
two longitudinal series of small spines, with many interpolated
on the connective ossicles. The rows are not very regular. The
first lateral row, probably superomarginals, has two small spines
to a plate, distinct to tip of rays; the series above this has, on
each plate, transverse, irregular groups of four or five spines, de-
creasing to a single one distally.
On the under side there are about three rows of plates and
spines. The inferomarginal row has usually one spine, seldom
two, to a plate.
The two marginal rows are well separated.
The spines of the interactinal plates form oblique series of
two or three. They are larger than the adambulacrals, but not
much longer, and have compressed clavate tips.
The adambulacral spines are regularly two to a plate, slender
and clavate proximally; distal ones tapering; outer ones a little
larger.
Major pedicellarie are large and numerous, variable in size,
generally scattered, above and below. They are triangular or
ovate in form, with a strongly curved basal piece; about two-
thirds as broad as long. The larger ones equal or exceed in
length the lateral and dorsal spines, and are much stouter. They
24 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
are most numerous between the lateral and ventral spines. The
papule are mostly isolated.
Taken from a telegraph cable, about 30 miles east of Cape
Negro, Brazil, in 62 fathoms.
The description above is condensed from that of Mr. Rathbun.
LEPTASTERIAS MEXICANA (Liitk.) Verrill.
Asteracanthion mexicanum Liitken, Vidensk. Meddel., p. 94, 1859.
Asterias mexicana Verrill, op. cit., p. 344, 1867.
This was described by Liitken from two small specimens from
Vera Cruz. They were evidently young. The larger was 1.5
inches in diameter. I am not aware that anyone has obtained
additional specimens.
According to Liitken the rays are five; the upper side has
about seven rows of short, obtuse, rough spines surrounded by a
dense basal wreath of minor pedicellarie. The papule stand
two or three together.
The adambulacral plates are one and two to a plate, in pretty
regular alternation. They bear pedicellariz at about midheight.
They are slightly flattened, slender, and obtuse. The ventral side
has two rows of small spines. (Condensed from Liitken.)
Liitken compared it to L. miilleri, the type of Leptasteris.
Although it appears to have the external characteristics of Lep-
tasterias, it may be the young of a larger species of Asterias, like
A. forbes.
There is no reason why A. forbesi should not be carried to
Vera Cruz adherent to the bottoms of vessels from our southern
ports, even if it does not habitually live on the Mexican coast.
Many other creatures are thus carried to distant places and no
doubt, in many cases, become naturalized in new homes by this
means. I have not seen A. forbesi from the Gulf of Mexico, but
should expect to find it on the coast of West Florida and Ala-
bama.
Genus STEPHANASTERIAS Verrill, 1871. Type, S. albula.
Stephanasterias Verrill, Bull. Essex Inst., iii, p. 5, 1871; Expl. of Casco
Bay, Proc. Am. Assoc, Adv. Sci. for 1873, pp. 356, 359, 364, 1874;
Check List Invert., 1879; Expl. Albatross, 1883, p. 540, 1885.
Nanaster Perrier, Exp. Trav. et Talism., pp. 129, 131, 133, 1894; Camp.
Scientif. 1’Hirondelle, p. 27, 1896. (Type, S. albula.)
Stichaster (pars) Verrill, 1866, p. 351. Perrier, p. 347, 1875. Sladen,
p. 432, 1889.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 25
Stephanasterias Verrill, Revision Genera and Species of Starfishes, p. 222,
1899; North Pacific Starfishes, op. cit., p. 146, 1§14a.
Small autotomous starfishes, commonly found with five to nine
unequal rays, due to incomplete replacement and regulation of
rays after division. Two or three longer rays, and three or four
shorter ones are common forms. When fully mature, often reg-
ularly six-rayed.
The whole surface is thickly covered with minute thorny
spinules, placed in clusters on the plates, and longer on the under
side and margin.
The median-radial and marginal rows of plates are usually
distinct, with wide plates, closely imbricated radially. The sev-
eral dorsolateral rows have the plates small, short, and relatively
wide, irregularly arranged, but with longitudinal rows of papular
pores between them.
The inferomarginal and interactinal plates form regular, close,
longitudinal rows.
The adambulacral spines are slender, two to a plate, or alter-
nately one and two. Papule are isolated or in small groups.
Both kinds of pedicellarie are present.
Perrier changed the name of this genus to Nanaster, because
he erroneously assumed that Stephanasterias had been preoccu-
pied by Stephanaster Ayres. The two names are distinct and
differently derived.
STEPHANASTERIAS GRACILIS (Per.) Verrill.
Asterias gracilis Perrier, op. cit., p. 4, 1881; Nouv. Arch. du Mus., vi, p.
204, 1884.
Stephanasterias gracilis Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., vol. x, p. 223,
1879; Starfishes N. Pacific, p. 146, 1914a.
Plate ix; figures 2-2c.
Disk small; rays slender, variable in number, commonly six.
The species is autotomous, and the rays are often unequal.
The dorsal surface is closely covered with numerous. nearly
uniform minute, slender, subdiaphanous spinules, several on each
plate. The marginal spines are larger, flattened and enlarged
distally, mostiy with a blunt and thorny tip, and more or less
hyaline,
The adambulacral spines are two to a plate, shorter and much
26 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
more slender than the marginals, slightly clavate, subhyaline;
oral and adoral spines similar.
This closely resembles S. albula, of the northern coast and
arctic regions. It seems less variable in number of rays and is
perhaps less often divided by autotomy. Its marginal spines are
longer, more expanded and flatter.
I have examined several of the types of this species in the
Museum of Comp. Zodlogy, from the Blake Expedition, described
by Perrier.
It was taken by the Blake at nine stations in 56 to 183 fathoms,
among the Lesser Antilles, and at two stations in the Gulf of
Mexico, off West Florida, in 95 and 101 fathoms. The Albatross
also took it at many stations.
It was obtained by the Bahama Expedition, off Havana, in 110
and 200 fathoms (stations 4 and 13), and off Hast Florida, in
110 fathoms (station 64, 6 specimens).
STEPHANASTERIAS HEBES Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate ix; figure 3.
General appearance and size much as in VS. albula, but stouter
with less numerous and less delicate spines.
The adambulacral spines form two perfectly regular divergent
rows. They are relatively short and not very slender, terete or
slightly clavate and blunt. The ambulacral furrow is relatively
very wide and the sucker feet large. Owing to the shortness of
the spines and width of the groove, the adambulacral spines
cover only a small part of its margins.
The interactinal and inferomarginal spines are much larger
and stouter than the adambulacrals and much more so that in
S. albula. They are about twice longer and more than twice
thicker than the adambulacrals adjacent. They are clavate, with
rounded or obtuse tips, not so thorny as in S. albula, nor so trans-
lucent. The dorsal spines are similar, but shorter, arranged in
close clusters on the plates.
Taken by the Albatross at station 2766, in — fathoms. (No.
18,426, Nat. Mus.)
This is very much stouter than S. gracilis, with much larger
and more clavate spines.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 27
Family Zoroaster Sladen.
Zoroasteride Sladen, op. cit., pp. xxxvi, 416, 1889. Perrier, Exped. Trav.
et Talisman, p. 112, 1894. Ludwig, op. cit., 1905, p. 159.
Disk small; rays long and slender, angular or rounded.
The disk is covered largely by the ten enlarged basal radials
and interradials, and the large central plate.
A row of large overlapping carinal plates stiffens the rays, each
usually bearing a spine. Marginal plates scarcely differentiated
from the dorso-laterals and interactinals.
All these form close, regular, imbricated, longitudinal rows,
often six to eight proximally. They are also imbricated in trans-
verse rows.
All the plates are granulated or finely spinulose and the lateral
and interactinal rows usually bear, also, a single elongated
spine, and usually a dermal major pedicellaria. Papular pores
are single and placed between all the rows of plates.
Adambulacral plates are alternately unlike. The larger are
compressed, carinate, and project far into the groove. They bear
a divergent row of several spines transverse to the groove, and
have one or two small spines in the groove. The alternate small
plates do not project into the groove, are not carinate, and bear
fewer spines. Spines of both kinds of plates may bear large
major pedicellariz.
Minor or crossed pedicellarie appear to be lacking. Sucker-
feet are in four rows proximally, becoming reduced to two rows
distally. Their suckers are small.
This is essentially a deep-sea family. Only a few species have
occurred in less than 150 fathoms.
Genus ZOoROASTER Thomson.
Zoroaster W. Thomson, Depths of the Sea, p. 154, 1873. Sladen, op. cit.,
p. 416, 1889. Perrier, op. cit., 1894, p. 115. Fisher, op. cit., 1911), p.
The central plate of the disk has few smaller plates around it.
The basal radials are prominent, but not much larger than the
next radials and of the same character. The basal interradials
are smaller and flatter, without a central spine. The central plate
and basal and median radials have a central short articulated
spine. The whole surface is covered with a rather thick dermis
and with small articulated spinules, attached to basal papille.
28 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
In addition to these the lateral and interactinal plates have
one slender, articulated spine.
The dorso-lateral row of plates next the carinal row is differ-
entiated, the plates being larger than the others and similar to
the carinals. The rest of the lateral and interactinal plates are
all similar, forming six to eight regular rows, imbricated both
longitudinally and transversely, leaving only small papular pores
between them. Marginals are not much different from the rest.
Adambulacral plates of two sorts are very unlike. The larger
earry four to six divergent slender spines, along the thin carinate
edge; the larger one at the margin of the groove may bear one or
several major pedicellarie, often large; other spines may bear
smaller ones. The much smaller alternate plates are not carinate
and bear usually two slender outer spines and a small one in the
furrow. Major pedicellarie are scattered on the back and sides.
ZOROASTER ACKLEYI Perrier.
Zoroaster ackleyi Perrier, Comptes rendus, 1880, p. 436; op. cit., p. 6, 1881;
Etoiles de Mer, p. 197, pl. iii, fig. 1, 1884; Exped. Trav. et Talisman,
p. 117, 1894. A. Agassiz, Three Cruises of the Blake, vol. ii, p. 105,
fig. 382.
The largest specimen examined by me has the radii 10™™ and
105™™; ratio, 1:10.5; diameter of rays at base 10™™; height
a)
The small disk is convex or a little swollen. The long slender
rays are well rounded at the base, but become somewhat carinate
on the attenuated distal half.
The disk is occupied largely by the ten basal radial and inter-
radial plates, and a large prominent central plate, with a central
mamilla supporting a short obtuse spine.
The dorsal radials are larger and more elevated than the inter-
radials and have a central boss, which bears a short obtuse spine.
They are rounded with small notches or emarginations around
the margin, where there are isolated papular pores. Similar
pores surround the central plate.
The basal interradials are flatter and more angular and have
no central spine. They are in contact with the radials laterally.
One of them is partly covered by the madreporic plate, which is
rather large and convex, with radiating gyri.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 29
The central plate of the disk is surrounded by several small
plates, and by papular pores.
All the plates of the disk and dorsal side of the rays are
thickly covered with minute rough spinules that leave little
round scars when rubbed off.
Pedicellarie of the forficulate kind, much larger than the
spinules, are scattered over the whole surface, usually but one
to a plate. When closed they are ovate-lanceolate, and some-
what compressed, subacute.
The median radial row of plates is conspicuous. They are
rather large, convex, with a small central boss, carrying a small
short, thick spine, which is somewhat enlarged or obtuse at tip;
the distal ones are smaller and acorn-shaped. They are easily
detached and are often rubbed off. They are often absent from
the distal part of the rays. These radial plates are shield-
shaped, with rounded sides and overlap each other serially.
The sides and lower surfaces of the rays are proximally made
up of seven to nine regular rows of small shield-shaped plates,
all much alike, except the first row, so that it is not easy to dis-
tinguish the marginal rows. The row next the median radials
has larger, angular plates, similar to the median, though smaller.
The others are imbricated transversely, in regular vertical rows,
decreasing in size downward, and overlapping with their angular
lower end, like slates on a roof.
In five or six lower rows each plate bears on a boss, a long,
slender, very acute spine, decreasing upward in length, where
they nearly intergrade with the spinules of the upper plates.
These spines are also accompanied by small, acute spinules, and
each plate usually has a rather large lanceolate or acute-ovate
pedicellaria. Distally a similar spine appears also on the row
next to the carinal row.
The adambulacral plates are alternately large and small. The
larger ones are carinated and project far into the groove and
bear, on the curved edge, five or six slender acute spines, of
which two or three are within the groove, one far within, and
the others form a divergent row, transverse to the furrow, the
middle or marginal ones longest. Many of these spines, both
within and outside the furrow, bear a single large, forficulate or
major pedicellaria, some of them much thicker and about as long
30 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
as the spine, and much larger than those of the dorsal surface.
Some spines have also two or more smaller ones. The larger
ones, on the marginal spine, are compressed, long ovate, with
acuminate or contracted tips; the smaller ones are acute-ovate,
like the dorsal ones. The largest occur on the outer dorsal
spines.
The peroral and adoral spines are considerably elongated and
acute. The oral area is deeply concave, so as to conceal most of
the spines. The smaller alternate adambulacral plates are not
carinate and do not project into the grooves. They usually bear
one very small inner spine and two longer very unequal outer
ones.
The ambulacral sucker-feet are large. Proximally they form
four rows; farther out. they are in two zigzag rows on each side;
toward the end of the rays, they are reduced to two nearly
straight rows.
This was taken by the Blake, at station 134, off Santa Cruz, in
248 fathoms, 10 specimens; and at station 157, off Montserrat, in
120 fathoms, one specimen.
The specimens studied by me were mostly taken by the Al-
batross. The larger, described above, was from station 2396, off
Pensacola, Fla., in 335 fathoms, gray mud, bottom temperature
41.80° F. (No. 18,450, Nat. Mus.) The other was from station
2394, also off Pensacola, in 525 fathoms, hight gray mud (No.
10,422). It was also taken at several other localities.
Family PEDICELLASTERID Perrier.
Pedicellasteride Perrier, Etoiles de Mer., pp. 167, 194, 1884; Exped. Trav.
et Talism., p. 92, 1894. Sladen, op. cit., p. 556, 1889. Verrill, op.
cit., p. 202, 1914a.
Pedicellasteride (pars) Perrier, op. cit., 1885, p. 15.
Disk small, rays usually five or six, sometimes ten to twelve or
more, as in Coronaster. Dorsal skeleton usually reticulated, or
with few rows of plates.
Ambulacral feet are in two rows, at least distally. The jaws
are formed by modified adambulacral plates. Pedicellarie are of
two kinds, much like those of Asteriide.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 31
Genus CoRONASTER Perrier.
Coronaster Perrier, Ann. Sci. Nat. Zodl., vol. xix, No. 8, pp. 5, 9, 1885;
Exped. Trav. et Talism., p. 92, 1894. (Type, C. parfaiti.) Sladen,
op. cit., pp. xxxix, 592, 1889.
Delicate starfishes with a small disk and numerous slender
rays, covered with long, slender spines in radial rows. The
dorsal skeleton is weak, made up of the rows of median and
superomarginal plates, connected together by slender transverse
ossicles. Each plate of the longitudinal rows usually bears one
slender spine.
Both rows of marginal plates well developed and spiniferous.
No interactinal plates. Adambulacrals diplacanthid. Large,
felipedal, dermal major pedicellarie occur above and_ below.
Minor pedicellarie form large cireumspinal wreaths, borne on
contractile sheaths. Tube-feet are relatively large, in two rows,
not crowded. A pair of rather large peroral spines on the mar-
gins of the oblong jaws, with groups of oral marginal pedicel-
larie.
CORONASTER BRIAREUS Verrill, 1914a, p. 49.
Asterias briareus Verrill, Brief Cont. to Zodl., No. 50, Amer. Journal
Sei., vol. xxiii, p. 220, 1882; Notice of Rem. Maine Fauna, in Annual
Rep. Com’r. of Fish and Fisheries for 1882, p. 659, 1884, ditto for
1883, p. 540; Amer. Jour. Science, ser. 3, vol. xlix, p. 209, 1895.
Starfish ‘‘near Asterias volsellata,’’ Nutting, Narrative Bahama Exped.,
p- 168, fig. 3, 1895.
Plate i; figures 1, 2. Plate ix, figures 4—4c.
Disk small,rays slender, elongated. Rays variable in number,
ten to twelve in the larger specimens, one of the larger has the
radu 8™™ and 76™™; ratio 1:9.5.
The dorsal skeleton is openly reticulated. There is a marked
medial radial carina, with larger plates and longer spines. The
marginal plates also form ridges. These five rows of plates are
connected by slender transverse ossicles, leaving large rectangu-
lar papular areas, with numerous papule in clusters.
The dorsal and marginal spines are long, slender, acute, not
very near together. A few arise, also, from the transverse ossi-
cles.
The spines are all much alike in form and size. They bear
large dense wreaths of small minor pedicellarix, usually on a
32 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
sheath which may be contracted to near the base or extended to
near the tip in preserved specimens.
Solitary felipedal or unguiculate major pedicellarie of large
size and remarkable in form are scattered on the dermis, above
and below; others are on the inner furrow margins. They are
hand-shaped, with curved, acute terminal denticles, interlocking
like fingers or claws. The valves are wider distally and there
are generally about five or six interlocking denticles.
The adambulacral spines are two to each plate, slender, elong-
ated. There are no interactinal plates nor spines; the inferomar-
ginals join closely to the adambulacrals.
It was taken by the Bahama Expedition at Station 61, off Key
West, in 75 to 80 fathoms, and at Station 64, in 110 fathoms, off
American Shoal, Florida.
It was dredged by the U. S. Fish Commission, at several sta-
tions in 31 to 373 fathoms, between N. lat. 37° 18’ 11” and
36° 41’ 05”.
This is the species described by Professor Nutting, as the
most beautiful starfish obtained. See Narrative of Bahama Ex-
pedition, p. 168, and figure on opposite plate.
GENUS PEDICELLASTER Sars.
Pedicellaster Sars, Oversigt Norges Ech., p. 77, 1861. Perrier, op. cit.,
1884, p. 194; Exped. Trav. et Talism., p. 99, 1894. Sladen, op. cit.,
p. 557, 1889. Verrill, op. cit., p. 202, 1914a.
Delicate starfishes with a small disk and usually five or six
slender rays, sometimes more. Dorsal plates form a reticulation.
Ambulacral feet in two rows. Ambulacral groove relatively wide
and open. Dorsal and marginal plates are covered with small
spinules.
Pedicellarize of both kinds are formed on most, if not all,
species when adult. :
PEDICELLASTER POURTALESI Perrier.
Pedicellaster pourtalesi Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zo6l., vol. ix. p. 7, 1881;
Etoiles de Mer, p. 194, pl. iii, fig. 4.
Rays very slender, fragile at base, elongated, terete, obtuse.
The type had the radii 4™™ and 21™™; ratio, about 1:5.
Dorsal plates are delicate mostly in three rows, a ecarinal and
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 33
one dorsolateral on each side, united transversely by small ossi-
eles. Each principal plate bears a single small spine, marginal
plates and spines are similar.
The adambulacral plates are relatively large; each bears two
or three small, slender spines in a transverse row.
The madreporie plate is small, with few gyri. Minor pedicel-
larie are dermal, scattered between the dorsal spines.
Recorded by Perrier from four Blake stations, among the
Lesser Antilles, in 127 to 250 fathoms. It was also taken by the
Albatross in the same region.
Order SpPINULOSA Perrier.
Stelleride Spinulose Perrier, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., vi, p. 154, 1884.
Spinulosa Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talism., pp. 27, 138, 1894.
Phanerozonia and Cryptozonia (pars) Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, p. xxiii, 1889.
Spinulosa Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 251. (Table of known families.) Ver-
rill, op. cit., pp. 24, 304, 1914a.
This order, established by Perrier, includes eryptozonate (rare-
ly subphanerozonate) starfishes, which usually have {but two
rows of ambulacral feet (four in Diplopteraster). The am-
bulacral plates are not crowded. The dorsal plates, generally
reticulated or imbricated, spinulose, granulose or naked, often
form pseudopaxille or parapaxille, but they rarely, if ever,
form true paxille. The dorsal plates are sometimes isolated,
rudimentary, or absent in deep-sea genera. The pedicellarie
are commonly lacking; when present they are neither forcipulate
nor forficulate. They may be pineer-like, with two or more
simple valves, and are always dermal.
Perhaps the structure of the pedicellarie is the most positive
character for separating certain genera of this group from some
of the aberrant Forcipulosa.
The marginal plates are nearly always small and sometimes
indistinct; the lower ones are usually the larger; they never
form a thick rigid margin; the margin may be acute or rounded.
Papule may occur both on the dorsal and on the actinal sur-
faces, but they are restricted to the dorsal surface in most fam-
ilies. The odontophores are adambulacral and of various forms.
The ambulacral grooves are usually narrow. The ambulacral
feet always have a terminal sucker. The ambulacral ampulle
may be single (Echinasteride) or double.
34 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
A number of the genera do not have free-swimming larve,*
but are known to carry their eggs and larve attached about the
mouth, or else in a marsupial pouch (gonocodium) until they
become true starfishes, large enough to care for themselves. This
habit is usually associated with the lack of pedicellarie. It is
conducive to the formation of local varieties. The order may
be naturally divided into two suborders:
Suborder I — Avenata Ver., op. cit., 1913; 1914a, p. 204.*
This includes the more typical forms in which there is no
dorsal, tent-like marsupial chamber for the protection of the eggs
and young. The spines are either all free, or partially or wholly
webbed together into groups, as in Solasteridw, in which the
groups of adambulacral spines form transverse combs complete-
ly webbed together, and the dorsal spinules are partially so.
It includes the following families represented in this collection:
Echinasteridw; Solasteride ; Korethrasterida, deep sea; Aster-
inde; Poraniide. Also; the following extralimital families, be-
sides other smaller groups: Acanthasteride; Mithrodide; Py-
thonasteridw, deep sea; Myxasteride, deep sea.
Il — Suborder VeLATA Perrier (as an order).
This group includes only the family Pterasteride. It is re-
markable for having most of the spines webbed together in clus-
ters and for the remarkable development of a superdorsal mem-
brane, more or less completely uniting the paxille together, and
usually forming a dorsal marsupial pouch or gonocodium in
which the eggs and young are carried.
Suborder AvELATA Verrill (See above).
Family Ecuinasterip Verrill (restricted).
Echinasteride Verrill (pars), Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., i, p. 343, 1867. Per-
rier (pars), Revis. Stell., Arch. Zodl., iv, pp. 299, 358, 1875.
Echinasterine Viguier, Arch. Zod]. Exper. et Gen., vii, p. 123, 1878 (strue-
ture.)
Echinasteride Sladen (pars), Voy. Chall., xxx, p. 535, 1889. Bell, Catal.
Echinod., pp. 23, 95, 1890. Perrier, Etoiles de Mer, Nouv. Arch.
Mus. Nat. Hist., vi, p. 164, 1884; Exp. Trav. et Talism., pp. 28, 141,.
* This is the case with the genera Henricia, Pteraster, Hymenaster, and
others,
* There once misspelled as Alvelata.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 35
1894. Ludwig, Fauna Arctica, i, p. 472, 1900. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b,
p. 258, analytical table known genera, p. 259. Verrill, op. cit., p. 205,
1814a.
Dorsal skeleton usually formed of small, sometimes over-
lapping, reticulated or areolated plates; sometimes they form
longitudinal radial rows. Median dorsal row is often indistinct.
Upper marginals small, often not specialized. Inferomarginals
usually distinct. One or more interactinal rows are usually
present. Dorsal and marginal spines may be large and isolated
or minute and clustered, but not truly paxilliform. They are
often covered with a distinct, thick, dermal membrane, which
may contain calcareous granules.
The ambulacral ampulle are usually single, one to each tube-
foot.
Ambulacral grooves narrow. Adambulacral spines small, two
or several to a plate, usually in a transverse group or a single
transverse row. No pedicellarize are known.
The most prominent genera are Echinaster and Henricia, both
of which occur in the West Indies.
Genus EcuInaster Miiller and Troschel, emended.
Echinaster (pars) Miller and Troschel, Monatsber., Berlin. Wis. Akad.,
April, 1840, p. 102; Wieg. Arch., 1840 (non Gray); Syst. Aster., p.
22, 1842 (pars).
Othilia Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vi, p. 281, Dec., 1840; Synopsis Star-
fishes, p. 12, 1866. Fisher, 1911b, p. 260.
Echinaster Perrier, Revis. Stell. du Mus., Arch. Zool. Exper., iv, p. 364, 1875.
A, Agassiz, North Amer. Starfishes, p. 97, pl. x, 1877 (structure of
skeleton.) Viguier, Squelette Stell., Arch. Zo6l. Exper., vii, p. 123, pl.
vii, figs. 1-7, 1878 (structure of skeleton.) Sladen, Voy. Chall., Zodl.,
xxx, p. 553, 1889. Perrier, Exp. Trav. et Talism., p. 146, 1894. Ver-
rill, op. cit., p. 206, 1914a.
Stellate, usually with the disk rather small. Rays normally
five, of moderate length, rounded. Larger dorsal and marginal
plates strong, lobate, convex in the middle, and having a central
mammilla and pit for the attachment of the usually solitary
spine. The larger ossicles are united into reticulations by small,
rounded, connective ossicles, leaving large papular areas; soli-
tary papule may occur in the marginal and actinal regions.
The whole surface is covered in life with a rather thick, soft
integument, containing small granules on the spines. Dorsal
36 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
spines are conical, acute, mostly isolated, sometimes in small
groups.
Upper and lower marginal plates are not very distinct, with
spines like the dorsals. Adambulacral spines form a small oblique
or transverse row of two to four; the inner ones are smaller,
inserted in the groove, just above the margin.
The genus Othilia Gray, December, 1840, appears to be a syno-
nym of Echinaster Miiller and Troschel, April, 1840. The type
of the latter was E. spinosus * = A. echinophora Lam., both by
virtual tautology and by designation. (See foot-note in Miiller
and Troschel, Syst. Ast., p. 22, 1842.) Hchinaster of Gray, 1866,
is Acanthaster of later writers.
This genus is found in all tropical and subtropical seas, chief-
ly in shallow water.
ECHINASTER SENTUS (Say) Liitken.
Asterias sentus Say, Journ. Philad. Acad., v, p. 143, 1825.
Othilia aculeata Gray, Annals Nat. Hist., vi, p. 281, 1840; Gray, Synopsis
Starfish, p. 12, 1866.
Echinaster spinosus (pars) Miller and Trosch., Syst. Ast., p. 22, 1842.
Verrill, Notes on Radiata, p. 343, 1867. Ives, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Philad., for 1890, p. 325. Clark, Echinoids and Asteroids of Jamaica,
p- 6, 1898.
Othilia spinosa Agassiz, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zo6l., p. 308, 1869.
Echinaster sentus (Verrill, MSS., 1866). Liitken, Vid. Meddel., pp. 60,
[284], 1871; 9 Perrier, Arch. Zool. Exper., iv, p. 366, 1875; A. Agassiz.
North American Starfishes, p. 97, pl. x, figs. 1-6, 1877 (figs. of living
and structure.) KR. Rathbun, Echinoderms of Brazil, p. 147, 1879.
Plate xxix; figure 2. Young.
The two marginal rows of plates are pretty regular but not
much differentiated from the others in size or form. The upper
row usually has only one stout conical spine, with a mammiform
base, on each plate. It turns upward proximally, reaching the
dorsal side, and leaving a wide interradial intermarginal area,
in which there are a number of spineless plates, and usually one
short intermarginal row of plates bearing one spine each in a
typical specimen from Florida.
8 The name spinosus (Retz.) is not tenable for any species of the genus
for Asterias spinosa R. was antedated by A. spinosa Pennant, 1777.
9Liitken here refers to Verrill (correspondence) and to his determina-
tion in 1866 (op. cit., p. 348), of sentus.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 37
The intermarginal plates are like the upper ones, but extend
regularly to near the small adoral area. Some of them some-
times bear two, or even three, conical spines, close together, but
ordinarily only one. The peractinal plates form a single row of
small, oblong, transverse connective ossicles between the infero-
marginals and the adambulacrals. Between them are large pap-
ular pores, either isolated or in small groups; many of these
ossicles are without spines, but some of them usually have a
small conical spine, near the outer adambulacrals.
The adambulacral spines are small and subacute, in some-
what oblique transverse series of three. They are much smaller
and more numerous than the adjacent spines, about four of their
plates corresponding to one marginal plate. The inner furrow-
spine is much the smaller; the next is nearly as large as the
outer one. These last are webbed together basally and thus form
a continuous regular border to the furrow. Most of the dorsal
spines can be referred to five irregular rows, above the supero-
marginals. These are one pretty distinct median radial row,
and two less distinct dorso-lateral rows on each side. There are
also some irregular interpolated spines on the connective ossi-
eles. Many of the larger plates bear two and some three clus-
tered spines.
The papular areas are large and the papule are very numer-
ous, not only on the dorsal side, but also between the marginal
rows, and are present also next to the adambulacrals, where they
become less numerous.
The madreporie plate is raised, flat, wart-like, covered with
rough projections, like stout spinules.
The Young. Plate xxix; figure 2.
A young specimen, apparently of this species, was taken by
the expedition in shallow water on the Great Bahama Bank.
Its radii are 7™™ and 26™™. It has the two rows of marginal spines
well developed and pretty regular. There are about eight or
nine in the upper series and about twelve in the lower. They
are relatively large, conical, acute.
The dorsal spines are similar in size and form. They form, on
some of the rays, too pretty definite dorso-lateral rows of five
or six, with a few in the median row. In other cases the median
38 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
row has five or six spines and the doso-lateral ones fewer. The
papular pores are small and numerous dorsally ; few and mostly
isolated below the inferomarginal spines. A row of small inter-
actinal plates separates the inferomarginal plates from the
adambulacrals and some of these bear rudimentary spines, and
many have small solitary papule between them.
The adambulacral plates have three small spines in an oblique
row; the inner one is very small and deep in the furrow; the
outer ones are webbed together longitudinally. Color, when dry,
pale yellowish brown. The madreporite is small, round, rough
with minute spinules.
TERATOLOGY.
A regular four-rayed specimen was obtained by the Bahama
Expedition at the Great Bahama Bank, in shallow water, May
17, 1893.
The radii are 18™™ and 53™™; ratio, 1:4.1. The dorsal spines are
rather numerous, subequal, of moderate size and acute. They
do not form definite or obvious rows, but appear as if in about
six or seven zigzag and irregular rows proximally. They are
not crowded.
Papular areas, between them, are large, with many rather large
pores; these areas form about six irregular rows. Additional
ones exist between the rows of marginal spines and scattered
papule oceur between the inferomarginals and the adambula-
crals, and between the interactinals.
The rows of superomarginal spines are not clearly distinct
from the dorsals, being of the same size and form and the rows
are irregular. The inferomarginal row is more regular, but the
spines are of the same size. This row is near the adambulacral
plates and about four of the adambulacral plates correspond
to each of these spines in the amount of space occupied. There
are about twenty to twenty-four of these spines in each row.
Proximally there is a short irregular intermarginal row, and also
a row of small interactinals, the latter mostly spineless.
‘he adambulacral plates mostly bear three partially webbed
spines. Two on the outer surface are subequal, one nearly
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 39
above the other; the other is much smaller and deeper in the
groove; distally there is often another smaller furrow-spine still
deeper in the groove. The madreporite is round, elevated, wart-
like, and covered with small rough spinules. The color of the
dry specimens is yellowish brown, to dark purplish brown.
Mr. A. Agassiz (op. cit., 1877, pl. x) gave excellent figures of
this species from living specimens as well as many structural
details of the skeletal parts.
It is the common shallow water species found on our coast,
from North Carolina to Florida. In the number and size of the
spines and the number of the rows it exceeds FE. echinophora,
but has many less than F. spinulosa.
Most of the earlier writers, including Lamarck, Miiller and
Troschel, and many others combined this with ,Z. echinophora,
under the specific name ‘‘spinosus,’’ a name that was often at-
tributed to Retzius, 1805 (as Asterias spinosa), which was ante-
dated, however, by A. spinosa Pennant. It is doubtful, as shown
by Litken, whether the brief diagnosis of Retzius refers to any
Echinaster. In any ease it was preoccupied and cannot be used
for any species of this genus.
The Asterias spinosa of Say, 1825, was primarily the common
Astervas forbest of our coast, but also included A. vulgaris, for
he had specimens from the coast of Maine.
This determination, and also the fact that Say’s A. sentus,
was an Echinaster like spinosus of authors, was published by me
in 1866. (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. x, p. 348) and was
earlier communicated to Liitken. I did not publish the combined
names at that time.
This species occurs in shallow water on the southern coasts of
the United States, from North Carolina to the Florida Reefs,
and to Yucatan. It is also common in the West Indies, from
the Bahamas to St. Thomas. I have seen it from Cuba, Ba-
hamas, and Hayti. Yueatan (Ives), St. Thomas (Liitken), Ba-
hia and Pernambuco, Brazil (R. Rathbun), Jamaica (Clark).
The Bahama Expedition took specimens on the Great Bahama
Bank, including one four-rayed specimen, described above.
40 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
ECHINASTER SPINULOSUS Verrill.
Echinaster spinulosus Verrill, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. History, vol. xii, p.
386, 1869. Liitken, op. cit., p. 285 [61], 1871. Ives, op. cit., p. 326,
1890.
Plate iv; figures 1, 2.
This species is characterized by having long, slender, terete,
tapered rays, covered with numerous small, conical, subacute or
often blunt spinules, in many more or less evident rows, and
often standing two or three on a plate. The number in each
row may be forty or more.
The number of rows, exclusive of inferomarginals, may be
from fifteen to twenty-one in the larger examples. A medium-
sized specimen (type) has the radii 12™™ and 72™; ratio, 1:6.
The largest specimens have the radii about 14™™ and 80™".
A typical specimen of medium size from West Florida has
these characters; the two rows of marginal plates can readily be
distinguished in this and in most other dried specimens, not only
by their larger size and more rounded form, but also by a finely
granulated and well defined patch on the convex part of each
plate and mostly below the single spine, but often including most
of the surface of the plate. Over this granular surface the in-
vesting dermal membrane is so thin that the granules can usually
be seen without preparation, and sometimes they appear as if
naked. They are not found on the intermarginal and peractinal
plates.
The two rows of marginals are pretty regular and can be
traced to the tips of the arms, each bearing one small conical
spine. On the distal third of the ray the two rows are contigu-
ous; on the proximal part they are separated by two or three
short, irregular rows of intermarginals, each bearing a conical
spine. In the interradial area additional spineless plates are
interpolated, broadening the area, for here the upper marginal
row turns upward to the dorsal side.
Many papular pores are found between the marginals and
intermarginals, but none below the inferomarginals in most speci-
mens.
Granulated patches also occur on the plates of the principal
dorsal rows.
The interactinal or peractinal plates and spines form a
pretty regular row, extending nearly to the tips of the rays,
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 41
where they become very small. Most of them bear one small
conical spine, close to the outer adambulacral. The outlines and
sutures of these plates are usually concealed by dermis; some-
times proximally, a number of them are spineless and visible,
when they appear as narrow, flat, oblong, transverse ossicles, ex-
tending between the inferomarginal and adambulacral plates.
The adambulacral plates have two small furrow-spines, one
above the other. The most interior one is the smaller; on the
outer margin, and not quite in line with the others, there is a
somewhat larger and stouter but small, conical spine. Those on
consecutive plates are webbed together for about half their height
and also webbed to the upper one of the furrow-series, forming
a continuous row.
The madreporic plate is prominent, flattish, wart-like, covered
with thin, rough, irregular ridges and points.
Alcoholic and well dried specimens of this species are usually
purplish brown, but many, when dried, become yellowish brown.
In life it is reddish brown.
This species is abundant on the west coast of Florida, at Tam-
pa Bay, Egmont Key, and many other localities.
In the Yale Museum, besides the types from Egmont Key,
there are specimens received from the U. S. Nat. Mus. from the
following places: Pine Key, Cedar Key, Goodland Point, and
Marco, W. Florida; Gulf of Mexico, S. of Alabama (stations
2370, 2373, 2387, steamer Albatross), in 23 to 32 fathoms. I
have seen no West Indian specimens nor any from East Florida.
This is more nearly allied to E. braziliensis than to either of
the other species.
It has many more rows of spines than FZ. sentus, and many
more spines in each row, while the spines are also much smaller
and more slender. The rays are also longer and more slender.
ECHINASTER BRAZILIENSIS M. and Tr.
Echinaster braziliensis M. and Trosch. (pars), Syst. Aster., p. 22 (not the
figure, pl. i, fig. 4). Liitken, op. cit., p. 9 [67], 1859; p. 284 [60],
1871. Verrill, Notes on Radiata, pp. 343, 368, 1868. Perrier, Archiv.
Zool. Erp., vol. iv, p. 367, 1875. R. Rathbun, Trans. Conn. Acad Sci.,
vol. v, p. 148, 1879. Ludwig, Mem. Cour. Acad. Roy. Belg., xliv, p. 7,
1882. Ives Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., for 1890, pp. 324, 326, pl.
vill, figs. 16-18, 1890.
Othilia braziliensis A. Agassiz, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zo6l., vol. i, p. 308,
1869 (Florida, shore to six fathoms.)
(?
wae
42 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Plate xxvi; figure 1.
The ratios of the radii are about 1:5. The rays are terete and
rather slender. The spines are numerous, small, acute-conical,
not much larger than the outer adambulacrals. On the rays
they form about nine to eleven rows in the adult, with thirty or
forty in the median row, in specimens 112™™ in diameter. The
adambulacral plates have three spines.
The spines are larger and fewer than in EF. spinulosus, but
much more numerous and smaller than in E. sentus.
Color in life rust-red, paler below. (Ives.)
The figure of a portion of a ray given by Miiller and Troschel
does not agree with their description. It probably represents
E. sentus.
This Brazilian species has been recorded from shallow water
on the Florida coast by Mr. A. Agassiz; from Jamaica, by Liit-
ken and Verrill; and from Yucatan by Ives. On the Brazilian
coast it has been recorded from Pernambuco (Rathbun) to Rio
de Janeiro (Perrier). The Yale Museum has it from Bahia and
Pernambuco (coll. C. F. Hartt, Nos. 5206, 5208, 4559). Also a
specimen, perhaps of this species, from Cuba (No. 263). Mr.
Rathbun doubts the Rio de Janeiro record. Some of the other
records are also doubtful, owing to confusion with allied species.
That of Florida is doubtful. I have seen no specimens from
Florida nor from the Bahamas.
ECHINASTER ECHINOPHORUS (Lam.) Perrier.
Asterias spinosa (pars ?) Retzius, Dissert. sist. spec. cog. Asteriarum,
p- 18, 1805 (non Asterias spinosa Pennant 1777).
Asterias echinophora Lam., Anim. sans vert., ed. I, vol. ii, p. 560, 1816.
Othilia spinosa Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vi, p. 281, Dee., 1840;
Synopsis Starfishes, p. 12, 1866.
Echinaster spinus Mill. and Trosch. (pars), Syst. Ast., p. 22, 1842;
Liitken, Vidensk. Meddel., p. 90, 1859. Perrier, Pédicell., p. 57, 1869.
Echinaster (Othilia) crassipina Verrill, Trans. Conn, Acad., i, p. 368, pl. iv,
fig. 7, 1868.
Echinaster crassispinus Liitken, op. cit., p. 283 [61], 1871. Ives, op. cit.,
1890, p. 326.
Echinaster echinophorus Perrier, Arch. Zéol. Exper., iv, p. 364, 1875. R.
Rathbun, Echinod. Brazil, p. 147, 1879. Ives, Proce. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Philad. for 1889, p. 171.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 43
The rays are angulated and not very long; not slender. Radii
of a medium sized specimen 12™ and 47™™; ratio about as 1:4.
On the dorsal and lateral surface of the rays there are about
five irregular rows of rather distant, relatively large, stout, acute,
conical spines, on mammilary bosses of the principal plates, and
partially covered by a thick dermis. The two outer of these
rows may be reckoned'as superomarginals, but they are like the
others.
The inferomarginals, which are on the actinal side near the
adambulacrals, but separated from them by a naked lane, form a
more regular row of about fifteen, somewhat larger than the
dorsals, but similar in form.
The disk bears a few spines, like the radials. Beneath, the
disk is covered by a smooth, naked dermis, without spines. Pap-
ular pores are numerous in large groups on the dorsal side;
fewer on the sides and beneath.
The adambulacral spines are two to a plate; the outer one is
much the larger and they form a close, regular, longitudinal
row, partly webbed; the inner one is much smaller, not half as
long, and situated deep in the furrow. Above description is
from a Brazilian specimen.
In life this species is usually bright red or crimson; it be-
comes dull reddish brown in aleohol, and usually dark purplish
brown when carefully dried.
Not uncommon in shallow water and on reefs throughout the
West Indies. It extends to the Abrolhos Reefs, Brazil, and to
Yucatan. Abundant in Bay of Bahia, Pernambuco, on rocky
bottoms, ete. (R. Rathbun). Yucatan (Ives).
I have not seen it from Florida, nor from the Bahamas. The
Yale Museum has it from the Abrohos Reefs, Brazil (coll. C. F.
Hartt, No. 1527, type of Z. crassispina), and young specimens, ap-
parently of this species, from Parahyba de Norte (coll. Hartt,
Nos. 5209, 5210, 5211).
EcHINASTER MODESTUS Perrier.
Echinaster modestus Perrier, op. cit., p. 7, 1881. Etoiles de Mer, p. 206, pl.
iii, fig. 7, 1884.
The type was evidently a young specimen. Its radii were
6™™ and 36™™; ratio, 1:6.
44 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The dorsal surface is formed of openly reticulated plates,
leaving large sunken papular areas, containing groups of three
or four papule. The investing dermis is thick.
The dorsal, dorsolateral, and lateral spines are very small and
form about nine irregular rows, with scattered spines between
them. The marginals are not distinct.
Besides the nine rows there is a regular row of interactinal
spines, which ceases at about midlength of the ray. The adam-
bulacral plates have a short, thick, obtuse furrow-spine, and ex-
terior to it, an equally larger but rather shorter spine; outside
of this there may be, in the same transverse line, one or more
small spines,
Taken by the Blake at two stations among the Lesser Antilles,
in 120 to 123 fathoms, and in the Gulf of Mexico, off West Flor-
ida, in 101 fathoms.
This has much smaller spines than specimens of EF. spinulosus
of the same size, and the surface appears more areolated.
THYRASTER SERPENTARIUS (M. and Tr.) Ives.
Echinaster serpentarius M. and Trosch., Syst. Ast., p. 24, 1842. Perrier,
op. cit., vol. iv, p. 370, 1875. Liitken, op. cit., p. 285 [61], 1871.
Thyraster serpentarius Ives, op. cit., p. 329, pl. viii, figs. 19-21, 1890.
The genus Thyraster, established for this species by Ives
(1890), is separated from Hchinaster especially by the character
of the dorsal and marginal plates, which are quadrangular, or
rhombic, overlapping by their angles, and placed in regular
longitudinal rows. They bear three or four small, thorny spines,
in a row, on the distal edge. The adambulacral plates mostly
bear a row of three or four small spines on the distal margin,
with a small furrow-spinelet. The marginal plates usually have
three spines on the distal edge, rather larger than those of the
dorsal plates, but still quite small. Diameter of the type, 4
inches. ;
It is a Mexican species, recorded by Miiller and Troschel, and
later by Ives and others, from Vera Cruz.
Genus Henricta Gray.
Henricia Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vi, p. 184, November, 1840; Synopsis
Starfishes, p. 5, 1866. Bell, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vi, p. 473, 1890;
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 45
Catal. British Echinod., p. 95, 1892. Fisher, 19110, p. 266. Verrill, op.
cit., p. 209, 1814a.
Cribella Forbes, Brit. Starfishes, p. 100, 1841, or December, 1840.
Echinaster (pars) Miiller and Troschel, April, 1840; Syst. Aster., p. 22,
1842.
Cribrella Liitken, Gronl. Echinod., p. 30, 1857. Norman, Ann, and Mag. Nat.
Hist., xv, p. 124, 1865. Verrill, Proc. Boston Soc, Nat. Hist., x, p. 345,
1866. Perrier, Revis. Stell. Mus., Arch. Zod]. Exper., iv, p. 373, 1875.
A. Agassiz, North Amer. Starfishes, p. 113, pl. xviii, 1877 (structure of
skeleton). Viguier, Squellette des Stell., Arch. Zodl. Exper., vii, p. 126,
pl. vii, figs. 8-15, 1878 (odontophore). Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, p. 540,
1889. Perrier, Exp. Trav. et Talism., p. 143, 1894. Ludwig, Fauna
Arctica, p. 473.
Stellate starfishes usually with five terete, slender rays; some-
times with short rays and wide disk. Sometimes with six or
more rays in autotomous species.
Dorsal plates are numerous and small, united into a rather
closely reticulated structure, bearing numerous papular pores,
either isolated or in small groups. Dorsal spinules minute and
nearly uniform, crowded in divergent clusters on the convex
ossicles of the dorsal, lateral, and actinal surfaces.
The madreporie plate is inconspicuous and usually spinulose ;
sometimes two are present in autotomous species. There is no
thick dermis over the plates.
Supermarginals are small, often indistinct, and like the dor-
sals. Inferomarginal plates distinct, often larger than the su-
peromarginals, contingent with the latter distally, but often sep-
arated proximally by one, two, or more interpolated rows of
marginal ossicles, varying in number and extent, and thus caus-
ing great variations in the thickness and taper of the rays. In-
teractinals and inferomarginals similar and closely joined, con-
vex, and covered with small spinules; the rows are separated
by papular pores, which may also occur between the interactinal
and adambulacral plates.
The two rows of marginal plates, the interactinal and the
adambulacrals agree nearly or quite in radial length, at least
proximally, so that they form regular transverse series.
The adambulacral plates are transversely oblong. Their actinal
face is covered with numerous spinules in two or more transverse
rows, or in a compact group; those near the furrow margin are
longer, and one to three may stand on the margin; there is one
46 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
or sometimes two furrow-spines within the groove. Pedicellariz
have not been found in any species.
The eggs and young are carried in clusters around and below
the oral region until the young take on the stellate form pro-
vided with sucker-feet.
This genus differs from Echinaster in the absence of a thick
external integument; in the covering of minute spinules; and in
the nearly uniform small ossicles of the dorsal and lateral skel-
eton, the connective ossicles being almost indistinguishable from
the primary series; and in the quadrangular form and regular
arrangement of the marginal and interactinal plates.
According to the accepted rules of priority it is necessary to
adopt Henricia instead of Cribrella as the name of this genus,
for it has at least a month of priority. Cribrella of Agassiz,
1835, was a different group.
HENRICIA ANTILLARUM (Perrier). Verrill, 1914a, p. 210.
Cribrella antillarum Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zo6l., vol. ix, p. 8, 1881;
Etoiles de Mer, p. 207, pl. ili, fig. 3, 1884.
Rays, in the type, five, rather long, slender terete, regularly
tapered. Radii 7™™ and 42™™; ratio, 1:6.
Dorsal ossicles small, reticulated, leaving numerous papular
areas mostly smaller than the ossicles and containing a single
papula. They are covered with numerous minute, short spinules.
Madreporie plate single, raised, about midway between the cen-
ter and margin of the disk, and covered with minute spinules
similar to those of the dorsal ossicles.
Two marginal rows of plates are well developed, rectangular,
closely covered with minute spinules.
There are two or three rows of interactinal plates proximally,
but only one reaches the middle of the ray. Their larger plates
are quadrangular and of the same length as the marginals and
adambulacrals.
The latter are transversely oblong; their actinal surface is
covered with small spinules; five or six of them become abruptly
larger near the furrow margin and stand in two rows, two or
three in each row.
Dredged by the Albatross at station 2671, off Georgia, in 280
fathoms. (No. 18,392, N. Mus.)
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 47
Perrier recorded it from five Blake Exped. stations, in 127 to
734 fathoms, among the Lesser Antilles.
The specimen from off southern Georgia (No. 18,392) has the
proximal interactinal plates transversely oblong or rectangular,
and similar to the marginals in size and form.
The adambulacral spines are strongly differentiated ; the three
nearest the groove show a decided approach to the formation of
a true marginal comb. Those next to these are about twice as
long as those farther back. There is a small furrow-spine deep
in the groove, and distally there may be two.
Small isolated papular pores form a row between the inter-
actinals and marginals, and also between the former plates; a
few are located proximally between the interactinals and mar-
ginals.
HENRICIA SEXRADIATA (Perrier) Ver.
Cribrella sexradiata Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. ix, p. 8, 1881;
Etoiles de Mer, p. 209, pl. iv, fig. 6, 1884.
Henricia sexradiata Verrill, N. Pacific Starfishes, p. 371, 1914a.
Plate xi; figure 7. Details.
Rays slender, variable in number, often unequal in size; most
frequently there are six of which about three are shorter than
the others, due to autotomy.
The type described by Perrier had the radii 6™™ and 13™";
ratio, 1:2.16; others have relatively longer rays.
The dorsal surface is covered with numerous small reticulated
ossicles, carrying very small spinules; the papular areas are
smaller than the ossicles and mostly have a single papula. Two
madreporic plates are usually present, small, granulated, one each
side of a single ray.
The two rows of marginal plates are very distinct; the plates
are quadrangular and covered with nearly uniform minute spin-
ules, a little larger than those on the dorsals. There is a short
row of peractinal plates of similar size and form, proximally.
The adambulacral plates are transversely oblong; they bear,
near the inner margin, about five small obtuse spinules, larger
than the others, and forming two longitudinal rows; two belong
to the inner or marginal row; three to the outer one. The rest
48 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
of their actinal surface is covered with smaller, short, obtuse
spinules, resembling granules.
Perrier recorded this species from the Blake Expedition from
off West Florida,’® in 101 fathoms, and off Barbados in 150
fathoms. I have seen it, also, from Blake station 297, in 123
fathoms, off Barbados. The Bahama Expedition dredged it off
Havana, in about 200 fathoms.
This may be only a variety or form of H. antillarum. Such
differences as have been noticed may be due to the variations
caused by autotomous division. The possession of six rays can-
not be regarded as a specific character, especially in autotomous
species.
HENRICIA MICROSPINA Verrill, sp. nov.
A small species with a small disk and five very slender terete
rays. Radii of the type 4.5™" and 23™"; ratio, 1:5.1.
The dorsal surface is evenly covered with very small irregular
plates many of them roundish, forming a finely but rather
evenly riticulated structure, in which the plates and ossicles are
narrower than the sunken papular areas between them. The
papule are mostly solitary. The madreporic plate is small,
somewhat raised, nearly destitute of spinules.
The spinules are remarkable small and thin, almost micro-
scopic in size, very slender and short. They are rather nu-
merous on the larger plates, but are not crowded, partly owing
to their thinness.
Plates of both marginal rows are very distinct, transversely
oblong, nearly equal, and covered with numerous very minute,
spaced spinules like those of the dorsals but a trifle larger. The
two rows are separated only by a narrow naked groove distally,
but at the base of the rays a few intermarginal plates le between
them. ;
The interactinal plates form a single regular row. They are
squarish, about half as large as the marginals, and spinulated in
the same way. There is a simple row of minute papular pores
each side of the interactinal row of plates.
10 Perrier gives this station erroneously as No. 47. It should be No. 45.
He also errs in giving the longitude as 33° 21’ East. It should read 83° 21’
East. It is in N. lat. 25° 33’, Northwest of Dry Tortugas.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 49
The adambulacral spines are very characteristic. There is a
strictly marginal comb, directed horizontally across the groove,
and composed proximally usually of three slender spines,
webbed at base. Distally these spines are reduced to two and
near the tip of the ray to one. Deep in the groove there is
sometimes a minute furrow spine, especially distally, but prox-
imally it is usually lacking or rudimentary.
On the actinal face of the plate there are numerous minute
spinules, of which four to six, near the inner margin, become de-
eidedly longer than the rest.
The adambulacral plates and spines project strongly into the
groove, but are so much separated serially that they leave large
rounded interspaces for the passage of the sucker-feet, which
appear to be larger than usual.
Taken by the Albatross at station 2655, in 338 fathoms, north
of Bahamas, N. lat. 27° 22’; W. long. 78° 7’ 30”. (No. 18,390,
Nat. Mus.)
Family Souasterip Perrier.
Solasterine (sub-family of Echinasteride) Viguier, Squellette des Steller-
ides, Nouv. Arch. Zodl. Exper., vii, p. 133, pl. viii, figs, 1-7, 1878,
(structure).
Solasteride Perrier, Etoiles de mer, p. 210, 1884. Sladen, Rep. Voy. Chall.,
Zool., xxx, p. 442, 1889. Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talism., p. 151, 1894.
Fisher, op. cit., 19116, p. 305. Verrill, op. cit., 1914a, p. 242.
Echinasteride (pars) Perrier, Revis. Stell., Nouv. Arch. du Mus., iv, p. 358,
1875.
Rays varying in number from five to thirteen or more. Dorsal
skeleton generally formed either by openly reticulated or loosely
imbricated (rarely detached) ossicles, which have a convex or
elevated central boss, bearing a cluster of slender paxilliform
movable spinules, webbed together into stellate or pencillate
groups (pseudopaxille). Both series of marginal plates are
usually distinguishable, at least distally, alternate or opposite,
or nearly in one line. The upper ones are often the smaller
and essentially like the dorsal pseudopaxille. Both rows bear
paxilliform spinelets.
Actinal interradial pseudopaxille are generally present and
similar to the dorsals. Adambulacral plates are transversely
elongated and bear, each, one to five or more spines, usually
50 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
webbed, in a longitudinal row on the inner margin of the groove
and one or more clusters or a transverse webbed series or comb
of movable spines on the outer surface. True pedicellarie are
not known in most species, but large specimens sometimes have
a few small bifid spines in the furrow series, and in S. stimpsom
a few minute simple bivalve pedicellariz sometimes occur on the
dorsal paxillar areas. Sladen (1888 and 1889) divided this
family into two subfamilies: Solasterine and Korethrasterine.
In this he was followed by Perrier (1894, pp. 154, 158). Later
these have been considered separate families.
Genus LopHASTER Verrill.
Lophaster Verrill, Amer. Journ. Sci. ser. III, xvi, p. 214 (type, L. furcifer),
1878. Expl. Albatross in 1883. Ann. Report U. S: Fish Comm., pp.
531, 541 [29, 39], pl. xvi, figs. 49, 49a, 1885. (L. furcifer); Amer.
Journ. Sci., xlix, p. 201, 1895. Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, pp. 458-461,
1889. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 334.
Lophaster Verrill, op. cit., 1914a, p. 366.
Solaster (pars) Danielssen and Koren, Asteroidea, Norske Nordhavs-Expd.
Zool., xi, p. 47, pl. viii, fig. 12; pl. ix, figs. 9-11, 1884 (structure).
Sarkaster Ludwig, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. xxxii, p. 185, 1905 (t.
Fisher).
Rays nominally five, sometimes six. Disk not very broad.
Dorsal surface covered with nearly uniform paxilliform plates
(parapaxille) which have a columar or raised boss, and a lobed
polygonal or cruciform base; their lobes are articulated by over-
lapping, without intermediate ossicles, and thus form a closely
reticulated structure with polygonal or subquadrate meshes, and
usually solitary papule.
Marginal plates of both series well developed, in regular series,
parapaxilliform, like the dorsals, but larger.
Interactinal plates closely united in interradial angles, with
paxilliform spinules; a single row usually extends far along the
rays in adult specimens, with or without spinules. Adambulac-
ral plates have a furrow series of webbed spines, and a trans-
verse comb on the actinal surface.
Species of this genus have been found in deep water, in all
the oceans.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES d1
LOPHASTER RADIANS Perrier.
Korethraster radians Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. ix, p. 12, 1881.
Korethraster hispidus Perrier, Etoiles de Mer, p. 212, pl. vi, figs. 9-11,
1884 (non W. Thompson).
Solaster radians Perrier, Etoiles de Mer, p. 275 (in explanation of plates),
pl. vi, figs. 9, 10, 11, 1884.
Lophaster radians Perrier, op. cit., pp. 167-170 (in lists of species), 1884,
Korethraster? radians Sladen, op. cit., p. 459 (footnote), 796, 1889.
Plate v; figure 2. Plate vii; figure 3. Plate xi; figures 1—1e.
Form stellate with a rather broad convex disk and short sub-
acute rays. Radii of the largest (sta. 64),17™™ and 40™; ;ratio,
1:2.4, It occurs with four to six rays, usually five. The dorsal
skeleton is rather openly reticulated with large quadrangular
papular areas and numerous large grouped papule.
The pseudopaxille are rather large and high, with an enlarged
convex summit, which is covered with numerous (often forty to
fifty) very slender, divergent, thorny spinules; those of the mar-
ginal fringe are longer and interlock across the spaces interven-
ing between the plates. The spinules are hyaline and often
forked at the tip, and diverge in all directions.
On the rays there is no evident median series, nor do the plates
form many regular transversely oblique rows on the sides. The
bases of the plates are mostly deeply four-lobed or substellate.
Their arrangement is evidently in radial rows.
The two marginal rows of plates are very evident and pretty
regular, and nearly opposite. The upper ones are rounded and
very similar to the larger dorsals, and higher than the adjacent
lateral ones. The inferomarginals are high, elliptical and nearly
twice as large with a correspondingly larger number of terminal
rough spinules on the convex summit.
There is a row of small peractinal plates, extending to about
the distal fourth of the rays, and a few other interactinal ones
on the small interradial areas. These have very slender, thorny
spinules.
The adambulacral plates have a prominent convex inner mar-
gin, which bears a regular compact row of four or five long,
slender, thorny, subhyaline furrow-spines, the middle ones long-
est. Their actinal surface bears a row usually of three or four
similar rough spinules, but rather stouter. In this dry specimen
there is no very evident web between these spines, except near
52 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
their bases. It is more evident in others, but it is thin and
delicate.
The oral plates are large and have a broadly and evenly
rounded margin, that of the pair combined forming a semi-
circle, and bearing along the edge a very regular compact row
of eighteen slender subequal spines, nine to each plate. Epioral
spines are also numerous and slender.
Ambulacral sucker-feet and their pores are very large, reg-
ularly biserial.
The type described by Perrier was smaller, radii 4™™ and 10™™.
Perrier, in his report on the starfishes of the Blake Expedition
(1884, pp. 167, 212, and 275), placed this species in three dis-
tinct genera, and under two different specific names (without ex-
planations or cross references), as shown in the synonymy given
above. His description was given under ‘‘ Korethraster hispidus,
sp. nov.’’; but it was a reprint of his earlier description (1881),
which was given under Korethraster radians.
The name, Lophaster radians, oceurs in his lists of species
dredged; and Solaster radians occurs only in the explanation of
plate vi. There is no reference to these figures in connection
with the description. I am not aware that he corrected these
references in any other later works.
The type of this species, described by Perrier, was quite young
(radii 4™™ and 10™™), only about one-fourth as large as the one
now described. This will account for various differences.
Perrier recorded this species from off Barbados, in 56 fathoms,
and off Havana, in 80 fathoms. It was also dredged at several
stations in the West Indies, by the ‘‘ Albatross.’’
It was taken by the Bahama Expedition at several stations.
The largest, described above, was from station 64, in 110 fath-
oms, off Florida. Smaller ones occurred at sta. 28, off Sand
Key, in 116 fathoms; and at sta. 56, Pourtales Plateau, in 200
fathoms. Another (radii 10™ and 33™™) was from station 62,
off Florida, in 80 fathoms.
Genus SouASTER Forbes.
Solaster (pars) Forbes, Mem. Wern. Soc., viii, p. 120, 1839; British Star-
fishes, p. 109, 1841. Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vi, p. 183, No-
vember, 1840; Synopsis, p. 4, 1866. Verrill, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 53
Hist., x, p. 345, 1866 (Solaster and Crossaster first separated). Agassiz,
North American Starfishes, pp. 111, 112, 1887 (structure). Perrier, Ex-
ped. Trav. et Talism., p. 154, 1894. Sladen, op. cit., p. 450, 1889.
Verrill, North Pacific Starfishes, p. 242, 1914a.
Solaster (pars) Viguier, Nouv. Arch. Zo6l, Exper., vii, p. 138, 1878 (struc-
ture).
Solaster ae Danielssen and Koren, Norw. N. Atlantic Exp., Asterioidea,
pp. 42, 52, 53, 1884 (structure). Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 306.
Crossaster (pars) Miller and Troschel, Monatsb. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., Ber-
lin, April, 1840, p. 103.
This genus includes large, handsome, multirayed species,
usually with a broad disk and slender rays.
The rays are seven to fifteen, variable in each species, but most
frequently ten to twelve. Dorsal ossicles small, mostly slightly
four-lobed, sometimes stellate, usually reticulated, or in quin-
cunx, on the disk and proximal part of the rays, but closely im-
bricated near ends of the rays, and often arranged in regular
quineunx order on the sides of the rays. They are convex or
mammillate, with a central boss, and bear a stellate or fasciculate
cluster of slender spinules, webbed together, and usually enclos-
ing one or several central spinules, connected by the web, form-
ing pseudopaxille. The outer circle of webbed spinules often
forms a funnel-shaped structure in life, or when well preserved ;
but the spinules are movable, and in dry specimens they are
usually mostly collapsed or tipped over, thus forming irregular
groups or pencils of small spinules, from five to twenty or more
in a group.
The superomarginal plates are small and close to the larger
inferomarginals, usually alternating. They are frequently hard-
ly distinguishable from the dorsal pseudopaxille, except near the
ends of the rays, but they extend regularly to the apical plate.
Inferomarginals are much larger and more elevated, usually
transversely oblong, forming a rather conspicuous row. They
bear a large number of paxilliform spinules in two or more
transverse rows. Adambulacral plates usually have three to six
shorter groove-spines, webbed together, and an actinal transverse
row of four to nine or more longer spines, also webbed.
The interradial actinal areas are small, but distinct, and bear
pseudopaxille, much like the dorsal ones.
Papule are numerous on the dorsal surface, but stand singly
o4 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
or in small groups. A single row of peractinal pseudopaxille
usually extends along the proximal part of the rays, to about
the middle.
SoLASTER CARIBBZUS Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate xxviii; figures 1—la. Type.
Disk rather large; rays seven or eight; most often eight, rather
short. Radii 14™™ and 36™"; ratio, 1:2.6.
The rays are rounded above and taper regularly. They are
closely covered with very small, elevated pseudopaxille, having
very small spinules. Papule are numerous, but mostly solitary.
Both rows of marginals are distinct and alternate. The upper
ones are much the smaller, compressed, and not much larger than
the dorsals.
The inferomarginals are more than twice larger, transversely
oblong, and bear two or more rows of short spinules.
The adambulacral plates have an inner or furrow-comb of
three or sometimes four graded, webbed spines, the middle ones
longest; and a transverse actinal comb of about four larger ta-
pered spines, of which the second and third are the larger.
The jaws have a peroral row of about eight relatively long,
tapered, subacute, graded spines (four on each side), of which
the two middle ones are considerably longer and larger than the
next, while the latter are about twice as long as the third.
All the specimens are quite young. Taken by the Albatross
at several stations in the West Indies.
Family KorETHRASTERIDZ Dan. and Kor.
Korethrasteride Danielssen and Koren, Asteroidea, Norske Nordhavs-Expd.
Zool., xi, p. 99, pl. xii, figs. 1-14, 1884 (structure). Fisher, op. cit.,
1911b, pp. 252, 340.
Korethrasterine (subfamily of Solasteride) Sladen, op. cit., p. 462, 1889.
Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talism., pp. 151-154, 158, 1894 (descr. and
analytical table).
Stellate starfishes with short rays and convex disk, flat below.
Dorsal surface covered with thin, flat, roundish plates, overlap-
ping by their edges, with a boss in the middle, bearing a fascicle
of long, divergent spinules. Inferomarginal plates are trans-
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 55
versely elongated, their outer ends forming the margin, and bear-
ing spines,
Adambulacral plates correspond. with the inferomarginals and
join them. They bear a transverse row of slender spines, usual-
ly without webs. Interactinal plates are usually lacking.
Jaws carinate, with a row of several adoral spines and a larger
terminal pair; actinal surface with a pair of larger epioral spines.
Dorsal papule are said to be lacking in the type genus; they
are present in Remaster.
Genus Remaster Perrier. Type FR. palmatus Per.
Korethraster (pars) Perrier, op. cit., 1881, p. 12; Etoiles de Mer, p. 211,
1884.
Remaster 12 Perrier, op. cit., pp. 150, 161, 1894 (as subgenus).
Dorsal plates have a four-lobed base, the lobes overlapping,
leaving large papular pores between them; from the central boss
arises a divergent circle of slender webbed spinules.
Inferomarginal plates form the border and bear marginal
spines. Two or three rows of imbricated interactinal plates on
the rays, corresponding to the adambulacrals, and bearing about
two webbed spines. The jaws have large epioral spines.
REMASTER PALMATUS Perrier.
Korethraster palmatus Per., Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., ix, p. 12, 1881; Nouv.
Arch. du Mus., vi, pp. 311, 376, pl. viii, figs. 5, 6, 1884. Sladen, op.
cit., pp. 463, 796, 1889.
Korethraster Nutting, Narrative, p. 167, 1895.
Remaster (subgenus) palmatus Per., Exp. Trav. et Talism., pp. 158, 161
(redescribed), 1894.
Plate xi; figure 2.
The type of Perrier had the radii 4.7™™ and 14™™; ratio, 1:3.
The form is stellate, with a swollen disk and short rays.
On the dorsal surface a deep interradial groove runs up to the
dorsal pore, dividing the disk into five parts. The dorsal pore
is surrounded by granules, but has no visible plates.
Five primary radial plates are distinguishable. The rest of
the radial areas are covered by squarish plates, with emarginate
12 The name refers to the large flat oral spines (t. Perrier.)
56 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
sides and rounded angles, and imbricated by the two distal lobes
of each, overlapping the edge of the two plates beyond it. Thus
each plate joins four others.
Each dorsal plate has a round central boss, carrying a fascicle
of ten to twelve long (about 1™™), slender, movable, webbed
spinules capable of becoming either divergent or fasciculate.
Two large isolated papular pores are situated on the adoral side
of each plate in the notches.
The adambulacral plates are short, but elongated transversely.
Each has a single small furrow-spine, and on its actinal side
three large flat, striated spines, truncated and fringed at the tip,
each of which seems to be composed of three united slender
spines. These form three longitudinal rows.
Outside of the adambulacrals is a range of imbricated plates,
corresponding to them in length, but a little oblique. Each of
these bears a flat fascicle of coalesced spinules like those of the
adambulacral plates. These are succeeded by an outer row of
similar, but less regular, plates which form the margin of the
under side.
Each jaw-plate bears a large, flat, lanceolate, hyaline spine,
turned outward and appressed. Other oral spines are small and
webbed together.
Ambulacral feet are rather large, in two regular rows, with
well developed suckers.
The type was taken by the Blake off Barbados, in 163 or 200
fathoms, with three others; a young one was taken near the same
place in 76 fathoms. It was also dredged in the West Indies by
the Albatross.
Taken by the Bahama Expedition at station 56, on the Pour-
tales Plateau, N. lat. 20° 16’, in 200 fathoms (3 specimens).
Family ASTERINIDS.
Asterinide (pars) Gray, Ann. and Mag. N. Hist., vi, p. 238, 1840; Synopsis,
p- 15, 1866. Perrier, Revis. Stell., iv, p. 291, 1875; v, p. 209, 1876.
Viguier, Squellette des Stell., Arch. Zool. Exper., vii, p. 205, pl. xiv, figs.
1-13, 1878 (structure). Sladen, Voy. Challenger, xxx, p. 374, 1889.
Perrier, Expl. Trav. et Talism., pp. 141, 163, 1894. Fisher, op. cit.,
1911, p. 253 (Table of genera). Verrill, Revision Asterinine, Amer.
Journal Science, vol. xxxv, p. 477, 1913 (Table of genera); Starfishes
North Pacific Coast, p. 262, 1914a.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES o7
Body usually rather flat, often thin, sometimes stellate with
long rounded rays; usually with five or six short rays, rarely
up to eight. Margins usually thin and formed mainly by the
inferomarginals; superomarginal plates small, usually scarcely
larger than the adjacent dorsals, generally with a comb or cluster
of spinules. Dorsal plates usually lobed or cross-shaped, flat
and more or less imbricated, sometimes not imbricated ; generally
covered with minute spinules, often in tufts or combs; some-
times covered with a soft, naked, or granular dermis. Ventral
side flat; interactinal plates angular, flatish, imbricated or close-
ly united, usually covered with small combs or tufts of spinules,
sometimes with only one; these plates form regular oblique
rows. Adambulacral spines simple, divergent; generally in two
sets; the furrow-spines form small, usually webbed combs of two
to eight. Those on the outer surface are in groups or fans, like
the interactinals, or single. Pedicellarie usually lacking; when
present they are two-bladed, erect, forficiform.
There is generally no single, dorsal, median, radial row of
plates; its place is taken by two, three or more alternating rows;
the larger of these plates have a papular pore or several pores
under the proximal edge. In some cases, especially while young,
there is a symmetrical median row of plates. These larger
plates usually show only one of the edges and part of one side;
seen from the inside they appear much larger, often four-lobed,
and obliquely imbricated. The dorsal plates of the outer inter-
radial areas, in many species, have conical or pillar-like processes
extending downward and meeting similar uprising processes
from the outer interactinal plates, as stalactites meet stalagmites;
or they may not join directly, but be united by an intermediate
ossicle. In some genera they are differently joined. In typical
Asterina, and doubtless in many other genera, if not in all, the
genital pores are on the ventral side, in a pair, just outside the
jaw plates, but they are seldom visible in preserved specimens.
The madreporic plate is usually rather large and placed close to
the central area of the disk; sometimes there are two or more,
rarely five.
The papular pores are dorsal and form several rows on the
median and lateral parts of the rays, and sometimes on adjacent
parts of the disk, but are absent from the more or less extended
58 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
interradial areas, where the plates are more closely imbricated
and different in shape.
ASTERINIDES Verrill. Type, A. foliwm (Ltk.)
Asterina (pars) Liitken; Sladen; Perrier, ete.
Asterinides Verrill, Revision Asterine, pp. 477, 482, 1913. N. Pacific
Starfishes, p. 263, 1914a.
Margins of disk and rays thin, subacute; rays short, depressed.
Interactinal or ventral plates in regular oblique rows, each
with a fan-shaped group of two to eight small spines, usually
webbed.
Dorsal plates of papular areas thin, nearly all of one kind, the
exposed part usually roundish, elliptical, or shield-shaped,
wholly or partly spinulose. Principal dorsal plates are all
closely imbricated. Small interpolated plates few and mostly
solitary. Adambulacral spines form a fan or comb within the
furrow-edge, and another fan on the outer surface; ventral
plates and interspaces are not covered by a granulated dermis.
No pedicellariz occur on the dorsal plates nor on the intervening
dermis.
This genus differs from typical Asterina, type, A. gibbosa,"*
chiefly in lacking the characteristic pedicellarie of that genus.
Its dorsal plates are also thinner and more scale-like, more close-
ly imbricated, and often partly naked and areolated.
ASTERINIDES FoLIuM (Liitk.) Verrill.
Asteriscus foliwm Liitken, Vidensk, Nat. Foren., Kjobenhavn, p. 60, 1859.
Asterina folium A. Agassiz, North Am. Starfishes, p. 106, pl. xiv, figs. 7-9,
1877. Sladen, op. cit., 1889, p. 393.
13 Asterina gibbosa (Pennant). This, which is the type of the genus
and family, is from Southern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.
Tt has the following characters: Dorsal plates, in the papular areas are
thick, subequal, imbricated; their exposed proximal ends are rounded, con-
vex, with the margin obtuse and bearing a cluster, usually of four to six
small, rather stout, divergent, blunt spinules, and more or less numerous
two-bladed pedicellariz, both on the plates and between them, nearly as
thick as the spinules; naked portion of the plates is finely areolated. The
median plates of the rays are scarcely larger than others; usually there is
a band of four alternating rows on the median area, with no special median
row, unless in the young. The plates of the median radial areas are shield-
shaped, with a pair of papular pores on the proximal edge, one either side
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 59
Asterina minuta Gray, (non Gmel., nec Brug.14) Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., p.
289, 1840; Synopsis Starfish, p. 16, 1866. Perrier, Arch. Zool. Exper.
et Gen., v, p. 229, 1876.
Asteriscus foliwm Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., i. p. 74, 1867.
Asterina folium Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sciences, vol. xii, p. 281, pl.
xxxiv, ¢, figs. 3, a, b, 1907.
Asterinides foliwm Verrill, Revision Asterinine, p. 479, figs. 1913a; Star.
fishes N. Pacific, p. 263, 1914a.
Plate iii; figure 5. Plate xi; figure 4. Plate XXvill; figure 2.
The rays are usually five; sometimes six or four. The dorsal
plates are usually nearly naked, often bearing only a single or
double range of small and short spinules on the most elevated
portion. Dorsal radial plates are shield-shaped, notched for the
isolated papular pores. Papular pores form six simple radial
rows. They are absent from the interradial areas.
Plates of the interradial areas are closely imbricated, not
lobed ; their exposed part is more or less rhombic.
The interactinal plates are closely united; each bears a fan of
usually three or four, sometimes five on the larger ones, of slen-
der webbed spinules.
Adambulacral plates have, in the furrow-comb, about four
slender spines, and three or four in the actinal cluster. The
madreporite is near the central area of the disk. There are no
pedicellariz.
A specimen before me, from Curacoa, has the radii 6™™ and
of the median angle, in an emargination of the edge. Small intermediate
plates are few and isolated.
The papular pores form about fourteen to eighteen short rows, extending
nearly to the margins and leaving only small interradial areas without
pores.
Adambulacral furrow-spines slender, in regular combs of three to five ;
those on the outer surface are much stouter, mostly two to a plate. In-
teractinal plates closely united, mostly with two acute spinules to a plate.
Marginals very small, those of the two rows subequal, convex, finely
spinulose.
The pedicellarie have the basal piece swollen, ovate, larger than the
tapered acute blades. They stand at all angles on dry specimens, but were
probably erect in life.
14The Asterias minuta of Gmelin, 1788, and of Brugiéres, 1792, is
without much doubt the same as A. exigua Lam., but certainly not the
present species,
60 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
11™; ratio, 1:1.8. It is the same one from which figures of the
details of structure have been made.
The rays are convex; ends obtuse. All the plates of the upper
side were naked, as received, dried. Probably they had some
spinules originally. The plates are minutely punctulate, and
closely imbricated.
Two alternating rows of plates, slightly larger than those ad-
jacent, take the place of a median radial row. They are angu-
larly shield-shaped. The adcentral edge is slightly raised and
emarginate to accommodate the single papula standing there.
No small intermediate plates are now left.
The plates in the rows of the sides of the rays, where there are
papular pores, are similar to the median ones, but slightly smaller
and mostly notched for the papula. They are somewhat oblique
or one-sided.
The papule are in six rows on the rays; others are on the disk.
The central dorsal pore is easily seen. The madreporic plate
has a small convex, round, grooved top, but the basal part is
considerably larger, with lobed margin, and has no gyri.
The adambulacral plates have four very slender graded spines
in the marginal comb, and a close group of two, or sometimes
three larger ones, on the actinal surface. The interactinal plates
have mostly two or three small spinules. The apical peroral
spines are large and acute. Curacoa, No. 7469 (Nat. Mus. coll.).
The color, in life, seems to be quite variable. At Bermuda,
where I found it common, adhering to the under side of large
flat masses of limestone, it was always of a pale, but distinct,
blue color.
This small species is the most common shallow-water member
of the family, from the Florida Keys and reefs to the Lesser
Antilles and to the Bahamas and Bermudas. Curacoa (Yale
Mus. specimen described). Perrier (1876) recorded ten speci-
mens from Guadeloupe, among which one had four and another
six rays. The Bahama Expedition took it at the Tortugas (one
specimen was six-rayed), Jamaica (Clark).
Bermuda, common under large stones. Old Providence (Yale
Mus.).
The only closely related species is A. modesta Verrill, from
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 61
Panama. For the sake of comparison a revised description of
the latter, from the type, is given here.
Asterinides modesta Verrill.
Asterina modesta Verrill, Trans, Conn. Acad, Sci., vol. i, p. 277, 1867.
Asterinides modesta Verrill, op. cit., p- 482, 1813.
Plate xxvii; figures 1—2.
Rays five, short. Dorsal radial plates are thin and closely
imbricated, with a convex outer surface; beneath concave, over
the isolated papular pore. A solitary, small, rounded plate
stands adcentrally to the papular pore; it bears a tuft of small,
slender spinules like those of the larger plates. The latter have,
near their higher margin, a row, usually single, of small, slender,
acute, divergent, thorny spinules. Pedicellarie are lacking.
The interactinal plates are few, convex, minutely punctulated.
Most of them bear a comb or fan of two or three slender spinules.
Adambulacral plates have a furrow-comb of about three slen-
der, tapered spinules,
Panama and Pear! Islands at low tide. (Yale Museum. )
Genus ENopLoPATiRia Verrill. Type, EZ marginata (Hupé).
Enoplopatiria Verrill, Revision Asterining, p. 480, 1913a. Starfishes N.
Pacific, p. 263, 1914a.
Dorsal plates are imbricated; a median radial row is distinet
in the young. The principal plates of the papular areas have
the exposed portion usually elliptical, curved, or crescent-shaped,
prominent and spinulose; small interpolated plates are present
in small groups or solitary. Ventral plates have a fan of two to
five spinules; adambulacrals have a furrow-comb of three to five
or more spines. Pedicellariw are present on the dorsal plates,
especially on the small interpolated plates.
In this group the papular area is plainly differentiated on the
rays; it consists, in the adults, of about four or five median and
submedian rows of larger and broader, four-lobed or five-lobed
plates, curved and notched proximally for the papular pores,
and of two or three rows of narrower, obliquely placed, lobed
plates, having an angular proximal lobe, and notched proximally
over the papular pore.
62 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Between all the larger plates are a few small rounded plates,
either solitary or in small groups, and often bearing a single
bivalved pedicellaria.
On the dorsal interradial areas, beyond the papule, the plates
are smaller, closely imbricated, subtriangular or pelecoidal, thick-
ened, usually with a solitary small ossicle between their angles.
ENOPLOPATIRIA MARGINATA (Hupé) Verrill.
Asteriscus marginatus Hupé, Voyag. Castelneau, Zool., iii, p. 100, 1857.
Perrier, Pedicell., p. 97, 1869.
Asteriscus braziliensis Liitken, op. cit., 1859, p. 57.
Asteriscus stellifer Mobius, Hamburgur Abhand. Geb. Natur., iv, 1859.
Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad., i, p. 343, 1867.
Asteriscus minutus (pars) M. and Tr., System Aster., p. 41, 1842. (non L.,
non Gmel., nec Gray, etc.)
Enoplopatiria marginata Verrill, Revis. Asterinine, p. 480, 1813; Star-
fishes N. Pacific, p. 263, 1914a.
Plate vii; figure 2. Brazil.
Depressed, stellate, with short, rather obtuse rays, and rather
evenly incurved interradial margins. Becomes 65™™ or more in
diameter. Larger dorsal plates rather conspicuous with thick-
ened exposed portions, mostly broad crescent shaped. The larger
ones bear a curved single or double row of about six to twelve
spinules, not covering the whole surface, and usually several
forked pedicellariz, with a large rounded basal piece, nearly as
thick as the spinules. A similar pedicellaria is usually borne on
each of the small interpolated plates.
Small specimens, up to 70™™ in diameter, usually have a dis-
tinct median dorsal row of subrhombie or shield-shaped plates,
flanked on each side by a row of obliquely placed plates of sim-
ilar size, but less symmetrical. Larger specimens usually show
the median row of plates proximally, but on the distal third or
half of the ray the dorsal rows of plates become confused and
crowded irregularly.
The plates of the dorsal interradial areas are regularly im-
bricated in alternating rows, becoming thicker proximally, and
often have a small central boss. They bear a group of small
divergent spinules.
The ventral or interactinal plates are regularly arranged in
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 63
oblique rows, thickened or convex, with a finely areolated sur-
face, and bearing a central fan of two to five or more spinules.
The smaller specimens usually have only two or three spinules;
larger ones may have four or five on the proximal ones and two
on the distal ones.
The proximal plates are so arranged that in the dry specimens
a distinct pore, similar to the dorsal papular pores in size, 1s
situated between their angles, but whether occupied by a papula
cannot be ascertained from the dry specimens. The furrow-
series of spines form a regular graded, webbed comb of about
four or five on each plate, the central spines longer. On the
actinal end of the plate there are usually two to four webbed
spines, in a fan, the number increasing with the age.
West Indies; Colon; south to the Abrolhos Reefs, and Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. West Africa; Senegal (Perrier) ; Canary
Islands.
Perrier records a six-rayed example from Brazil.
The Yale Museum has specimens from Rio de Janeiro (eoll.
C. F. Hartt, No. 5205) and other localities.
Perrier and several others regard the West African species
(E. stellifera [Mob.]) as identical with that of the American
coast. I have seen no African specimens and cannot express
any personal opinion as to their identity.
The following species, from Panama, is very closely related to
the above.
Enoplopatiria siderea Verrill.
Enoplopatiria siderea Verrill, Revision Asterinine, p. 480, 1913; Starfishes
N. Pacific, p. 365, pl. cix, fig 3, 1914a.
Plate xxvii; figures 3—3a. Type.
This is a rather large species. The type (dry) has the radii
24™™ and 45™"; ratio, 1:1.83.
It differs from the preceding in having the principal papular
plates larger, thicker, more deeply lobed, and more finely areo-
lated ; in having the distal, dorsal interradial plates more round-
ed, and provided with very regular stellate rosettes of five to
seven slender, divergent, interlocking spinules, and often one
64° NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
central spine. Combs of ventral plates have two to four slender,
tapered, subequal, webbed spines, but mostly three.
Furrow-spines are in convex combs of four or five slender,
webbed spines. Ventral plates are covered with a tough dermis.
Pedicellariz are abundant, two-valved. Marginal plates small,
convex, regular, about equal, regularly paired; lower ones are
the more prominent.
Panama. One dry specimen, presented by Capt. Dow (Yale
Univ. Mus.).
Genus ASTERINOPSIS Verrill. Type, A. penicillaris (Lam.).
Asterinopsis Verrill, Revision Asterinine, p. 480, 1913.
This genus is peculiar in having a fascicle of slender spinules
on the ventral plates, instead of a fan-shaped group, which is
usual in the family. Pedicellariz are lacking. The dorsal and
marginal plates also bear fascicles of slender spinules. Adam-
bulacral furrow-spines are in regular combs. The principal
dorsal plates are lobed or cross-shaped.
In addition to the type, which is Indo-Pacific, this genus in-
cludes the following two species.
ASTERINOPSIS PILOSA (Perrier) Verrili.
Asterina pilosa Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zo6l., vol. ix, p. 16, 1881; Nouv.
Arch. Mus., vi, p. 219, pl. ili, fig. 8, 1884.
Asterinopsis pilosa Verrill, Revis. Asterinine, p. 480, 1913.
This species was described from a single six-rayed specimen;
radii 6™ and 10™.
It is evidently very closely related to the A. lymani and may
not be distinct from it. As in the latter the ventral and dorsal
plates bear fascicles of elongated, slender spinules, appearing
silky. They agree in having six rows of papule; four slender
spines in the furrow-combs; and in most other respects. Off
Dominica I., 118 fathoms, Blake Expedition.
ASTERINOPSIS LYMANI (Perrier) Verrill.
Asterinopsis lymani Verrill, op. cit., 1913, p. 480.
Asterina lymani Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. ix, p. 15, 1881; Nouv.
Arch. du Mus., vol vi, p. 219, 1884.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 65
The following notes were made by me several years ago, on
the type specimen preserved in the Museum of Comparative
Zoology.
Rays unusually long for this group. Principal dorsal plates
are small, lobate or cross-shaped, separated by numerous rather
large papular pores; they bear close pencils of rather long, slen-
der spinules, ten or twelve or more in each pencil. The spinules
of the plates in the interradial areas are more slender and di-
vergent.
On the actinal side the outlines of the interactinal plates are
not distinguishable ; each plate bears a group or pencil of four to
six very slender, long, acute spinules, longer than those of the
dorsal plates. Marginal plates very prominent, but not very
large; not flat. Each bears a terminal close cluster of long,
slender spinules, like those of the interactinal plates. The ad-
ambulacral plates bear a comb of about four or five slender,
acute, regularly placed spinules in the furrow-series, and a
group of three to six similar spinules on the outer surface.
The type was dredged by the Blake Expedition, off Barbados.
Genus STeGNAsTER Sladen. Type, S. wesseui Per.
Stegnaster Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, p. xxxiv, 376, 1889. Fisher, op. cit., p.
254, 1911b. Verrill, Revision of Asterinine, p. 481, May, 1913.
Form depressed, pentagonal or stellate, with very short rays;
margin thin. i
Adambulacral spines form a continuous webbed series, the in-
dividual combs of three to five being united together; no spin-
ules on the outer surface. Dorsal and ventral plates imbricated
and, like their interstices, covered with a finely granulated
dermis, which also forms a web between the minute spinules
forming a feeble fan, on the interactinal plates. No dorsal spin-
ules. Papular pores form six or more rows on the rays. In-
ternal dorso-ventral columns are present near the margins. Form
depressed, pentagonal, with thin margins. A few small ossicles
occur between the dorsal plates; usually solitary. No pedicel-
larie have been observed.
Besides the typical species, this genus seems to include S. in-
flatus Hutton, of New Zealand.
66 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
STEGNASTER WESSELI (Perrier) Sladen.
Asterina wesseli Perrier, Arch. Zool. Exper. et Gen., vol. v, p. 231, 1876;
Etoiles de Mer., p. 220, 1884.
Stegnaster wesseli Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, p. 778, 1889. Verrill, op. cit.,
p. 481, 1913.
Plate ii; figures 3, 3a.
The form is pentagonal with emarginate sides, or substellate,
with very short, wide rays. Radii of one of the larger speci-
mens, 16™ and 20™™; ratio, 1:1.5. No. 758, Yale.
Central part of dorsal surface is convex. The dorsal surface
is everywhere covered with a granulated dermis, both on and be-
tween the plates. The granules are minute, but sharp and rough.
The larger plates of the papular areas are convex, curved and
deeply notched for the papular pores; in front of the notch is a
small ossicle, bordering the pore proximally.
The interactinal plates are rather thick, closely imbricated,
and covered, together with their interspaces, by a sharply and
densely granulated dermis, which also invests the bases of the
row of minute spinules; it also forms a continuous web nearly to
the tips of the marginal adambulacral spines, uniting them in an
uninterrupted series to the ends of the rays; it also covers the
jaws and peroral spines, the granules becoming there higher,
like small acute spinules. Many of the interactinal plates bear
a small transverse group or rudimentary fan of two to four very
small, sharp spinelets, which are much obscured by the sur-
rounding granulated skin. The granules are pointed, rough,
and crowded.
The furrow-spines are sub-equal, slender, obtuse, mostly two
or three to a plate, standing in a nearly straight row.
Dorso-ventral pillars or trabecule are well developed, rather
stout, often curved. Jaw-spines form a continuous series with
about six or seven on each side, grading into and united with
the adambulacral row; apical ones stouter. No epioral spines
seen. A pair of small pores, probably genital, are situated in
each interactinal area, one on either side of the convex outer
end of the jaw-plates.
The central part of the dorsal side of the disk is surrounded
by five larger and more prominent lunate plates, which are the
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 67
basal radials or carinals. The madreporite, which is triangular,
small, and depressed, is bordered externally by two smaller
lunate plates, just outside the row of basal carinals.
The interradial areas, destitute of papule, are relatively ex-
tensive, running up in a narrow area, nearly to the central
pentagon. The plates on the interradial areas are rhombic,
closely united, and a little convex.
The median line of each ray is occupied by a row of small
elliptical plates, elongated radially, without papule. The pap-
ular pores are large, round, and form six radial rows, where most
developed; a few are situated on the central area of the disk.
Superomarginal plates are transversely oblong, sometimes con-
stricted across the middle, or double, and about twice as large as
' the roundish infero-marginals; the latter, however, project a
little more and thus form the edge of the margin. Both series
are covered with sharp granules, like the dorsals. No pedicel-
lariz were found.
Variations.
A somewhat smaller alcoholic specimen (diameter 28™) ap-
pears somewhat different. The principal dorsal plates are more
distinct and appear more convex and more regularly arranged.
The outlines of many of the plates can be seen under the gran-
ulated dermis. The upper marginal plates show their outlines
beneath the granules. When the granules are cleaned off, they
are oblong with rounded angles, with the longer axis transverse
to the disk-margins. They are of the same width and number
as the lower plates, and about twice as long, vertically. Their
width is about the same as that of the adjacent abactinal plates,
and they are covered with the same form of granules. Ventral
interradial plates bear somewhat prominent flattened fans of
minute spinules, webbed together at their base and showing three
to seven small points at the outer edge. Jaw-plates are raised
in the middle in the form of low verrucx, covered with uniform
and very small spinules. The peroral spines are slender, rather
longer than the adambulacral spines, and closely webbed to-
gether. The adambulacral spines are free only at the tips, the
web being continuous along the whole length of the groove.
Off Florida; Bahamas; Jamica; West Indies generally ; Colon
(coll. W. F. Bradley, Yale Mus., No. 758).
68 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Family Poranrp# Perrier.
Gymnasteriade (pars) Perrier, op. cit., 1884, pp. 165, 229, Sladen, 1889,
. 355.
ities Perrier, op. cit., 1894, pp. 163, 227.
Asteropide (pars) Fisher, Smithsonian Mise. Coll., vol. 52, p. 90, 1908;
op. cit. 1911b, p. 247. Verrill (pars), op. cit., 1914a, p. 304.
Disk usually large; rays short and broad. Dorsal ossicles
sometimes in regular radial rows, on subimbricated, more often
irregular, sometimes partly abortive, either covered with a thick,
smooth or granulated dermis, or spinulose.
Marginal plates sometimes prominent; often small; usually
oblique or overlapping; the lower ones projecting, and often
with a small group of spinules on the outer edge, or with a
single spine.
Interactinal plates often numerous; usually in regular oblique
rows or chevrons or else in rows running to marginal plates.
Papule in dorsal radial areas; sometimes interomarginal.
Pedicellariz lacking.
Adambulacral spines may form a simple row, transverse to the
groove, or there may be also an inner comb of two, three or more,
often partly rubbed.
The structure of some of the genera is very much like that of
the Asterinide, with which the group might, perhaps, be united
as a subfamily, without doing violence to their natural affinities.
The genus Poraniella, recently described, is more nearly inter-
mediate than any other.
It is intended here to separate those genera of Asteropide
closely related to the type, and especially those having bivalve or
trivalved pedicellarie, as a distinct family of the Valvulosa. Por-
aniide appear to belong rather with the Spinulosa, next to As-
terinide.
Genus PoRANIELLA Verrill.
Poraniella Verrill, Annals and Mag. Nat. History, vol. xiv, p. 19, July, 1914e.
Small starfishes with short rays. Dorsal surface covered with
flat imbricated plates, in regular radial rows on the rays, not
concealed by dermis, and bearing few spaced marginal spin-
ules; medial radial row is distinct. Papule are isolated and
placed under the proximal edge of the radial plates.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 69
Superomarginal plates well developed, larger than dorsals,
naked, or with few spaced submarginal spinules.
Inferomarginal plates are about as large as the upper ones,
more prominent and form the thin margin; their outer edge has
a comb of slender spines; their upper surface has a second par-
allel row of small spines, no papule pores between the rows.
Interactinal plates are imbricated in regular chevrous, each of
which, except the first, has an impaired median plate. Most of
these plates have two or three spinules standing side by side,
otherwise the plates are naked.
Adambulacral plates have a horizontal regular inner comb of
about three small spines discontinuous with the spines on the
actinal face, which stand in a transverse line, usually of two
or three. This genus resembles Asterina and Asterinides pretty
closely, not only in appearance, but also in the arrangement of
the imbricated dorsal plates and their spinules, and the position
of the papule. The plates are larger, however, and do not be-
come so numerous and small toward the margins. The mar-
ginal plates are much larger, and thicker, and therefore the
margin is not so thin and acute.
The interactinal plates and their spinules are much as in As-
terina, though larger and much fewer. The presence of a regular
furrow-comb of adambulacral spines is another similar feature,
though the spines on the actinal face stand in a transverse row,
not as they do in Asterina.
This genus, therefore, is a sort of connecting link between
Asterinide and Poraniide. Its affinities seem, on the whole, to
be more with the latter, though the thick dermis found in most
genera of the latter is lacking. The genus most nearly related
is, perhaps, Lasiaster > of Sladen, if this be distinct from the
earlier genus Rhegaster Sladen, which is denied by some.
15 Lasiaster Sladen, op. cit., p. 371, 1889. All the plates, above and
below, and both marginals covered with thick dermis and all have a compact
cluster of numerous small spinules, but they are absent from the sutural
lines. Superomarginal plates are rather large and their outlines are visible
through the dermis. Inferomarginals not larger, but more prominent, finely
spinulated on both sides and with a row of spinules on the outer end.
Adambulacrals have two furrow spines, nearly or quite side by side prox-
imally and becoming oblique distally; actinal face has three spines in a
70 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Poranieclla also closely resembles, in general appearance, Mar-
ginaster of Perrier. The type of the latter (so designated by
Sladen, 1889) is M. pectinatus Per. (1881.) This has a different
structure of the dorsal skeleton and very different adambulacral
spines, which do not form a furrow-comb. In fact, it is covered
with a thick dermis and is, without much doubt, the young of
a large species of Porania or some closely similar genus.’®
The Marginaster echinulatus Perrier, is nearer Poraniella in
structure, for it has furrow-spines in a comb of two or three and
a transverse row on the actinal face as in the latter.
PORANIELLA REGULARIS Verrill.
Poraniella regularis Verrill, Annals and Mag. Nat. History, vol. xiv, p. 19,
July, 1914.
Plate vii; figures 1—la. Plate xv; figures 5—5b. Details.
A small depressed stellate starfish, with a wide and somewhat
convex disk and short, rapidly tapered, subacute rays, with rath-
er thin fringed margins. Radii of the type, 6™ and 12™; ratio,
transverse row. Interactinal plates are in regular chevrons, each with a com-
pact cluster of small spinules.
Type, L. villosus Sladen (1889), said by Sussbach and Breckner (op. cit.,
1910, p. 219), to be the same species as L. hispidus (Sars, 1871); P. rosea
Dan. and Kor. (1884) ;Rhegaster murrayi Sladen (1883); Poraniomorpha
spinulosa Verrill (1879); R. borealis Verrill (1878). See Plate x, figures
3, 3a.
If this be correct, the name should be Rhegaster hispidus (Sars), for
Ehegaster is six years earlier than Lasiaster. Our two New England
species appear to me to be distinct and should be called Rhegaster spin-
ulosus and R. borealis. See Verrill, 1914c, pp. 17, 18, pl. i, figs. la, 1b, 2.
The latter is very closely related to R. murrayi, the type of Rhegaster.
It differs in having the interactinal spinules longer and in special clusters,
but the whole dorsal and marginal surfaces are densely clothed with uni-
form erect miliary spinules, entirely concealing the plates and sutures,
as in Rhegaster. Whether either of our species is the same as Rhegaster
hispidus (Sars) I am not able to say. That is the earliest name of any
species; borealis is next in order (1878.) In Lasiaster the spinules do
not cover the sutures, and therefore the outlines of the plates are more or
less visible, and the superomarginal plates are larger and thicker. See also
1914¢, in Annals and Magazines Nat. History, vol. xiv, pp. 17, 18.
16 I have before me equally small specimens of Porania insignis V. and
Rhegaster spinulosus V., which agree very closely with Marginaster in de-
tails of structure.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 71
1:2. Marginal plates are eight in each row. The two series are
not quite opposite.
The dorsal surface is covered with rather thin and relatively
large imbricated plates, overlapping adcentrally, and adradially,
forming rows subparallel with the median radial row. Two rows
each side of the median radial row have plates larger than the
median, flat, thin, imbricated toward the median, with the free
edge curvilinear and slightly notched or crenulate, and bearing
three to five minute, acute, marginal, appressed spinules. Rest
of the surface without spinules and not obscured by dermis.
Isolated small papule are situated adecentrally to these plates,
one or two under the free edge of each, except distally. These
are followed toward the interradial margin by two short curved
rows of similar, but smaller, plates without papule between them.
The median radial row of plates is narrow but distinct. Close
to the tip of the ray the plates are small and regular, angular,
and lie flat, with no pores between. Soon they become notched
and turned up with two papular pores under the free edge.
Proximally they stand up nearly edgewise and become smaller
and are depressed below the level of the adjacent rows of plates.
They bear two or three minute acute marginal spinules. The
basal radial plates are much larger, but stand up obliquely,
showing only one edge and part of the side. Each bears five or
six minute spaced spinules on the proximal margin, and three
or four scattered on the surface.
At the base of the interradial areas are two similar closely
joined or united plates, of larger size, with a notch between them,
from which a narrow naked line runs down to the interradial
margin. The small madreporite lies in, or partly above, the
notch between two of these plates, which with the basal radials,
form a raised rim, surrounding a central group of smaller plates,
mostly rounded, and having few minute marginal spinules.
The superomarginal plates, which in the larger specimens
number nine or ten, are rather larger and thicker than the
radial plates, and a little eonvex, with curved outer and inner
margins. Each one bears two (rarely one) small submarginal
spinules on the outer side.
The inferomarginal plates are similar in size and number, but
more prominent, with the edge rounded, forming a rather thin
72 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
scalloped margin to the rays. Each bears two rows of spinules;
a short row of about three on the upper surface, which are acute
and divergent; and a marginal row, usually of four slender half-
webbed spines, the middle ones largest, so that the outline of
the group is curved. On the under side they are naked, trans-
versely oblong, and the surface is covered with microscopic,
raised dots.
The interactinal plates form three regular chevrons, with a
few additional small plates in the interradial angle. (In smaller
examples there are but two chevrons). In the first series there
may be twelve or more plates, all paired. In the second and
third chevrons there is an impaired interradial plate. All these
plates have two or three small acute spinules, near the aboral
edge, standing side by side, and subappressed. The plates are
somewhat imbricated, more or less ovate, or subangular with
rounded lateral edges, variable in size. The surface is covered
with raised microscopic dots and covered only with a thin dermis
that does not conceal them.
The adambulacral plates are small; each has a regular furrow
eomb of three slender webbed spines, directed horizontally. On
the actinal face, and separated from the inner ones by a naked
groove, are two or three, usually two, larger divergent spines,
standing transversely to the groove.
The adoral and epioral spines are similar to the ordinary adam-
bulacrals, but rather larger and longer; the perorals are some-
what stouter and blunt.
This was dredged by the Albatross, off West Florida, at sta-
tions 2334 (No. 10,190, Nat. Mus., type) 67 fathoms; 2324, No.
10,129, 23 fathoms; 2333, No. 10,179, 169 fathoms; 2323, No.
18,484, in 163 fathoms. Also Bahamas, station 2649, No. 18,474,
in 36 fathoms.
Young. The smallest specimen seen (No. 18,474) has the radii
4mm and 6.5™™. Marginal plates seven in each row.
The dorsal plates are arranged nearly as in the type, but the
specimen is preserved in better shape and all parts are neatly
regular.
The plates are not only much smaller, but lie flatter and their
outlines are less distinct because the dermis is a little thicker,
most of the plates bear one small sharp spinule, situated on the
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 73
inner edge, just over the papular pore, or between them when
there are two pores.
The median radial row of plates is less compressed proximally
than in the type, and less depressed, being nearly on the same
level as those adjacent, but the plates have the same form, and
distally near the ends of the rays they become flat, polygonal, and
have no pores between them, as in the type; most of them bear
a single median sharp spinule on the inner edge. There are
three radial rows of plates on each side of a ray, the outer one
of about three plates. Papule form two rows on each side of a
ray, with a few in a third row. The five primary radial and
five interradial plates are larger, thicker and more distinct than
the rest, but are not turned up, as in the type, and they bear
very few minute spinules. They surround a central area of
small plates covered with dermis and bearing isolated spinules.
A minute dorsal pore is present, surrounded by microscopic
spinules; marginal plates are essentially as in the type, but all
parts are much smaller, and the upper ones mostly bear but one
minute spinule. The comb of marginal spinules and the in-
feromarginal plates are largely webbed and the spines are very
slender.
Interactinal plates form two chevrons with a few of a third,
most of them have two small webbed spines on the aboral end.
Adambulacral spines are like those of the type, but much
smaller,
Other specimens are intermediate in size between the above
and the type, and have intermediate conditions, as to plates and
spinules, but all agree so closely that their identification is easy.
PoRANIELLA ECHINULATA (Perrier) Verrill, 1914c.
Marginaster echinulatus Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoél., ix p. 17, 1881;
Etoiles de Mer, p. 230, pl. i, figs. 6, 7; Exped. Trav. et Talism., p. 169,
1894, (redescribed). Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, 366, 1889.
Poraniella echinulata Verrill, Annals and Mag. Nat. History, vol. xiv, p. 20,
July, 1914¢.
Radii of the type are 3™™ and 5™™; ratio 1:1.66. The form is
somewhat stellate. According to Perrier (1894) the type has
the following characters:
On the dorsal side the central plate is surrounded by ten plates,
five larger basals (interradials), and five radials, the last two
74 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
sets are in contact. The radials are pentagonal. In this cen-
tral area are no papular pores, but a large one stands next to
the suture between the radials and basals.
The carinal row, beyond the basal, has five pentagonal plates.
The proximal lobe overlaps the edge of the preceding plate, and
has a papular pore each side of it. The other dorsal plates, sim-
ilar in form, are in oblique short rows that run from the carinal
to the marginal plates; the first row has three plates; the second
and third two plates each.
There are isolated papular pores each side of the plates of the
first row, forming four radial rows of pores. There are also
two rows of small interradial plates.
The dorsal plates mostly bear from one to three small spines.
No pedicellariz were found.
The superomarginal plates are four to each side of a ray; they
are longer than wide, destitute of a marginal row of spinules,
but bear small scattered spinules. The ocular plate is rather
large, ovate, unarmed. The inferomarginals are five to each side
of a ray. They are longer than wide and each bears a row of
five to seven marginal spinules, which are short and divergent,
forming a marginal fringe. The distal plates are very small.
The few interactinal plates form two chevrons. The first has
no impaired interradial, each of its halves has five plates ad-
joining the adambulacrals and larger than the latter, so that one
corresponds to two adambulacrals.
The second chevron has an impaired interradial plate, and
each half has two plates; a second odd interradial lies opposite
the median suture of the inferomarginals. These plates are not
imbricated and each usually bears two small central spinules.
The adambulacral plates project into the groove and the
inner edge bears a divergent row of three to five small spinules;
on the actinal side they bear a somewhat oblique transverse row
of two or three somewhat larger spinules.
The jaws are elongated, each half bears a large terminal or
peroral spine and a row of four smaller graded adorals; also
one enlarged epioral, inclined toward the mouth.
Blake Station 278, in 69 fathoms, off Barbados (3 specimens. )
This species seems to be nearest Poraniella, but. the cotypes,
which I have examined, are all evidently very young. Thus the
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES (5)
adult might be a Porania or some other related genus. I have
seen only one type. It differs from the other similar small or
young forms, in having more spines in the furrow-comb, as in
Poraniella.
From P. regularis it differs especially in the form and ar-
rangement of the dorsal plates. In the latter they are more
numerous and show no tendency to form oblique rows running
from the radials to the marginals, nor are the radial plates pent-
agonal, for their exposed edges are meniscoid or pelecoid. For
the present, or until larger specimens can be found, I prefer to
place this species under Poraniella, on account of its having the
same arrangement of adambulacral spines and interactinal plates
and spinules.
Genus Mareinaster Perrier. (Type. M. pectinatus).
Marginaster Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., ix, p. 16, 1881; Etoiles de
Mer, p. 229, 1884. Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, p. 364, 1889. Perrier,
Exp. Tray. et Talism., p. 164, 1874.
Form pentagonal or stellate with short rays. Disk and rays
a little convex, edges thin, bordered by a fringe of marginal
spinules. Dorsal plates well developed, flatish, imbricated, cov-
ered with a thin integument, which often partially conceals the
plates in alcoholic specimens; median radial row distinct. The
larger plates usually bear few small spinules, often only one or
two to a plate. Papule few isolated between the plates.
Upper and lower marginal plates distinct, about equal in
number ; the lower ones are larger and more prominent, and bear
a terminal row of several spinules, forming a marginal fringe.
Upper ones have fewer and smaller spinules, in a row in the type.
Papular pores do not occur between the two rows of plates, in
the type, but are present in some of the related species.
interactinal plates few, rather flatish, imbricated or tesselated,
arranged in short rows or chevrons, usually bearing one to three
small clustered spinules. One or two plates are impaired be-
tween the jaws and the median interradial suture.
The adambulacral spines are small and in typical species form
a short, transverse, usually oblique row of two to five spines;
the two inner ones often stand nearly side by side. Jaw-plates
relatively large, convex, separated by a median groove, and bor-
76 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
dered by a regular lateral row of several spines, and a pair of
larger peroral spines.
Papular pores occur mostly singly over most of the dorsal
surface of the rays and disk, and sometimes between the mar-
ginal plates. In M. pectinatus, the type, they are few and
confined to the rays.
When first established by Perrier this genus included two very
small unlike species (M. pectinatus and M. echinulatus) from
the West Indies. The former should be the type. These were
both incorrectly figured. Later (op cit., 1894) Perrier rede-
seribed them in detail, and added a third. They are quite unlike,
as shown by the original types, which I have examined, and may
represent two diverse genera, owing to the different character of
the adambulacral armature, for in the second species there is
an inner longitudinal fan of three webbed spinules on each plate.
As in Rhegaster they may both be the young of other genera,
such as Porania, ete. I have studied a considerable series of
these and allied species, but they are all small and probably
mostly quite immature. Therefore, the status of the type of the
genus seems to me rather uncertain.
At present, it seems best to restrict the genus to those species,
which, like the type, have a simple transverse row of adambula-
eral spines. Those that have an inner longtitudinal comb should
be referred to Poramella, or to Rhegaster.
MARGINASTER PECTINATUS Perrier.
Marginaster pectinatus Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., ix, p. 16, 1881.
Nouv. Arch. du Mus., vi, p. 229, pl. i, figs. 4, 5, 1884. Exp. Sei,
Trav. et Talism., p. 167, 1894, redescribed. Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx,
p. 366, 1889. Verrill, 1914c, p. 18.
The type of this species, which is preserved in alcohol in the
Mus. Comp. Zodlogy, has been examined by me.
The adambulacral plates are small and crowded; each bears
an inner or furrow-spine and one or two outer ones, there being
but one of these distally, while on the middle part of the groove
there may be two, or sometimes three spines, forming a small
simple transverse row. These spines are all very small, slender,
and crowded, most so near the middle of the rays.
The interactinal areas contain about ten to twelve plates,
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 7
which, when moist, are visible through the thin dermis that cov-
ers them. A few of them bear one, two, or sometimes three small
clustered spinules.
The carinal radial row of plates is rather conspicuous; the
plates are larger than those adjacent, irregularly four-lobed,
overlapping by their lobes. Small, isolated, short, acute spin-
ules are borne on most of the dorsal plates. The superomar-
ginal plates of which there are six on a side, do not reach the
margin; they bear only a few granule-like small spinules, as now
preserved.
The inferomarginal plates project strongly beyond the margin ;
those in the middle of the interradial margin are decidedly larg-
er than the others. The marginal fringe of spines, that they
originally bore on each series, was mostly rubbed off before I
first saw the specimen, in 1896, but Perrier (1894) states that
there were four or five flat, lanceolate spinules on each plate of
the lower series. His figure, however (1884), represents them
as slender and acute. The figure is incorrect in various other
respects.
According to the later description by Perrier (1894, p. 167),
the type of this species has the following characters:
Radii 4™™ and 5™™, The adambulacral plates bear one inner
spine and another, or more often two, on the actinal side, a little
larger than the inner one, divergent and placed one behind the
other in a transverse row.
On the dorsal side the central, five radial, and five interradial
plates are distinct. The basal radials are triangular with round-
ed corners, with the wider end turned proximally. The five car-
inals are imbricated and slightly cruciform, decreasing regularly
distally. The ocular or terminal plate is semicireular and with-
out spines.
The central plate has three spinules: the interradials six or
seven; the basal radials three; the carinals two or one.
Transverse rows of smaller elliptical dorsolateral plates run
from the carinals to the marginals. The first and second series
have apparently, three plates; the third two plates; the fourth
and fifth each have one unarmed plate. The larger of these
plates bear two or sometimes three, small spines; the smaller
only one spine. On the disk there are a few other plates irreg-
78 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
ularly placed. The papule are large, all dorsal, and arranged in
rows.
The superomarginal plates correspond with the lower ones;
each bears a marginal series of three or four flat, lanceolate
spinules.
The inferomarginals are five on each side of a ray. They
are rectangular, broader than long; each bears a marginal row
of four or five flat, lanceolate, acute, hyaline spinules, forming a
marginal fringe of spines.
The jaws are triangular, of moderate size, not prominent. Each
half bears an angular peroral spine, four lateral spines, and two
or three epiorals.
The interactinal plates form a triangular area; three larger
ones stand in an impaired median row, running from the jaws
to the median interradial suture; one small plate intervenes be-
tween the second interradial marginal plate and the third
adambulacral, a larger plate lies between the third marginal and
the fifth adambulacral. A series of three plates, the middle one
alone well developed, runs from the suture between the first and
second, and that of the sixth and seventh adambulacrals; the last
plate lies between the sutures of the second and third marginals
and that of the eighth and ninth adambulacrals. Some of these
plates bear a single spinule; most are without spinules.
Perrier refers to the type specimen as ‘‘unique’’ (1884, p. 230,
foot note). He states that it was accidentally irregular, which
was the case in the type seen by me. The only locality given
was the Blake Station 32, in 95 fathoms, N. lat. 23° 52’.
PORANIA (?) AUSTERA Verrill.
Marginaster austerus Verrill, Revision Genera Starfishes, Trans. Conn. Acad.
Sci., vol. x, p. 221, 1899.
Porania ? austera Verrill, Ann. and Mag. Nat. History, vol. xiv, p. 20, 1914e.
Plate ii; figures 1—la. Plate xi; figures 6—6a. Details.
Body flat below, swollen above, with short, thick, rapidly tap-
ered acute rays. Radii of the type 11™™ and 17™:; ratio, 1:1.6;
marginal spines eleven. Whole surface covered with a rather
thick dermis which conceals the outlines of all dorsal plates and
most of the ventral ones, except the interactinals.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES ti,
The dorsal surface is covered irregularly with small, short,
blunt or clavate rough spines. These stand partly isolated, part-
ly in little irregular rows of two to six. These rows run in
various directions, but on the rays mostly obliquely or trans-
versely to the ray, but without order. The concealed plates are
irregularly lobed and reticulated, so as to leave rather large
isolated papular pores, which are scattered over the whole dorsal
surface, and also form a regular row between the two rows of
marginal plates, where they are either single or two together.
Madreporic plate, which is nearer the center than the margin, 1s
small, oval, with fine gyri, and surrounded by small obtuse spines.
Dorsal pore is small, surrounded by very small spinules.
The superomarginal plates are irregularly three-lobed or four-
lobed, emarginate on both edges for papular pores. Hach one
bears about three or four small erect spinules like those around
them, and irregularly placed.
Inferomarginal plates are prominent, beyond the upper ones,
and form the margin. They have marginal notches between
them. Each bears a horizontally projecting, single, outer mar-
ginal row of about five or six closely placed, slightly divergent,
and only a little unequal, oblong, blunt spines. Above these,
on the upper side, there is another row, corresponding in number,
but not half so long, of small, acute spinules.
The under side of these plates, as seen through the thinner
dermis, is transversely oblong, with the lateral margins slightly
ineurved, and with a small groove and marginal ridge at the
inner end; the ridge may end in a slight tubercle at one or both
ends. The rest of the surface is covered with minute rounded
elevations.
The interactinal plates are easily visible, and mostly without
spinules. They form oblique forked rows running from the
marginals to the adambulacrals. The rows are separated by
spaces covered only by the dermis, but the plates in each row
are in close contact or slightly imbricated.
These rows or series of plates start from an angular plate op-
posite the suture between two inferomarginals. This is joined
adorally by two (sometimes one) long-ovate, narrower plates,
with the larger end centered; each of these is followed by two
80 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
similar but smaller plates, each of which abuts against two adam-
bulaerals.
The two primary interradial rows start from an impaired
plate, in line with the suture between the first marginals. Its
two halves diverge rapidly, in a curve, leaving a small, nearly
smooth and naked, triangular area outside the jaw-plates. A
few irregular small plates are here concealed under the dermis.
In the type two to three of the interactinal plates bear a single
small blunt central spine, none have spinules.
The adambulacral plates are concealed by the dermis, which
continues upward on the bases of the outer row of spines and
forms a short continuous web between them.
Each adambulacral plate bears an inner small furrow-spine,
and on the proximal part of the groove, mostly two larger, a lit-
tle thicker, and somewhat flattened, oblong or slightly clavate
blunt spines. Where not too crowded, these stand side by side,
but they often stand more or less obliquely, and there may be
but one on some plates. Near the distal end of the groove, they
become more slender and more oblique, due to crowding. Near
the jaw-plates a few plates may have two inner spines.
The adoral and peroral spines of the jaws are similar to those
of the adambulacral plates, but slightly stouter, especially the
apical ones. West Indies, special locality not known. (Coll. A.
E. Verrill). Also taken by the Albatross.
This is probably immature, but I am unable to refer it to any
deseribed species.
Suborder VELATA Perrier. (See above).
Family PrerAsTerRID» Perrier.
Pterasteride Perrier, op. cit., 1875; op. cit., 1884; op. cit. p. 180, 1894. Ver-
rill, op. cit., 1899.
Pterasteride (pars) Sladen, Voy. Challenger, vol. xxx, p. 468, 1889.
Pterasteride Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 343 Verrill, op. cit., 1914a, p. 266.
This is one of the most peculiar groups of starfishes hitherto
discovered. It shows in general characters, a remarkably high
degree of specialization not found in any other group. Most of
the genera and species are from the deep sea.
Disk usually plump; rays 5-8, usually five, rarerly 6-9; upper
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 81
surface covered by a supradorsal membrane supported by the
tips of long, slender, divergent, often webbed, paxillary spin-
ules and pierced by small concentric pores or ‘‘spiracles’’ often
closed and invisible in preserved specimens and usually with a
central oseculum. Beneath this membrane is a ‘‘nidamental cay-
ity’’ or gonocodium, traversed by the columnar pseudopaxille,
and containing the papule. In this cavity the eggs are retained,
and also the young, till they assume the adult form, often 8 to
10™™” in diameter. The dorsal skeleton ossicles are lobed or cruci-
form, loosely reticulated.
The adambulacral spines usually form transverse webbed
combs or fans (not much webbed in Hymenasterinz).
Series of slender, divergent spines more or less appressed
and attached to the under surface, or imbedded in it, and us-
ually webbed to the adambulacral fans in Pterasterine, are al-
ways present. These peculiar spines, called ‘‘actino-lateral
spines’’ by Sladen, should rather be called retroambulacrals or
outer adambulacrals, for they are attached to the outer end of
the adambulacral plates. They are sometimes short, and do not
reach the margin, except distally, on the rays, but in Pteraster
and some other genera their tips usually form the marginal edge
of the disk.
Between the bases of these there is usually a small slit or pore
(aectinal spiracle or ‘‘segmental aperture’’) furnished with a
partly calcareous valve. Interactinal plates are lacking. Pedi-
cellarie have not been found. Jaws have a series of adoral
spines, usually webbed. Epioral spines of large size, in one to
three pairs, often without webs, stand perpendicular to the jaw;
those of one pair are sometimes specialized and partially hyaline.
Ambulacral feet are large, in two to four rows, with large apical
suckers.
The supradorsal membrane may be thin and translucent, with
thin muscular fibres, or thick and muscular. In some eases it
contains caleareous spicules, muscular and cartilaginous fibers
in the form of a network, and often abundant mucous glands.
The copious mucus is phosphorescent in some eases (Diplop-
tereaster.) The intestine and anal pore are well developed. Sex-
es are alike externally.
82 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Subfamily HyMENASTERIN.
The genera Hymenaster, Cryptaster and their allies form a
distinet subfamily, Hymenasterine, differing from Pterasterine
in lacking webbed combs of adambulacral spines and in other
characters. It is a characteristic deep-sea group. One or two
species occur in the West Indies in deep water.
Subfamily PrerasTERINa. (See above).
Genus Preraster M. and Trosch.
Pteraster Miller and Troschel, Syst. Aster., p. 128, 1842. Type, P. militaris.
Sladen, op. cit., p. 470, 1889. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 344, (Analy-
tical table of all known species, pp. 368-370.) Perrier, op. cit., 1894,
p. 181. Clark, op. cit., 1908, p. 286 (Analytical Table.) Verrill, op.
cit., 1914a, p. 267.
Hexaster Perrier, Comptes-rendus, vol. 112, p. 1227, 1891. Type, H. obscurus
Perrier.
Temnaster Verrill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 17, p. 275, 1894. Type T.
hexactis V. = H. obscurus P.
Disk large; rays 5 to 8; ambulacral grooves turn up distally,
more or less reaching to the upper side of the rays.
Adambulacral spines form large, webbed combs. Retroambu-
lacral or ‘‘actinomarginal’’ spines are closely appressed, ending
in a fringe or fold. One pair of specialized epioral spines;
these are often translucent distally. Supradorsal membrane
furnished with a central contractile oseulum, guarded by five or
more groups of webbed, projecting spines. It usually contains
irregular muscular or elastic fibers for its support and sometimes
caleareous deposits. The muscular bands usually do not form a
regular network and are generally very inconspicuous externally.
Usually two rows of ambulacral sucker-feet.
PTERASTER CARIBBZUS Perrier.
Pteraster militaris A. Agassiz, op. cit. (non Miller.)
Pteraster caribbeus Perrier, op. cit., 1881, p. 13; Etoiles de Mer, p. 216,
1884.
Plate vii; figure 4.
The radii of the type were 15™™ and 30™™; ratio, 1:2. One be-
fore me has them 8™™ and 12™", The adambulacral comb of very
slender hyaline, webbed spines contains six or seven erect
spines, increasing in length outwardly, and another, the retro-
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 83
ambulacral, much larger and longer, reeumbent, extending be-
yond the border of the ray and forming a webbed margin. The
dorsal parapaxille, as seen below the supradorsal membrane, are
mostly cross-shaped or four-lobed at the base, two of the lobes
are often longer than the others, and somewhat enlarged distally.
These lobes overlap and underlap those of the adjacent plates.
From the center arises a very slender and rather long column,
longer than the longest basal lobes, and about three or four
times higher than thick. It is enlarged or subecapitate at the
summit. Each bears about eight to ten long and very slender
divergent, hyaline, webbed spinules, which enter and support the
supradorsal membrane.
The jaws are prominent, subconical; each half has about six
very slender marginal spines, becoming longer adorally.
The specialized epioral spine is relatively large, long, flatish,
wider near the tip, or sublanceolate, nearly vitreous or transluc-
ent, and subhyaline in its distal half. It reflects prismatic
colors in some lights.
The madreporie plate is hemispherical, raised on a stalk about
as high as broad. The dorsal membrane is very thin and delicate
and rises into many small conical or subacute angular elevations
when dry.
This is a delicate and fragile species closely related to P. mili-
taris of northern and arctic seas. Its supradorsal membrane is
more delicate and its supporting parapaxille are longer and
much more slender, with longer and more thread-like spinules.
This species was dredged by the Blake Exped. at four stations
off Florida and among the Lesser Antilles, in 151 to 422 fathoms.
The Aibatross dredged it at Station 2667, off Southern Georgia,
N. lat. 80° 53’, in 273 fathoms (No. 18,415, described above.) It
was not obtained by the Bahama Expedition.
Order PHANEROZONA Sladen (emended).
Phanerozona (emended) Sladen, Voyage Challenger, Zool., vol. xxx, Introd.
pp. XxXvili, xli, 1889. Verrili, Revision, Trans. Conn, Acad., x, p. 200,
1899. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 17. Verrill, op. cit., 1914a, p. 280.
Valvate + Pasillose (as orders), Perrier, in Mem. Etoiles de Mer, An-
tilles, etc., p. 154, 1884.
Valvata + Pazillosa Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talism., pp. 22, 23, 28, 29,
1894; Resultats Camp. Scientif., Albert I, fase. xi, p. 16, 1896.
84 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
This order includes starfishes varying in form from pentagonal
to stellate, with long rays. They have two rows of large and
thick marginal plates (rarely but one distinct row, as in Luidia),
which are usually in contact and form a thick, nearly perpendic-
ular margin. They are nearly always larger and thicker than
the dorsal and actinal plates. Papular pores are nearly always
confined to the upper surface and are usually placed singly,
often in special areas. Dorsal skeleton various. The dorsal sur-
face may be closely covered with angular tesselated plates,
which may be naked, granulated, or covered with a smooth skin,
or they may take the form of pseudopaxille, protopaxille or true
paxille especially in the Paxillosa.
The various forms of paxilliform plates as distinguished in
1894, by the writer, are as follows:
True paxille are columnar or hour-glass-shaped ossicles, usu-
ally with isolated, circular or lobed bases, which bear at summit
a group of small spinules, of which the marginal series are dif-
ferent from the rest and divergent, so as to cover the interven-
ing spaces between the spines, thus forming fascioles or channels
for the circulation of water to the papule. These are highly de-
veloped in Astropecten and Luidia. Those called spinopaxille
are of the same general structure, but the center of the summit
is occupied by a distinct spine, or by more than one. Such forms
occur on some species of Luidia, Pontaster, ete.
Parapaxille are rounded or stellate ossicles, or angular plates,
with a raised central portion, tabulate, truncate, or like a low
cone. They may be either isolated or articulated by their bases.
The summit is covered with small, differentiated spinules, like
those of true paxille. Those on the dorsal surface of Lophaster,
Solaster, and Mediaster are examples. They sometimes bear a
central spine.
Protopazxille are similar, but less elevated, convex ossicles or
plates, covered with round or angular granules, with the mar-
ginal series differentiated and more or less covering the grooves
between the plates. As in the preceding, there may be a central
spine in some eases. This form occurs on Chevwraster, many
species of Goniasterida, ete. The transition from this last kind
to simple, uniformly granulated plates is easy, when the grooves
between the plates become obsolete.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 85
Pseudopaxille are articulated plates with flattened, usually
lobed, and often overlapping bases, which bear a group of slender,
fascicled or divergent spinules on the more or less raised central
or subcentral area or boss. These have no differentiated mar-
ginal series of spinules. This form is seen in Henricia, ete.
In some families the plates are reticulated ossicles, smooth or
bearing large spines or tubercles as in Oreasteride. In other
cases a thick skin may cover and obscure the plates.
The interactinal plates may be few in slender stellate forms or
many in the pentagonal forms. In the latter cases they are
usually arranged in definite rows, most often subparallel with
the adambulacral plates, the latest formed ones being situated
next the median, interradial, marginal plates, but they also
form rows running from the adambulacral plates to the mar-
ginals, and often define fasciolated grooves.
They are most commonly tesselated and granulated, or else in
the form of pseudopaxille or protopaxille; but they are some-
times spinose. They may be more or less imbricated by their
edges or lobes.
Adambulacral plates are not compressed, rather large, usually
oblong or quadrangular, and commonly bear numerous small
spines, various in arrangement,
Ambulacral plates are rather large, not compressed nor crowd-
ed. Ambulacral feet are in two rows, with terminal suckers in
Valvulosa; but in the Pazillosa they are large and pointed, with-
out distinct suckers.
Pedicellariz are sometimes lacking, but usually present and
sometimes large. They may be bivalved, sessile, and seated over
a pore (foraminate), or implanted in special pits on the plates
(fossate) ; or else papilliform or fasciculate, composed of two to
four or more modified, convergent spinules; or pectinate, con-
sisting of two comb-like groups of spinules convergent over a
suture between two adjacent plates, asin Luidiaster, or seated on
a single plate.
The sessile valvular pedicellarize with a pore between the
valves are called foraminate; they may have two, or more than
two, valves (bivalvular and trivalvular, ete.). In the suborder
Valvulosa they are often provided with a pair of pits or fosse,
into which the valves fit when widely open. The valves in these
86 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
are often spatulate, spoon-shaped, or suger-tongs shaped, or bat-
tledore-shaped, and usually may best be called plataleiform or
spatulate. When furnished with receiving pits, they have been
called excavate; but fossate seems to be a more appropriate term.
The peculiar papilliform pedicellarie of the Pazillosa, with
two to four or more slender valves, apparently formed by modi-
fied spinules or granules, are also found in certain of the Valvu-
losa. Sometimes such pedicellarie are found associated with
larger valvular pedicellarie on the same specimen, as in the
genus Nymphaster, and in a few other genera.
The following is the arrangement of the suborders and fam-
ilies adopted by the writer (op. cit., 1914a) :
Order PHANEROZONA.
Suborder I. Vatvuuosa Verrill = Vatvarta Perrier.
(Sense extended. )
Family I. OpHpiAsTERIDz Verrill, 1867 = LincKiapz Per-
rier, 1875.
Family II. Vatvasteriw# Fisher, 1911.
Family III. Asteropm Fisher, 1911 = GyMNaATERDz (pars)
of authors. |
Family IV. Oreasreripa Fisher = Pentacerotide Gray (re-
stricted).
Family V. Mimasterip# Verrill.
Family VI. GoniasterD& Forbes (restricted), includes An-
theneide Perrier (restricted).
Family VII. OpontrasterD#& Verrill = Gnathasterine Perrier
(pars).
Family VIII. CHarasterma Ludwig.
Family IX. ARCHASTERIDH Ver. (restricted to Archaster).
Suborder II. Notromyora Ludwig (as an order).
Family X. BenrHopectini# Verrill; Benthopectinine Ver-
rill, 1894.
Suborder III. Paxiiuosa Perrier (sense restricted).
Family XI. PorcELLANASTERIDA Sladen.
Family XII. GontopectinD Verrill.
Family XIII. AstropecTiInip# Gray (restricted).
Family XIV. Lumnp Verrill = Luidine Sladen.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 87
in the West Indian area, but some of them occur only in deep
water.
Subfamilies of GONIASTERIDA.
Subfamily I. GontasterINZ Verrill = Pentagonasterine
Sladen (pars).
Subfamily II. PsruDARCHASTERINZ Sladen.
Subfamily III. Meprastertn Verrill.
Subfamily IV. Necrrunz Per.; Fisher.
Subfamily V. HirppasteriNnz Verrill.
Subfamily VI. ANTHENEIN® Fisher (sense restricted).
Subfamily VII. LeprogonastTEeRIN& Perrier.
Subfamily VIII. CurronasterIn#& Fisher.
Those subfamilies represented in the West Indian shallow-
water fauna are the first, third and seventh. But the seventh is
essentially a deep-sea group; only a few stray examples occur-
ring in less than 150 fathoms. The third and fifth families are
well represented in the deeper waters. The others are chiefly
extralimital.
Suborder Vatvutosa Verrill.
Valwulate (order) Perrier, Nouv. Arch. Mus, Hist. Nat., vi, 1885.
Valvata (order) Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talism., pp. 22, 23, 28, 29, 1894.
Valvata (suborder) Verrill, Revision, Trans. Conn, Acad., x, p. 200, 1899.
Valvulosa Verrill, North Pacific Starfishes, p. 284, 1914a.
These starfishes are stellate or pentagonal and usually rather
stiff in appearance, and are nearly always five-rayed. The dorsal
plates are most commonly tesselated and granulated, or else take
on the character of protopaxille or pseudopaxille. Owing to
the generally close union of the plates, especially of the large
marginal plates, most of these starfishes are rather rigid, showing
much less flexibility than in most other groups. The Ophidias-
terid@ are exceptional in this respect, for they are mostly flexible
in life.
Ambulacral feet are large, with well developed suckers.
Pedicellarize are often lacking; when present they are usually
valvular, foraminate and sessile, or fossate. The valves may be
either granuliform, or large and broad, or narrow and spoon-
/
88 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
shaped, plataleiform, spatulate, or battledore-shaped, rarely pa-
pilliform. There may be two to five valves. The valvular form
of the pedicellariz first led to the establishment of this group.
The various kinds of dorsal plates pass into each other by
various intermediate forms, so that it is impossible to draw any
very strong or sharp family lines on this character alone, though
the character of the plating may generally be taken as of generic
value. They are more frequently polygonal and tesselated;
often in the form of protopaxille or parapaxille; sometimes
deeply lobed and openly reticulated; sometimes imbricated.
Sometimes they are naked; often spinose; very rarely truly
paxilliform ; sometimes covered by a thick, smooth, or granulated
integument.
Both rows of marginal plates are usually well developed and
form a stout margin to the disk and rays.
Interactinal plates are usually rather numerous and tesselated
or imbriecated. A distinet dorsal pore is usually present. Gen-
ital pores are generally ten, usually all separate, situated in the
dorsal interradial areas; sometimes serial on the sides of the
rays.
Superambulacral plates are present in some genera, absent in
others. The existence of superambulacral plates, formerly sup-
posed to be characteristic of Astropectindw, occurs in several
of the genera now referred to Valvulosa (viz., Mediaster, Dytas-
ter, Pseudarchaster, ete.), and in other groups.
Adambulacral plates wide, with a longitudinal group of small
furrow-spines and with one or several spines on the actinal side,
often becoming much longer distally. Jaw-plates are large and
usually convex on the actinal surface, bearing numerous oral
and epioral spines.
This is a very extensive group, found in all seas.
Family OpHimrastTeriDz Verrill.
Ophidiasteride Verrill, Trans, Conn. Acad. Sci., i, part 2, p. 344, 1867; op.
cit., p. 308, 1914a.
Linckiade Perrier, Revision Stellerides, p. 117 [381], 1875.
Linckiide Sladen (pars), op. cit., 1889, p. 397. Fisher, op. cit., 19110, p.
240.
Linckiade Viguier, Squelette des Stell., p. 144, pl. ix, figs. 1-13; pl. x, figs.
1-7, 14-19 (structure), 1879.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 89
Form stellate, usually with five slender, flexible rays, but the
number is variable in some autotomous species.
Abactinal and marginal plates usually tesselated or subim-
bricated, in rows or irregular; in most cases granulose (covered
with rather thick, smooth skin in Leiaster), sometimes tuber-
culated, rarely spinose.
Marginal plates are usually well developed, in two regular
rows, but often not conspicuous and rarely so thickened as to
form a rigid margin. They are similar to the dorsal plates, as
to granulation.
Papule usually numerous, mostly abactinal and lateral and
in groups, sometimes single; in some of the genera they occur
also between or below the marginals, or between the interactinal
plates.
Adambulacral plates small, covered with either granules or
spinules, the margin bearing one or two rows of small spines, no
more.
Pedicellariz often lacking; when present, usually bivalve,
sometimes spatulate and fossate. Superambulacral plates often
present.
Genus OpHiprAsTerR Agassiz (restricted).
Ophidiaster (pars) L. Agassiz, Prod. Monog., 1834. Gray, op. cit., 1840,
p- 283; Synopsis, 1866. Miill. and Trosch. (pars), Syst., p. 28, 1842.
Ophidiaster (emended) Liitken, op. cit., p. 163, 1864. Perrier, Revision,
p. 384, 1875; op. cit., 1884, p. 221 (deser.)
Linckia (pars) Nardo, 1834. Von Martens, op. cit., p. 351, 1865.
Disk small; rays slender, subterete, closely granulated. The
dorsal plates are in about three to five regular rows, leaving
squarish or angular papular areas between them in regular rows.
Papular areas sometimes occur, also, between the marginal rows ;
rarely, also, in one submarginal row. The marginal plates, which
form two regular rows, are not unlike the dorsals, and closely
granulated. Interactinals are smaller, angular, and usually form
one or two narrow rows. Adambulacral plates usually have two
unequal small spines on the inner edge, and one just back of them
in the second series decidedly larger, stout, but not much elongat-
ed. Superambulacrals are usually present but small. Fossate
pedicellarie, usually with spatulate valves, occur on most species.
90 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
OPHIDIASTER GUILDINGI Gray.
Ophidiaster guildingti Gray, op. cit., 1840, p. 284; Synopsis, p. 13, 1866
(description inadequate). Perrier, Revision, p. 387, 1875 (no deserip-
tion). Liitken, op. cit., 1871.
Scytaster miillerti Duchassaing, Ann. Rad. des Antilles, 1850 (t. Perrier
from types.)
Ophidiaster flaccidus Litken, Vidensk, Meddel., p. 86, 1859 (good descrip-
tion. )
Rays five, with a weak skeleton, roundish, slender. Radii of a
medium sized specimen 5™™ and 60™™; ratio 1:12. Other speci-
mens have shorter rays. The dorsal and lateral surfaces are cov-
ered with about nine rows of plates, between which there are eight
equally spaced and pretty regular rows of large papular areas,
each with about five to twelve papular pores. There is no median
area destitute of papule. Marginal plates are much like the
dorsals. All these plates are covered with small, unequal, squam-
miform granules, some of them minute.
The adambulacral plates bear two rows of small obtuse spin-
ules; those of the inner or furrow series are small, equal, and
crowded ; those in the adjacent outer row are decidedly larger,
about half as numerous, with some granules between their bases.
The color, in life, commonly varies from orange-red, with ir-
regular yellow markings, to purplish brown, with blotches of dirty
white (Clark).
Liitken (op. /cit., 1871) recognized that his O. flaccidus is the
same as O. guildingu Gray.
Locality of Gray’s types was unknown. Perrier, who exam-
ined the types, states that they are identical with O. flaccidus.
St. Thomas (Liitken; Perrier). Fort Reef, Port Antonio,
Jamaica (Clark.)
OPHIDIASTER FLORIDZ Perrier.
Ophidiaster floriade Perrier, op. cit., 1881, p. 9; Mem. Etoiles de Mer, p.
221, pl. iv, fig. 1.
This was described from a single young specimen (radii 5 and
33™™") from off Florida, in 2014 fathoms.
It is, perhaps, the young of O. guildingii, the common shallow
water West Indian species.
According to Perrier it is formed much like a Linckia. The
dorsal and marginal plates form seven regular rows of elongated
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES bi
oval plates, covered with a granulation much lke that of the
actinal side. The plates are rather prominent and distinct.
No papulz are found below the inferomarginal plates ; between
the marginal and dorsal rows there are six regular rows of pap-
ular areas, each having two to four pores.
The disk has ten distinct radial and interradial plates.
Interactinal plates are smaller than the marginals, arranged
in few regular rows, without papule between them, but defined
by the rather large rounded granules that closely and regularly
cover them.
The adambulacral plates bear two contiguous rows of spines;
those of the inner marginal row are small, regular, and equal; in
the outer row each group has a much larger, obtuse median spine
and a small flat one each side of it.
On the interradial areas are two rows of interactinal plates
that bear spines similar to those of the outer adambulacral spines
but smaller; some of them bear fossate pedicellariw, having spat-
ulate valves. The second row is, however, in the young speci-
men, feebly developed with few plates.
Straits of Florida, in 123 feet (Perrier, Coll. Mus. Comp.
Zool.). Probably 123 fathoms was intended. Off E. Florida,
277 fathoms, Albatross collection.
OPHIDIASTER ALEXANDRI Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate xiii; figures 3, 3a, 3b. Details. Plate xxv; figure 2. Type.
Disk small, rays regularly tapered, subacute. Radii of the
type 11™™ and 60™™; ratio, 1:5.5. The upper and lateral surfaces
of the rays have five very regular and nearly equal rows of some-
what prominent plates, closely united radially, but so openly
and regularly united transversely as to leave nearly square pap-
ular areas, which form very regular rows. They contain about
eight to ten pores.
The disk is somewhat convex. It has a set of basal radial
and interradial plates, and a central, larger than those of the
rays, and a little swollen.
The madreporic plate is large, round, flat, covered with fine
radiating gyri. The whole surface of the plates and the papular
areas is covered with a fine even granulation, above and below.
92 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The interactinal rows of plates, beneath, are so closely united
and densely granulated that their outlines are not visible with-
out preparation. When denuded they are seen to form three
rows. The three plates in a transverse series are imbricated.
These plates are ovate, except the one next to the adambulacral
plate, which is truncated at the suture, and corresponds in width
and position to the adambulacral that it joins. Two transverse
series correspond to one inferomarginal. The latter are much
larger and four-lobed.
The small transversely oblong adambulacral plates are finely
granulated and bear a simple row of very small and short, flat,
blunt marginal spinelets, two to a plate; and an outer row of
much larger and longer, stout, tapered spines, alternating with
very small acute spinelets, one of each kind on each plate.
Dredged by the Bahama Expedition at stations 56 and 57 on
the Pourtales Plateau, off Florida, in 200 to 225 fathoms. Taken
by the Albatross at station 2416 in 276 fathoms, coral sand and
shells, N. lat. 31° 26’, off Georgia, several specimens. (Nat.,
Mus.; Yale Mus.)
Perrier (1884, p. 172, and 1894, p. 37) listed an undescribed
species of this family as ‘‘Fromia mexicana’’ from station 207,
off Martinique, in 96 fathoms. This seems not to have ever been
described, and is to be regarded as a MSS. name.
Genus Lincxkia Nardo.
Linckia Nardo, Okens Isis, 1834, p. 717. Gray, op. cit., 1840, p. 284;
Synopsis, p. 13, 1866. Liitken, Vidensk. Meddel., pp. 163, 164, 1864
(emended); op. cit., p. 266, 1871. Viguier, Arch. Zoél. Exper. et
Gen., vol. vii, p. 147, pl. x, figs. 1-6 (structure), 1878. Verrill, op. cit.,
1867, p 285; op. cit., p. 309, 1914a. Perrier, op. cit., p. 399, 1875;
Etoiles des Mer, p. 226, 1884. Sladen, op. cit., vol. xxx, p. 408, 1889.
Fisher, 1911b, p. 242.
Ophidiaster (pars) Miller and Troschel, Syst. Ast., p. 28, 1842.
Disk small; rays long, slender, nearly terete, usually five, var-
iable in number in some autotomous species. Adambulacral
plates bear granule-like structures, in two or three close series,
those in the second row alternately larger. Pedicellariw not ob-
served. Two madreporites in autotomous species.
Interactinal plates usually form two or more close rows.
Dorsal plates are irregularly arranged, not forming definite
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 93
radial rows; closely granulated. Papule are numerous, in
clusters on the dorsal side, but are lacking below the marginal
plates.
LINCKIA NoposA Perrier.
Linckia nodosa Perrier, Revision, p. 417, 1875; Etoiles des Mer, p. 226,
1884. Sladen, Voy. Chall., pp. 409, 786, 1889. Fisher, op. cit., 1906,
p- 1088.
Plate xiii; figures 2—2a. Plate xxix; figures la, 1b.
The type of this species had the radii 11™™ and 91™™; ratio,
1:8.3,
The dorsal plates form about three irregular crowded rows;
some of these plates, irregularly disposed, are larger and more
convex than the others, or even subnodose; similar swollen plates
also occur upon the disk.
The papular areas are small and well defined; they mostly
have six to eight pores; fewer on the disk. Madreporie plate
large, flat, with numerous fine, sinuous gyri.
The marginal plates are squarish, covered with granules a
little smaller than those of the interactinal plates; between the
two rows are roundish papular areas, with about twelve pores.
There are several rows of interactinal plates proximally, the
inner ones short; the outer or peractinal row extends nearly or
quite to the tip of the rays. These plates are all covered with
small rounded granules, those near the adambulacral plates are
a little the larger.
The adambulacral spines are almost granuliform; they form
two rows; those of the margin of the groove are alternately larger
and smaller; the larger are clavate, the smaller cylindric. Close
to these are the spines of the outer row; each of these is opposite
one of the smaller spines of the inner row; they are rather larger
than the larger of the inner row. External to these spines is a
row of granules larger than those of adjacent plates and also
some intermediate small granules. There are no actinal papular
pores.
A larger specimen before me was taken by the Albatross off
Pensacola, Fla. The radii are 138™™ and 125™™; ratio, 1:9.6.
The rays are well rounded above, flattened below, and taper
very gradually.
94 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The dorsal surface of the rays is covered with a broad, very
irregular band of large, swollen, evenly convex, unequal, round-
ish plates, mostly in contact radially to a variable extent. These,
where most regular, seem referable to three rows, by reason of
the large, irregular papular areas between them. The plates that
seem to belong to the median row average larger and more prom-
inent than the others, but are unequal and seem to be crowded
out of position by the growth of others.
Outside of those described, and on the sides of the ray, there
is a much more regular row of dorsolateral plates, which are
also roundish and strongly convex, but less so than those above.
They are in serial contact, but are joined to the row above by
small connective ossicles and large intervening papular areas,
which form here a regular row. The papule are small and very
numerous in these and the dorsal groups. Twenty to thirty or
more can be counted.
All these plates, as well as those below, are covered closely
with small, nearly uniform rounded granules, which also sur-
round the papular pores, but there become angular, so that four
or five around each pore look like small valves.
The two rows of marginal plates are very distinct and nearly
equal and regular. Their plates are less convex and not so
large, about five corresponding to four in the row above. They
are broadly in contact serially, but the two rows are separated
by a regular row of large papular areas, like those above.
Below the inferomarginals and closely joined to them and to
each other there are three or four rows of squarish interactinal
plates, so closely united and compactly granulated that their out-
lines are concealed. Their granules gradually become coarser
and angular near the adambulacral spines.
The adambulacral plates are small and concealed by granules.
Each bears two unequal inner erect spines; both are flattened
and obtuse. The larger is more than twice as large as the other,
but only a little higher. Outside these, but close to them, and
alternating with them, is a single larger, obtuse, flattened, erect
spine, about twice as large as the larger inner ones, and about as
broad as high. These, like the inner ones, form a regular con-
tinuous row, very distinct from the adjacent granules.
These rows continue to the jaw plates with but slight change,
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 95
but three or four of the most proximal ones of the outer row, and
especially the first, become larger, higher and more obtuse, and
stand a little farther back from the inner row, the first pair be-
coming the epioral spines on the small jaws. The inner spines
on these few proximal plates also become a little more elongated.
About eight somewhat more slender spines in a continuous row,
form the peroral armature of the angle of the combined jaw
plates.
The granules in the adoral area are larger and higher than
elsewhere.
The ocular plate is small, roundish or broad-ovate, convex or
mammiform, not bilobed and not granulated. It is turned up-
ward,
The madreporic plate is large, situated below the basal inter-
radial plate and nearly fills the space between two large basal
radials, one of which it joins. It is covered with very numerous
fine, even, radiating and bifureating gyri.
The disk is covered with a group of large, unequal, very con-
vex rounded plates, like the radial plates adjacent. Ten of the
larger of these can be referred to the basal radial and interradial
plates. These enclose an irregular group of about five larger
and several smaller plates. The diameter of the larger plates is
about 4™™; of the madreporie plate, 5™™.
I have also examined a young specimen in the Museum of
Comparative Zodlogy, labeled as this species by Perrier, and
taken by the Blake, at station 100, off Moro Light, Cuba, in 250-
400 fathoms.
This agrees well with larger specimens, of medium size, taken
near the same place by the Bahama Expedition, but its adambu-
lacral spines are relately smaller, and less differentiated from
the adjacent coarser granules. The granules of the inferomar-
ginal plates are more unequal, there being two or three rows of
distinctly larger ones on the otherwise evenly granulated sur-
face.
These characters seem to be due to the immaturity of this
specimen. The dorsal plates are also relately less swollen than
in the larger examples.
It was dredged by the Albatross, in 130 fathoms, off West
Florida, and in 21 fathoms, off Pensacola (large specimen de-
96 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
scribed above) ; also, by the Blake, off Moro Light, in 250-400
fathoms; off Tortuga I., Antilles, in 6 fathoms.
The Bahama Expedition took it at station 3, off Havana, in
110 fathoms. The locality of the type was not known. Accord-
ing to Bell, it also occurs in Torres Strait. Probably this is an
error.
LINCKIA GUILDINGII Gray.
Linckia guildingti Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, p. 285, 1840;
Synopsis, p. 14, 1866. Perrier, Revision, op. cit., vol. iv, p. 408, 1875.
Sladen, op. cit., p. 410, 1889. A. Agassiz, North Amer. Starfishes, p.
105, pl. xiv, figs. 1-6, 1877. (Details of structure.) Verrill, Trans.
Conn. Acad., vol. xi, p. 36, 1901; vol. xii, p. 281, pl. xxxiv, ¢, fig., 1907;
(In The Bermuda Islands, Part v, p. 281 (325), 1901. R. Rathbun, ~
Brazilian Echinod., p. 148, 1879.
Ophidiaster ornithopus Mill. and Troschel, Syst. Aster., p. 31, 1842 (t.
Perrier from types). Liitken, op. cit., p. 80, 1859. Duj. et Hupé, op.
cit., p. 361, 1862.
Linckia ornithopus Verrill, Geog. Distribution Echinod., Trans. Conn. Acad.
Sci., vol. i, p. 344, 1867; op. cit., vol. i, p. 367, 1868.
Linckia ornithopus Liitken, op. cit., p. 80, 1859; pp. 266, 270, 271, 1871.
Scytaster stella Duch., op. cit., p. 4, 1850 (t. Perrier from type.)
Plate xxvii; figure 3.
The rays are long, slender, well rounded in life. They are
often unequal and vary in number; most frequently they are
five or six, sometimes four or seven, due to autotomous division.
The dorsal plates in this species are numerous, thick, somewhat
convex, irregularly polygonal, and closely crowded, often over-
lapping by their edges, mostly without connective ossicles, except
very small ones laterally. They are like all the rest of the plates,
above and below, thickly covered with fine granules. The pap-
ular areas between them are small, with few papule.
The marginal plates are rather larger than the dorsals, more
quadrangular, and form two nearly equal, regular rows.
There are usually, in adults, at least two long regular rows
and some shorter ones of much smaller, squarish interactinal
plates, and also a small triangular interradial group. These are
covered and obscured by the crowded granulation.
Adambulacral plates bear two rows of small, short spinules,
and there is also, especially proximally, a row of similar spines
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 97
on the adjacent series of interambulacral plates, parallel to the
outer row, so that they resemble a third row of interambulacral
spines. These interactinal spines agree in number and stand
opposite to the outer interambulacral spines.
There are usually two madreporic plates in those specimens
that divide by autotomy. Specimens with any number of rays
from one to five are to be found. Those in the ‘‘comet-form,”’
due to autotomy or injury, are not uncommon.
The types of O. ornthopus (M. and Tr.) were from Vera
Cruz; those of S. stella were from Guadeloupe.
Perrier (1875) stated that he had examined these types and
found them identical with L. guildingu, as well as with authentic
specimens from the Cape Verde Islands. Gray’s type was from
St. Vincent Island.
On the American side this species occurs at the Bermudas,
Florida Keys, Bahamas, Vera Cruz, throughout the West Indies,
and south to Bahia, Pernambuco, and the Abrolhos Reefs, Brazil.
Cape Verde Islands (Perrier and others). The Yale Museum
has it from Pernambuco, Brazil (coll. C. F. Hartt, No. 4557),
and the comet form from the Abrolhos Reefs (coll. Hartt, No.
1583).
Genus Narcissta Gray.
Narcissia Gray, op. cit., p. 287, 1840; p. 15, 1866. Sladen, op. cit., pp.
398, 413, 1859. Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talisman, pp. 329, 330, 1894.
Ophidiasteride with serially arranged radial plates, the me-
dian and two marginal rows larger; all granulated. Papule
stand singly or in pairs between the plates. Adambulacral plates
have three longitudinal series of short, thick spines, often pris-
matie.
NARCISSIA TRIGONARIA Sladen.
Narcissia trigonaria Sladen, op. cit., p. 414, pl. lxv, figs. 5-8, 1889.
Rays rather long, triquetral, with a strong median radial keel
composed of large, somewhat swollen plates; margins rounded
with well developed, convex, marginal plates in both series, about
thirty-seven in the type. All the plates are covered with minute,
uniform granules. Papule stand singly between the plates, or
in pairs.
98 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The adambulacral plates have three series of short, thick, sub-
prismatic spines, about four in each series, those of the outer
one much smaller.
Off Bahia, Brazil (Sladen). Specimens from off West Florida,
in 25 and 26 fathoms (Nos. 18,454-6, Nat. Mus.) appear to be-
long to this species.
Family Orreasteripa Fisher.
Pentacerotide (pars) Gray, 1840 and 1866. Perrier (pars), 1884, 1894.
Sladen, op. cit., p. 342, 1889; and of many other writers.
Goniasteride (pars) Verrill, 1867. Perrier (pars), 1875.
Oreasteride Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 18. Verrill, op. cit., p. 282, 1914a.
Large phanerozonate starfishes which have a large, thick, mas-
sive, cushion-like or angulated disk and stout rays. The dorsal
areas are large, supported by a reticulated skeleton, leaving large
papular areas, containing great numbers of small papular pores,
confined to the dorsal surface. The dorsal plates are largely
oblong or bar-like, and often have a stellate arrangement. The
plates are more or less obscured by a thick granulose dermis.
The marginal plates are relatively small and inconspicuous,
granulated, and covered by dermis. Like the dorsal plates they
may also bear large conical spines.
The interactinal areas are large, covered with thick, tesselated
plates, bearing coarse granules, small bivalve pedicellarix, and
often one or more stout central spines. Adambulacral plates
have a marginal series of spinules, and one or more thick spines
on the actinal surface.
Besides the genus Orcaster, this family includes Culcita,”
17 The arctic starfish described by Siissbach and Breckner (Seeigel. Seest.
Schlang. N. und Ostsee, p. 217, pl. i, figs. 4-6, 1910) as Culcita borealis,
does not belong to this genus nor to the same family. It seems to be gen-
erically most nearly related to a large deep-sea form from our northern
waters, having a thick dermis and partly aborted dorsal skeleton described
by me as Chondraster grandis (op. cit., 1895, p. 137), formerly as Porania
grandis (pars), op. cit., 1878, p. 371.
In this arctic, so-called Culcita, the body is even more swollen and
cushion-like, due to a still more rudimentary skeleton, but I see no reasons
for separating it from Poraniidw, with which it agrees in other respects.
Therefore I have proposed for it a new genus, Culcitopsis, with C. borealis
for its type. See also Verrill, 1914c, p. 21.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 99
which is confined to the Indo-Pacific ocean, and several other
Pacific genera.
Genus OREASTER Miiller and Troschel.
Pentaceros Linck, De Stellis Marinis, p. 21, 1733 (not binomial). Schiilze,
Betracht. der Verstein. Seesterne, p. 50, 1760, t. Sladen (not binomial).
Schréter, Mus. Gottwald, Testac. Stell. mar., etc., p. 58, Niirnberg, 1782,
t. Sladen (not binomial).
Pentaceros Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vi, p. 276, 1840. Synopsis, p.
6, 1866. Perrier, Revis. Stell., v, p. 52 [236], 1876. Agassiz, A.,
North Amer. Starfishes, p. 108, pl. xvi, figs. 1-7 (structure), 1877.
Viguier, Archiv, Zool. Exper. et Gen., vii, p. 198, pl. xi, figs. 4-6, pl.
xii, figs. 3, 4, 8-11 (structure), 1878. Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, p. 343,
1889. Perrier, Exp. Tray. et Talism., p. 406, 1894.
Goniaster (pars) L. Agassiz, Prodr., p. 191, 1835.
Oreaster Mill. and Troschel, Syst. der Aster., p. 44, 1842. Von Martens,
Ostasiat. Echinod., p. 81, 1866. Liitken, Vidensk. Meddel., 1859, p.
63; op. cit., 1864, p. 161 [39]. Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., i,
pp. 278, 343, 1867; op. cit., p. 367, 1868. Perrier, Pedicellaires, p. 69,
1869.
This genus includes many large, massive, tropical starfishes,
with a large and usually high, swollen, angular disk and rather
rigid-looking rays.
The dorsal plates are thick, stellate-reticulated, leaving large
papular areas between them, with many small papule. The
plates are always granulated and some or all often bear large
spines or tubercles,
The marginal plates are paired, but not very large, and partly
concealed by the thick granulose dermis. The inferomarginals
are often confined to the lower side, the superomarginals form-
ing the border. Those of each series may bear stout conical
spines or tubercles.
The interactinal plates are numerous on the disk and are usual-
ly closely tesselated, bearing granules and conical spines. Strong
internal interradial septa containing large calcareous plates sup-
port the disk.
The adambulacral plates bear, each, a longitudinal row of two
to four or more rather small spines on the inner margin and one
or several much larger and thicker spines on the actinal surface.
Pedicellarie are often numerous, bivalve, usually small, or
about equal to the granules among which they are scattered.
100 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
OREASTER RETICULATUS (L.) M. and Trosch.
Asterias reticulata (pars) Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. x, p. 661, 1758. Retzius,
op. cit., 1783; Diss., p. 14, 1805. Lamarck, Ann. sans Vert., vol. ii, p.
556, 1816.
Oreaster reticulatus M. and Trosch., Syst. Aster., p. 45, pl. iii, fig. 2, 1842.
Pentaceros reticulatus with P. grandis and P. gibbus Gray, Ann. and Mag.,
vol. vi, p. 277, 1840, and Synopsis, p. 6, 1866.
Pentaceros reticulatus A. Agassiz, North Amer. Starfishes, p. 108, pl. xvi,
figs. 1 to 7 (details of structure), 1877. Viguier, Nouv. Arch. Zodl.
Exper. et Gen., vol. vii, p. 193, pl. xi, figs. 4-6; pl. xii, figs. 3, 4 (struc-
ture), 1878. Nutting, Narrative Bahama Exp., pp. 52, 187, 202, 212
(colors).
Asterias gigas Linn., Mus. Tessinianum, p, 114, pl. ix, 1753.
Oreaster gigas Liitken, op. cit., p. 64, 1859. Verrill, op. cit., i, p. 367, 1867.
R. Rathbun, op. cit., p. 149, 1879.
O. lepidosus Grube and O. tuberosus Behm are additional synonyms (t.
Liitken). Also A. sebe Blainville. O. aculeatus Gray is the young
(t. Perrier).
A very large massive species, having a broad, thick or high
swollen disk, usually with interradial contractions, in dry speci-
mens, corresponding to the attachment of the stout calcareous,
internal, interradial septa. |
Radii of a fair-sized specimen are 90™™ and 200™™; ratio, 1 :2.22.
Much larger specimens occur, up to 500™™ or more in diameter.
Many have shorter rays.
The dorsal plates have a very distinctly stellate-reticulate ar-
rangement. The median radial row is distinct. Their portions
imperfectly visible at the surface are narrow and at their
nodes there is nearly always a short, stout, conical spine, both
on the rays and disk. The median radial ones are a little larger.
The whole surface, between the spines, is closely covered with
small unequal granules mingled with small bivalve pedicellarize
of similar size. The granules also extend up on the bases of the
spines, ending in a definite ring or border of short, angular,
flat or truncate granules. All the granules are minutely rough-
ened.
The papular areas are very large, with great numbers of single
papule.
The upper marginal plates are not large; about 20 to 22 oceur
on each side of each ray, in mature specimens. They form the
margin of the disk, but their outlines are obscured by the thick
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 101
covering of granulose dermis and two to four short, thick, conical
spines that each one usually bears. Their granules are rather
coarse, unequal, polygonal, and closely packed. Intermingled
with the granules are small bivalve pedicellariz of sizes similar
to the adjacent granules.
The inferomarginal plates are similar in size, and are confined
to the actinal side, except close to the tips of the rays. They
are granulated in the same way as the upper ones, and each
usually bears a cluster of three to five or more short conical
spines, the larger ones smaller than those of the superomarginals
and quite similar to those of the interactinal plates.
The interactinal plates are numerous, forming large areas, ex-
tending well out on the rays. They are arranged in simple
divergent rows, the first rows subparallel to the adambulacral
plates, but also forming single oblique rows, each one correspond-
ing to a single adambulacral plate, but two usually correspond-
ing to a single inferomarginal plate. They and their sutures are
covered with large granules and bivalve pedicellariz coarser than
those on the dorsal side, and each usually bears also a central
group of two, three, or more, short, stout, blunt, unequal spines.
Their pedicellarix mostly have an ovate or elliptical basal
raised cup, which encloses the basal part of the two wide and
short valves. They are larger than those of the dorsal side, with
relatively wide valves.
The adambulacral plates have a marginal series, usually of
three or four, small, flat or angular blunt spines, and the actinal
side bears one or two short, stout, conical spines, surrounded by
coarse granules and many raised bivalve pedicellarie.
The ambulacral feet are large and strong, with large suckers.
The colors, in life, are various, and seem to differ in different
localities. According to Nutting its colors in the Bahamas are
often deep red relieved by the bright yellow color of the spines.
‘‘Others were various shades of red, deepening into a rich
maroon, alternating with orange and yellow’’ (op. cit., p. 53).
According to A. H. Verrill those that he saw at Samana Bay,
San Domingo, were green or greenish in color, while those that
he saw at Dominica Island were yellow or orange-yellow, vary-
ing to yellowish brown. According to Clark (op. cit., p. 5, 1898)
it is ‘‘orange-red of some shade’’ in Kingston harbor, Jamaica,
102 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
where it is plentiful. When dried it usually becomes deep terra-
cotta color or brown.
In life it is more flexible than its appearance would indicate.
Nutting states that it can curve its rays above its back until the
tips touch.
This is the largest and most massive West Indian starfish and
also one of the most common in shallow water. It has a wide
range, extending from South Carolina to the Abrolhos Reefs,
Brazil, and to the Cape Verde Islands. It is very common in the
Bahamas, where large numbers were obtained by the Bahama
Expedition, and about the Florida reefs and keys, as well as
throughout the West Indies. Abundant at Bahia and Pernam-
buco, low tide to two fathoms, and at the Abrolhos Reefs (R.
Rathbun). South Carolina (Agassiz).
Family GoONIASTERIDA (Forbes), emended Verrill.
Goniasteride (pars) Forbes, 1840. Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., i, p.
343, 1867. Perrier (pars), Revision, Arch. Zo6l. Exper. et Gen., iv, pp.
281, 283, 289, 291, 1875; op. cit., v, p. 1, 1876.
Pentagonasterine Viguier (pars), subfamily, op. cit., vii, p. 166, pl. x, figs.
20-25, 1878.
Pentagonasteride (pars) Perrier, op. cit., p. 231, 1884. Sladen (pars), op.
cit., pp. 260, 264, 1889.
Goniasteride Verrill (restricted), Revision, in Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., x,
p. 145, 1899 (non Viguier). Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 158. Verrill,
op. cit., 1914a., pp. 281, 285, 286.
Phanerozonate starfishes usually having a rather broad flat or
slightly convex, rather rigid disk, sometimes nearly pentagonal
in form, but often stellate with more or less prolonged rays.
Marginal plates usually large and thick, forming a thick, nearly
vertical margin, the two rows equal or subequal.
Dorsal plates are various, but usually tesselated, polygonal, or
roundish, sometimes lobed or substellate, united directly or by
internal ossicles. They are commonly granulated or protopax-
iliform, sometimes spinulose, or they may bear tubercles or
spines; rarely naked, or covered with soft skin, with or without
granules.
Interactinal plates usually numerous, angular, tesselated, or
imbricated. Superambulacral plates may be present or absent.
Tube-feet are in two rows and have suckers.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 103
Pedicellarix usually present, often large, usually bivalve, but
may be multivalve, foraminate, often fossate. They may occur
on any of the plates, or on the thick skin that covers them in
some genera (Anthena, ete.).
This is a very extensive family, found in all seas, with nu-
merous genera. Many of the genera are found only in the deeper
waters.
It may be divided into several subfamilies. See above.
Subfamily GONIASTERIN.
Genus Gontaster (Agassiz), Gray (restr.). Type, G. cuspidatus.
Goniaster (pars) Agassiz, Prod. Mem. Soc. Neufch., 1836.
Goniaster Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, p. 280, 1840. Type G.
cuspidatus; Synopsis, p. 10, 1866 (non Perrier, 1876, nec Sladen, 1889).
Pentagonaster (pars) Perrier, Revis., Arch. de Zo@l., v, p. 24, 1876. Sladen,
Voy. Chall., xxx, p. 264, 1889.
Astrogonium (pars) Mill. and Trosch., Syst., pp. 52, 56, 1842.
Phaneraster Perrier, Exp. Sci. Trav. and Talisman, pp. 334, 337, 387, 1894.
(Type G. semilunatus = cuspidatus.)
Goniaster Verrill, Revision Genera, p. 150, 1899. Fischer, op. cit., 1911),
p. 167. Verrill, 1914a, p. 286.
The form is stellate-pentagonal, or stellate with a broad disk
and short rays.
The dorsal plates are large, polygonal or roundish, covered
with crowded, short, angular granules, with a larger marginal
series; sometimes they also bear pedicellariz. Between these
there are often, in adults, many small ossicles, usually bearing
groups of few granules. Papular pores are present between
most of the abactinal plates, except in the small interradial areas.
One or more large, stout, conical tubercles or spines occur on
more or less of the dorsal margins and abactinal plates, in adult
specimens; or verruciform swellings, in the same situations, in
the young. In most adults these conical spines form a central
group on the disk and five large radial groups, but the number
of plates that bear spines is variable; sometimes they occur on
nearly all the dorsal plates.
The marginal plates are large, thick, convex, not numerous,
and usually naked, except for one or two marginal series of gran-
ules, but they are more or less granulous over the surface in the
very young. They are more numerous in the ventral series. The
104 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
distal inferomarginals sometimes bear small conical spines or
tubercles. Those in the dorsal series may not decrease regularly
distally; the last one is sometimes as large as, or even larger
than, the one that precedes it. The apical plate is small, conical.
The adambulacral spinules are numerous and closely crowded
in three or more rows; the row next to the furrow series is
largest. They grade into the spinulation of the interradial areas.
The interactinal plates are large, polygonal, and crowded,
mostly in series parallel with the adambulacral plates, and cov-
ered with coarse granules; the granules on the center of the
plates are often larger and may be like small tubercles. Some-
times a few bear conical spines.
Pedicellarize may occur on the dorsal, marginal, and inter-
actinal plates, and they sometimes occur, also, on the sides of the
dorsal spines. They are fossate, small, high, slender, pincer-
shaped, with spatulate blades and corresponding fosse on the
plates. They are often entirely lacking.
When very young (up to 12 or 14™™ in diameter) there is no
appearance of dorsal spines or tubercles and the marginal plates
are few in number and granulated.
This genus is found in all the great oceans, in warm latitudes,
and in shallow water or at moderate depths. The Indo-Pacific
species (G. cuspidatus) the type of the genus, has a very wide
distribution.
GONIASTER AMERICANUS Verrill.
Gontaster americanus Verrill, Amer, Journ. Sci., vol. ii, p. 230, 1871 (full
description ).
Pentagonaster semilunatus (pars) Perrier, Arch. de Zo6l. exper., v, p. 24,
1876.
Phaneraster semilunatus (pars) Perrier, Sci. Exp. Trav. et Talis., p. 388,
1894,
Pentagonaster parvus Perrier, Mem. Etoiles de Mer, Nouv. Archives du Mus.
d’Hist. Nat., vi, p. 231, pl. vii, figs. 7, 8, 1884. (Young.)
Goniaster americanus Verrill, Revision Genera, pp. 151-156, pl. xxiva, figs.
1, 2 (type); pl. xxvi, figs. 1-6, 1899.
Plate xiii; figures 5, 5a.
The type had short rays and a broad disk; radii 35™™ and
62™™"; ratio, 1:1.8. In this there are usually six superomarginal
plates and seven inferomarginals on each side of a ray, but this
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 105
number varies from less than three up to nine or more, on a
side, according to age. The largest number counted by me was
19 in one interradial are on a specimen with radii 35™™ and 65™™,
The type has numerous conical dorsal spines, for they occur on
nearly all the radial and disk plates, but not on the marginals,
though some of these are swollen or somewhat tubercular. In
the type the penultimate superomarginal is a little larger than
those that precede it, but in others, equally large, they decrease
regularly in size. One or two distal pairs are usually in contact
medially,
The dorsal plates are rather large, polygonal, with regular
granules. Most of them, except on small interradial areas and
near the tip of rays, are surrounded by numerous (10 to 12)
simple papular pores. Proximally, in adults there are, also,
small, interpolated, granulated plates between the larger radial
plates and between the papule.
On each of the distal adambulacral plates there is a single
large, obtuse conical spine, outside the furrow-series of slender
spinules. These spines are longer and larger than the more nu-
merous corresponding spines of the more proximal plates. There
are usually, in large specimens like the type, four stout, pris-
matic, blunt, crowded spinules on each plate, in the furrow-
series.
This type specimen (Museum of Yale University) has a large
number of high, pincer-like fossate pedicellariz, with two slen-
der spatulate or spoon-shaped blades, and a slightly enlarged ar-
ticulating base; the blades are sometimes straight, but often more
or less strongly curved to the right or left. The blades, when
fully expanded, rest in socket-like depressions of the plates, which
correspond in shape and curvature with the blades, so that the
two belonging to a pedicellaria with curved blades, form, when
taken together, a crescent-shaped or semicircular fossa, with a
round central pore and a wider rounded depression at each end.
Sometimes one or two granules exist close to the pedicellariz,
and when rubbed off the pits that they leave make the markings
on the plates more complex.
Pedicellariz of this form are present on a large proportion of
the interactinal plates; on some of the marginal plates; on the
borders of the spiniferous dorsal plates, around the bases of the
106 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
spines, 1 to 6 on a plate; on the basal part of the spine itself;
and on those dorsal plates that do not bear spines, 1 to 4 or more.
On the interactinal plates they are variously placed and ir-
regularly oriented; most of the plates have but one, which is
most commonly near the center, but many have two; those plates
in the row next to the adambulacral plates usually have two or
three. The pedicellarize on the dorsal plates and on the spines
are smaller than those of the lower surface, but have the same
form and similar fosse. Each pedicellaria of the interactinal
and dorsal plates occupies a small, slightly elevated, smooth,
rounded or ovate area, surrounded by granules. A pedicellaria
and a stout blunt tubercle co-exist on some of the interactinal
plates, near the jaws. Many specimens are destitute of pedicel-
larie.
Some specimens have large, stout spines on several of the in-
teractinal plates, near the jaws.
The distal superomarginal plates of some large specimens bear
large, acute, conical spines. In other cases they bear lower ob-
tuse spines, or mere tubercles. The number of rows of large
radial spines is variable and also the number in a row. They
may be higher and more acute than in the type, and much fewer
in number.
The number in the principal radial rows varies from three to
six, In the larger examples. Sometimes there are only eight to
ten large spines on the dorsal side, irregularly placed.
I have examined four young specimens of this species from the
Blake Exp., preserved in the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Three of these were types of Pentagonaster parvus Perrier.
They agree perfectly with those of similar size collected by the
steamer Albatross in the West Indies. With the latter they
form a complete series, connecting the smallest with the full
grown examples from the same region.
The specimens next to the smallest in size are 25 to 35™™ in
diameter (types of P. parvus) and usually have six marginal
plates on each side, above and below. In the smaller of these
the upper and lower marginal plates and the interactinal inter-
radial plates are nearly or quite covered with small granules, but
in the somewhat larger specimens more or less of the central area
of these plates is naked. Most of them show a distinct central
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 107
swelling where the conical tubercles would have appeared later.
In some the dorsal plates are entirely covered with granules, but
in others the central area is naked, the amount of naked surface
increasing with age, but not regularly so. The papular pores in-
crease in number with age and cover more and more of the
median radial areas and the central area of the disk, but these
areas have no sharp boundaries.
The type was from off South Carolina, in rather shallow water.
This species was taken by the Albatross at twelve or more sta-
tions in the West Indian region, in 21 to 50 fathoms, and by the
Blake at three stations, in 84 to 129 fathoms (all young).
This, or an allied species, has been recorded from Brazil, under
the names G. cuspidatus or G. semilunatus, which properly be-
long to the Indo-Pacific species. I have seen no Brazilian speci-
mens,
Several variations (Nos. 4-H), due largely to age, have been
described by the writer. (See Revision Genera, pp. 151-155,
1899.) Details of the distribution are also given in that article.
Plinthaster dentatus (Per.) Fisher.
Pyrenaster dentatus (Per., p. 242, 1884). Verrill, 1899, p. 167 = Plinthaster
dentatus Fisher, 1911b, p. 165. (Notes on type.)
This species was recorded by Perrier (1884, pp. 170, 242), as
from Blake stations, Nos. 100, 111, 260, in 250 to 1,500 fathoms,
and by me (1899) from 478 to 1,639 fathoms.
Also recorded by Perrier from Blake station 264, in 41 fathoms.
It is evidently a deep-sea species, of a deep-sea group. This last
record is typographically erroneous, Blake station 264 was in 416
fathoms, gray ooze off Grenada. Perrier (1884) gives the depth
correctly on page 180. (Table of localities, but erroneously in
other places in the same report. )
Subfamily MeprastreriIn& Verrill.
Mediasterine Verrill, Revision Genera, p. 178, 1899; op. cit., 1914a, p. 294.
This subfamily was proposed in 1899, for Mediaster and sev-
eral allied genera, closely related to Gomasterine, but having the
dorsal plates in the form of parapaxillew, besides other characters.
Since its establishment large numbers of related new genera
and species have been discovered by several deep-sea explora-
108 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
tions, which serve to unite the two subfamilies very closely.
Therefore it is now hard to draw the line between them.
It may be just as well to abandon the subfamily and unite the
genera under Goniasterine, as Professor Fisher (1911b) has
already done.
As there is but a single species, within my present limits, that
can be referred with certainty to the Medzasterina, it is not my
intention to discuss the question at this time, and therefore I
now retain the group chiefly as a matter of convenience.
Genius MeprasTer Stimpson.
Mediaster Stimpson, Journ, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, p. 490, pl. 23,
figs. 7-11, 1857. Type M. equalis Stimp.
Mediaster Sladen, Voy. Challenger, Zool., vol. xxx, pp. 263, 752, 1899. Ver-
rill, Revision Genera, p. 178, 1899. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 196.
Verrill, op. cit., 1914a, p. 295.
Isaster Verrill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. xvii, p. 257, 1894. Type M.
bairdii Ver.
Form. stellate, with a broad flat disk and moderately long
tapered rays.
The dorsal plates or parapaxille are regularly arranged in
radial rows, of moderate size, somewhat elevated in the center,
mostly roundish, covered with a rosette of short, obtuse spinules
or granules. When these are removed the plates on the central
part of the disk and along the median region of the rays appear
as roundish or oval convex bosses. They are connected together
by five or six internal radiating ossicles, between which are the
pores for the papule. Thus the plates appear to be stellate at
the base, though they are not actually of that shape. In a lim-
ited interradial area the plates are closely joined and tesselated.
The median row of dorsal plates extends to the apical plate of
the rays in the type, but not in some of the other species. Some
of the plates bear a central, broad, sessile, valvular pedicellaria,
which, in the type species, is nearly as wide as the plate. They
are sometimes lacking. The papule may be single, or (as in the
type) clustered.
Marginal plates are well developed, not swollen, granulated,
rather numerous, higher than broad, paired, upper and lower
series nearly equal in size and number, and with their sutures
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 109
more or less closely corresponding vertically ; oblique in the type.
No odd interradial plate.
The adambulacral plates bear a regular marginal row of three
to seven slender spinules, and usually two exterior longitudinal
groups or rows of shorter spinules, which may be angular and
obtuse, and toward the tips of the rays, some of them, in the type,
become larger and longer. Some of these spinules may be re-
placed by spinuliform or clavate, two or three-bladed pedicel-
larie.
The interactinal plates are angular, often rhombic, closely ar-
ranged in rows subparallel with the ambulacral grooves, cov-
ered with a rosette of granules, the central granules often re-
placed by a wide valvular pedicellaria. The dentary plates are
not very prominent. Small superambulacral plates are present
in all the species dissected.
MEpIASTER (?) PEDICELLARIS (Perrier) Verrill.
Goniodiscus pedicellaris Perrier, op. cit., 1881b, p. 23; Nouv. Arch. du Mus.,
vi, p. 245, pl. iv, fig. 3, 1884. Sladen, op. cit., p. 756, 1889.
Mediaster (?) pedicellaris Verrill, Revision Genera, p. 183, 1899. Fisher,
19110, p. 197.
One of the types of Perrier, in the Museum of Comp. Zodlogy,
examined by me, had the following characters:
The radii are 18™™ and 59™™; ratio, 1:3.3. Dorsal plates, large,
roundish, the summit convex when naked, but flat when cov-
ered with the spinules; the largest have about sixteen marginal,
tapered, acute spinules, and one to five or more somewhat larger,
acute, central ones. Intervening papular pores large, single,
about six around each plate, except that there is none between
the plates in the median radial rows; a row on each outer border
of the abactinal area extends nearly to the end of the rays, or to
within about ten marginal plates of the end.
The median series of plates extends about four or five plates
farther than the lateral, but ceases within four or five plates of
the tip; from thence the marginal plates are in contact.
Superomarginal plates bevelled and covered with small, sharp,
spaced spinules; the upper spinules are shorter than the lower
ones, larger, stouter, acute, divergent; those around the margins
are similar and do not form regular fascioles.
110 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Inferomarginal plates large, roundish, with one or two mar-
ginal series of sharp, divergent, stout spinules, and a central
larger one. Sometimes there are three to five central spinules
on the dorsal plates and on the row of plates next to the adoral
plates. Pedicellariz small, narrow, elevated, spatulate in form
and rather numerous on the dorsal side.
Station 295, Blake Exped., 115 to 180 fathoms. This species
was also taken by the Albatross in the West Indies.
This species, for lack of duplicate specimens, has not been dis-
sected to ascertain the presence of dorsal connective ossicles, and
therefore it is referred to Mediaster with some doubt.
Medvaster (?) agassizw Verrill, op. cit., 1899, p. 181.
This species was also taken in the West Indies by the Blake
Expedition, but the locality and depth are unknown.
Genus Rosaster Perrier.
Pentagonaster (pars) Perrier, op. cit., p. 22, 1881; Etoiles de Mer, p. 238,
1894,
Rosaster Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talisman, p. 386, 1894. Verrill, Revision
Genera, p. 197, 1899. Fisher, op. cit., 19116, p. 164.
Stellate with slender rays and large disk, marginal plates
large, regularly paired, covered with spinules; no spines on
dorsals.
It has rounded, columnar, paxilliform abactinal plates (para-
paxille), covered, like the marginal and interactinal plates, with
small spinules. Most of the superomarginal plates of the rays
are in contact medially.
The inferomarginal plates are spinulose and agree in number,
position, and nearly in form with the dorsals. Interactinal
plates are thick, closely arranged in two or more chevrons on
the triangular interradial area; each row has an impaired median
plate; they are spinulose.
Adambulacral plates do not have a prominent inner angle.
They bear a straight furrow-series of four or five slender spines,
and on the actinal surface two or three larger erect spines, which
form a regular row. Superambulacral plates are small. Fos-
sate pedicellariz with spatulate valves are often present on the
dorsal plates; smaller erect ones sometimes occur on the mar-
ginal and adambulacral plates.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 111
The paxilliform dorsal plates are thick and have slightly lobed
bases (usually six lobes); they are united by these lobes, with-
out intermediate ossicles, and have isolated papular pores in the
intervening spaces; the median radial row is distinct but like
the others. On the disk the five interradial primary plates are
much larger than the others, round, tabulate, and spinulose.
The marginal plates are separated by deep ciliated grooves,
but are not fasciolated.
Only one species of the genus is known.
ROSASTER ALEXANDRI Perrier.
Pentagonaster alexandri Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp, Zodl., ix, p. 22, 1881.
Nouv. Arch. du Mus., vi, p. 238, pl. vi, figs. 3-8, 1884.
Rosaster alexandri Per., Exp. Sci. Trav. et Talism., Echinod., p. 387, 1894.
Verrill, Revision Genera and Species of Starfishes, p. 197, 1899.
Plate xi; figures 3—3), details. Plate xvii; figure 2.
Form small, stellate, with a large disk, ineurved sides, and
rays tapering to slender tips. Radii of a specimen taken off
Havana, by the Bahama Expedition, 7™™ and 15™™; ratio, 1:2.12;
marginal plates nine, large.
The six superomarginal plates that form the evenly incurved
margin of the disk are distinctly larger than those on the rays;
they are wider than long, convex, and rise above the paxillar area,
forming a stout border. Those on the rays are at first rectangu-
lar but decrease rapidly in size and become square. Seven pairs
are in contact medially. Ocular plate is broad ovate, not
notched above. The marginal plates are covered with spaced
small, short, rough spinules, smaller and acute above, larger and
more obtuse or clavate on the outer side and along the margins
of the sutures, which have deep grooves, but are not fascioled.
The dorsal paxillar area is pentagonal, not extending beyond
the basal radial plates. The radial areas are covered with regu-
larly stellate parapaxille, which have a thick six-lobed base and a
short cylindric, or slightly tabulate, central boss or column,
surmounted by a divergent stellate group of about eight to ten
short slender spinules, surrounding a larger, slightly spiniform
central one. The spinules are very regularly arranged, and are
minutely thorny at the tips. In each of the intervals between
the basal lobes there is a papular pore. In the interradial area
112 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
there is a small group of seven to ten more irregular plates,
closely joined and without intervening papule. On the radial
areas there is a median row of parapaxille, not differing from
those adjacent.
Around the center of the disk there are five interradial, round,
tabulate parapaxille, more than twice as large as the others and
covered with similar rough spinules of which there may be six-
teen to eighteen marginal and ten to twelve in a central group.
The small convex madreporie plate is attached to the outer
edge of one of these plates, which are united to five smaller
radial plates; within these there is a group of six plates of which
one is central and a little larger than the others, which are like
the radials, and have intervening papular pores. No dorsal pore
is ordinarily visible.
The inferomarginal plates agree closely with the upper ones
in size, form, ciliated grooves and spinulation, and stand exactly
opposite them. The interactinal plates are few relatively large,
thick, slightly lobed within, and are closely united or else slight-
ly overlap by their edges. They bear small, upright, rough,
acute spinules, six to eight surrounding a central one on the
larger plates. These plates form a continuous row of nine next
the adambulacrals with the impaired plate next the jaws. In
the second row there are about five small plates, with the median
one impaired.
The adambulacral plates are small, short, rectangular, two
of them about correspond to one of the larger interactinals; and
three distally to one marginal. Their inner margin is very
straight and bears an even row of four or five very slender sub-
equal spines, which completely interlock across the narrow groove.
On their actinal surface they have two upright, longer and some-
what larger acute spines, side by side; on the adoral plates these
became decidedly larger and longer. On a few of the adambula-
eral plates there is an upright small two-valved, spatulate pedi-
cellaria.
No pedicellariz were found on the upper side of this specimen,
but on some others a few of the dorsal plates have one or some-
times two, fossate pedicellarie with spatulate valves.
It was taken by the Bahama Expedition on the crinoid ground,
off Havana, in about 200 fathoms.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 113
It was taken at several stations by the Blake, in 84 to 1930
fathoms; and by the Albatross at a number of stations in the
West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, in 98 to 980 fathoms. A num-
ber of specimens were taken, off Havana, on the cinoid grounds
in 98 to 201 fathoms.
Subfamily LEPTOGONASTERIN# Perrier.
Genus ANTHENOIDES Perrier.
Anthenoides Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. ix, p. 23, 1881; Etoiles de
Mer, p. 246, 1884. Verrill, Revision of Genera, p. 173, 1889. Fisher,
op. cit., p. 173, 19110.
Disk broad with regularly incurved borders and rapidly taper-
ing rays, becoming slender distally. Both series of marginal
plates are well developed, opposite, paired, and form a stout
border to the disk and rays. Radius of disk is equal to about
ten proximinal marginals.
Dorsal plates are polygonal or slightly lobed, nearly equal,
pretty closely joined in mosaic, with small papule between them.
The median radial row is distinct. There are few or no second-
ary plates except next the radial rows.
All the plates, above and below, are covered with a thin smooth
dermis, partly concealing the plates.
All the marginal, interactinal, and dorsal plates are more or
less granulated, beneath the dermis.
The inferomarginal plates have one or more larger granules,
tubercles, or small spines on the outer end; in the larger speci-
mens forming a row of spinules.
Interactinal plates form a large area, extending to about mid-
length of the ray. They are polygonal and closely joined. Those
next the adambulacral plates and near the jaws mostly bear a
bivalve pedicellaria with short valves.
The adambulacral plates have an inner regular row of several
(5-8) small spines, and an actinal row of two or three larger ones.
ANTHENOIDES PEIRCE! Perrier.
Anthenoides peircei Perrier, op. cit., p. 23, 1881; Etoiles de Mer, p. 247, pl.
viii, fig. 1, 1884; Comptes rendus, 1889, p. 60. A. Agassiz, Three
Cruises Blake, vol. ii, p. 103, fig. 379, 1888.
Anthenoides (?) Nutting, Narrative, p. 169, figure 1, 1895.
114 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Plate iii; figure 2. Young. Plate x; figures 1-1b, 2-2f. Details.
Disk broad more or less swollen; with evenly incurved mar-
gins, bordered by rather large, stout, marginal plates, and cov-
ered with numerous pretty regularly arranged polygonal plates,
which form the median radial rows. Rays rapidly tapered be-
coming slender distally, bordered by smaller convex plates, which
are in contact distally. All these plates are finely granulated
beneath a thin dermis that covers them, but does not entirely
conceal their outlines.
The type of Perrier had the radii 32™™ and 80™; ratio, 1:2.5.
It had about 27 marginal plates, on:each radial side. He men-
tioned others of larger size. One had the radii 53™™ and 156™™.
Another had them 33"" and 131™™._ These were from 151 to 150
fathoms. One taken by the Bahama Expedition had the larger
radius about 62™"; diameter 125™", or about five inches.
The inferomarginal plates, in the larger specimens, have a
marginal row of several small spines, or even more than one
row, on the interradial plates, when they become larger.
Sometimes there is a ridge or line of coarser granules along
the superomarginal plates, on large specimens.
The interactinal plates are numerous, extending to middle
of rays. They are polygonal, closely joined, granulated, and
with a thin outer dermis. Those next the jaws and adjacent
to the adambulacral plates bear a low, bivalve pedicellaria.
The adambulacral plates have a furrow-series of about six
to eight small graded spines, the largest in the middle; on the
actinal side there is another row of about three larger and short-
er spines. Very young specimens of this species have an appear-
ance quite unlike the adults, and may be mistaken for some other
species.1®
This was taken by the Bahama Expedition on the Pourtales
Plateau, in 80 fathoms (‘‘five inches in diameter’’). Young ones
were taken in 60 fathoms, off Key West, station 26. It was
dredged by the Blake in 151 fathoms off St. Lucia; in 150 fath-
oms, off Guadeloupe; 85 and 82 fathoms, off Barbados; 73 fath-
oms, station 290, off Barbados (young) ; and at station 266, in
18JTn the Blake collection some young from station 243, in 82 fathoms
were labelled ‘‘Dorigona bifurcata Perrier, MSS.,’’ but other similar speci-
mens were correctly identified and labelled by Perrier.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 115
461 fathoms, off Granada (very young). The bottom at these
stations was sand and shells or gray sand, except that in 85
fathoms, which was ‘‘hard.’’
Family CuaTasteria& Ludwig.
Chetasterine (subfamily of Linckiade) Sladen, Voy. Chall., xxx, pp. xxxv,
397, 1889. Perrier, Exp. Trav. et Talism., p. 328, 1894.
Linckiade (pars) Viguier, op. cit., vol. vii, p. 147, 1878. Perrier, op. cit.,
1884, p. 164,
Chetasteride (family) Ludwig, op. cit., 1899. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, pp.
18, 21.
Stellate starfishes with elongated well rounded rays and small
disk. Dorsal and marginal plates similar in several definite
rows, elevated in the middle and bearing slender, divergent
paxilliform spinules; some plates may be larger and nodulous.
Internally they have radiating connective ossicles. Papular
pores dorsal, mostly isolated, none intermarginal. Adambula-
cral plates have a marginal row of slender spinules and a group
of small ones on the actinal side. Ampulle single. Odd inter-
radial marginal plates may be present. Interradial septa calci-
fied. Pedicellariza unknown.
Genus CH#TASTER M. and Trosch. (emended), type, C. subulata.
Chetaster (pars) M. and Tr., 1840, p. 321. Syst. Ast., p. 27, 1842. Per-
rier, Revis. Stell., Arch. Zool. Exper. et Gen., v, p. 249, 1876 (not de-
scribed). Viguier, Arch. Zool. Exper., vii, p. 152, pl. x, figs. 8-13, 1878
(structure).
Chetaster Sladen, op. cit., vol. xxx, pp. 397, 398, 399, 1889.
Nepanthia (pars) Gray, 1840, p. 287; Synopsis, p. 15, 1866.
Chetaster Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, pp. 18, 20, 21.
Characters are included in the description of the family.’® It
is the only genus. Very few species are known.
The type species is C. longipes (Retz.) = Asterias subulata
Lam., found in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic, off the
Azores, etc., and ranging down to 1100 meters or more.
19 The position of this family is uncertain. The character of the plates
and spinulation is much like those of Henricia, of the Echinasteride. It
agrees with that family in having simple ampulle.
116 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
CiLETASTER Noposus Perrier.
Chetaster nodosus Perrier, Arch. Zo6l. Exper., v, p. 250, 1876. Sladen, Voy.
Chall., xxx, pp. 398, 399, 778, 1889.
Chetaster longipes (pars) Sladen, op. cit., p. 399, 1889.
Plate viii; figures 1,2. Plate xiii; figures 4, 4a. Details.
Rays five, nearly terete, long, slender, regularly tapered to
unusually slender tips and bearing large, scattered, tubercular
plates. Disk small, margins rounded. Radii of one 10™™ and
74™™; ratio, 1:7.3; of another, 9™™ and 76™™; ratio, 1:8.5.
The dorsal and lateral surfaces of the rays are covered with
eleven radial rows of plates, five on each side and one earinal or
median, the latter similar in size and form to those adjacent.
The lower ones, on each side, are smaller and their rows cease
at about the middle of the rays; near the tips there are but five
rows. These plates have an expanded base and an elevated cen-
tral portion, which is smaller, transversely elliptical, nearly flat
on the top, which is covered by numerous small, slender and deli-
cate hyaline spinules; those around the margin are longer,
very slender and when perfect interlock across the spaces
intervening between the plates. They break off easily at the
base and then the plates appear granulated.
The larger tubercle-like plates are often three to five times
larger than the others, and much more elevated; they are round
or elliptical, convex, and covered with very numerous small
slender, rough spinules, those on the middle shorter. These
large nodular plates are irregularly distributed and differ in
number on the several rays; the number is often twenty to
twenty-five. They occur both on the median and lateral radial
rows of plates, but not on the disk in our examples.
Papular pores of rather large size occur singly, in rows be-
tween all the dorsal and dorso-lateral rows of plates except next
the marginals. There are about two to each plate.
The two regular rows of marginal plates are situated well
down on the ventral side. They are larger than the adjacent
lateral plates, thick, transversally oblong proximally, becoming
squarish and then rounded distally, convex and covered like the
dorsals with very numerous slender, minute, rough spinules,
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES bi
which form a very regular marginal fringe, but they are shorter
than those of the dorsals. The interspaces between these plates
and between the two rows are narrower than those of the dorsal
surface and contain no papular pores. The two rows are much
alike, but the lower ones are larger.
The adambulacral plates are similar in form, about one-fourth
as large, two of them corresponding to one inferomarginal. Each
one bears a crowded group of slender, rough, hyaline spinules on
the actinal surface, and a crowded furrow-series of four to six
somewhat larger ones. Within the outline of the disk these
spines, and also those of the actinal side, become much longer
and setiform.
There is a small triangular group of interactinal plates, spin-
ulated much like the dorsals, with rough hyaline spinelets.
The dorsal plates of the disk are rounded, smaller than those
of the rays, but spinulated in the same way. The madreporite
is small and covered with similar spinules.
Taken by the Bahama Expedition at station 16, of Havana in
200 fathoms, (specimen described above), and at station 7, off
Havana, 140 fathoms, one specimen. The type was from off
Guadeloupe.
The tuberculated specimens taken off Bermuda, in 30 fathoms,
by the Challenger and referred to C. longipes by Sladen, belong
apparently to this species.
CH2TASTER LONGIPES Sladen (?).
Chetaster longipes Sars, op. cit., p. 107, 1857. Sladen, op. cit., p. 399, 1859
(not described). Perrier, op. cit., p. 329, 1894 (not described).
Asterias longipes Retzius, Diss. Aster., p. 20, 1805.
Asterias subulata Lamarck, op. cit., p. 568, 1816.
Chetaster subulatus Mill. and Troschel, op. cit., p. 27, 1842.
Sladen states that his Bermuda specimen is young, and has
some nodosites, which recall those of C. nodosus Perrier.
Probably it was a young specimen of the latter, which occurs
off Florida in similar depths. C. longipes is a Mediterranean
species, ranging to the Azores,
Off Bermudas, in 30 fathoms, and off Fayal, Azores, in 450
fathoms (Sladen), East Atlantic, in 102 to 1139 meters (Per-
rier. )
118 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Family ODoNTASTERIDZ Verrill.
Gnathasterine (pars) Perrier, Exp. Trav. et Talism., pp. 244, 251, 1894.
Odontasteride Verrill, Revision Genera and Species of Starfishes, p. 201,
1899. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, pp. 18, 153. Verrill, op. cit., 1914a, p.
302.
Form either pentagonal or stellate with a broad disk. Mar-
ginal plates well-developed in both series.
Jaws, each with a single, recurved, more or less hyaline median
spine, or with two such spines, side by side. In the latter case
one of these spines arises from near the apex of each oral plate.
Both conditions sometimes occur, abnormally, on the same speci-
men. }
An odd interradial marginal plate, above and below, on each
side.
The marginal plates are covered either with spinules or gran-
ules; sometimes the upper ones are granulated and the lower
spinulose, like the corresponding disk-plates; they usually have
deep fasciolated sutures.
Abactinal surface covered with more or less paxilliform plates,
parapaxille or protopaxille, with intervening large papular
pores on the radial areas.
Interactinal plates angular, covered either with spines or
granules. Small simple pedicellarie sometimes occur on the
interactinal or abactinal plates. They may have two, three, or
four papilliform blades.
Adambulacral plates usually bear elongated spinules arranged
in three or four pairs of small transverse rows, generally only
two or three of the furrow-series are on each plate; sometimes
only one. Oral plates usually have elongated, acute marginal
and apical spines. They are sometimes closely united along the
median suture; in other cases (Odontaster), they are separated
by a space covered only by membrane.
Genus OponTaster Verrill.
Odontaster Verrill, Amer. Journ. Science, xx, p. 402, 1880. Proc. U. S.
Nat. Mus., xvii, p. 262, 1894. Amer. Journ. Sci., xlix, p. 136, 1897.
Gnathaster Sladen (pars), Voy. Challenger, vol. xxx, Asteroidea, p. 285,
1889. Perrier (pars), Exp. Trav. et Talism., p. 244, 1894.
Odontaster Bell (pars), Proc. Zodl. Soe., London, p. 260, 1893. Verrill, Re-
vision Genera and Species of Starfishes, p. 205, 1899. Fisher, op. cit.,
1911b, p. 154. Verrill, op. cit., 1914a, p. 303.
Form stellate, with a wide disk and short rays.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 119
A single, odd, hyaline, recurved movable spine is on the apex
of each jaw. The oral plates are large, partly separated by an
open fusiform space covered by membrane. Abactinal surface
covered with elevated, convex or clavate paxilliform plates, or
parapaxillea, which usually bear clusters of elongated spinules,
like true paxille; their bases are stellate. The upper marginal
plates are usually finely spinulated,
The adambulacral plates usually bear several rows of spines,
usually three or four in the furrow-series, rarely but two.
The odd interradial marginal plate is usually triangular or
wedge-shaped. Simple pedicellariz occur rarely.
The radial abactinal plates form more or less evident obliquely
transverse rows and some extend nearly or quite to the apical
plate.
Papular pores are generally large and placed singly in the
angles around the radial parapaxille.
The inferomarginal plates and interactinal plates are covered
with acute, more or less elongated spinules.
ODONTASTER HISPIDUS Verrill.
Odontaster hispidus Verrill, Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. xx, p. 402, 1880. Proc.
U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. xvii, p. 263, 1894. Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. xlix,
p. 136, 1895; Verrill, Revision Genera and Species of Starfishes, p.
205, pl. xxix, figs. 8, 8a, 1899.
Plate xiii; figure 6.
Form depressed, stellate, with a rather broad disk. Radii
vary in proportion from 1:2 to 1:3. A large example has the
greater radius 55™™; lesser, toes:
The marginal plates are only moderately developed and do not
encroach much on the disk, either above or below. In large
examples there are about 37 to 39 on a side, in each series. They
are convex and separated by wide and rather deep sutural
grooves. The upper and lower nearly coincide. The upper ones
are squarish, with rounded angles; the lower ones, along the disk
margin, are higher than long. The odd interradial one is some-
what wedge-shaped, and only a little smaller than those adjacent
to it.
The abactinal plates are round at top, convex, well separated ;
those of the radial areas and center of the disk are elevated, with
a somewhat capitate top, covered by a dense cluster of slender,
120 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
elongated, acute, divergent spinules. Between most of the radial
plates, over a large area, there are moderately large papular
pores, about six around etch plate. Smaller pores are scattered
over the center of the disk, but they are absent from small in-
terradial areas and from the distal part of the rays.
The interactinal plates all bear dense groups of rather stout,
elongated, tapered, mostly acute or subacute spinules, essentially
like those of the lower marginal plates.
The marginal plates of both series are densely covered with
small elongated, divergent spinules which overarch and partly
conceal the sutural furrows. The spinules on the upper plates
are slender and acute. Those on the lower plates, especially
those on the actinal side, are longer and much stouter, terete
and tapered, subacute or acute.
The jaws are rather large, rhombic; the two plates are separat-
ed by a rather wide sutural furrow covered with membrane;
they are covered with spines on the margin and actinal side, like
those of the adambulacral plates. The median, recurved epioral
spine is large, somewhat compressed; the distal part is hyaline
and very acute.
The adambulacral plates are transversely oblong, rather nar-
rower than the adjacent interactinal plates. Hach one, prox-
imally, bears two, or more often three, unequal spinules of the
furrow-series, but more distally they bear only two, nearly equal
ones. On the actinal face each plate bears about four or five
quite similar spines, which sometimes seem to stand, more or
less distinctly, in pairs. These spines, like those of the furrow-
series, are essentially like those of the interactinal plates, in size
and form.
Regularly 4-rayed and 6-rayed specimens have been taken.
It is easily distinguished from our other species by the small
marginal plates and stout interactinal spinules.
This species was taken by the U. S. Fish Commission at. many
localities, from off Martha’s Vineyard to Florida, in 43 to 480
fathoms and more.
The Albatross also dredged another species in the West In-
dies, which is similar to 0. setosus Ver., if not the same.
- il
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 121
Suborder Notomyora (Ludwig).
Benthopectinide +- Pontasterine Verrill, Revision Genera Starfishes, p. 217,
1899,
Pararchasterine Sladen, Asteroidea Challenger Exped., pp. xxviii and 4,
1889. Perrier, op. cit., 1894, p. 252.
Notomyota Ludwig (as an order), with families Cheirasteride and Benth-
opectinide Ludwig, Notomyota eine neue Ordnung der Secsterne. Sit-
zungsb. Kéng. Preuss. Akad. Wissensch., vol. xxiii, pp. 435-466, 1910.
Verrill, op. cit., pp. 283, 310,* 1914a@ (as a suborder.)
Benthopectinide Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 120.
This group includes starfishes, mostly from the deep sea, hav-
ing long, angular, subacute rays, in which there is a dorsal pair
of special muscle bands running from the base to near the tip,
and serving to curve the rays upward over the back. The
podia are large and tapered, with a small terminal sucker, mar-
ginal plates of both rows are well developed with a tendency
to become more or less alternate and often oblique. Their su-
tures are usually more or less fasciolate.
In the interradial angles some of the genera (e. g. Benthopec-
ten) have an impaired median, marginal plate in both series;
sometimes in only one series. Other genera have no odd plate.
The marginal plates usually bear one or two long spines in
both series and the surface is covered with acute spinules.
Dorsal surface is covered by protopaxille, parapaxille, spinose
parapaxillew, or simple spinose plates, rarely with true paxille.
Papule may be distributed over much of the dorsal surface
of the rays, or may be limited to the proximal median part of
the rays, or concentrated in specialized areas (papularia) near
the base of the rays.
Actinal interradial area is small or may be nearly abortive;
it is sometimes occupied by one to six or more large pectinate
pedicellariz.
Similar pectinate pedicellariz may occur between the plates,
on the marginals, or on the dorsal surface. Bivalve pedicel-
larize occur in some genera.
Adambulacral plates have the inner end angular or prominent
and projecting into the groove. It bears a row or comb of num-
erous slender spines; one, two or more larger spines stand on its
actinal face, and sometimes a pedicellaria.
* Misspelled as Myonota on pages 283, 310, 311.
122 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The most distinctive feature is the presence of a pair of defin-
ite dorsal muscle bands in the rays, extending from near the
base to the tip and enabling the rays to be bent strongly upward
with great facility. The order Notomyota was based on this
character, as the name implies.
The large pectinate pedicellariz, with numerous incurved pa-
pille, sometimes arising from and between two plates, are also
characteristic of this group, but they are sometimes lacking,
especially in the young.
Family BENTHOPECTINIDZ (Verrill) Fisher.
Benthopectinide and Pontasterine Verrill, Trans, Conn. Acad. Sci., x, pp.
200, 217, 1899.
Parachasteride Sladen, op. cit., 1889, p. 4.
Benthopectinide Fisher, 1911b, p. 120. Verrill, op. cit., p. 310, 1914a.
An almost strictly deep-sea family. Form stellate; disk rather
small; rays five, elongated, with two rows of thick, spinose, mar-
ginal plates, which are not exactly paired, but are sometimes
alternate, or nearly so. Adambulacral plates are angular and
have elongated furrow-spines and one or more enlarged actinal
spines.
The species of this family are numerous and occur in all
oceans, but they are nearly all deep-sea species. Some of them
extend to the greatest depths from which starfishes have been
obtained. Only a few occur in depths less than 150 fathoms,
none are found in very shallow water.
Those genera that have an impaired interradial marginal plate
were formerly placed by me in a special family, Benthopectimdea,
later reduced to a subfamily, Benthopectinine. The discovery of
certain deep-sea species that vary in this respect, and others that
are intermediate, renders it useless to longer maintain such a
subfamily group. Benthopecten spinosus Ver. occurs in very
deep water off the Atlantic coast of the United States. Other
species occur in all the oceans.
It is represented in the West Indies by B. simplex (Perrier),
which occurs in 1323 fathoms (Blake Exped.). Redescribed in
detail (op. cit., 1894, pp. 254, 256) as Pararchaster simplex. It
was described from a very young specimen.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 123
Genus CHEIRASTER Studer.
Cheiraster Studer, Sitzungs. Naturf. Freunde, Berlin, xvi, pp. 130, 131, 1883;
Anhang z. d. Abhandl. d. k. preuss, Akad. Wiss. Berlin, pp. 49, 51,
1884. (Type is C. gazelle Studer.) Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talis-
man, p. 269, 1894. Sladen, op. cit., 1889, pp. 3, 25. Ludwig, Notom-
yota, pp. 442, 454, 1910. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, pp. 120, 123.
Pontaster (pars) Sladen, op. cit., pp. 23, 25, 1889. (Type of Pontaster is
P. tenuispimis.)
Benthopectinide which normally have no odd interradial mar-
ginal plates. The papule, situated at the base of the rays, are
not gathered into a ‘special, median papularium, but form a bi-
lobed group, often U-shaped or V-shaped, which, in the adult,
may contain many papule and cover most of the base of the ray
and extend on the disk but in the young it may contain only one
to three or four pores and show no evidently bilobed character.
The apex of the group is directed toward the disk.
The central part of the disk may, in the adult, bear a cluster
of more or less numerous long acute spines, but these are few or
lacking in the young, and in the adults of some species.
The dorsal surface is closely covered with low, round or angu-
lar irregularly arranged parapaxille or spinoparapaxille. A
boss or short columnar process arises from the flatish plates, and
is surmounted by a stellate marginal series of spinules or gran-
ules, and with one or several central spinules, which may be
spiniform in some species, or granule-like in others. Distally
the radial plates may become flatter, minute protopaxille.
The two rows of marginal plates are well-developed and usual-
ly decidedly alternate, and more or less angular, with oblique
sutures. Each plate of both series usually bears one large acute
marginal spine; often one, especially the lower one, may have one
or several smaller secondary spines around its base. The surface
of these plates is covered with small spinules or spiniform gran-
ules, larger beneath; the inferomarginals may also have one or
two transverse rows of spines beneath, in some species.
The proximally angular adambulacral plates have a marginal
series of numerous slender graded spines on the inner edges,
which is continuous with a series of smaller spines around the
outer margin. In the center of its actinal surface, each plate
has one or two, or sometimes alternately one and two, larger,
acute, usually erect spines.
124 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Pectinate pedicellarie may be present on the interactinal
plates, or between them, or on the inner end of the inferomar-
ginal plates, or sometimes on the adambulacrals. They may be
few or many, or entirely lacking, especially in the young.
Ludwig (op. cit., 1910) made the external generic distinction
between this genus and Luidiaster almost entirely dependent on
the presence of one spine, in this, on the actinal side of the adam-
bulacral plate, while in Lwidiaster there are two or more. This,
however, is not a valid generic difference, for several of the
species have either one or two, on consecutive plates, and nearly
all have two, in large specimens, on some of the plates.
The internal dorsal muscular bands of the rays are not at-
tached to a crest of the proximal ambulacral ossicles, in those
species examined. According to Fisher, this is the most definite
character for separating it from Luidiaster. The same charac-
ter seems to separate it from Pectinaster. But the muscular
bands are not known in many species. Dry specimens and
unique types cannot be examined as to this feature.
Young specimens less than 20™™ in diameter usually cannot
be referred with any certainty to either genus, for their papu-
laria, pedicellarie, and characteristic marginal spines may be
lacking or rudimentary.
CHEIRASTER MIRABILIS Perrier.
Archaster mirabilis (pars) Perrier, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zo6l., vol. ix, p. 27,
1881; Nouv. Arch. du Mus., vol. vi, p. 256, pl. 9, fig. 4; not pl. viii,
figs. 7, 8, (nor pl. x, fig. 3), 1884.
Cheiraster coronatus (pars) Perrier, Exp. Sci. Travail. et Talisman, Echinod.,
p- 271, 1894.
Archaster coronatus (pars) Perrier, op. cit., 262, 1884; op. cit., p. 271,
1894 (full descr. two varieties.)
Cheiraster coronatus (pars) Ludwig, Notomyota, op. cit., pp. 455, 456, 1910.
Plate xiv; figures 5, 5a. Details.
The type of this species, as described by Perrier in 1881 and
copied in 1884, is the very same specimen (from station 148, St.
Kitts) as that described by him in 1894 (p. 271), as ‘‘Cheiraster
coronatus’’ ‘“A. Premier type, bras ellongés,’’ and there made
the typical form of the latter. This is, of course, contrary to
the ordinary rules of nomenclature, for mirabilis has three years
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 125
priority, and was described from a single type-specimen.”® C.
coronatus was not described till 1884, and its type was from off
Havana, in 805 fathoms, No. 2.
Therefore his C. coronatus of 1894 is the same thing as his A.
mirabilis of 1881. Whether his C. coronatus of 1884 is a distinct
species, is another question, to be settled only by a new study of
the type, or other specimens identical in character.
The type of this species, according to the revised description
by Perrier (1894, p. 271) under the later name of C. coronatus,
has the following characters:
Radii 10™™ and 85™™; ratio, 1:8.5. The rays are long and
slender. Marginal plates forty to forty-two. The center of the
disk has about a dozen large spines.
The superomarginal plates are rather small, imbricated, their
proximal convex border alone being visible. They agree in num-
ber with the inferomarginals, but are not in line with them.
Their surface is covered with numerous fine spinules. Those be-
yond the third bear a large conical marginal spine; that on the
fourth plate is usually much larger than the others. Those of
the first to third plates are more or less aborted.
The inferomarginal plates are covered with long and slender
spinules; on the first three plates there are also four or five
spines, increasing in size upward; on the fourth plate the large
marginal spine becomes 7 to 8™™ in length; those beyond grad-
ually decrease in length; below the large spine there is usually at
least one secondary spine. Some of these plates have a rudi-
mentary fasciculate pedicellaria.
The dorsal plates are numerous, small, rounded, flat, covered
with extremely small spinules, almost reduced to the form of
granules visible only with a lens.
The center of the disk has about a dozen long, conical, mov-
able spines. (Condensed from Perrier.)
The papular pores form two symmetrical lateral groups, which
are prolonged toward the center of the disk and become coales-
cent at a larger radial plate. Five larger interradial plates are
"20 At the end of the 1881 description there is a brief description of an-
other specimen, which in 1884 he made the type of a new species (A. in-
signis), which is now Dytaster insignis. Thus the name mirabilis cannot
be applied to any species except that first described, with the type specimen,
from Station 148, in 380 meters, off St. Kitts, as its sole type.
126 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
also distinguishable. Some of the plates on the papular areas
are enlarged and similar to those that have a central spine. The
madreporic plate is large, round, and covered with radial gyri.
It is surrounded by plates bearing larger spinules; that on the
adcentral side is largest.
The adambulacral plates project into the groove; the inner
edge bears ten to twelve graded spines, the middle one longest;
the rest of the margin, on the actinal side, bears about a dozen
very small conical spinelets. On the center of the actinal face
there is one large, movable, conical spine. On some of the plates
there are one to three small spinelets around its base. (In some
of our specimens part of these plates have two unequal, long,
slender spines.)
The interactinal plates form three series; the first has six -
plates (three each side); the second has four; the third two.
These plates bear a set of spines about parallel with the adambu-
lacrals; one of the inner plates of the first row is longer and
larger; other small spinules cover the plates.
Two or three pectinate pedicellariz occur on the sutures of
these plates, one on each series. They have five or six papille
on each half.
The jaws are prominent, each half is wedge-shaped, and bears
about eleven marginal spines, the two inner much the larger;
the lateral ones slender, subequal. Epioral spines are numerous;
three inner ones are larger.
Some of the specimens before me agree well with the charac-
ters given by Perrier for his original type, and agree with some
of his cotypes that I have studied in the Museum of Comparative
Zodlogy. Many of these are evidently immature.
Perrier (1894, p. 271) made the presence of a group of spines
on the center of the disk the special character of this species
(under the name coronatus) and stated that this separates it
from all the other species of the West Indian fauna.
In this statement he certainly went too far, for at least two
other species have the same feature. Very likely, therefore, he
still included in his species specimens of more than one species.
He recognized two varieties: one with short and the other with
long rays, the latter being the typical mirabilis, as shown above.
The form with short rays may be distinct. Its type was from
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 127
station 238, in 127 fathoms, off Camman. It may be identical
with C echinulatus Per., as now understood by me. It is per-
haps the form figured by Perrier (1884) on pl. x, fig. 2.
Ludwig (op. cit., p. 455, 1910) considered C. mirabilis the
young of coronatus and erroneously adopted the latter name.
The name mirabilis has three years of priority. Moreover the
type specimen of mirabilis was larger than that of coronatus.
Perrier, 1894, kept the two as distinet species, though he dis-
placed the names and put his former types of coronatus with
that of mirabilis.
With only the records given by Perrier, it is not possible to
give accurately the distribution of this species in the Blake
dredgings, separately from the other forms compared with it by
him, in 1884, for in most cases he gives no information even as
to the presence of spines on the disk. The following stations,
however, are valid for this form:
Station 148, off St. Kitts, in 208 fathoms, fine sand; station
238, off Grenadines, in 126 fathoms, coral sand; station 264, off
Grenada, in 416 fathoms, gray 00Zze ; station 291 in 200 fathoms,
off Barbados. Most of the above have been confirmed by exam-
inations of the specimens.
It was also taken by the Albatross at a number of stations, in
similar depths. The Bahama Expedition dredged specimens at
station 2, off Havana, in 210 fathoms.
CHEIRASTER MIRABILIS CORONATUS (Perrier).
Archaster coronatus Perrier, op. cit., 1884, p. 262.
Cheiraster coronatus Perrier (pars), 1894, pp. 271, 275 (not the form then
described).
C. coronatus (pars) Ludwig, op. cit., pp. 455, 456, 1910.
The type of this species, as originally described by Perrier, in
1884 (p. 262) was from Blake station 2, in 805 fathoms. Its
characters, which were given briefly, are as follows:
Radii 8™™ and 65™™; ratio, 1:8.1. Superomarginal plates 43.
The rays are slender and long, with the interradial angles
scarcely rounded.
The superomarginal plates are longer than broad, angles
rounded; each bears one median marginal spine; that of the
128 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
fourth plate is larger than the others; those of the two more
proximal plates ** are much smaller; none on the first.
Inferomarginal plates have a marginal spine much larger than
the others, surrounded at base by several smaller spines less than
half as long; otherwise the plate is covered with small spinelets.
The dorsal paxille are rather small, covered with equal small
spinules. About fifteen long, slender, acute spines surround the
center of the disk. Madreporic plate is small, prominent, round-
ed, pretty coarsely grooved, situated near the marginal plates.
The interactinal plates are in a single series with small spines.
(No pedicellariz are mentioned.) The adambulacral plates bear
a semicircular row of nine graded marginal spines, and a single
straight, long, slender, acute spine on the actinal face.
The jaw-plates bear, each, ten marginal spines, decreasing
from the oral end backward, and also some small epioral spines,
both on the surface and bordering the naked sutural area be-
tween them.
The papular pores are not mentioned by Perrier, nor any ped-
icellariz.
So far as his description shows, there is no character by which
this form is distinguishable from typical C. mirabilis, but a re-
examination of the type is desirable, especially with reference to
the papular arrangement and the special characters of the dorsal
parapaxille.
Among my notes, made when I examined the Blake collection,
in 1899, there is no mention of the type of this species. Prob-
ably I did not see it. Most likely this is only a slight variation
from the typical form of the original C. mirabilis, as suggested
by Perrier himself, in 1894. The only point worthy of note, in
the description of Perrier, is the apparently more spinose condi-
tion of the inferomarginal plates, in this respect approaching
those of C. echinulatus. Perrier gave only two localities: station
2, off Havana, in 805 fathoms, and station 19, off West Florida,
in 310 fathoms (one very young).
21 Perrier says third and fourth plates, evidently by an error, for second
and third. In this respect his description, when corrected, applies well to
his figure, pl. ix, fig. 4 = C. mirabilis.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 129
CHEIRASTER ECHINULATUS Perrier.
Archaster echinulatus Perrier, Revision, vol. v, p. 268, 1876; Etoiles de Mer,
p. 263, pl. x, fig. 4, 1884.
Cheiraster echinulatus Perrier, Exped. Tray. et Talisman, p. 278, 1894 (brief
description. )
Pectinaster echinulatus Ludwig, Notomyota, pp. 449, 450, 1910 (no descrip-
tion.)
Plate xiv; figures 2, 3. Details. Plate xix; figure 2. Plate xxv;
figure 1.
The single specimen originally described by Perrier, from off
Barbados, was very young, and most of those later listed from
the Blake Expedition are also small. Neither of his descriptions
are very complete, nor does his small photographie figure give
much aid in identification. I have examined part of the speci-
mens recorded by him, however, and therefore refer much larger
specimens to his species.
According to Perrier (1876) his type had the radii 4™™ and
16™; ratio, 1:4; marginal plates, 15. The largest specimen
mentioned later had 19 marginal plates. Some of our specimens
have 26 or more.
In the type the adambulacral plates had a circular marginal
group of ten to twelve slender spines, the largest on the inner
angle, and one larger spine on the center of the actinal face.
The inferomarginal plates have one marginal spine, not partic-
ularly long, and several unequal secondary spines, below its base,
some of which are not very much shorter than the large one. The
superomarginal plate has one larger spine, as in most species.
The papular pores were ‘‘one to three at the base of the rays,
near the median line.’’
The dorsal paxille were rather large, with about ten marginal
granules.
The jaw-plates have each a row of about nine long, slender,
close spines, with the two rows opposed to each other, and a
larger tooth-like spine.*?
22The type, according to Perrier (1876), came from off Barbados, in
100 to 315 feet, Hassler Expedition. Probably fathoms were here intended
for most of the Hassler dredgings there were in 75 to 100 fathoms, and this
is a rather deep-water species.
130 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
These details are now given because this was the first species
of the family to be described from the West Indian fauna, and
because, owing to its marked immaturity, its identification, from
the imperfect description, is difficult. Moreover, there has been
a question as to its generic place, since Ludwig has referred it to
Pectinaster and has made it the young of my Pontaster sepitus
(1885) 1895.* Both these conclusions are erroneous.
In 1884, Perrier only added that only two interactinal plates
separated the inferomarginals from the jaws (a feature of the
young) ; that these plates have pectinate pedicellarie; that the
dorsal paxille have a central caducous spinule; that the ambu-
lacral feet have small suckers; that the number of marginal
plates varies from fifteen to nineteen; that the dorsal marginal
spines have a number of spinules around their base; and that in
the larger specimens some pretty long spines surround the cen-
ter of the disk.
Most of these features are common to several other species,
especially when young. The last two are of most importance,
though other related species have spines on the disk.
The most distinctive character given is the presence of nu-
merous secondary spines around both series of larger marginals.
In 1894 he referred the species to Cheiraster, although he
recognized Pontaster and Pectinaster 7° as distinct genera; and
stated that it is nearly related to C. mirabilis but may be dis-
tinguished by its shorter rays, broader at base; its circular pec-
tinate pedicellarie; its larger inferomarginal spines, accom-
panied by several spines of smaller size; and by the larger size
of the dorsal paxille. He adds that the interactinal plates are
two to six in a single range (a youthful character).
In neither place does he describe the correct arrangement of
the papule, which would be the only character by which it could
be distinguished from Pectinaster. This we can now supply by
* Archaster sepitus Verrill, Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. xxix, p. 151, Feb., 1885;
Expl. by the Albatross in 1883, pp. 519, 543, 1885. Pontaster sepitus Verrill,
Proce. Nat. Mus., vol. xvii, p. 247, 1894; ditto, vol. xlix, p. 137, 1895.
Range, 368 to 858 fathoms. Taken at several stations between N. lat. 41°
53’ and 39° 40’.
23 Ludwig (1910) referred this species to Pectinaster. Perhaps he was
misled by Perrier’s imperfect description of the papular areas. Perrier
apparently saw but one limb of the V-shaped group.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 131
means of larger specimens. In his immature specimens the
papular areas were feebly developed, and probably hard to see.
The Bahama Expedition dredged four good specimens at sta-
tion 61. One of these, in alcohol, has the radii 9™™ and 36™;
ratio, 1:4. Marginal plates 26.
It has about twenty larger, tapered, acute spines on the cen-
tral part of the disk, with a number of others bordering and on
the papular areas, not so large, and grading down to the spinose
parapaxille of the radial area, which are scattered among the
ordinary form, even to the distal fifth of the ray, those beyond
the basal part of the ray having the central spinelet small, but
acute, surrounded on the larger ones with an inner circle of
about eight to ten very small clavate spinules, and an outer
circle of twelve to sixteen or more. Those plates that lack the
acute spinelet have a central clavate spinule like those around it,
or often two or three of them. Toward the tips of the rays the
plates become very small, closely crowded, so that when denuded
they are polygonal and in mosaic. They bear few granule-like
spinules in small rosettes.
The papular pores are in a bilobed or V-shaped group, the
apex adeentral, each limb having two rows of six to eight each.
The two limbs are separated at first only by the single median
row of plates, more distally by two or three rows. The two
main rows of each limb are separated by a single line of plates,
and they converge adcentrally, and finally are united by a line
of two or three pores just adcentral to the largest spine on the
group, arising from a prominent plate, in the apex of the V.
The papular pores are very small and difficult to see, even with
a good lens, on some of the specimens. There is sometimes a
third short outer row of papule on each limb in the larger speci-
mens.
The superomarginal plates are rather large, convex, and en-
croach upon the disk forming a strong narrow border, widest in
the interradial areas, where the sutures are transverse. Beyond
the third plate the sutures become more and more oblique and
the plates more rhomboidal. Each of these plates, except the
first, bears an acute tapered, slender spine, not very long, hardly
equal to the length of two adjacent plates. That on the fourth
plate is not notably enlarged, those on the second and third be-
132 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
ing only a little smaller. The first plate usually has the spine
rudimentary or lacking. Below the base of these spines there
are proximally usually two or three small, acute, secondary spines.
The surface of the plate is covered rather thickly with short,
acute, erect spinules; those below the spine are longer. The
sutures between the plates are wide, but only feebly fasciolated.
The inferomarginal plates are thick and form a strong raised
border to the under side of the disk and rays, which appear
sunken below the border. These are more strongly spinulose
than the upper ones, especially on the outer part, where the
spinules become large and sharp. Each of the plates bears one
large marginal spine, similar to the dorsals, but rather longer.
Below this, on the proximal plates there is a double group of five
or six secondary spines, one or two of them about half as long
as the large one. More distally these become reduced to two or
three. These and the coarse spinules between them give the
under surface a very spinose appearance.
The adambulacral plates have a very prominent inner angle
which bears a row of eight to ten slender graded spines, contin-
ued around the actinal edges by more slender spinules. On the
actinal face are borne proximally either a single large tapered
spine, or else two unequal spines; in the latter case the smaller
spine may be on the aboral or on the adoral side of the larger
one. The plates with two spines may alternate irregularly with
those with only one. Beyond the middle of the ray most of the
plates bear two nearly equal spines.
The interactinal plates form, on each area, one row of about
eight plates, and a shorter row of four or five small plates.
Pectinate pedicellarie, broad ovate in form, with raised bor-
ders, are present over the sutures between part of the larger in-
teractinals. There may be from one to four on each area; most
often two; sometimes none. These plates also bear a central
spine, with basal spinules around it. Peroral spines are rather
large and stout.
These specimens are considerably larger than those seen by
Perrier, but they differ little except in those features naturally
due to increased age. In my specimens the character of the
papular areas is that of typical Cheiraster, and not at all like
Pectinaster, in which Ludwig placed the species.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 133
The localities where it was taken by the Blake, as recorded by
Perrier, were mostly in the Gulf of Mexico, off West Florida and
Alabama, in 84 to 229 fathoms. I have also seen it from station
158 (?), off Montserrat, in 147 or 148 fathoms.
It was taken by the Albatross at several stations in the West
Indies, among others at station 2125, in 208 fathoms, off Cura-
coa, No. 10,109, Nat. Mus. (See plate xiv, fig. 3.)
By the Bahama Expedition it was taken at stations 31, 35, 61,
off Key West, Fla., in 75 to 100 fathoms (see plate xix, fig. 2) ;
and at station 2, off Havana, in 110 fathoms. (See plate xiv,
fig. 2.)
CHEIRASTER PLANUS Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate xviii; figure 2. Type.
Of this species I have seen but one specimen (No. 18469, Nat.
Mus. ).
The disk is rather wide for the genus and the rays long, be-
coming very slender distally. Radii are 13™™ and 92™™; ratio,
1:7. Marginal plates, 39. Radius of disk is equal to five and
one-half proximal plates. Paxillar area is equal to three times
the breadth of second marginal plate.
The superomarginal plates of the rays are rather large, some-
what convex, forming a thick but not wide somewhat raised
border. They are rather rhomboidal with oblique sutures and
alternate with the lower ones.
Each bears a rather long, slender, terete, regularly tapered,
acute spine, in length about equal to two plates; that on the
fourth plate not much larger than the following; those on the
second and third are somewhat smaller; the first very small.
Rest of the plate nearly uniformly covered with very small,
slender, acute, spaced spinelets; the sutures are fasciolated with
more slender spinules.
Inferomarginal plates have a similar marginal spine, but with
one or two secondary spines, not half as long, below it on the
proximal plates; elsewhere the surface is covered with acute
spaced spinelets, larger than those on upper plates, grading
downward to short appressed conical forms. About sixteen prox-
imal adambulacral plates correspond to the first ten inferomar-
ginals.
134 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
very small, roundish plates that are not much crowded. They
bear a very small stellate group of minute spinules, which, on
the larger radial plates, form a marginal row of about six to
nine, around a central one of the same size or slightly larger
and acute. Those on the papular areas, around the madreporic
plate and on the central part of the disk are partly larger with
larger and more numerous spinules. On the papular areas, in-
terradial areas, and near bases of the rays some of them bear a
small central spine; some of these exceeding the diameter of the
plate. These are not found much beyond the bases of the rays,
except a few sparsely scattered along the ray, of smaller sizes.
The papular areas are large and well defined, U-shaped, with
two rows of about six or seven pores in each limb. They are
slightly raised above the general level.
The madreporie plate is irregular in form, not very large,
deeply grooved, and surrounded by six enlarged parapaxille.
The combined jaw-plates are broad-ovate with the oral edge
broadly rounded and bearing four rather large and stout, blunt
peroral spines; on one jaw there is a median odd one, deeper in
the mouth. The lateral marginal row has six slender spines.
Epioral spines are not very numerous, in two or three rows on
each side, the anterior pair larger.
The adambulacral plates have a prominent obtusely angular
and rounded inner margin, which bears a row of eight to ten
slender graded spines, continued along the actinal edges by
smaller spinelets. The actinal face has one rather large and
stout, tapered, central spine; some few plates have a smaller
secondary spine.
The interactinal plates form two rows; counting both ends the
first row has eight or ten plates; the second has about four, with
others rudimentary. They are spinulated like the inferomar-
ginals and some of the larger ones have a central erect spine.
No pedicellariz of any kind could be found.
This is a very distinct species, unless some of the young, with-
out discal spines, called mirabilis by Perrier, prove to be its
young. Most of them, however, have a very different papular
area, when any is visible. The absence of pedicellarie may be
merely an individual peculiarity, but is unusual in this genus,
with specimens so large.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 135
All the marginal plates have clearly fasciolated sutural grooves.
This specimen was taken by the Albatross in the winter of
1885, in the West Indies, but the locality was not recorded.
(No. 28469, Nat. Mus.)
CHEIRASTER ENOPLUS Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate xvii; figure 1. Type.
A large species with a wide, flat disk and long, tapering, angu-
lar rays, armed with two rows of long, tapered, acute spines,
one toa plate, and with a central group of 12 to 15 long, slender,
acute spines on the disk. Superomarginal spines are nearly con-
fined to lateral surfaces, so that the paxillar area is wide and
covered with very small, even parapaxille.
Radii of the type are 21 and 185™"; ratio, 1:9. Marginal
plates about sixty. The sides of the disk are evenly and broadly
ineurved, and in the median interradial areas the superomarginal
plates scarcely reach the upper edge and do not form a rim, but
farther out they form a narrow, slightly raised rim. The pri-
mary plates and those more central bear each a long, slender,
terete, very acute spine, about fifteen altogether. The central
plate and spine are the largest.
The general surface of the disk and rays is covered very close-
ly with very small rounded, convex, low parapaxille, covered
with minute spiniform granules or with short, minute spinules.
Those on the disk and bases of rays are larger, and have about
10 to 15 spinules around the edge, and a central rosette of three
to twelve granules; about midlength of the rays they may have
only six to eight marginal spinules and one or two central gran-
ules. Toward the tips of the rays they become almost micro-
scopic.
Many of the larger parapaxille on the papular areas, and on
the interradial areas have a small, erect, acute central spine.
The madreporie plate is large and convex with radiating gyri.
It is surrounded by six convex paxilliform plates, larger and
higher than the rest, each bearing a small spine.
The papular areas are large and broad, occupying more than
half the width of the base of the ray, and extending, on the disk,
to the cluster of long spines. There may be more than 200
small papule in each half.
136 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The half areas are long elliptical, pointed distally and di-
vergent, united at two places by narrow cross-rows of papule.
The superomarginal plates are small, narrow, convex above,
angular below, alternating irregularly with the lower series. The
surface is evenly covered with very small, acute spinuliform
granules, similar to those of the adjacent parapaxille. Each
bears one large, outspreading, terete, evenly tapered, very acute
spine, some of them 15™™ long, or as long as the width of the ray
at base. They have no secondary basal spines. Those on the
first three interradial plates are much smaller than most; the
first one is smallest. The fourth and fifth are largest; beyond
that they decrease regularly.
The same arrangement, as to size, holds good for the infero-
marginal spines, which are of similar length, but rather more
slender. But these last have a group of three to five unequal
smaller sized spines below them, one of which may be half as
long as the primary spine. A row of similar acute spines ex-
tends along both the transverse under margins of the plate, two
or three in each row, proximally. The rest of the surface is cov-
ered with small, erect, acute spinules. Close to its inner end
there is often one (sometimes two) small, low, papilliform pedi-
cellariz, with six to eight small convergent valves.
The interactinal plates are in three chevron-like rows. The
first forms a rather long row, next the adambulaerals; each half
has six or seven plates. Each plate bears one or two slender
spines, and usually a papillose, elliptical pedicellaria, with twelve
to sixteen incurved papille. These often cover more than half
the plate. Others of similar size and form occur in the sutures
between two plates.
The adambulacral plates have a prominent, widely curved or
often nearly semicircular inner edge on which there is a regular
row of about 10 to 12 slender graded spines; this row is contin-
ued on the adoral and aboral edges by about six to eight much
smaller spines or spinules. The actinal surface is concave and
bears usually two long, rather slender spines, which on the prox-
imal plates become more and more unequal, the outer spine be-
coming shorter and smaller, until on the basal three or four
plates it is reduced to a rudimentary condition and may entirely
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 137
disappear on some plates. A few miliary spinelets may occur
around the bases of the large ones.
The combined jaw-plates are broad and short, with a wide
elliptical suture, and a very broadly curved peroral edge, which
bears two pairs of stout, blunt, peroral spines, the two middle
ones considerably larger. The adoral row on each side has eight
to ten slender spines, like other adambulacrals in size, but in a
slightly curved row, the most adoral spine longest. Epioral
spines are not very numerous, slender, acute.
The type, and only specimen seen, is from Albatross station
2128, N. lat. 19° 55’ 46”; W. long. 75° 49’ 23”, south of East
Cuba, in 400 fathoms, blue mud and fine sand. (No. 7425, Nat.
Mus.) It is dry, color yellowish brown.
In general appearance this is like Luidiaster, but it has the
pedicellarize and papule more like those of Cheiraster. I attach
no generic importance to the presence of two large adambulacral
spines on most of the plates.
The dry specimen affords no chance to ascertain the attach-
ment of the radial muscular bands, which seems to be the only
real distinction between the two genera.
Genus PEcTINASTER Perrier (emended).
Archaster (pars) Perrier, Etoiles de Mer, p. 263, 1884.
Pectinaster (pars) Perrier, Ann. Sci. Nat., vol. xix, p. 70, 1885 (type P.
filholi Per.) ; Exped. Trav. et Talisman, p. 278, 1894. Ludwig (emend-
ed), Notomyota, op. cit., p. 448, 1910. Fisher, op. cit., 19110, p. 122.
Pontaster (pars) Sladen, op. cit., p. 23, 1889.
Cheiraster (pars) Ludwig, Asteroidea, p. 1, 1905.
Form regularly stellate, with regularly tapered angular rays,
normally five. Odd interradial marginal plates lacking. Dorsal
radial paxillary areas rather narrow, reaching the tip of the
rays, covered with small, roundish, low or convex plates, bearing
small spinules and often a larger central spine, on some of them.
Papularia specialized at base of rays, medial or central, and
more or less smaller, but not two-lobed.
Marginal plates are well developed, usually not particularly
large, more or less out of line in the two rows, so that the vertical
sutures do not correspond, and are somewhat oblique. Those of
both series are spinulose and bear one large spine, often with one
138 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
or more smaller ones at its base. The sutures are more or less
fasciolated.
Interactinal plates are present, in small numbers. They are
spinulose and may have a central larger spine, and often sutural
pectinate pedicellariz.
The adambulacral plates have a prominent inner angle, which
bears, at its edge, a row of six to ten or more spines; the actinal
side has one or two large central spines and often a smaller ac-
cessory one, besides some small basal spinules. Sometimes there
are two or more equal spines.
The pericellarie are fasciculate or pectinate. They may occur
on any series of plates; rarely on the adambulacrals. Those on
the interactinals are pectinate and usually largest. They may
cover the suture between two plates, or occupy a single plate.
Those on the dorsal plates are small, fasciculate, and are not al-
ways present.
The dorsal muscle-bands are well developed. Their proximal
ends are attached to one or two ambulacral plates and to the
superomarginals.
This genus is closely allied ‘o Pontaster. The latter (typical)
differs chiefly in having two-valved pedicellarizw, instead of pec-
tinate ones; and in their position, for they mostly occur on the
adambulacral plates. These plates also have two or more larger
spines on the actinal side, instead of one or two, as is usually the
case in this genus.
The number of actinal adambulacral spines cannot be trusted
as a true generic character, for it varies on different plates of the
same ray, but in this genus they seldom form a cluster, as they
sometimes do in Pontaster.
Typical Pontaster also has more crowded papule and more
specialized papularia, with a more complex calcified inner strue-
ture, and they are therefore more swollen externally than in this
genus, in which they are sometimes scarcely at all swollen, espe-
cially in the young.
Fisher (19110) made the bivalve form of the pedicellariz and
their position on the adambulacral plates the most diagnostic
character to separate Pontaster from Pectinaster. This seems
to me the most useful and most available method, except in those
rather unusual cases when no pedicellarizw occur, and in the very
young.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 139
Young specimens, up to 25™™ in diameter, are often generically
undeterminable, if pedicellarie are not present. At this stage
of growth there is usually only one papular pore developed, but
that is median at the base of the ray. A little later two more
appear, one each side of the first. These and later conditions
may coéxist on the different rays of the same specimen, owing to
unequal rates of development.
This genus is common in moderately deep water of all the
oceans. Some of the species descend to great depths.
PECTINASTER VINCENTI (Per.) Ludwig.
Cheiraster vincenti Perrier, Exped. Tray. et Talisman, pp. 270, 275, 1894
(short description.)
Archaster mirabilis (pars) Perrier, Etoiles de Mer, p. 256, 1884 (= No.
231, p. 258.)
Luidiaster vincenti Ludwig, Notomyota, op. cit. 1910, pp. 452, 453, 1910.
According to the brief description given by Perrier in 1884
(p. 258) this species has the following characters, based on the
types from station 231:
The rays are rather short; radii are 10™™ and 50™™; ratio,
1:5. Superomarginal spines are 28. There are no large spines
on the central part of the disk. The adambulacral spines have,
on the actinal side, a groun of three or four spines, instead of
one or two as usual.
The superomarginal and inferomarginal spines are shorter
than in C. mirabilis.
The dorsal parapaxille have mostly a larger spinule in the
center.
The pectinate pedicellariz, on the interactinal plates, are well
developed, but variable in number and position, even on the dif-
ferent areas of the same specimen. There may be from one to
four, or none at all on any one area.
In 1894 (p. 275) a few additions are made to the description :
The large inferomarginal spine is accompanied by two or three
smaller spines irregularly placed, and not constant.
The papule are arranged in a small median group, not very
prominent (as it is in Pontaster, sp.). He compares it to Pec-
tinaster oxyacanthus (Sladen, as Pontaster) but finds it quite
distinct. As Perrier states dictinetly that the papularium is
central ‘‘sur une plage impaire,’’ this species should be placed in
Pectinaster, not in Luidiaster, where Ludwig located it, or else
140 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
in Pontaster, if the character of the pedicellariz be ignored, for
in the type of the latter the pedicellarie are bivalved. Moreover,
in typical Pontaster the papularia are more swollen and have a
specialized calcareous framework internally.
The type was from station 231, off St. Vincent, in 95 fathoms
(six specimens). The specimens from this locality, in the Blake
collection, I have seen. They are all young except one.
PECTINASTER MIXTUS Verrill, sp. nov.
Cheiraster mirabilis (pars) Perrier, op. cit., 1884 (non 1881), p. 256, pl.
vili, figs. 7, 8; op. cit., p. 276c, pl. xx, fig. 4, 1894.
Plate vi; figure 2. Plate xv; figure 2. Plate xvii; figure 1.
It seems necessary, or at least desirable, to have a special name
for the very common and often abundant small form of this .
group found in the West Indies. It is probably more abundant
and more widely diffused than any other starfish of that region,
in moderate depths. It also has a considerable range in dépth.
At present it is impossible to tell whether any of the specimens
are mature. Most are evidently immature, but cannot be re-
ferred to either of the larger species with certainty. Certainly
they are not all of one species, as first described. Large num-
bers of specimens have been grouped together by Perrier (as his
C. mirabilis of 1894, not of 1881). I have examined a consid-
erable number of his lots, but not all, and have found some evi-
dently mixed lots, including, for instance, the young of C. echin-
ulatus. Others might be the young of C. planus or P. vincentt.
Still, most of them appear to belong together. I propose to call
the more common species, provisionally at least, C. mixtus = C.
mirabilis Per., 1894, in part. Although the specimens are prob-
ably all immature I am unable to refer them to either of the
larger species described.
A specimen that agrees very closely with the one described
by Perrier comes from Albatross station 2341, off West Florida,
in 143 fathoms (No. 10,226, Nat. Mus.). This may be taken as
the type. (See plate vi, figure 2.)
It has the radii 6™™ and 26™™; marginal plates 22. The dorsal
plates are nearly flat, polygonal, closely packed or tesselated, un-
equal in size. They bear numerous minute, almost granule-like
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 141
spinelets in a rosette of two circles on the larger plates, about ten
to twelve in the inner circle and twenty to twenty-four or more
in the outer one, and many of the larger plates have an erect
central sharp spinelet, often more than twice as long as the di-
ameter of the plate. There is no central group of larger spines
on the disk, but some of the plates there are a little larger than
the average.
The papular pores are in a small, median, specialized cluster
of five or six. A central larger pore is surrounded by four
plates, a little larger and more prominent than those adjacent,
and with a rather larger central spinelet. The side of each plate
next the pore is angulated and bears a miniature comb of minute
spinules. Thus the four plates are convergent over the pore,
and appear to be movable, to some extent, like an operculum, for
in some cases they lie flat and conceal the pore and in other cases
they have the inner end raised, exposing it. ‘Two of these plates
are in the median radial line; the others are between them, to
right and left.24 Two or four smaller pores appear between the
outer angles of these four plates. No others are visible on some
of the rays; on others an additional small pair appears more dis-
tally. The central dorsal pore is distinct.
The superomarginal plates have a small acute spine; that on
the fourth plate is only slightly longer ; some of the more prox-
imal plates have two spines, one above the other.
The inferomarginal plates have one marginal spine, equal to
the upper ones, and also have a group of four to six or more sec-
ondary sharp spines, of unequal sizes, below their base, some of
them half as long as the marginals. These grade downward into
numerous sharp spinelets that closely cover the inferior surface,
the lower ones minute.
The adambulacral plates have a prominent angulated inner
end and bear a series of about seven to nine very slender spines
on the edge. The actinal face usually has two elongated, very
slender, sharp, unequal, larger spines. Sometimes a fasciculated,
papilliform pedicellaria, with about four valves, replaces the two
spines on some of these plates.
24'These appear to be the same as those spoken of by Perrier as four
plates forming a cross.
142 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The interactinal plates form one row of four or six, and four
rudimentary plates of a second row.
Pectinate pedicellarie, nearly circular in form, exist between
most of the plates of the first row and rudimentary ones between
those of the second row, so that there are three, four, or more on
each area.
The four apical or peroral spines are much stouter than the
adorals and blunt, the two central ones most so, but not long.
Each row of adoral or lateral spines has about nine slender,
closely packed, subequal, and not very long spines. There are
ten to twelve crowded, small epioral spines on each jaw-plate,
the adoral one larger.
Younger specimens, with the greater radius 12 to 13™™, have
the same form and many of the special characters are developed. -
They have 12 marginal plates, obliquely placed. There is but
one papular pore on each radial area. That is median and rep-
resents the larger median pore of the type. It is surrounded
by four polygonal plates. When the dorsal plates are denuded
of spines they appear closely united in a mosaic; they are of
unequal sizes, larger than in most species, only slightly convex,
and distinctly polygonal. On the disk and bases of the rays
they are larger and many are regularly hexagonal. They retain
the polygonal form nearly to the tips of the rays.
Adambulacral plates have six to eight very slender furrow-
spines and part have two slender spines on the actinal side.
There are only four interactinal plates, and only one rudimen-
tary pectinate pedicellaria, in some; while in other young of
similar size there are two pedicellariz to each area.
According to Perrier’s description in 1894 (p. 276) of what he
then called C. mirabilis the specimens (mostly very young) had
the following characters:
The larger radius does not exceed 30™. The superomarginal
plates are twenty-two; they stand obliquely and alternate with
the lower ones and extend somewhat onto the upper surface;
their outline, seen from above, is a parallelogram with inclined
sides; they are covered with small spinules and have one pretty
long marginal spine on each plate.
The inferomarginals are a little longer than wide; they are
covered with small spines and have one long acute marginal
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 143
spine, as long as a plate, often with a smaller spine at its base.
Sometimes there is a small pectinate pedicellaria between two
of these plates.
The dorsal parapaxille have roundish, flat bases, and bear
about thirty almost granule-like, obtuse spinules and on most of
them a delicate central spinelet.
The papule, at the base of each ray, vary from one to eight,
according to age. One of these is larger than the rest and is
situated in the median radial line. It is surrounded by four
plates, which form a cross, and they are larger than those adja-
cent. The other papule are situated in the same transverse line,
or else a little more distal.
The interactinal plates are six to eight and form only one row.
In the suture between some of them there is a pectinate pedicel-
laria, with six to eight papille; other pedicellariz, smaller in
size, may be present.
The adambulacral plates project strongly into the groove and
each bears an inner marginal row of eight graded spines; other
smaller spines continue the rows on the actinal edges. A large
spine stands on the actinal side, sometimes accompanied by a
smaller spine.
Several of the characters given above are due to immaturity,
especially the small number of papular pores, of marginal plates,
and of interactinal plates. M. Perrier here restricts the name
mirabilis to those specimens that lack long spines on the central
part of the disk. This feature is, without doubt, in some cases
due to immaturity and yet there are allied species that do not
have them, even when of large size. Therefore there may be
more than one species among the numerous small specimens list-
ed by Perrier as C. mirabilis, without central spines. A young
specimen of the same species (No. 18,470 Nat. Mus.) differs only
in characters due to its less development. Radii are 4™™ and
18™™. Its dorsal plates are fiat, polygonal, and tesselated quite
regularly. This feature alone is sufficient to distinguish it
from the young of other species of similar size. Most of the
larger dorsal plates have an acute, erect, central spinelet. Its
papular pores are single on some of the rays. In that case there
is only the primary pore surrounded by its four special plates.
On some of the rays a small pore has already appeared on one
144 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
or both sides of the first, between the outer angles of the four
plates, but not always in the same angles. The inferomarginal
spines are surrounded by basal secondary spines as in the larger
specimens. (See plate xvii, figure 1.)
The spines of the jaws and adambulacral plates are essen-
tially the same as in the older specimen described above; part of
the adambulacral plates even have two larger spines on the
actinal face.
Interactinal row of plates is single, having two larger and
two very small plates. Two or three small pectinate pedicel-
larie have already developed on each area.
This is undoubtedly young. In the strong spinulation of the
inferomarginal plates and the group of several secondary spines _
below the marginal one it is much like C. echinulatus, but the
latter has a group of long spines on the disk; a different ar-
rangement of papule; relatively coarser protopaxille, with few-
er and smaller central spinelets. It seems hardly probable that it
can be the young of echinulatus, for there is no great difference
in size between this and some of the latter, nor is there any
reason to think that the arrangement of the papular pores can
change from the condition characteristic of Pectinaster to that
of Chewraster, especially in specimens nearly of the same size.
Whether this species ever develops large spines on the disk,
when older, I cannot say. I have seen none with such spines.
This species, as listed by Perrier, was taken by the Blake Ex-
pedition at about 42 stations (not all recorded by Perrier),
nearly all were between 73 and 314 fathoms. One was taken
in 805 fathoms, off Havana; one in 611 fathoms, off Dominica,
station 175; one in 1,030 fathoms, off Martinique, station 196.
Although I studied a large number of specimens of this species
in the Blake collection, I have no memoranda in respect. to these
three from great depths. Perhaps some of them may be distinct.
Perrier himself makes no remark about either, except. the first,
from 805 fathoms, which he says is a large specimen without
pedicellarie. (Compare my C. planus.)
The Blake localities are nearly all among the Lesser Antilles.
Three are in the Gulf of Mexico, off West Florida and Alabama,
in 84 to 229 fathoms. I have no data sufficient to list all the
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 145
forms without discal spines separately, for Perrier did not desig-
nate them and I did not examine nearly all the lots.
The Albatross also took this species in many localities, in the
same region. The type (No. 10,226 Nat. Mus.) was from 143
fathoms, off West Florida.
It was taken by the Bahama Expedition at station 2, off Ha-
vana, in 210 fathoms.
Among those listed by Perrier as C. mirabilis there were prob-
ably some of the following species:
PECTINASTER GRACILIS Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate vi; figure 1. Type. Plate xiv; figure 4. Plate xv; fig-
ures 1-1b.
Regularly stellate, with slender, tapering, depressed, acute
rays. Radii of the type, which is probably immature, are 5™™
and 30™; ratio, 1:6; another of same lot has them 4™™ and
a0 ratio: 1 =7..5:
The dorsal plates are roundish or elliptical, very unequal in
size, somewhat convex, not crowded, nor closely tesselated. They
bear a rosette of about six to eight very small clavate spinules,
and most of the larger ones have a small upright, central spine-
let, often as long as the diameter of the rosette; seldom twice
as long. Near the tips of the ray the rosettes become minute
and crowded, and the paxillary area very narrow.
The papular pores are five to seven on most of the rays. The
primary central pore is larger than the others and is surround-
ed by about five to eight somewhat thickened and enlarged con-
vex plates; usually two pairs are situated near it, one a little
more distal and the other a trifle more proximal, and wider
apart, or else in the same transverse line, so that they form
either a trapezoid or rectangular figure, when regularly de-
veloped, but both in a pair may not appear at the same time; one
or sometimes two, additional small ones appear on some of the
rays, more distally, and sometimes a small pair more proximally.
Thus it is probable that older specimens may have at least four
pairs. Specimens slightly smaller than the type, in the same
lot, have only three or four papular pores. Owing to the high-
er and thicker plates around the central and adjacent pores, the
146 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
papular area shows as a small convex or raised area, covered
with paxille rather larger than those near by, and some of the
plates may bear a central spinelet larger than usual. There are
no larger central spines on the disk. The madreporie plate is
small with few gyri; it is separated from the marginal plates by
four or five rows of very small plates.
The jaws are relatively unusually wide and short, about as
wide as long, convex, and laterally broadly rounded. The mar-
ginal spines are longer than usual, slender, divergent, not
crowded, about six on the convex lateral margin, besides the
apical or peroral one, which is larger and longer than the others,
and acute. Each half of the jaw has about ten to twelve small
spinelets, irregularly disposed, the two groups separated by a
slightly prominent narrow carina, with no naked median sutural —
area,
The superomarginal plates have each a moderately long, slen-
der, terete, acute spine. They are about equally spaced and pretty
regularly graded, so that they form a very regular row. They have
no secondary spines at the base. The rest of the plate is finely
spinulose.
The inferomarginals also bear a similar marginal spine, with-
out secondaries, their surface is covered with small, sharp, ie
spinules becoming very small at the inner end.
The adambulaeral plates have a furrow-comb of seven or
eight slender spines, continued around the actinal edges by sev-
eral much smaller, slender, irregular spinules. The actinal
face bears one (or sometimes two) rather long, slender, acute
spines. About fifteen adambulacral plates correspond to ten
inferomarginal plates.
The interactinal plates form a single chevron of about six spin-
ulose plates. Only one or two rudimentary pedicellarie are be-
ginning to form on some of the areas. On specimens of the same
lot, slightly smaller, there are only four interactinal plates and
no trace of pedicellariz.
In form, size and general appearance this species resembles
P. matus. It ean be readily distinguished by the dorsal plates,
which are rounded and convex, while in the latter they are flat
and closely tesselated, as well as larger; in this the jaws are
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 147
wider and their marginal spines and apical spines are fewer and
much longer, and more acute; this also lacks the secondary spines
below the inferomarginal one, which are a prominent feature in
P. mixtus as well as in Cheiraster echinulatus and C. mirabilis.
The arrangement of the papular pores and surrounding convex
rounded plates is also characteristic.
Very common in the West Indies, in 70 to 300 fathoms.
The type (No. 10,564 Nat. Mus.) and cotypes were taken by
the Albatross, but no station number is given. I have seen many
others from the West Indies, in the Blake collection. The spec-
imen figured on plate xv, figs. 1-1b, is from 126 fathoms, Antilles.
PECTINASTER OLIGOPORUS (Perrier) Verrill.
Pontaster oliogoporus Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talisman, p. 293, 1894.
Archaster mirabilis (pars) Perrier, op. cit., p. 259, 1884.
The description given by Perrier (1894, p. 293) is very brief
and mostly comparative, as to P. limbatus Sladen. The type
and only specimen was young and came from station 143, Blake.
According to Perrier its peculiarities are as follows:
He states that it is a typical Pontaster, with seven or eight
papule united in a single group upon the median line, at the
base of the rays, and says that according to Sladen’s analytical
key it would come next to P. limbatus,?®> but in the new species
the jaws are less spinose; the adambulacral spines are ten to
twelve, and form a complete circle around the plate, and the
the papule, instead of being in longitudinal rows, are in two or
three irregular transverse rows. Also, there are eight interactin-
al plates in a single row. There are no pedicellarie of any kind.
The type of this species, which I have not seen, was a
‘‘unique’’ specimen from Blake station No. 143, in 150 fathoms,
ooze and sand, off Saba Bank, N. lat. 17° 30’; W. long. 63° 42’
30”,
25 P. limbatus, with which Perrier compared his new species, has no large
spines on the disk, it has numerous small secondary spines around the base
of the large inferomarginal spine, and the under side of the inferomarg-
inal plates is thickly covered with coarse acute spinules; the upper marginal
plates encroach on the disk; the dorsal paxille have central spines; the
adambulacral plates have two or three acute spines on the actinal face; the
papularia are swollen, elliptical.
148 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
PECTINASTER DISPAR Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate xiv; figures 1, la, 1b. Details.
The superomarginals are large and wide, encroaching on the
paxillary area, thus forming a wide and thick border. They
have wide and deep, fasciolated, oblique, sutural grooves. Each
bears one large spine of moderate length, about equal in length
to one and a half times that of the plate. The breadth of the
plate is more than half that of the radial paxillary area prox-
imally.
The paxilliform plates are mostly small, stellate, spinose pro-
topaxille. They bear six to eight long and acute marginal spin-
ules, and a longer central, erect, acute spine. Their radiating
spinules are longer, fewer and more spine-like than in any of
our other species. The papular pores form a small, central,
transverse group, with about four larger pores on each side of
the central one, without specialized plates.
The inferomarginal plates are large and broad and have their
lower surface closely covered with rather large, short, stout,
acute, conical spinules, that are appressed and almost imbricated
in about six alternating rows. They are stouter and more con-
ical than in any of the other species, but not so long as in C.
echinulatus. They increase in size and length outwardly. These
are followed by three or four larger, unequal secondary spines
around the base of the large, stout, marginal one. Some of the
secondaries are more than half as long as the large one. The
grooves between the plates are fasciolated with slender inter-
locking spinules.
The adambulacral plates are large and prominent. The mar-
ginal edge bears a row of ten to twelve, or more, long slender
graded spines. The rows are continued all around the margin
of the plate by ten to twelve smaller and more slender spines.
The actinal face bears two larger and very unequal spines. The
larger one is very stout, conical, acute, not very long. The other
is very slender, equally long, tapered, acute.
The type was from an Albatross station, locality unknown.
(No. 18,468, Nat. Mus.)
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 149
Genus LurmpiAster Studer.
Luidiaster Studer, Sitzungs. Naturf. Freunde, Berlin, xvi, pp. 130, 131,
1883; Anhang Abhandl. K. Preuss, Akad. Wiss., Berlin, pp. 49, 51, 1884.
Ludwig, Notomyota, 1910, p. 451. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 127.
Verrill, op. cit. p. 311, 1914.
Acantharchaster Verrill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvii, p. 268, 1894. (Type,
A. dawsoni Ver.)
Rays usually five, angular, tapered. Disk small. Interradial
actinal plates few, confined to the disk, spinous and with pec-
tinate pedicel) larie.
The dorsal surface is covered with small, unequal, thin plates,
mostly in the form of protopaxille and spinose parapaxille.*
The latter have a low, round column and bear a large, central,
articulated spine surrounded at base by a circle of small spin-
ules; they are found on the disk and usually along the median
part of the rays. The protopaxille are smaller, and part of
them bear only small spinules; others have a small central spine.
The papule occur, in the adults, on most of the disk and entire
basal part of the rays. Marginal plates ef moderate size, more
or less alternate, spiniferous; those of the upper series smaller
than those of the lower, rounded, with a central eminence bear-
ing a large, movable spine, sometimes with a group of small
spinules around its base. The plates of the lower series may
bear one or two large spines surrounded by spinules. There are
no odd interradial marginal plates.
Large double-pectinate pedicellarie are normally present on
the interactinal plates or over their sutures in the adults, but
may be partly or wholly lacking in the young. Similar pedi-
cellariz of smaller size and fewer valves may occur on the mar-
ginal and dorsal plates; rarely on the adambulacral plates.
The larger interactinal compound pedicellarie may have ten
to twelve or more incurved papille on each side, while those
of the dorsal surface have usually three to six. The central dor-
sal pore is very evident and is surrounded by papille. The
adambulaeral plates have a salient inner angle, and bear a hor-
izontal divergent group of slender furrow-spines and a trans-
verse actinal row of long spines, two, three, or more; rarely one.
1 See pages 84, 85, above, for these terms.
150 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The jaw-plates are large and bear marginal and actinal series of
slender spines.
The bilobed papularia often form a rather diffuse group on the
basal part of the ray and on the disk; the two halves are sep-
arated by the median row of plates between which papulz do not
often occur. The papularia are not swollen. In the adult the
papule may be very numerous; few in the young.
The dorsal muscular bands, in the few species examined, are
attached proximally to a erest-like process of two ambulacral
plates, as well as to the inferomarginals. Professor Fisher thinks
this is a constant generic character. Other than this there are
no definite or precise characters to distinguish this genus from
Chetraster. It may eventually be necessary to reunite them, un-
der Cheiraster.
Personally I have not seen any West Indian species that can
be referred with certainty to Luidiaster.
The description of the genus is given here mainly for the sake
of comparison with Cheiraster and Pectinaster, but also because
one of the above species (P. vincenti) has been referred to it by
Ludwig.
The new species, Cheiraster enoplus, described above, has the
outward appearance of Lwidiaster, and may eventually prove to
belong to that genus, when its dorsal muscles can be studied.
At present it is better to leave it in Cheiraster, for it has all the
external characters of the latter.
Suborder Paxmosa (Perrier, emended).
Perrier (as an order), Exped. Traiv., pp. 28, 192, 1894. Verrill, Trans.
Conn. Acad., x, pp. 199, 200, 201, 1899; op. cit., 1914a, p. 314. Fisher,
19110, p. 19.
These are Phanerozona in which the two rows of marginal
plates are usually well developed and often spinose, (in Luidia
only the lower are well developed). They usually have well
marked fasciolated grooves between them, to convey water for
respiration. The dorsal or abactinal plates are usually devel-
oped in the form of true, columnar paxille or spinopaxille;
sometimes as parapaxille or pseudopaxille. Pedicellarie are
often present, usually consisting of several connivent papille,
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 151
or spinule-like structures, on a plate, often surrounding a pit or
pore. Sometimes two-bladed forceps-like forms occur.
Bivalve valvular pedicellarie are lacking. Ambulacral feet
are generally pointed; sometimes flattened and natatory; rare-
ly with a small terminal knob, but without a sucker.
Ambulacral ampulle are usually double; single in Lwidia,
Ctenodiscus and allies. Dorsal pore present or absent. Super-
ambulacral plates are usually present ; sometimes absent.
The Paxillosa should only include such groups as do not have
true bivalve pedicellarie nor sucker-feet. The existence of true
paxilliform plates on the dorsal surface cannot be made an in-
variable diagnostic character, for they occur in some forms of
Valvulosa. The development of the ambulacral feet varies much
in both groups, and probably depends more on the nature of the
bottom anciently inhabited, than on the habits of existing species.
The gonads are commonly a single pair in the proximal part
of the rays, but in Lwidia and several deep-sea genera of Astro-
pectinide there is a series along each side of each ray, (multiple
gonads. )
The papule are confined strictly to the dorsal surface and
often to limited or definite radial areas. They are generally
simple and stand singly between the dorsal paxillew, protected by
the fascioles. In Lutdia they become branched.
In Leptychaster antarcticus the eggs and developing young are
carried between the dorsal paxille, and the young, of some size
are attached to the dorsal surface. Some genera are known to
undergo a complete metamorphosis, having free swimming larval
stages (brachiolaria, etc.) The embryology of most of the
genera is unknown.
Family ASTROPECTINIDZ (restricted. )
Astropectinide (pars) Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., p. 140, 1840; Sy-
nopsis, p. 2, 1866. Sladen (pars), Voy. Challenger, xxx, p. 174, 1889
(includes Luidia). Perrier, op. cit., 1894, p. 193 (pars.)
Astropectinine Sladen, op. cit., 1889, p. 175.
Astropectinide (sense ext.) Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 37, (Analytical table
of all recognized genera). Verrill, op. cit., 1914a, p. 314.
Paxillosa in which the disk is usually small or of moderate
size. The rays are often much elongated. The dorsal surface is
152 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
generally covered with highly developed true paxille (sometimes
with parapaxille or pseudopaxille), covering fasciolated inter-
spaces, lodging intervening simple papule.
Marginal plates of both rows are usually large, thick, and
paired. The inferomarginals are often the larger transversely.
They are either granulated or spinulose and often very spinose,
with more or less simple fasciolated grooves between them, but
never covered by a thick skin. Adambulacral plates are usually
spinose or spinulose on the actinal surface and have a divergent
row of furrow-spines, without a web.
Pedicellariw are often lacking; when present they are usually
fasciculate or papilliform, often consisting of two to four short,
slender, connivent spinules, surrounding a special pore or pit.
Ambulacral feet in two rows, large, usually pointed, never with
suckers. Ampulle double. Dorsal glands and pore usually
present. Superomarginal plates always present.
Interactinal plates sometimes wanting; often more or less num-
erous and arranged in regular rows; usually spinulose and with
fasciolated grooves between the rows, but without marginal
webs; fascioles are sometimes lacking.
The aproctous condition, formerly supposed to be characteris-
tie of the family, is unreliable, for in nearly all the genera re-
ferred to it there is a perfectly well defined dorsal or ‘‘anal’’
pore, and in some of the genera the pore is even elevated on the
summit of a dorsal cone or chimney (Psilaster, Ilyaster, ete.)
This pore, which I have designated as ‘‘pseudanus”’ or ‘‘nephri-
dial pore,’’ serves in this family (and in many others) chiefly
if not entirely, for the discharge of the secretions of the lobulat-
ed dorsal gland (probably nephridial in function.)
Genus ASTROPECTEN Gray (emended).
Astropecten (pars) Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vii, p. 180, 1840;
Synopsis, p. 3, 1866. Mill. and Trosch., Syst. Aster., p. 67, 1842.
Sladen, op. cit., 1889, p. 193. Fisher, op. cit., 1911b, p. 55. Verrill,
op. cit., 1914a, p. 317.
Stellaria Nardo, Oken’s Isis, p. 716, 1834, (non Miiller, 1832, Mollusca).
Asterias L. Agassiz, Prod., p. 191, 1835.
Rays more or less elongated, subacute, flat above, with true,
abactinal, coronate or stellate paxille, and large, stout, paired
and fasciolated marginal plates. The superomarginals are con-
WHST INDIAN STARFISHES 153
vex, encroaching more or less on the upper side of the disk and
rays. They are often entirely granulose, sometimes spinulose,
and often have one or two superior spines or tubercles. Infero-
marginals spinulose and spinose, prolonged actinally, most of
them reaching the adambulacral plates, but one or two inter-
radial pairs may not reach the adambulacral plates, and in that
case one or two pairs of small adoral interactinal ossicles may in-
tervene, but these do not form regular rows, nor an important
triangular area.*
The inferomarginals bear marginal spines and are closely
spinulose and fasciolated laterally. Adambulacral plates are
equal in number to the inferomarginals; the inner end is angu-
lar. They have a longitudinal group of about three, rarely four,
furrow-spines, and two transverse rows, or a divergent group, on
the actinal side, often with the central or aboral spine enlarged.
The papule stand singly around the dorsal paxille; they are
generally absent along the median line. Dorsal pore often in-
distinct or lacking; sometimes present. Superambulacral plates
are well developed. Pedicellariz are generally lacking; some-
times they are present on the adambulacral plates, and then are
papilliform, with two, three or more valves. They sometimes
occur also on the dorsal paxille and on the superomarginal plates.
The madreporie plate is commonly concealed by the dorsal
paxille; in some species it is exposed.
Species of Astropecten are very numerous and have been
found in all tropical and warm-temperate seas in suitable locali-
ties. They live mostly on sandy or muddy bottoms, in rather
sheltered localities, when in very shallow water, but on the open
sea bottoms when in water deep enough to be beyond the active
action of the waves.
They customarily live buried just beneath the surface of the
sand, keeping up a free communication with the water for respir-
ation by means of currents drawn through the fasciolated grooves
by ciliary action. But they can also live exposed, and can glide
along quite rapidly by means of their large, muscular, ambulacral
feet.
They are most numerous in depths of 10 to 60 fathoms, but
* Certain species having a notable group of interactinal plates were made
a separate genus, Astropectinides, by me (1914a, p. 321).
154 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
are often found in 100 to 200 fathoms. Very few species are
found at great depths. The Challenger Expedition took only
three species in depths greater than 350 fathoms. The deepest
was in 450 fathoms. The Albatross, in the Pacific off Panama,
apparently took one species, A. exiguwus, in 2,136 meters (Lud-
wig), but there is some doubt as to the correctness of the label. It
also occurred in much shallower water. The West Indian species,
so far as known, all occur in less than 150 fathoms, and most
of them in very shallow water.
The species of Astropecten are apt to be variable in many of
their characters, regarded as specific, and therefore their synony-
my is often complex. The number and size of the superomargin-
al spines are variable, not only with age, but independently of it.
Species that normally have spines may sometimes occur without
them. These spines are often undeveloped in the young, when
of considerable size, when they would appear later. The different
rays of the same specimen may differ as to the size, number, or
partial absence of spines.
Variations in the inferomarginal spines are also frequent, both
as to size and shape. All of our species except A. braziliensis
normally have two to a plate, but three spines often occur on
some plates in certain species. None have more than three, as
do some foreign species. Dorsal paxille vary considerably, in
some species, but in general are fairly constant.
Perhaps the most constant specific characters are to be found
in the spines of the adambulacral plates, yet these vary to some
extent.
Our West Indian species have three spines in the furrow-series
and nearly all have two unequal, usually flattened, spines in the
second (middle) series, with the aboral one larger. But a few
of our species have two or three slender and nearly equal ones
in that row.
This is, perhaps, the most available character for dividing them
into two principal groups (see table below).
The West Indian species, like most others, are mostly desti-
tute of pedicellarie, or have one or two rarely, but A. americanus
often has a nearly continuous series, of rather large size, on the
adambulacral plates. The same is true of some specimens re-
ferred to A. nitidus v., under the varietal name forcipatus.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 155
Other specimens, almost identical in other respects, lack the
pedicellarie, or have very few.
The most distinct or most divergent species in our fauna, is
A. americanus, a form exceedingly abundant off the middle At-
lantie eoast of the United States, in 40 to 150 fathoms.
This not only has abundant pedicellarie, but it is peculiar in
many other ways. The dorsal paxille have unusually long slen-
der spinules; the marginal plates are spinulose, instead of being
granulose, as in most species and the adambulacral spines are all
slender, a feature not found in most species. The superomar-
ginal plates are concave transversely in the middle and thick-
ened near the margins, a peculiarity not found in any other
species known to me.
In the West Indian fauna there are now recognized eleven
species, besides two or three named subspecific or varietal forms
and two or three doubtful or insufficiently described species.
The character of the superomarginal spines, although a con- °
spicuous feature is too variable to be of primary importance in
grouping the species. Moreover, if classified by this as a prim-
ary feature, closely related or even varietal forms may be widely
separated, and very diverse, species brought together. The fol-
lowing lists may, however, be of some use in the approximate
location of adult specimens.
A. Species having two rows of spines on the superomarginal
plates at least proximally: A. duplicatus; A. antilensis; A.
braziliensis.
B. Species having one row of superomarginal spines or tu-
bercles; rows often incomplete: A. articulatus; A. alligator;
A. nuttingi.
©. Species having no superomarginal spines or tubercles:
A. comptus Ver., nov.; A. americanus Ver.; A. americanus sub-
gracilis Ver., nov; A. richardw Perrier; A. cingulatus Sladen;
A. articulatus dubius (Gray); A. nitidus Ver., nov.; A. nitidus
forcipatus Ver., nov.; A. ciliatus Grube.
Analytical Table of West Indian Species of Astropecten.
A. Adambulacral plates have one or two notably enlarged
spines in the second row. Few or no pedicellarie.
B. Superomarginal plates have, in the adult, one or two
rows of spines.
156 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
C. Superomarginal plates have only one row of spines.
D. Dorsal marginal spines small, placed on the outer curva-
ture of the plates, most developed distally, seldom reaching the
second basal plate. Superomarginal plates large and thick, well
rounded above, closely granulated. Fasciolated grooves wide.
Adambulacral spines mostly flattened; the two in the second
series much at and mostly spatulate or trimeate, aboral and much
the larger; those of furrow-series compressed, elongated.
A. articulatus (Say).
DD. Dorsal marginal spines largest on the first two basal
plates, which are larger and higher than the next plates.
A. duplicatus Gray (Young).
CC. Superomarginal plates have two rows of spines prox-
imally.
E. Inferomarginal spines mostly two or three to a plate.
Superomarginal plates not unusually numerous, about 20-30,
large, advancing considerably on the disk and rays; basal ones
broad and swollen above surface with close, short granules.
Paxallar area not very wide, about twice width of marginal
plates. Inferomarginals project laterally notably beyond upper
plates and have two marginal spines. Rays of moderate length.
Dorsal paxille crowded, not forming regular transverse rows.
F. Inner adambulacral spines large and stout, compressed;
two in median row very unequal; aboral and large and stout, flat,
trimeate. Dorsal paxille coronate, with short clanate or capitate
spinules; central ones similar. A. duplicatus Gray.
F. Paxillar area bears many spinopaxille.
Var. variabilis (Ltk.)
FF. Inner adambulacral spines three, all slender, divergent;
two in second series unequal; aboral one obtuse, large and stout,
not very flat nor spatulate. Dorsal paxille stellate, with the
spinules slender and acute; central one erect.
A. antillensis Liitk.
EE. Inferomarginal spines mostly one on each plate. Su-
peromarginal plates unusually numerous, (48-50), proximal ones
high, narrow and angular above, proximal ones not notably en-
larged; surface with spinules or elongated spaced granules, dis-
tinetly larger and longer around bases of spines; fasciolated
grooves deep and narrow; spines of proximal plates elongated,
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 157
acute. Disk rather wide; paxillar area at base of rays wide,
about four times as wide as the narrow marginal plates; the
paxille are small and even, regularly arranged in transverse
rows on rays; their spinules are clavate or capitate. Infero-
marginals scarcely project beyond upper ones laterally; their
marginal spines long and acute. Inner adambulacral spines
long, rather slender; two in second row very unequal; aboral
one notably large and stout, not flat, subacute or obtuse.
A. brazilensis M. and Tros.
BB. Superomarginal plates in adults are destitute of mar-
ginal spines or tubercles.
G. Superomarginal plates in adult are unusually numerous,
(46-48) much higher than long, large, rectangular, evenly round-
ed, vertically, compactly granulated, separated by narrow fas-
ciolated grooves; proximal pairs larger, more convex. Paxillar
area wide, proximally about three times as wide as marginal
plate. Paxille small and even, coronate, crowded, not in obvious
rows; their spinules are short, capitate numerous. Inferomar-
ginal plates do not project laterally beyond upper ones; margin-
al spines are large, mostly acute. Adambulacral spines are num-
erous, nearly all fiat, often forming four rows of about three
each; three in second row are flat and truncate; two aboral lit-
tle larger, subequal. A. comptus, sp. nov.
GG. Superomarginal plates not unusually numerous, usually
less than 25; large, encroaching on the upper surface.
H. Superomarginal plates not unusually broad, about 25 to
30, granulated, not more than about half as wide as the paxillar
area, proximally; fasciolated grooves wide and deep. Marginal
spines of inferomarginals stout and flattened. Adambulacral
spines, strong, flattened ; two in second series, truncate, unequal.
h. Dorsal paxille do not form obvious transverse rows on the
rays; their spinules are subequal, short, capitate or granule-like.
A. articulatus dubius (Gray).
hh. Dorsal paxille form regular transverse rows on the rays;
their spinules are numerous and unequal, the central ones larger,
so that the outlines of the paxille are defined.
A. richard Perrier.
HH. Superomarginal plates about 19, large, unusually broad,
the breadth exceeding the length; proximally about as wide as
158 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
the narrow paxillar area, or wider, compactly granulated. In-
feromarginal spines two, small, slender, acute; lower side of
plates covered with short, flat spinules, and with an aboral series
of small spines. Adambulacral spines small, triseriate.
A. cingulatus Sladen.
AA. Adambulacral spines of second row not notably en-
larged, nor very unequal; all rather slender; one sometimes
longer.
I. Superomarginal plates have a row of small spines, at least
proximally, in adult.
J. Adambulacral spines few and slender; superomarginal
spines confined to the proximal plates; outer surface of plates
granulated. A. alligator Perrier.
JJ. Adambulacral spines triseriate, in three regular rows of
three each; all slender; outer ones very slender. Superomar-
ginal spines form a continuous row to tip of rays, slender, acute;
the plates are narrow and high, covered with elongated granules
or short spinules. Inferomarginal plates project beyond the
upper ones; the two marginal spines are slender, acute; lower
surface covered with small spines of various sizes, not limited to
two rows, and with small acute spinules between them.
A. nuttingi Ver., nov.
II. Superomarginal plates are destitute of spines or tubercles.
Dorsal paxille form transverse rows on the rays: Inner adam-
bulaecral spines slender, three distally, often four proximally.
Pedicellariz often present.
K. Superomarginal plates transversely convex and closely
granulated. Dorsal paxille form transverse rows and have short
capitate or clavate stellate spinules. Inferomarginal plates have
two slender, acute spines, or often three proximally; lower sur-
face with two irregular rows of small acute spines and covered
with minute, slender, acute spinules.
L. Adambulaecral plates have proximally three to five rather
long, slender spines in inner series; three to five more slender in
a row in second series; and usually three or four still more slen-
der in outer series. Few or no pedicellarie on adambulacral
plates. A. nitidus Verrill, nov. Typical.
LL. Adambulacral plates have, at least in part, a large pedi-
eellaria, usually with three slender valves, on the actinal side, re-
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 159
placing part or all of the spines of the second, or sometimes the
third, series. Other characters as in typical nitidus.
A nitidus, var. forcipatus Verrill, nov.
KK. Superomarginal plates are flattish or even a little con-
cave transversely, and covered with small spaced spinules. Dor-
sal paxille small, high, openly arranged in spaced rows; their
spinules are few, long and very slender. Inferomarginal plates
project laterally beyond upper ones, and have two slender, very
acute marginal spines, sometimes with a small pedicellaria above
the base of each; under side covered with numerous slender,
acute spines and spinules of various sizes, the spines not limited
to two rows. Inner adambulacral spines very slender, mostly
three, but often four or five proximally; second series has four
or five slender spines or else a large, usually three-valved pedi-
cellaria replacing most or all of the spines; third series has about
three or four slender spines and sometimes a pedicellaria.
A. americanus Verrill.
kk’ Disk smaller; rays more slender; paxille smaller; adam-
bulacral pericellarie larger, more often four-valved.
Var. subgracilis Ver., nov.
KKK. Inferomarginal spines two, flattened, with about three
small spines below base. Adambulacral spines eight on actinal
face, sometimes one longer on the center. Marginal plates 40-42.
A. ciliatus Grube.
ASTROPECTEN ARTICULATUS (Say) Miill. and Trosch.
Asterias articulatus Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philad., vol. v, p. 141, 1825.
Astropecten articulatus Mull, and Trosch., Syst. Aster., p. 72, 1842. Liit-
ken, Vidensk. Meddel., 1864, pp. 128, 129 (description). Verrill, Notes
on Radiata, Trans. Conn. Acad., i, p. 343, 1868 (distribution) ; Radiata
of North Carolina, p. 438. Perrier, Revision, Arch. Zodl. Exper. et
Gen., vol. v, p. 290, 1876 (not described). A. Agassiz, North American
Starfishes, p. 114, pl. 19, figs. 1-8, 1877 (details of structure.) Verrill,
Expl. by the Albatross in 1883, pp. 40, 77, 1885; Distribution of Echi-
noderms, p. 133, 1895. Ives, Echinoderms Bahama Islands, Proce.
Philad, Acad. Sci. for 1891, p. 337, pl. xvi, figs. 4-8 (includes a trans-
lation of Liitken’s description.) Clark, Echinoderms of Jamaica, p.
[4], 1898.
Astropecten dubius Gray, op. cit., 1840, p. 182; Synopsis, p. 4, 1866 (variety).
Diagnosis: This common species, in its normal adult form,
has a rather thick disk and robust rays, with large, thick, stout
160 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
superomarginal plates, which are evenly rounded vertically,
densely granulated, and separated by deep and wide fasciolated
grooves, clothed with innumerable fine spinules. On the distal
half to three-fourths of the ray these plates bear, on the outer
convex surface, a single small obtuse-conical spine. These spines
rarely extend to the base of the ray. Paxillar spinules are
crowded and capitate or clavate.
Inferomarginal plates bear two flattened, short, marginal
spines, side by side, and a row of about four on the under side,
near each margin, the aboral ones larger; between these the sur-
face is closely crowded with small, flat, more or less seale-like
spinules.
The adambulacral spines are triseriate or nearly so; inner ones
are usually three, somewhat flattened; the next row has two flat
spines, side by side, the aboral one larger. Sometimes there is a
third spine; outer ones are four to six, small, flat, or spatulate
spinules, either in one or two rows, or clustered.
Special description: A well grown normal specimen agreeing
well with Say’s type, is from Egmont Key, W. Florida (No.
2218, Yale Mus.).
Its radii are 17™™ and 76™™; ratio, 1:4.5; breadth of rays at
base, without spines, 20™™ with spines, 25™™"; breadth of paxillary
area at second pair of superomarginal plates, 10™,; breadth at
10th pair, 8™™; radius of disk is equal to first six or six and one-
half marginal plates; height of second marginal plate is equal to
length (radial) of three (2d to 4th). Number of marginal
plates, 27-28 pairs.
The rays are thick and stout with rather blunt tips. The oe-
ular plate is relatively large, turned up, short and thick, as wide
as long, deeply bilobed, and grooved above with the sides swollen.
Paxillary area broad, even.
The superomarginal plates are larger, and thick, well rounded
transversely, not at all obliquely placed, except slightly near tip
of rays. The first or interradial pairs are thicker and higher
than the following, and wedge-shaped.
A single imperfect row of small, short, obtuse-conie or acorn-
shaped spines is present on the distal two-thirds or three-fourths
of the ray, extending on some of the rays to the fifth plate from
the base, and to the last pair of plates at the tip of the ray.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 161
These small spines are situated on the outer or descending curv-
ature of the plate. Small, regular, rounded, closely-packed
granules cover the rest of the outer surfaces of the plates, but the
sides in the fasciolated furrows are densely covered with very
slender, elongated spinules, much finer than the granules. The
grooves between the plates are wide and deep.
The dorsal paxillar area is nearly even. The paxille are
closely packed, stellate; those along the middle are quite as large
as the lateral ones. Each of the larger ones bears about six to
eight divergent, marginal, short, clavate or capitate spinules,
surrounding one, or sometimes two, of the same size and form.
At the very center of the disk there is a small area of much
smaller and finer paxille, on a slight elevation.
The madreporic plate is partially visible, closely surrounded
by the normal paxille; it is not far from the marginal plates.
The inferomarginal plates bear two nearly equal, stout, slight-
ly curved, marginal spines, side by side. On the proximal half
of the ray these are much flattened, lanceolate or oblong lanceo-
late with rather acute tips; those in the interradial angle are
shorter and flatter; those beyond the middle of the ray are less
flattened and more acute. The longest are searcely equal in
length to the radial length of two of the adjacent superomar-
ginal plates.
Extending downward from the outer of these spines, and bor-
dering the aboral margin of the plates there is a spaced row of
about five smaller, flattened, usually appressed, acute spines; the
upper one, close to the base of the marginal, is about half as long
as the latter; the others decrease gradually in size. Another less
marked row of similar but smaller spines borders the adoral
margin of these plates. The rest of the outer surface is closely
covered with small, flat, blunt, mostly short, scale-like, imbricated
spinules. These are often as wide as long.
The adambulacral plates, when well developed, have a furrow
series of three rather stout, flat, truncate, divergent spinules;
toward the mouth there are often four spines. These are nearly
equal in size, but the middle one is slightly longer and vertically
compressed, and is seated on the slightly prominent angle of the
plate. The others are thin and slightly wider near the distal
end. Back of these, on the actinal side, are two flat, truncated,
162 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
unequal spines side by side; the larger one is on the aboral side
of the plate, and similar in form to the outer of the furrow-
spines, but somewhat larger; the smaller one is more spatulate
at the tip, and not quite so long. The outer end of the plate
bears a marginal group of five to seven, most often six, small,
spatulate, divergent spines, which often form a stellate group,
but in other states of preservation seem rather to form two
radial rows of about three each, not very regularly placed. Rare-
ly a short ovate pedicellaria replaces part of these spinules.
The peroral spines are numerous and rather stout; epioral are
very numerous and crowded, small, spatulate and flat at the tip.
Color of the dry specimen yellowish brown. The colors, in life,
are variable. It is often orange. It may be purplish on the
paxillar area, orange-red on the superomarginal plates, with the
marginal spines purple, and lower surface yellow.
Variations.
This is known to be a variable species. The superomarginal
plates vary in prominence and size, and their small conical spines
may be reduced to tubercles, and disappear irregularly on more
or less of the distal plates, or even be entirely lacking. In other
eases they extend to the interradial plates.
The marginal spines of the inferomarginal plates may be less
flattened, and more acute than in the one described above, espe-
cially on young specimens. The flat, scale-like spinules of their
lower surface may be less flat and more slender. The inner
adambulacral spines, in the young, may be much more slender
and less flattened, and the same is true of the outer ones. Pedi-
cellarize, of rather small size, occur rarely.
The young. A young specimen from off St. Martine Reef,
West Florida (No. 16,822, U. S. N. Mus.) with the radii 10™™
and 30™™ has all the essential characters of the adult, but the
small dorsal marginal spinules are not developed on the first five
or six plates. Center of disk has a low cone.
A still younger specimen (No. 16,324, U. S. N. Mus.) from
Cape Romanes, Fla., has most of the characters of the adult.
Its small dorsal marginal spines extend, on most of the rays, to
the fourth proximal plate.
There is a central conical elevation of the disk, with a minute
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 163
dorsal pore at the apex. Radii 9™™ and 28™™, marginal plates
17-18 on a side.
Teratology.
A medium sized specimen taken on the Great Bahama Bank by
the Bahama Expedition, May 17, is quite unlike any other that
I have seen, in some respects. The radii are 14™™ and 53™™;
breadth of rays at base, minus spines, 15™"; breadth of paxillar
area at 2d marginal plate, 4™™ Number of superomarginal
plates 17 to 18 pairs. The marginal plates are unusually large
and thick, well rounded, rising up considerably above the nar-
row paxillar area and separated by wide, straight, fasciolated
grooves. The radius of the disk is equal to five marginal plates.
The two interradials are particularly large and swollen, except
in one interradius where they are narrower and separated par-
tially by an wnpaired intercalated plate, bearing a small conical
spine. Small conical spines are present on the outer side of
more or less of the plates on the distal part of the rays, but are
entirely lacking on some distal plates, but they extend proximally
in some cases to the second plate and on one side of one ray to
the first plate, which bears also a second similar spine at the sum-
mit. A few other short spines of the inner series occur on the
first and second plates, thus approaching the condition seen in
A. duplicatus, but these spines are few, small, and irregular on
this specimen. The inferomarginal spines are flattened, as in the
type, mostly two, but proximally three, subequal, on many plates.
The spinulation of the under side, including the adambulacral
plates, is essentially the same as in the typical specimen of A.
articulatus, described above.
Mr. Ives (op. cit., 1891) stated that the species described by
Liitken and that figured by A. Agassiz, as A. articulatus, are dif-
ferent, and that the latter represents A. duplicatus Gray.
I do not agree with either of these propositions. The general
figures by Agassiz accurately represent the species found on the
coasts of North Carolina and Florida, when in perfect preserva-
tion, and agree entirely in all essential points with the descrip-
tions by Say and Liitken, even to the row of small conical supero-
marginal spines on the distal part of the rays only —a charac-
teristic feature mentioned both by Say and Liitken.
164 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
When picked up on the beaches, or when poorly preserved, its
appearance is much altered, aside from its ordinary variations,
which are considerable.
On the other hand, the A. duplicatus of Gray, as determined
by Perrier, after an examination of the types, is the same as
A. variabilis Liitken. It is characterized by the presence of a
double row of superomarginal spines, largest proximally, and is,
in fact, the most spinose species of the West Indian fauna, and
therefore quite unlike the figure by Agassiz.
For the same reason reference of Gray’s (well named) A.
dubius to A. duplicatus is evidently wrong, for Gray placed it in
his group having no superomarginal spines. It may well be
merely the not uncommon variety of A. articulatus in which the
small superomarginal spines are obsolete or undeveloped.
Perrier stated, 1875, that he had examined cotypes of Liitken’s
species. He also states that in some of his specimens the upper
marginal plates were entirely destitute of spines.
This species is common on sandy bottoms, in shallow waters,
on the southeastern coasts of the United States, from Beaufort,
N. C., to the Florida Keys, and on the western coast of Florida,
north to Egmont Key and Tampa Bay.
It has been stated by A. Agassiz that it has been found on the
coast of southern New Jersey, but I have seen none from that
district. It needs confirmation. It ranges to Yucatan (Ives),
and from the Bahamas to the Lesser Antilles. Dominica I. (A.
H. Verrill). Many West Indian localities are doubtful because
several authors have confused this with other species. Kingston
Harbor, Jamaica, near Port Royal, in very shallow water on
sandy bottoms, near or among mangroves (H. L. Clark). West
Florida, near St. Martine Reef (U. S. Nat. Mus.).
Taken by the U. S. Fish Commission, at several stations off
the Carolina coasts and Cape Hatteras, as far north as 35° 42’ N.
lat. It occurred there in 4 to 43 fathoms, 1883 to 1885. Also off
W. Florida, 27 to 88 fathoms.
It was taken by the Bahama Expedition, on the Great Bahama
Bank, in shallow water. The Yale Museum has specimens from
Egmont Key, W. Florida (W. T. Coons, No. 2213).
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 165
ASTROPECTEN ARTICULATUS DUBIUS (Gray).
Astropecten dubius Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, p. 182, 1840;
Synopsis, p. 4, 1866.
Gray gave a very brief diagnosis of his species. He placed it
in a section of the genus destitute of spines on the superomar-
ginal plates. Otherwise he only states that the marginal plates
are rather broad and granulated; the inferomarginals do not
project beyond the upper ones, and their marginal spines are
broad and depressed; the rays are broad and tapering.
These characters, so far as they go, all apply to the form of
A. articulatus which lacks superomarginal spines.
Perrier places dubius as a synonym of articulatus without com-
ment. He does not say whether he had seen the type, but he
mentions spineless examples of A. articulatus, as others have
done, and such as I have personally examined. Therefore, I
propose to retain the name dubius for this form or variety of
articulatus. It agrees with the latter in all respects, except in
lacking the small dorsal spines.
It has apparently the same range as the typical form. I have
seen specimens from Florida and the Bahamas.
ASTROPECTEN DUPLICATUS Gray.
Astropecten duplicatus Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, p. 185,
1840; Synopsis, p. 3, 1866. Perrier, Arch. Zod]. Exper. et Gen., vol.
v, p. 271, 1876 (no description.)
Astropecten valenciennit Mill. and Trosch., Syst. Aster., p. 68, 1842, (t.
Perrier, from type.)
Astropecten variabilis Liitken, op. cit., 1859, p. 51, described. Veerrill, op.
cit., 1867, p. 343. A. Agassiz, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., i, 1869 (not
described.)
Plate xvi; figures 2,2a. Details of variety variabilis.
Plate xxii; figure 2. Plate xxiii; figures 1, 2.
This is the most spinose species of the genus found in the West
Indian fauna. The only good description published is that by
Liitken, 1859, which is in Danish, except a brief Latin diagnosis.
That of Gray is an imperfect diagnosis, three lines long, not
sufficient to distinguish it from several other species. It has
never been figured, so far as I know, although it is a common
166 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
species. Hence there is considerable confusion as to the names.
Perrier stated (1876) that he had examined the types of Gray
and of Miiller and Troschel, and a cotype, sent by Liitken, of
his variabilis, and had found them all identical. Therefore the
name given by Gray must be adopted. But Perrier gave no de-
scription of the species, except a translation of part of that of
Miller and Troschel.
Special description: A well-grown specimen, before me, seems
to be the fully developed and normal form of this species. It is
from the Albatross station 2407; N. lat. 28° 47’ 30”, off W.
Florida, in 24 fathoms. (No. 10989, Nat. Mus.)
The radii are 14™ and 74™™; ratio, 1:5.3; breadth of rays at
2d marginal plate, without spines, 15™"; radius of disk is equal
to the radial length of five and a half basal marginal plates.
Superomarginal plates are large and high; 25 on each radial
margin.
The rays are angular, regularly tapered to narrow tips, high
on the sides at base. The inferomarginal plates project, on the
sides of the rays, beyond the upper ones, forming, with the lower
ends of the latter, a lateral fasciolated furrow, covered with fine
spinules.
The superomarginal plates are thick vertically with the outer
side rising rather steeply, and the top, especially the first two
pairs, prominent above the paxillar area. On the first seven
plates there is a short, stout, tapered, acute spine, seated on the
top of the plate and thus forming a short inner row. These
spines are larger on the first two plates, decreasing to small short
spines on the seventh.
An outer series of similar spines commences on the third plate
and extends to the end of the ray, decreasing regularly. The
surface of the plates is closely covered with short rounded gran-
ules, larger around the base of the spine, and grading into fine,
short, crowded spinules in the fasciolated grooves, which are
narrow and beyond the middle of the rays, distinctly oblique.
The inferomarginal plates bear two, or often three, rather
short, flattened, subacute or acuminate spines; on the lower side
there is along each margin a row of three or four unequal, fiat,
somewhat appressed spines, and between them the surface is cov-
ered thickly with rather coarse, elongated, somewhat flat and
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 167
mostly blunt spinules, which are not appressed. Thus the lower
surface appears unusually rough and spinose.
The adambulacral plates bear an inner group of three com-
pressed, rather slender spines on the prominent inner angle; the
median one, which stands farther in, is curved and larger than
the others. Outside of these there are two very unequal spines,
nearly side by side; the adoral one is large, stout, a little flat-
tened, subtruncate, and much longer than the other, which is
usually flat and slightly spatulate. Sometimes a second small
one stands by its side. External to these there is a row of three
or four slender spinules. There is a small group of three or
four small, spinulated, interactinal plates.
The dorsal paxille are rather large, regularly stellate, and
when the spinules are extended they interlock and cover the sur-
face closely, but the spinules are often folded up in a compact
fascicle, exposing the large papular pores. Their spinules are
rather long, clavate or capitate; about eight to ten marginal ones
surround one, or less frequently two or three central spinules of
about the same form and size, or a trifle larger, but not spini-
form. At the bases of the rays and on the adjacent parts of the
disk they become larger, and many have four to eight central
clavate spinules and twelve to sixteen around the margin. The
radial paxille do not form regular transverse rows, but about ten
to twelve can be counted across the ray proximally. They are
as large along the middle of the rays as laterally. A few very
small ones surround the minute dorsal pore.
Madreporiec plate is nearly concealed by the paxille. Ocular
plate is narrower, longer, less swollen, and less deeply bilobed
than in A. articulatus.
Variations.
This species is decidedly variable, as shown by Liitken, and
well deserves the name he gave it.
A well-grown specimen from Florida (No. 259, Yale Mus.) oth-
erwise normal, is peculiar as to its dorsal spines. On some of the
rays several of the proximal plates carry three or four small
spines, and in one ease the first plate has six such spines, while
its mate has only three. On some of the other rays both have but
one spine. These additional spines have mostly been produced
168 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
by the enlargement of the larger granules that ordinarily sur-
round the bases of the spines, and may be due to repair of in-
juries.
Inferomarginal plates have, in part, three acute marginal
spines; there are about ten acute spines on the under side, and
the intervening spinules are slender and semierect, not flattened.
Radii 11™™ and 60™". Marginal plates 26 on a side. Madre-
poric plate is partly visible. No pedicellarie.
According to Liitken’s diagnosis the essential characters of A.
variabilis are as follows:
Radii 11™™ and 52™;; ratio, 1:4.7; breadth of ray, 13™™.
Superomarginal plates large, with large biseriate or triseriate
spines, often two or three to a plate. On the proximal plates of
the rays there are commonly three large ones.
Inferomarginal plates are covered with somewhat large fiat-
tened secondary spines and spinules. Adambulacral spines tri-
seriate; those of the inner row three, compressed; two in the
middle row, of which the aboral one is larger and compressed;
outer or third series minute.
On plate xxii I have figured two specimens from St. Thomas
I., sent by Professor Liitken, as cotypes of his species, called A.
variabilis. They differ considerably in the characters of the
dorsal paxille and the marginal spines, though they agree in
general appearance and in most other respects. When compared
with ordinary Florida specimens of A. duplicatus the rays ap-
pear narrower, the marginal plates higher, and their spines
larger, while the paxillar areas appear narrower and more sunk-
en below the level of the marginal plates, yet in most details of
structure they agree very well.
These two specimens, although from the same place, differ wide-
ly in the structure of the dorsal paxille and in some other re-
spects, so that they might well be considered local varieties if
found in different localities. They may have come from different
environments or different depths, not indicated on the labels.
These and other variations were noticed by Liitken.
The specimen figured on pl. xxiii, figure 1, is nearly like the
more ordinary or normal form described above. It has radii 11™™
and 50™™. The disk and radial paxillary areas are narrower
than in the other. The paxille mostly lack a central enlarged
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 169
spine, and have the form of ordinary paxille, the central spinule
being short, clavate, like the rest, unless a trifle larger.
The surrounding stellate spinules are shorter than in the other,
clavate, with blunt tips, so that the paxille appear smaller. On
some parts of the rays they are arranged in evident transverse
rows, toward each margin.
The inferomarginal spines are smaller and not so much en-
larged or flattened. The secondary spines and the spinules of
the under side are nearly the same in both, as are the adambu-
lacral spines.
This specimen may be considered as representing the common
or more typical form of the species.
Variety VARIABILIS (Liitken).
The specimen figured on pl. xxiii, fig. 2, and of which the struc-
tural details are figured on pl. xvi, figures 2, 2a, differs so much
from the typical form that it may well receive a varietal name.
This I propose to give by restricting Liitken’s name to this form,
which is one of those that he particularly described.
The radii are 11™™ and 48™,
The superomarginal spines are large, flattened and expanded
distally and subtruncated or obtusely lanceolate. Most of the
proximal plates have three spines, two larger of nearly equal
size, and an adoral smaller one; other plates have two, subequal
or quite unequal; distally they are pretty regularly two and sub-
equal.
In this specimen the narrow radial paxillary area is covered
with rather large spinopaxille, which are nearly equal on the
rays, but become small and crowded on the center of the disk.
The larger ones, on the proximal part of the rays, have the cen-
tral spinule subconical, rather stout, blunt, mostly as long as the
diameter of the paxilla; sometimes there are two; those next the
margin and on the distal part of the rays have the spinule more
slender; toward the tips of the rays, the spines disappear and
the paxille are of the ordinary kind and very small. The spin-
ules of the larger paxille around the central spine are long, not
very slender, blunt, divergent, not all in the same plane, so that
they make rather large openly stellate forms, with the slender
170 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
rays interlocking; the marginal spinules are usually ten to
twelve on the larger paxille.
The under side of the inferomarginal plates has numerous
sharp, unequal secondary spines in two rows, and between these
numerous graded, rather acute, small subappressed spinules.
The secondary spines on the under side of the inferomarginal
plates are of various sizes and acute; the surface spinules are
small, subappressed, not very acute.
The adambulacral spines are well shown on plate xvi, fig. 2a,
in their usual state. Sometimes there are two small spines on the
adoral side of the large spine of the actinal face; sometimes the
two are more unequal than in the figure.
The special feature on which this variety is based is the pres-
ence of numerous well developed spinopaxillez on the dorsal sur-
face.
Comparative Characters.
The most prominent features for the recognition of this species
are the following:
A. The presence of two incomplete rows of short spines on
the superomarginal plates, the two rows overlapping on the prox-
imal part of the ray; and the enlargement of the first pair of
plates and spines. These characters are also found in A. antil-
lenstis and A. braziliensis.
B. The decided projection of the outer ends of the inferior
marginal plates, along the sides of rays, beyond the outline of
the upper plates, thus forming a sort of shelf, with a lateral
fasciolated lane above it. This character was even mentioned by
Gray (1840).
C. The large size of one of the adambulacral spines of the
second series, but less so than in A. articulatus. Other charac-
ters of these spines, quite as important, need more careful scru-
tiny.
D. The large size and flattened or lanceolate form of the in-
feromarginal spines, which stand two or three on a plate, the
proximal one larger; and the very spinulose condition of the
under side of these plates.
According to the description of Miiller and Troschel, their
type of A. valenciennit had three ranges of adambulacral spines;
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 171
the most interior contained three slender spines; the second con-
sisted of one large compressed spine and a small one adorally
placed ; the external range contained three small truncated spines
equal to the smaller one of the second range. It seems to be the
typical form of duplicatus.
The young: 'Two very young specimens, taken by the Alba-
tross, off West Florida, in 28 fathoms, are of interest. The
smaller has the radii 3™™ and 8™™; the other 4™™ and 12.5™™
with 12 marginal plates in each series.
The latter has already developed the most obvious specific
characters, so that one would not hesitate as to its identification.
The first pair of interradial superomarginal plates are already
enlarged and each bears an upright conical spine as long as the
radial breadth of the plate. Enlarged granules are present on
some of the following plates in the places where additional spines
would have appeared.
The inferomarginal spines already have their flattened linear-
lanceolate form, though small. There is a prominent conical
elevation in the middle of the disk of both, covered by minute
paxille, and terminated by a very small apical pore.
The adambulacral spines and jaw-spines are like those of
larger specimens, but in miniature.
The smaller specimen has ten marginal plates. No supero-
marginal spines have developed, but clusters of coarser granules
on the first interradial plates show where they were about to
form. The inferomarginal spines are more slender, but yet are
somewhat flattened. The podia are relatively very large, fiat-
tened, acute.
This species is common and widely distributed in shallow
water all through the West Indies, and in the Gulf of Mexico,
and north to Florida.
Gray’s type was from St. Vincent; that of Miiller and Troschel
was from Vera Cruz; those of Liitken were from St. Thomas,
S. Cruz, and Florida. Perrier records it from North Carolina,
but that needs confirmation. I have never seen it from so far
north. In the Yale Museum there are specimens from the Flor-
ida Keys (No. 259) and also from the west coast of Florida, at
Egmont Key, near Tampa Bay (E. Jewett coll., No. 1768). The
Albatross dredged it off West Florida, N. lat. 26° 18’ 30” and N.
172 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
lat. 28° 47’ 30” in 24 and 27 fathoms. Jamaica (Clark) ; Do-
minica I. (coll. A. H. Verrill).
ASTROPECTEN ANTILLENSIS Liitken.
Astropecten antillensis Liitken, Vidensk. Meddelels., 1859, p. 47. Verrill,
op. cit., p. 343, 1867. Perrier, Revision, op. cit., p. 282, 1876 (de-
scription. )
According to Liitken’s original diagnosis his types had the fol-
lowing characters:
Dorsal marginal spines biserial in the adult; the inner series
varies in number, largest near the proximal angle of the ray.
Inferomarginal spines two, slender; the ventral side of these
plates is covered with slender spines. Adambulacral spines six-
biseriate, median ones larger; outer median one flattened. His
specimens varied from 22™™ to 115™™ in diameter.
Perrier states that the inferomarginal plates are sparsely cov-
ered with small, scale-like spinules, and also have a row, trans-
verse to the ray, of larger secondary spines. The adambulacral
plates bear two rows of spines, about five in each, the middle
spine in each being somewhat larger.
It is very closely allied to A. duplicatus, and may prove to be
only a local variety of that variable species. To determine this
needs a larger series than I have seen. It is also closely related
to A. braziliensis, but apparently less so than to A. duplicatus.
From the latter it differs in having more slender and not so
flat marginal spines; more slender secondary spines and spinules
on the inferomarginals, and in the more slender adambulacral
spines, which appear to be more numerous, more slender, and
arranged in two rows; the larger spine of the second row is not
so much enlarged as in the related species.
According to Perrier, this species becomes i20™™ in diameter.
In his larger example all the superomarginal plates have one
spine; on the first two plates it is on the upper margin; on those
further out it is placed nearer the outer margin; some proximal
plates have a second small or rudimentary spine on the inner
margin, in line with those on the two interradial plates, thus
showing a tendency to form two rows.
Perrier, from an examination of the types, considered A. bra-
ztliensis distinct from this. He states that the latter differs in
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 173
having only thirty marginal plates while braztlensis has fifty, of
which those on the basal half of the ray bear two spines, but
these are shorter and less acute; the former has, on the rays, pax-
ille with a small central spinule and six marginal ones, increas-
ing to eight on the disk, without change in character, while on
A. braziliensis the radial paxille have eight to twelve marginal
paxille and often two or three central ones, and on the disk they
become crowded and granule-like, placed in concentric circles,
losing their stellate character, and forming groups of twenty or
more. Other differences are found in the adambulacral arma-
ture.
In antillensis there are two rows of adambulacral spines each
with five or six, nearly equal, except the central one, which is a
little larger, while in braziliensis there is an inner row with the
middle one compressed, curved, and a little larger, and just be-
hind this is one large, aboral, conical, pointed spine, having
alongside of it, adorally, two others, not more than half as large;
and still further back some irregularly placed small spinules
(usually three or four).
He states that the inferomarginal plates are covered in both
species with scales (flattened spinules), but in braziliensis they
are more numerous, forming a uniform covering, but they are
only appressed, not imbricated. In antillensis these spinules are
more sparse and scattered.
St. Thomas (Liitken). Guadeloupe (Perrier).
ASTROPECTEN BRAZILIENSIS Miill. and Trosch.
Astropecten braziliensis Mill. and Trosch. Syst. Ast., p. 68, 1842. Duj.
et Hupé, op. cit., p. 415, 1862. Verrill, op. cit., 1864, p. 343. Perrier,
Revision, op. cit., pp. 284, 288, 1876. KR. Rathbun, op. cit., p. 150,
1879. Sladen, op. cit., 1889, pp. 194-198 (no description).
A large characteristic specimen, from Rio de Janeiro (Coll.
C. F. Hartt, No. 5,204, Yale Mus.), has long, regularly tapered,
acute rays, with a narrow angulated border of marginal plates,
bearing proximally two rows of acute spines, the first on each
side decidedly longer and larger, marginal spines, of the lower
series, are long and acute, only one large one on a plate.
The radii are 16™™ and 96™™, ratio, 1:6; breadth of ray at
base, minus spines, 17™™, of paxillar area, at second pair of
174 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
plates, 12™™; radius of disk equals the length of first nine mar-
ginal plates; number of superomarginal plates is 48-50, on a
side.
The superomarginal plates proximally are high, angular, short
and narrow, about as long as wide above, and encroaching but
little on the paxillar area, so that the border of plates is nar-
row. Distally these plates become relatively wider, and more
rounded, with the sutures oblique. The outer lateral faces of
the proximal plates are nearly vertical. The first three or four
plates are much compressed and short.
The inner row of dorsal spines continues only to about the
ninth or tenth plate, decreasing rapidly in length to the last,
which is a mere tubercle; the first is a stout, terete, acute spine,
about 3™™ high.
The outer row of spines usually begins on the third or fourth
plate and extends nearly to the tip of the rays. These are
small, conical, acute, gradually decreasing from the proximal to
the distal ones. The upper surface of the plates is covered with
elongated spaced granules, or granule-like spinules, largest
around the bases of the spines. On the outer surface they be-
come much smaller, like fine short spinules, and grade into the
longer and more slender fasciolar spinules in the sutural grooves,
which are wide and deep.
The inferomarginal plates scarcely project laterally beyond the
upper ones, with subtruneate ends. They have only one large
marginal spine, which is rather long, somewhat flatten-
ed, tapered or acuminate, and usually very acute. The
longer ones are 3™™ long, or equal to the length of three
adjacent dorsal plates. Proximally many of the plates have no
secondary marginal spine; others have, on the adoral side, a
small acute spine not more than a fourth or a third as large.
Distally the adoral spine becomes relatively larger and more
On the ventral side these plates have a transverse row of
smaller acute spines along each margin, usually five or six in
each, the outer one largest, just at the bases of the marginal
spines. Elsewhere the surface is covered with small, semierect,
flat, blunt or truncate spinules, not closely appressed, but semi-
erect.
The adambulacral plates have furrow-series of three long,
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 175
rather slender spines, slightly flattened; the central one longer
and somewhat compressed. The second series consists of a very
large and stout, tapered, obtusely pointed aboral spine, with one
or two much smaller, slender, spatulate ones on the adoral side;
when there are two, one stands behind the other. They are
scarcely half as long as the large one. The outer row is pretty
regular and formed by three to five small spatulate spines.
The dorsal paxillar area is rather wide, nearly even, densely
covered with small coronate paxille whose outlines are mostly
easily visible. On the rays the paxille form irregular trans-
verse rows, except along the median band, where they are larger
and crowded. The smaller ones on the rays have eight to ten
marginal spinules around one or two granule-like, larger central
ones.
The larger ones may have twelve to sixteen marginal spinules
and three to six in the middle. On the disk most of the paxille
are Jarger; they may have sixteen to twenty-four small marginal
spinules surrounding a central rosette of slightly larger capitate
ones, consisting of six to nine, in a circle, surrounding one or
two in the center. The spinules are all short and capitate or
clavate.
The madreporie plate is large and plainly visible, surrounded
by a circle of the larger regular paxille, with only one row of
them separating it from the marginal plate.
The ocular plate is unusually small and narrow, bilobed by a
deep median groove. According to Perrier (op. cit., 1876, p.
284) the dorsal radial paxille have eight to twelve marginal
stellate spinules with two or three central ones, but on the disk
the spinules become more numerous and crowded, about twenty
on a plate arranged in circles, and so reduced in length as to
appear like granules, showing only their hemispherical ends, due
to the crowding.
The superomarginal plates bear two rather short spines on the
proximal half at least. These spines may be 1™™ high.
The inferomarginals are almost entirely covered beneath with
small flattened or scale-like, appressed spinules, which are not
imbricated ; near the transverse sutures these scale like spinules
give place to four or five elongated, flattened, acute spines, in-
creasing toward the upper margin, near which there is between
176 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
the two rows a long flat acute spine nearly as long as the breadth
of the plate, so that this margin seems to bear three spines, in-
stead of the two marginals found in A. antillensis.
The adambulacral plates have an inner marginal series of
three spines, in which the median is larger than the others, re-
curved, and flattened; on the actinal side there is a median,
large, conical, acute spine, and two others, at one side, about
half as long; exterior to these are other small spines, in a row or
irregularly placed.
Off Bahia, Brazil, 7 to 20 fathoms, and at Fernando Noronha
(Sladen). Bay of Rio de Janeiro, common, (C. F. Hartt; R.
Rathbun).
Sladen (1859) in his analytical table, puts this down as havy-
ing three inferomarginal spines. This appears to be due to the
presence of two secondary spines, belonging to the two central
rows, standing one on each side, and a little below, the single
large marginal spine. When the second true marginal spine,
of smaller size, appears it is on the same level or a little above
the large spine and on the adoral edge of the plate.
This is the only species from the West Atlantic, known to me,
that has, normally or commonly, only one true inferomarginal
spine. This is, therefore, a good diagnostic character. Various
foreign species have a single spine, normally.
Another good diagnostic character is the openly subspinulose
covering of the superomarginal plates, while all the otherwise
similar species have them closely granulated.
ASTROPECTEN COMPTUS Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate xii; figures 3-3c. Details. Type. Plate xxii; figure 1.
Type.
Rays rather stout, elongated; the largest adult has about 48 to
50 spineless, evenly granulated, transversely rectangular super-
omarginal plates, proximally about one-third as wide as the
width of paxillar area of the ray, and encroaching on the upper
side so as to form a conspicuous and somewhat raised border.
Radii of the largest specimen, 18™™ and 95™™; ratio, 1:5.3;
breadth of ray at base, minus spines, 19™™; breadth of paxillar
area, 11™™ at second plate. Radii of the type specimen (No.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 177
8,514) figured, 13™™ and 58™™; ratio, 1:5.2; marginal plates 38.
The superomarginal plates are broadly and evenly rounded,
transversely rectangular, with the sutures straight and trans-
verse to the ray, narrow, closely fasciolated. They are closely
covered with short even granules, often polygonal, due to crowd-
ing; they grade regular into the minute, short fasciolar spinules.
The dorsal paxillar area has a nearly even surface, slightly
areolated by the outlines of the small paxille. The latter are
coronate, much crowded, not forming obvious transverse rows
on the rays; they have a central rosette, of about five or six
short capitate spinules or granules, surrounding one in the mid-
dle, and a marginal series of numerous small ones. The median
radial paxille are as large as the lateral ones; those of the disk
rather larger, with more spinules in the central rosette.
The inferomarginal plates scarcely project laterally beyond
the upper ones; they have two moderately large and long, some-
what flattened and curved, acute marginal spines. The larger
proximal ones are about as long as two marginal plates. The
under side of these plates is covered with minute slender, sub-
erect spinules and has a transverse row of small, acute spines
near each margin, four to six in each, the aboral ones the larger.
The adambulacral plates have an inner series of three rather
long flattened spines, the median one a little longer and vertical-
ly compressed; the median series has two, or sometimes three,
subequal, flattened, subspatulate or truncate spines, the aboral
one slightly longer and larger; exterior to these are commonly
two rows, with three each, of smaller, flat, truncated spinules,
but these, on some plates, often form a divergent group of five
or six around a central spine. No pedicellariz were found on
the type specimens. The largest specimen (No. 18,346, Nat.
Mus.) is from off W. Florida, in 26 fathoms. No. 8,514 is from
Albatross station 2,286, off Cape Hatteras, in 11 fathoms.
ASTROPECTEN RICHARDI Per.
Astropecten richardi Perrier, Revision, op. cit., p. 292, 1876.
Radii of the type 18™™ and 73™™; ratio, 1:4. Rays slightly
constricted at the base. Superomarginal plates are 22 to 25 on
each side of each ray.
The superomarginals are rectangular, nearly twice as broad
178 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
as long, slightly convex, separated by a groove, spineless, and
covered nearly uniformly and closely with small hemispherical
granules, becoming spinuliform in the sutural grooves.
Dorsal paxille are pretty fine, close, and form transverse series
laterally, but are irregular on the median third of the ray and
on the disk. Those of the rays have three or four central gran-
ules, or short spinules, and eight to ten marginal ones. On the
disk the paxilliform marginal spinules are much more numerous
and finer than the central ones, which may be ten to twelve, so
that their outlines are well defined by this inequality.
The inferomarginals have two large upper spines, up to 4™™
long, cylindric or flattened, not tapered, with a smaller spine
at their bases. Their sutural grooves are bordered with regular
spinules, near which is a regular row of six or seven spaced,
elongated, slender, pointed spinules, arising from small notches
in the plate. The spines are longer distally. There are also
similar spinules on the free border and on the border next the
adambulaerals. (Condensed from Perrier.)
The adambulacral plates have an inner marginal row of three
divergent spines, the middle one longest; the actinal surface has
two larger spines, one behind the other, the outer one often
smaller or replaced by several spinules,
The type was from Cayenne, French Guiana. This appears to
be very closely allied to A. articulatus, var. dubius. I have not
seen the type.
ASTROPECTEN CINGULATUS Sladen.
Astropecten cingulatus Sladen, Voy. Challenger, Zodlogy, vol. xxx, p. 218;
pl. xxxv, figs. 5, 6; pl. xxxix, figs. 1-3 (enlarged, details), 1889.
The rays are unusually short, with about 19 broad marginal
plates, wider than high. The type had the radii 9™™ and 28™™;
ratio, 1:3.1.
The superomarginal plates are large and broad, at middle of
ray wider than the narrow paxillar area. They therefore form
a wide border to the rays; surface closely granulose.
The inferomarginal plates have two short, nearly terete, slen-
der acute equal spines, with smaller acute spines at their bases
and an aboral series of small acute spines beneath. The under
side is covered with small, short, appressed spinules.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 179
Adambulacral plates triseriate; inner row of three slender
unequal; second series of two or three, short, truncate, subequal.
(Condensed, from Sladen.)
Easily distinguished by the broad marginal plates and small
acute lateral spines. Taken by the Challenger, off Pernambuco,
Brazil, between 32 and 400 fathoms (special station record lost).
ASTROPECTEN NITIDUS Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate xx; figure 2. Type.
Regularly stellate with rather short acute rays and a prom-
inent and wide border of spineless granulated plates.
Radii of the largest specimen (No. 18,344) are 11™™ and 41™;
ratio, 1:3.7; breadth of rays at base, minus spines, 12™™; breadth
of paxillar area, at second plate, 5™™. The radius of the disk
is equal to the length of seven proximal dorsal plates.
The superomarginal plates are wide, evenly convex, with
deep, directly transverse, sutural grooves. The first plate is en-
larged above, wedge-shaped, and larger than the next. The
proximal plates are rectangular, the width of the third plate is
equal to three times its length; distally they become nearly
square. They are closely covered with small, short, rounded
or polygonal granules.
The dorsal paxillar area is narrow, less than twice the width of
the adjacent marginal plate at the base of the rays. The paxil-
le are not very small and form pretty obvious transverse rows
on the rays; those along the middle band are as large as the
others. Their spinules are regularly stellate, small, clavate,
about 10 to 15 on the larger ones, around the margin, surround
one or two central spinules of the same size. Those on the disk
are similar in size, except at a very small raised central area,
where they become very small and crowded. The madreporic
plate is partly visible, small, convex, separated from the mar-
ginal plates by about three rows of paxille.
The ocular plate is small, broader than long, deeply bilobed,
strongly upturned.
The inferomarginal plates do not project beyond the upper
ones; they bear two moderately long, tapered, acute, subequal
spines. Their under side is covered with fine, acute, suberect
spinules and two transverse rows of small acute spines.
180 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The adambulacral plates have three slender spines in the in-
ner row, the middle one longer, larger, and compressed; some-
times there are four or five spines proximally, on a few plates.
The second row usually has about three smaller and more slender
subequal spines; the third row has three to five still smaller ones;
a fourth row of three small spinules is sometimes present. Some-
times the spinules of the outer part form a divergent group of
eight or nine.
A papillose pedicellaria often replaces the spines of the second
series on more or less of the plates in variety forcipatus.
Young specimens, with the greater radius 13™™ to 16™™ have
essentially the same characters.
Dredged by the Albatross off West Florida, at station 2,318,
in 45 fathoms; station 2,836, in 111 fathoms; station 2,406, in 26
fathoms; and off Georgia, station 2,417, in 95 fathoms (variety) ;
station 2,418, in 95 fathoms; station 2,313, in 99 fathoms (va-
riety). The largest specimen (described above) is from station
2,762. (No. 18,344.) Range in depth, 20 to 111 fathoms.
ASTROPECTEN NITIDUS var. FORCIPATUS, nov.
Plate xvi; figure 3. Details. Plate xx; figure 1. Type.
This form agrees with the preceding in size, shape, and nearly
all other respects, except the armature of the adambulacral
plates.
In this a large, blunt, conical pedicellaria, with three to five
slender valves, replaces all or most of the spines of the second
series. It it usually near the aboral edge of the plate, and in
that case there may be one or two small spines on the adoral
edge. But it is frequently on the middle of the plate with no
spine alongside. Two may occur on one plate, side by side.
These pedicellaria may occur on nearly every plate, or they
may be absent on part of them. The four or five slender outer
spines are usually present with the pedicellaria.
Similar pedicellarize occur on the few interactinal plates and
sometimes a few of smaller size are on the inferomarginal plates.
Taken off South Carolina and Georgia by the Albatross, in 95
and 99 fathoms (Nos. 10,067 and 10,543) ; and off W. Florida, in
26 fathoms.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 181
ASTROPECTEN ALLIGATOR Perrier.
Astropecten alligator Perrier, op. cit., 1881b, p. 30; Etoiles de Mer, p. 270,
1884.
According to Perrier the essential characters of the type are
as follows:
Radi 9™™ and 40™"; ratio, 1:4.5; breadth of ray at base, 9™™.
Superomarginal plates are thirty on each side of a ray.
The disk and rays are flat; rays acute. The inferomarginal
plates project laterally beyond the upper ones.
The superomarginal plates are little elevated, almost square;
interradial ones broader than long. They are covered with pret-
ty coarse, prominent, spaced granules. Three or four proximal
plates bear each a single, pretty short, conical spine, on the
middle of the interior border; that on the triangular first plate
is largest ; those farther out become nearer to the exterior side.
The inferomarginal plates have two flat and acute marginal
spines; underneath they have a row of about three smaller flat
spines along the aboral margin; the rest of the surface is cov-
ered with acute scale-like spinules, among which are some larger
obtuse, flat spinules.
The adambulacral plates have a furrow-series of three diver-
gent spines; one or two smaller ones are placed on the lateral
margins, and three on its exterior margin. Sometimes there is
also a central spine on the plate.
The paxillar area, at the base of the rays, is about equal to four
times the breadth of the marginals. The paxille are small; they
have six to eight slightly clavate spinules surrounding a group
of central ones. They form pretty evident transverse rows of
about fifteen, proximally, on the rays. Off Alligator Key, Flori-
da, in 147 fathoms.”° I have not studied the type.
ASTROPECTEN NUTTINGI Verrill, sp. nov.
Plate xii; figures 2-2e. Details. Plate xxi; figures 1-2. Type.
A regularly stellate species, rather thin vertically. The disk
is usually rather flat, and often has a central conical elevation.
26 Perrier (1884) gave the depth as 147 feet. There is no such depth
given in the original lists of dredgings off Alligator Reef, but there is one
of 147 fathoms (No. 194 P). Probably there was an error in transcribing
the label.
182 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Radii of one of the larger are 10™™ and 44™™; ratio, 1:4.4. An-
other has them 10™™” and 38™™; ratio, 1:3.8. Another, 8™™ and
32™™; ratio, 1:4. The margin is narrow and not very thick,
owing to the smallness of the marginal plates. The dorsal paxil-
lar area is relatively wide.
The paxille are small, nearly equal and even, regularly stel-
late, arranged in obliquely transverse rows. Two rows usually
correspond to each superomarginal. In the proximal interradial
region there may be ten paxille in a row from the margin to the
median radial line; opposite the eighth pair of plates there are
about six; toward the tips of the rays the rows are indistinct.
The larger proximal paxille may have eight to ten spinules
around the margin and one, or less often two, in the center. At
about the middle of the rays the larger ones have six to eight
marginal and a single small central one. The spinules are slen-
der, not very long, obtuse, or slightly capitate, all nearly equal.
The paxillar columns are rather high and slender, with round or
elliptical convex tops. They are in close contact by their bases
along the median line, but elsewhere have isolated papular pores
between them.
The superomarginal plates are rather small, higher than long,
proximally, with the outer side nearly vertical and the upper
end narrow but prominent. Their sutures are deep and finely
fascioled. There are about thirty-two plates on each side of a
ray, in the larger specimens.
The superomarginal plates are regularly covered with small,
short and very slender spaced spinules, usually as fine and some-
times finer than those of the dorsal paxille; those in the lateral
fascioles are still finer and very numerous. Each plate usually
bears a small, rather short, tapered, acute spine on the most
convex part of the upper side; these are larger proximally, grad-
ually decreasing distally, and becoming very small on disappear-
ing toward the tips of the rays. They are usually in a very
regular row, but some are often lacking and sometimes there is
a smaller one (sometimes two) close beside the larger one.
The inferomarginal plates correspond in number and length
with the upper ones Their fascioled suture are deep and some-
what oblique proximally, becoming decidedly oblique distally.
These plates are prolonged to the adambulacrals and are but little
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 183
convex. Their outer surface is well covered with small, un-
equal, acute spines, which form about three or four irregular
rows, transverse to the rays. These spines, at the middle of
the row, may be as long as the radial breadth of the plate. There
may be six to eight or more in a row. The upper ones, two or
three in number, are larger and longer and stand at the base of
the two large spines that stand on the superior margin of the
plate, side by side. These are a little curved, often somewhat
flattened, tapered and acute, those on about the eighth to tenth
plates are somewhat the larger. In length they about equal the
radial breadth of two plates, and are more than twice as long
as the longest upper marginal spines.
Interactinal plates are very small and few, in the interradial
areas. They are spinulated and some of them usually bear
papilliform pedicellarie.
The adambulacral plates proximally have a marginal row of
three slender acute spines, of which the median is a little the
longest and largest, and occupies the apex of the angular mar-
gin; it is a little curved and usually compressed. On the actinal
surface of the larger subproximal plates, there are usually
four or five similar, slender spines (three or four more distally).
These may stand nearly in two rows, but normally three or four
stand on the border of the plate and one, slightly larger, stands
nearer the center, so that, as preserved, they often form a sub-
stellate group ; but more often they appear irregular and crossed,
due to contraction or pressure. Sometimes four or more of these
spinules converge and form a fasciculate pedicellaria, especially
on the jaws, but these are often absent or very few.
The madreporic plates is small and nearly concealed by the
paxille. A minute dorsal pore appears to be present at the
summit of the central cone.
It was taken by the Bahama Expedition at station 64, off
American Shoal, Fla., in 110 fathoms (five specimens, including
the type) ; stations 56, 57, 58, Pourtales Plateau, in 200 to 225
fathoms (several, one specimen is rather thicker and more spin-
ose than the type.) Station 28, off Florida, 116 fathoms, one
young. It was taken by the Albatross, at station 2,418, in 90
fathoms, off Georgia, N. lat. 33° 20’ (No. 18,350).
This species appears to be closely allied to A. alligator Per-
184 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
rier. The description of the latter is not sufficiently precise,
and in respect to the adambulacral spines, it is somewhat am-
biguous. The description, so far as it goes, would indicate that
it is a distinct species, but a reéxamination of the type is neces-
sary in order to determine this with certainty.
ASTROPECTEN AMERICANUS Verrill,
Archaster americanus Verrill, Amer. Journ, Sci., vol. xx, p. 402, 1880; Expl.
by Albatross in 1883, p. 542, 1885.
Astropecten americanus Verrill, Proc. Nat. Mus., vol. xvii, p. 255, 1894;
Distribution New Eng. Echinod., p. 133, 1895.
Plate xvi; figures 1-la
The body is decidedly flat and thinner than in most species.
Rays long, slender, tapering to rather acute tips.
The type had the radii 12™™ and 74™™; ratio, 1:6.16. It be-
comes considerably larger than this, with the larger radius up
to 85™™ or more. Ratios vary from 1:5.25 to1:6.25. The radius
of the disk is equal to the length of the first eight marginal plates.
Among several thousands, a few were found with six and some
with four regular rays.
The dorsal paxillary area is rather wide; at the base of the
rays it is about four times as wide as the opposite plate. The
paxille are small, with a slender elevated column, and a diver-
gent group of six to ten or more very slender elongated
spinules, surrounding one or two central ones of similar size and
form. They form narrow transverse rows on the rays. The
rows are openly spaced so that the rather large and numerous
papular pores can usually be seen. There is a narrow median
band destitute of papule, where the paxille do not stand in rows.
The superomarginal plates are relatively small and numerous
(40 to 50 or more), becoming very small toward the acute tips
of the rays. At the base of the rays their width is about one-
fourth that of the paxillar area. They are rectangular prox-
imally, broader than long, with nearly straight, deep and wide,
transverse, densely fasciolated grooves; distally they become
nearly square, with slightly oblique sutures. Proximally the
outer and upper surface is usually transversely flat or distinctly
concave, owing to the presence of a thickened margin next the
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 185
sutures. They do not rise much above the paxillar area, nor
encroach much upon it, but yet form a regular raised border.
Their outer surfaces are covered with very small, acute, spaced
spinules; at the sutures these change rather abruptly into the
longer closely fasciolated spinules. Nearly always there are no
traces of spines or tubercles on these plates, but very rarely a
small conical spine occurs on one to three of the proximal plates,
but with no regularity nor constancy.
The inferomarginal plates project laterally a little beyond the
upper ones; their lower side is flattened, and usually a little
thickened at the aboral margin. They bear two slender, elonga-
ted, slightly flattened and very acute marginal spines; just above
the base of each there is sometimes a small papilliform pedicel-
laria. The under side is covered with suberect, very acute, small,
spaced spinules and small spines of various sizes; the larger ones
form an aboral submarginal row, but others oceur irregularly.
Interactinal plates are few and small, next the jaws; they are
spinulose and often have a central pedicellaria.
The adambulacral plates have a furrow-series, usually of three
slender spines distally, but often with four or five proximally.
The second and third rows, when there is no pedicellaria, usually
consist each of three or four slender, nearly equal spines, the
outer ones a little smaller.
Often there is a large papilliform pedicellaria, usually with
three valves, which replaces all or most of the spinules of the
second row; if any remain they are on the adoral side.
The valves of the pedicellarie are usually strongly spatulate,
incurved somewhat, and truncate or notched at the tip. Al-
though most have three valves, some have four, and others have
but two.
The madreporic plate is large, with deep gyri. It is usually
wholly or partly exposed and separated from the marginal plates
by only one or two rows of paxille.
The ocular plate is small, about as wide as long, deeply bi-
lobed, and with a proximal notch.
The jaw-plates are narrow and much elevated, densely covered
with small slender epioral spines, the two clusters convergent.
Adoral spines similar and very numerous. Peroral spines nu-
merous, some much thicker ones at the apex are obtuse.
186 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Color in life, bright light yellow to orange-yellow; sometimes
pale yellow.
This species was taken in vast numbers (many thousands), at
about a hundred stations, by the Fishhawk and Albatross, 1880
to 1887, during the Explorations by the U. 8. Fish Commission,
off theveastern coast of the United States, in 43 to 296 fathoms.
It was most abundant in 60 to 150 fathoms, where two thou-
sand to five thousand were repeatedly taken by us in a single
haul of the trawl.
It occurs abundantly from N. lat. 40° 23’ to the region off the
Carolina coasts. Farther south it seems to be less common, but
it reaches the Florida Straits, West Florida, and the Caribbean
Sea, off Colombia.
It was taken by the Albatross at station 2647, in 85 fathoms,
in the Straits of Florida; at station 2399, in 196 fathoms, off
West Florida. Also at station 2148, in the Caribbean Sea, north
of Colombia, in 155 fathoms (variety subgractlis).
This is probably the most abundant starfish, off our coast, if
we except the littoral species of Asterias.
Variety SUBGRACILIS, nov.
Rays flat, long, narrow, very slender distally and acute. Pax-
illar area rather narrow, paxille small, with about eight to twelve
very slender elongated divergent spinules, which in the dry
specimens are mostly grouped in a fasciculate bundle, leaving
the papular pores exposed. Distally toward the tips of the rays —
the paxillz become very small with almost microscopic spinules.
Proximally they form spaced transverse rows, except along the
median band where there are no papule. Some of them have a
small papilliform pedicellaria replacing part of the spinules.
Madreporic plate rather large, convex, exposed. Ocular plate
smaller and narrower than in the typical form.
Superomarginal plates nearly as in the ordinary form, but
with fewer and more minute spinules.
Inferomarginal spines are normally two, usually unequal, the
adoral smaller and sometimes absent. These spines are very
slender and acute. Small pedicellarie often occur just above
their base, and also on the under side of the plate.
Adambulacral spines are all slender; inner series of three,
elongated and tapered ; second series of two, subequal, slender, as
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 187
long as inner ones, but usually replaced by a large three-valved
to five-valved pedicellaria, with spatulate valves. These often
form a regular and continuous series.
This variety differs from the typical form mainly by having a
smaller disk and more slender rays, and more slender spines and
spinules, and its adambulacral pedicellarie are larger and more
fully developed than in the type-form.
Taken in the Caribbean Sea, off the northern coast of Colom-
bia, in 155 fathoms. Albatross station 2143, No. 18,464.
ASTROPECTEN CILIATUS Grube.
Astropecten ciliatus Grube, Archiv. fur Naturgeschichte, vol. xxiii, p. 340,
1857.
According to the brief diagnosis of Grube, this species belongs
to the group of species which have a cluster of six to eight or
more spines on the actinal face of the adambulacral plates. He
mentioned no superomarginal spines. These points would make
it seem related to A. americanus and A. mitidus, but otherwise it
does not appear to agree with either of those species.
The type was 4.5 inches (about 108™™) in diameter; ratios of
the radii, 1:4.5; superomarginal plates, 45; inferomarginals, 42.
The superomarginal plates are evenly granulated. The infero-
marginals have two large, equal, flattened spines with three
shorter ones below them.
The adambulacral plates have three furrow-spines and about
eight on the actinal face, of which one is longer.
Puerto Cabello, Venezuela.
Doubtful species of ASTROPECTEN.
Astropecten spatuliger Perrier.
Revision, p. 296, 1876.
Said to be from Nicaragua, but whether Atlantic or Pacific is
not stated. It is much like some Pacific coast species, with broad
rays and flat spines.
Genus BLAKIASTER Perrier.
Blakiaster Perrier, op. cit., 1881, p. 28; op. cit., p. 265, 1884; op. cit., p.
242, 1894. Type, B. conicus Per. Verrill, Revision Genera, p. 218,
1899. Fisher, The Genus Blakiaster, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. liv,
No. 4, p. 161, pl. 1, 1911; also, op. cit., 1911b, p. 40. Verrill, op. cit.,
1914a, p. 322.
188 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
The dorsal plates are rounded, decidedly convex above, with
about six basal lobes, which unite by overlapping, leaving about
six simple papular pores around each plate, except on the disk,
along the median row, and on a small interradial area, where
papule are lacking and the plates are more closely joined.
The dorsal plates are protopaxille, bearing many small, short,
divergent spinules on the convex portion, but not forming
fascioles. On the disk and base of the rays there are a few small
interpolated plates.
A single row of plates separates the superomarginals distally
in the type. There are no well-marked fascioles between the
superomarginal plates. The marginal plates are thick, convex,
regularly paired, somewhat oblique distally. The superomar-
ginals are granulated or minutely spinulated. The inferomar-
ginals are spinulated and also, in the type, bear a few larger
spines in a submarginal transverse row. Grooves between the
plates are shallow and have only poorly developed fascioles.
The interactinal plates form series subparallel to the adambu-
lacrals, but there are a few unpaired plates in the median inter-
radial line. The interactinal plates are tesselated, somewhat
convex, roundish or subpolygonal, and bear divergent spinules
that do not form evident fascioles nor regular radial rows.
The adambulacral plates are somewhat oblique, with an angu-
lar inner end, which bears a row of four to six spines; the actinal
surface is covered with small divergent spinules, not fasciolated.
Jaws stout and convex, covered on the actinal side with spine-
lets, and with a row of about nine longer spines on each side.
The peroral spines, in a pair, are larger.
The pedicellariz are small, papilliform, with three to six valves
surrounding a small pit in the plate. They are often lacking.
Superambulacral plates are present. A small dorsal pore was
present in some of the specimens examined by me.
Professor Fisher has given (op. cit., 1911) a more detailed de-
scription of the type of this genus, with photographie figures. I
have also studied the type, as well as several other specimens.
No other species is known, unless Bunodaster rittert Ver., of Cal-
ifornia, be considered congeneric, as Fisher suggested (1911b,
p. 40).
Bunodaster differs from Blakiaster by its less massive and dif-
ferently shaped marginal plates, which are less complex and
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 189
have more fully developed fascioles. The lower marginals have
the spines in a central row or group, not submarginal. There is
no differentiated median radial series of dorsal plates; nor any
notable number of secondary ossicles, so evident in Blakzaster ;
nor any median radial area destitute of papule, as in the latter.
There are well defined fascioles between the adambulacral and
interactinal plates, not found in the latter; and the adambulacral
spines of the adoral plates are deeply sunken in the groove, as in
Persephonaster, but not in Blakiaster. The abactinal plates are
thinner, more regularly stellate, and more delicately articulated
by the slender radial lobes than in the latter, so that the test is
more flexible. No pedicellaria were found in the type of Bun-
odaster.
In some of these characters Bunodaster is near to Persephon-
aster, but the latter lacks the odd interactinal plates, found in
Blakiaster and in Leptychaster.
From the latter Bunodaster differs in the characters of the
dorsal plates; in the less profoundly fasciolated grooves between
the marginal plates; and in other characters; but it is perhaps as
nearly allied to the latter as to Blakiaster. The genus Bunodas-
ter is certainly closely allied to Blakiaster, Persephonaster, and
Leptychaster, especially to the two former.
Perrier, in his later report (1894), has united Blakiaster with
Leptychaster, but it seems to me sufficiently distinct. In this
genus the interactinal plates are not arranged in definite radial
series, nor do they have well developed fascioles between them.
On the contrary, they have a rather irregular, crowded, tessel-
ated arrangement, the plates being roundish or polygonal, pretty
closely united, without the deep, sutural, fasciolated furrows
found in Leptychaster. The marginal plates, also, have only ru-
dimentary fascioles. The jaws are stout and evenly convex, in-
stead of thin and carinate. The dorsal plates are larger, round-
ed, more convex, more regular, and less paxilliform. Lep-
tychaster does not have spines on the inferomarginal plates.
BLAKIASTER CONICUS Perrier.
Blakiaster conicus Per., 1881, p. 28; Etoiles de Mer, p. 265, pl. ix, fig. 2,
1884. Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., vol. x, p. 218, pl. xxvii, fig. 7,
1899.
Leptoptychaster conicus Per., Exp. Trav. et Talism., p. 243, 1894.
Blakiaster conicus Fisher, op. cit., 1911, p. 161, pl. i; op. cit. 1911b, p. 40,
note. Verrill, op. cit., 1914a, pp. 322, 371.
190 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Plate iii; figure 4. Plate xi; figure 5. Details. Plate xii; fig-
ures 1-lc. Details.
The type of this species, in the Museum of Comp. Zodlogy, is
small and doubtless quite young. Some specimens obtained
later are rather larger, but none appear to be adult.
Radii of the type 10™™ and 27™™; ratio, 1:2.7; marginal plates
fifteen on each ray.
The median radial row of dorsal plates is slightly differenti-
ated, the plates having more hexagonal bases, with shorter lobes,
and therefore more closely united; they have no papular pores
between them; near the base of the rays they have a few smaller
plates between them, and such secondary plates also occur on the
disk.
The spinules of the dorsal plates are slender, rough, divergent,
but not fasciolated; the central spinules are longer and stouter
than the others.
The superomarginal plates are closely covered above with short
or granule-like spinules, which grade into slender spinules lat-
erally, forming rudimentary fascioles, and become longer on the
lower side.
The inferomarginals are more convex or swollen; they are cov-
ered with small sharp spinules, and also bear an oblique row of
two to four or more slender, acute spines, situated near the
distal margin, and usually appressed, so as to be directed dis-
tally.
The proximal interactinal plates are roundish or subpolygonal,
rather crowded, tesselated or overlapping by their edges, with no
evident fascioles between them. They are covered with slender,
acute, divergent spinules. They have about three or four di-
vergent rows or chevrons with one unpaired plate in each row,
except the first. A single row extends on the rays, beyond the
disk.
The adambulacral plates are decidedly oblique, transversely
elongated proximally, with the inner end angular and projecting
into the groove. There are about five slender divergent spines
in a row along the angular margin. The actinal surface is cov-
ered with a divergent cluster of small, slender spinules, similar
to those of the interactinal plates. About ten proximal plates
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 191
correspond to the first pair of inferomarginals. The ambulacral
feet are conical, subacute.
The jaw-plates are prominent, convex, but not much enlarged,
covered with acute spinules, the apical ones stouter.
The adoral series of spines are not deeply depressed into the
groove, as they are in some of the allied genera.
The pedicellariz are small and papilliform or conical. The
largest are on the interactinal plates. (See pl. xiii, fig. 1c.)
They have four to six small, slender, convergent valves. Those
on the dorsal and marginal plates are considerably smaller with
three or four valves. They sometimes occur, also, on the adam-
bulacral plates.
For some additional details see the description and photo-
graphic plates by Fisher (op. ecit., 1911).
Perrier (op. ecit., 1904) united this genus to Leptychaster
unnecessarily.
The two original specimens were from the Blake Exped., sta-
tion 25, in 92 fathoms, off Grenada; and in 175 fathoms, off Ha-
vana.
The Bahama Expedition took it at sta. 58, in about 200 fath-
oms, off Florida (4 specimens), and sta. 64, in 110 fathoms, off
American Shoal (4 specimens).
It was dredged by the Albatross at several stations in the West
Indies, in 92 to 175 fathoms, and in the Gulf of Mexico, off Ala-
bama, in 178 fathoms, station 2357.
Genus SIDERIASTER Verrill.
Sideriaster Verrill, Revision Genera, p. 219, 1899. Type, S. grandis Ver.
Form broadly stellate with a very large disk; dorsal surface
convex, and capable of inflation, closely covered with uniform,
stellate paxille. Upper marginal plates are not large, lateral in
position. Interactinal areas large, with numerous plates, mostly
in single radial rows, with fasciolated grooves between.
The dorsal paxille are large, closely arranged, and nearly uni-
form in size and shape, regularly stellate, with short, even spin-
ules.
The madreporie plate is very large, round, flat, fully exposed,
and has very numerous, thin, radiating gyri.
192 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Papular pores are very numerous and are arranged singly,
about six around each plate over the whole of the disk and rays,
even close to the ends.
There is no distinct dorsal pore visible, nor do the central
plates differ in size from those of the disk in general.
Marginal plates are small and not prominent. The upper ones
are entirely confined to the margin, and are granulated, without
spines. The lower ones form the lower part of the margin, but
extend also on the disk below; they bear spinules with a median
row of larger spines.
Interradial actinal areas are large, with numerous plates, the
distal ones extending to the distal third of the rays. They are
arranged in single radial series, each series usually corresponding
to an adambulacral plate and most of them to a marginal plate,
but some of the series are short and do not reach the margin,
there being more adambulacral than marginal plates proximally,
but distally they generally correspond in number, though there
are sometimes, locally, two marginals to one adambulacral. These
plates are covered with granules, and have divergent, fasciolated
spinules along their radial margins, thus forming fasciolated
grooves that are coincident with those between the marginal
plates.
The adambulacral plates have a prominent furrow-angle, on
which there is a large, median, compressed spine; at each side of
this there are, in the furrow-series, two or three erect flattened
spines; a stout spine occurs on the center of the actinal side, with
a single or double row of shorter flat spines back of it.
The jaws are large, not very prominent, covered with numer-
ous short, blunt spinules, and have furrow-spinules like those of
the adambulacral plates.
The only known species of this genus is from the Gulf of Mex-
ico, in 68 fathoms.
SIDERIASTER GRANDIS Verrill.
Sideriaster grandis Verrill, Revision Genera, p. 220, pl. xx, figs. 8-8b, 1899.
Plate xii; figures 5-5b. Details.
Large, regularly five-rayed, with a broad, somewhat swollen
disk, regularly and broadly ineurved at the sides. The rays are
rather large and rapidly tapered. Greater radii, 133-138";
lesser, 40™". Ratio, 1:3.4.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 193
The dorsal paxille are round and high, remarkably uniform in
size, arranged on the rays in imperfect, transverse, oblique rows.
They bear a round, rosette-like cluster of rather coarse, short,
clavate or capitate, divergent spinules, of which one is usually
central, with 6 or 7 in a circle around it, while about 15 to 18
form the marginal row, interlocking with those of the adjacent
plates, so as to conceal the papular pores. The latter are rather
large and regularly arranged over the whole disk and nearly to
the ends of the rays, usually six around each paxilla. The bases
of the paxille appear stellate.
The margin is formed mostly by the upper plates, which do not
extend at all upon the upper side. They are small and short,
those on the interradial margins shortest and highest, at least
four times as high as long. They are covered with coarse, round-
ed granules, and bordered with fascioles of slender spinules. The
lower marginals are of the same length and extend considerably
on the under side. They are covered closely with small, ap-
pressed, flattened spinules, largest centrally, grading laterally
to the marginal fasciolated spinules. On the middle of each
plate there is a vertical row of about four stout, tapered, more
or less flattened, acute spines.
The madreporic plate is remarkably large and fiat or slightly
concave, with very numerous and thin radiating gyri.
The interactinal plates are granulated nearly like the upper
marginal plates. Other under parts have been described above
under the generic description.
Pedicellariz occur in small numbers on the adambulacral
plates and on the first row of interactinals. They have two or
three short, stout, flattened, spinuliform blades, similar in size to
the adjacent spinules.
Dredged by the Albatross at station 2378, in N. lat. 29° 14’
30”; W. long. 88° 09’ 30”, in 68 fathoms, in the Gulf of Mexico,
off Mobile, Alabama. (No. 10877, U. S. Nat. Mus.)
Sideriaster? vestitus (Say) Verrill.
Asterias vestita Say, Journ. Philad. Acad., vol. v, p. 143, 1825.
Astropecten vestitus Liitken, op. cit., 1859, pp. 27, 54 (no description). Ver-
rill, Proce. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. x, p. 339, 1866 (no description).
Sideriaster ? vestitus Verrill, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xiv, p. 21,
1914.
This has always been a doubtful species. I am not aware that
194 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
it has been redescribed by any writer since Say, in 1825. Liit-
ken mentions it as probably an Astropecten, but adds nothing to
its history. It is ignored by Perrier, 1876, and by nearly all
later writers, except quotations by name only.
The description by Say is very incomplete. Aside from char-
acters common to all species of Astropecten, the only points of
importance that he gives are the following:
The disk is broad, rays depressed. The dorsal paxille have
ten to eighteen small, equal, cylindrical spinules.
The marginal plates bear ‘‘about four very much compressed,
subquadrate, truncated spines, which are vertically appressed
to the surface of the plate, and imbricated with respect to each
other.’’ Diameter fourteen inches. Cape May, N. J. ‘‘It is
very rare on this coast.’’
Presented to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences,
by Mr. Robbins.
In Ives’s more recent list of Asterioidea (1889), in the collee-
tion of the Academy, no such specimen is mentioned. Probably
the type is lost. It is probably not an Astropecten.
In having a large disk, and especially in having four appressed
spines in a transverse row on the inferomarginal plates, the
Sideriaster grandis V. agrees, perhaps, with Say’s species. But
he gives too little, as to other characters, to enable us to say
whether they are related. Sideriaster grandis is from the Gulf
of Mexico, in 68 fathoms, off Mobile, Alabama, and therefore
might, possibly, occur in deep water, off Cape May, but it is not
very probable that it does, for the very numerous dredgings of
the Albatross in that region brought up nothing of the kind.
Nor do we know whether the four appressed spines, mentioned
by Say, occupy the same places as those of Sideriaster. This
comparison, therefore, is intended as a suggestion.
Perhaps the most notable thing said about A. vestitus is the
remarkably large size. Say states that his unique specimen was
one foot and two inches in diameter. This size is much greater
than that of any American Astropecten seen by me or recorded
by others, but is not unusual for species of Lwidia. Some for-
eign species of Astropecten have been described of that size,
however.
As Say does not mention any spines of the superomarginal
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 195
plates (as he does in the ease of A. articulatus, where they are
very small), it is to be presumed that there were none. The
existence of four peculiar, appressed, flat spines, presumably on
the inferomarginal plates, is the most important character given.
He does not say that any are marginal.
The locality, Cape May, southern New Jersey, is north of the
usual range of A. articulatus, and every other littoral species of
the genus, known on our coast, but A. americanus occurs farther
north, in deep water, off the coast. The latter, however, does not
agree at all with the description.
It is possible that this specimen was not really obtained at Cape
May, or if so, that it may have been fished up from deep water,
off that shore, by local fishermen.
It is possible, though not probable, that it was only a very large
specimen of a variety of A. articulatus, which is a very variable
species, and not infrequently lacks spines on the upper marginals.
Genus PLUTONASTER Sladen.
Plutonaster Sladen, Narrative Challenger Exped., vol. i, p. 610, 1885; op.
cit., p. 81, 1889. Perrier, Exped. Tray. et Talisman, pp. 312-313.
Form is stellate with a broad flat disk and rapidly tapered,
rather rigid rays. The marginal plates are large and thick,
rather rectangular, encroaching on the upper side to oo a stout
border, and standing opposite the lower ones.
The marginal plates of both series are closely covered with
elongated granules. They may bear short, thick spines on one
or both series, or spines may be entirely lacking. Grooves are
fasciolated. The dorsal area is wide and closely covered with
small parapaxille, showing no median radial row, but often in
transverse rows on the rays.
Papule are widely distributed, except on the interradial areas.
Pedicellariz are generally absent, when present papilliform, with
three or four valves. They occur on the interactinal plates.
Dorsal pore distinct.
Adambulacral plates have a regular marginal row of small
spines, and on the actinal face two or more longitudinal rows of
mostly short or almost granule-like spinules; sometimes one is
spiniform. The interactinal plates are numerous and stand in
regular rows, from the adambulacral to the inferomarginal plates.
196 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
This is essentially a deep-sea genus. The species seldom occur
in less than 300 fathoms, but are often abundant at greater
depths. Some occur in 1,500 to 2,000 fathoms.
PLUTONASTER INTERMEDIUS Perrier.
Goniopecten intermedius Perrier, op. cit., p. 25, 1881; op. cit., p. 251, pl.
vii, figs. 1, 2, pl. iv, fig. 4, 1884.
Plutonaster intermedius Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talisman, p. 316, 1894
(redescribed).
Perrier (1884, p. 252) mentions several very young specimens
that he thinks belong to this species, as coming from 70, 103, 120,
and 213 fathoms, in the Lesser Antilles. They were from 8 to
25™™ in diameter. Specimens so small as that, in this genus,
can seldom be identified with any certainty, unless older ones
come from the same locality, to form a series.
Adults of this species occurred in 833 to 955 fathoms and deep-
er. Therefore I doubt the identification of these young ones.
The description is brief.
I did not see them when I examined the Blake collection.
They are entered here, for want of a better place, until they can
be studied more fully.
It should also be remembered that a large part of the Blake
starfishes (as well as those of the Albatross) were taken by
tangles, and that it is not an uncommon thing for small star-
fishes and other organisms to be overlooked and thus left on the
tangles to come up again, with a subsequent haul, perhaps from
a very different depth. Thus there may well be doubt of some
unusual records of single small specimens of such objects. I
write this from personal experience of 20 seasons in dredging.
Family GoNIOoPECTINID2 Verrill, 1899, p. 213.
Stellate with elongated rays. The marginal, adambulacral and
actinal plates are bordered with peculiar pectinate spinules
united by a web, thus forming specialized, continuous fascioles.
Dorsal plates are paxilliform or columnar and covered with
small spinules. They are arranged in oblique transverse rows on
the rays.
Marginal plates large, regularly paired, the sutures correspond-
ing above and below; sometimes they are spinose. There may be
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 197
an odd interradial marginal plate in each series (Prionaster).
Surface of the marginal plates usually smooth or with a few
scattered granules, sometimes entirely granulated, usually cov-
ered with a thin membrane.
Interactinal plates form radial series, usually double, running
from the adambulacral to the marginal plates, with deep fasci-
olated grooves between them, continuous with the fasciolated
grooves between the marginal plates.
The adambulacral plates project over the ambulacral furrows,
forming constrictions; they bear a curved or angular series of
furrow spinules united by a basal web.
The jaws are rather large and very prominent, with an open
suture. They bear two or more enlarged apical spines, and more
or less numerous smaller spinules on the actinal side.
Genus PrionastTer Verrill, 1899, p. 215.
This genus differs from Goniopecten especially in having an
odd interradial marginal plate, in each row, and a double series
of unpaired interactinal plates corresponding to them.
For more details see the original description. The genus in-
cludes only the following species:
PRIONASTER ELEGANS Verrill.
Prionaster elegans Verrill, Revision Genera, op. cit., p. 216, plate; figures 4,
4a, 4b, 4c, 1899.
Plate xii; figures 4-4c.
Disk small; sides high and vertical, evenly incurved; rays high
and nearly square at base, tapering regularly to the slender tips.
Radii of the type, 14™™ and 70™™; ratio, 1:5.
The marginal plates are oblong and much higher than long on
the disk, but gradually become squarish on the rays. The upper
and lower are exactly coincident, so that the vertical sutures are
continuous. Their sides are nearly perpendicular and they en-
croach only a short distance on the disk, but at the middle of the
rays each series is about as wide as the dorsal area; distally, near
the tip of the rays, they are separated only by a single row of
very small paxille. The distal plates bear groups of small
spaced granules near the upper end. Each of the upper ones,
198 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
except on the distal third of the rays, bears a small, movable,
tapered, acute spine at the upper angle; those at the base of the
rays are longer than the rest.
Some of the inferomarginal plates of the rays have a similar,
but smaller, spine at the lower angle and near the distal edge of
the plate; most of the interradials have also a small cluster of
minute granules near the lower end. All the marginal plates
are bordered by a very regular and even series of small spinules
webbed together to their tips. Those of the upper plates are
much more numerous, finer and closer, and more evenly pectin-
ate; they nearly touch across the grooves. Those of the lower
plates stand a little apart and are more divergent, about half as
many in the same space as on the upper plates, and very similar
to those between the actinal plates.
The actinal areas are not large and extend to about the eighth
adambulacral. The median odd series consists of two closely
united rows of about six each, the distal ones becoming very
small. The next series contains a row of five plates and one of
three similar plates; this series corresponds to the second and
third adambulacrals.
The adambulacral plates are broad and roundish, the proximal
ones quite oblique; their furrow-edge projects over the furrow
and bears a row of 10 to 12 small, slender, acute spinules, which
are somewhat divergent and webbed together for about half
their length; they meet or interlock across the furrow, leaving
rounded or ovate open spaces between them for the passage of the
large and tapered ambulacral feet. On the outer and lateral
margins of the plates there is also a series of divergent, webbed,
fasciolated spinules like those of the actinal plates.
The madreporic plate is rather large, with fine gyri. The
dorsal nephridial pore is situated in the center of a low elevation
composed of very small, round paxille.
Taken by the Albatross at station 2401, in the Gulf of Mexico,
in 142 fathoms. (No. 18,428, U. S. Nat. Mus.)
For more details see the original description.
Family Lump Verrill.
Luidiide Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad., x, p. 201, 1899. Fisher, op. cit.,
1911b, p. 105. Verrill, op. cit., p. 333, 1914a.
Luidiine (subfamily) Sladen, op. cit., pp. 175, 244, 1889.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 199
Disk small, covered with true paxille, which are usually largest
at the sides of disk and rays; rays five to ten or more, long, fiat,
flexible in life. Superomarginal plates small, paxilliform, often
indistinguishable from the dorsal paxille. Inferomarginals
transversely elongated, large, spinose, fascioled, corresponding
in number and radial length with the adambulacrals and sep-
arated from them throughout the rays by a row of small per-
actinal plates.
Pedicellariz usually present on the actinal side, forceps-like,
with two or three blades, or spiniform.
Ambulacral feet large, flattened, muscular; can be used as
paddles for gliding rapidly along the bottom just under the sur-
face of sand or mud. I have observed (1901) that Luidia clath-
rata swims or paddles with remarkable speed, just under the sur-
face of the sand in shallow water, and that it swims or glides
actively in an aquarium, by using its feet as paddles.
The dorsal nephridial glands, or ‘‘ececal appendages,’’ in-
testine and dorsal pore are lacking. The papule are branched.
This family is very distinct from all others, but nearest to
Astropectimde. It is well represented in the West Indies, as in
most tropical and subtropical seas.
Genus Luip1a Forbes.
Luidia Forbes, Wern. Trans., 1839, p. 14; Mem. Wern. Soc., viii, p. 128,
1840. Miiller and Troschel, Syst. Aster., p. 77, 1842. Sladen, op. cit.,
p. 244, 1887. Fisher, 1911b, p. 105. Verrill, op. cit., p. 334, 1914a.
Rays five to ten, rather flat, flexible. Dorsal columnar paxille
have lobate, articulated bases; summits either plainly paxillose
or with a central spine or tubercle (spinopaxille), or with both
kinds; largest next the lateral borders of the rays. Inferomar-
ginal plates spinose and spinulose. Pedicellarie often absent;
when present, forceps-like, with two or three blades or valves.
They are usually situated on the adambulacral plates; sometimes
on the inferomarginals or peractinals.
Inferomarginal plates are transversely elongated, with wide
and deep fasciolated grooves between them, bordered by slender
spinules; central portion with one or more rows of spines. Su-
peromarginals small, paxilliform, rounded. Adambulacral plates
short, with one furrow-spine (rarely two); they are separated
200 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
by wide grooves. The dorsal paxille may be quadrate at surface
and crowded, in regular rows, or stellate. Regular rows of
papulez between the rows of paxille. No superambulacral plates
observed.
Gonads are multiple, in rows, with separate pores along the
sides of the rays. Papule may be branched. Ambulacral am-
pulle are single.
LUIDIA CLATHRATA (Say) Liitken.
Asterias clathrata Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philad., vol. v, p. 143, 1825.
Luidia clathrata Liitken, Vidensk. Meddel., p. 37, 1859. Gray, Synopsis, p.
4, 1866. A. Agassiz, North American Starfishes, p. 117, pl. xx, 1877.
(Structure.) Verrill, Notes on Radiata, Trans. Conn. Acad., vol. i, p.
271, 1867; Amer. Journ. Science, vol. iii, p. 488, 1872; ditto, vol. xlix,
p. 134, 1895; Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., vol. xi, p. 36, 1901 (habits) ;
Starfishes of N. Pacific, pp. 7, 31, pl. 103, fig. 1, 1914a.
Plate xxiv; figure 2.
This is a large, five-rayed species, with long rays.
The dorsal paxillary area of the rays is rather flat or some-
what convex, wide, covered with unusually large, mostly squar-
ish, or at least quadrangular, paxille which form proximally, in
medium sized specimens, about ten to twelve nearly regular rows.
About four or five of the lateral rows, on each side, are decidedly
larger and more regular than the rest. The first three rows are
nearly equal; the others decrease regularly in size; the two, or
three median rows are the smallest and least regular. On the
disk they become more crowded, and irregularly arranged ; many
are hexagonal, pentagonal, or polygonal; those in the center are
the smaller and more irregular, being about equal in size to the
median ones of the rays. All the paxille are covered with nu-
merous rather coarse, short, nearly even-topped, but unequal,
spinules. On the larger lateral paxille there are usually from
twelve to sixteen larger central spinules which are enlarged and
rounded at the tips, and stand in rows of three or four, while the
margins are bordered with numerous much smaller, slightly
clavate spinules. On the smaller median paxille there are usual-
ly six to eight of the larger central spinules, surrounding one or
two in the middle, thus often forming a minute rosette-form,
bordered by the finer marginal spinules.
The inferomarginal plates are large; each bears two unequal,
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 201
acute, upper marginal spines; the upper one is less than half as
long as the other, which is regularly tapered, often a little curved,
but not flattened and very sharp; in length, the larger ones are
about equal to one-fourth of the rays proximally, or equal to the
width of the three adjacent rows of paxille. Around the bases
of the large spines are a number of small acute spines.
Color in life, either gray, or salmon, or rose-salmon.
This species, like others of the genus, habitually lives con-
cealed just under the surface of the sand. Its presence is be-
trayed, in shallow water, by the star-shaped impression that it
forms by the action of currents of water flowing upward, through
the paxillar areas, caused by ciliary action for respiratory pur-
poses. When disturbed it glides away very rapidly, beneath the
surface of the sand, by means of its large, flattened, muscular
ambulacral feet, which it uses like paddles. It can also swim,
by their aid, free of the sand, or on its surface.
Most common in less than 20 fathoms. Taken at 18 stations,
from N. lat. 37° 31’ to 35° 12’, by the U. S. Fish Commission, in
10 to 48 fathoms. Common in shallow water from North Caro-
lina southward to Florida and the West Indies. Rio Janeiro,
Brazil. Rare north of Cape Hatteras; it has been recorded from
southern New Jersey.
In the Yale Museum there are specimens from Egmont Key,
W. Florida, W. T. Coons (No. 2195); Fort Macon, N. C., Dr.
Yarrow (No. 4431) ; Rio de Janeiro, coll. C. F. Hartt (No. 5202) ;
Cuba; ete.
Bermuda, common in sheltered situations just below low-tide
level, on bottoms of shell-sand, concealed just below the surface.
All living specimens seen by me in Bermuda were either pale
salmon or rose-salmon. Those from Florida and North Carolina
are gray.
LUIDIA ALTERNATA (Say) Liitken.
Asterias alternata Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., v, p. 144, 1825.
Luidia alternata Liitken, Vidensk. Meddel., p. 42, 1859; op. cit., p. 301,
1871. Verrill, Notes on Radiata, Trans. Conn. Acad., i, p. 3438, 1867.
Perrier, Arch. Zod]. Exper., v. p. 254, 1876. Sladen, op. cit., 1889, p.
250. Ives. op. cit., p. 326, 1890. Nutting, Narrative, p. 166. Clark,
op. cit., p. 4, 1898.
Luidia variegata Perrier, op. cit., p. 257, 1876.
Luidia granulosa Perrier, Pedicellaires, p. 109, 1869 (t. Perrier, 1876).
202 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Rays five, a little swollen or depressed, long and fragile. It
grows to rather large size, up to 325™™ in diameter; more often
about 200™™.
The dorsal paxille are small, rounded, and have a central spin-
ule, longer and larger than the slender stellate ones that sur-
round it. Four of the lateral rows of paxille are larger and
more regular than the others with a longer middle spinule; those
on the median part of the rays and on the disk are smaller, with
fewer spinules. Those next to the marginals may lack the larger
central spinule.
The inferomarginal plates bear two larger, long, acute, upper
marginal spines, alternating in position, so as to form two series.
On the lower side the plates also bear about three larger spines
in a row, and many small acute ones.
The adambulacral plates bear either three or four slender
spines in a transverse row, the innermost curved and smaller
than the others.
The madreporic plate is usually concealed by the paxille.
This is a shallow-water species found mostly in sheltered local-
ities on sandy or muddy bottoms, often just below low tide mark.
Yet it extends down to 40 fathoms, off Florida (A. Agassiz), and
to 88 fathoms in the Antilles (Perrier). Florida Reefs (Say) ;
Yucatan (Ives). Off Bahia, Brazil, in 7 to 20 fathoms (Sladen).
It ranges from the coast of Florida throughout the West In-
dies to Bahia, Brazil. Port Royal, Jamaica, on muddy bottom
near mangroves (Clark). St. Thomas, 20 fathoms (Liitken).
It was taken by the Bahama Expedition on the Great Bahama
Bank (one young and two large) and near Key West, Florida.
It has not been found at the Bermudas.
I have examined the type of Luwidia variegata Per. in the Mus.
Comp. Zodlogy. It is evidently the young of this species. It
was from Isle Breton, off the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Color in life: olive-green or purplish with yellowish irregular
bands across the rays; under side yellow (Say). According to
Nutting (Narrative, p. 166) the marginal spines of the larger
specimens were chocolate-brown at the base and white at the tips.
The color in life, according to Ives, is straw-color, with three
or four irregular transverse bands of blackish on the dorsal
surface, not extending to the under side; spines greenish; ends
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 203
of ambulacral feet orange-red. According to Clark (1898), the
color of one at Jamaica was dark olive-green or purplish above,
with irregular yellowish bands across the rays; beneath yellow.
Some specimens have the spines banded with lighter and darker
colors.
LuIDIA ALTERNATA BICOLOR, variety nov.
Plate xii; figures 1-lc. Details.
The dorsal area is pretty evenly covered with small spinopax-
ille, having a small acute central spine, surrounded by a circle
of about nine to twelve short clavate spinules. The spinopaxille
are in pretty regular nearly equal longitudinal rows of twelve
to fourteen or more. 7
The marginal plates bear three long, slender, acute, terete, bi-
colored spines, chocolate-brown on the basal half and pale or
white distally.
The longer spines are about three times as long as the ad-
jacent plates. The lower spine is considerably smaller and
shorter than the two upper ones. It arises from near the adam-
bulacral plates, and is sometimes lacking. The large spines are
all surrounded at the base by a group of slender, very acute,
small spines.
The adambulacral plates bear two slender, acute spines, one
behind the other. The inner one is smaller, shorter, and curved
outward. ‘These are also surrounded at their bases by a number
of small and very slender spines.
This was taken by the Bahama Expedition, off Key West, Fla..,
at station 39, in 20 fathoms (one large), and at station 24, in 60
fathoms (young). I have also seen it in the Albatross collec-
tions.
Tumia ELEGANS Perrier.
Luidia elegans Perrier, Arch. Zool. Exper., vol. v, p. 256, 1876; Etoiles de
Mer, p. 269, 1884. Verrill, Amer. Journal Sci., vol. xx, p. 403, 1880;
ditto, vol. xlix, p. 134, 1895; Expl. by Albatross in 1883, p. 543, pl.
xiii, figs. 39, 39a (distribution).
Plate xvi; figures 4, 4a. Details. Plate xix; figure 1. Young.
This species, as taken by us, grows to more than 350™™ in di-
ameter. Color, in life, deep orange above, lighter below.
204 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
It readily detaches its rays and therefore is seldom dredged
entire. It normally has five rays.
The dorsal paxille are stellate, much crowded, smallest in the
middle of the rays; larger laterally. Each bears a circular mar-
ginal group of very slender spinules, one to three in the center,
and often, in adults, one to three blunt pedicellarie.
Inferomarginal plates have, in the adults, a vertical row of
three long, tapering, acute spines, the upper ones largest. In the
young usually but two spines are present.
The adambulacral plates have a transverse row of three rather
slender, sharp spines; the inner one smaller and recurved; the
middle one largest. A row of ovate, bilabiate pedicellarix oc-
curs between the inferomarginal and adambulacral plates.
The type, as described by Perrier, was young; it had the radii
pe ang gos ratlo, lai
The inferomarginal plates are short, almost vertical, and bear
two or three long, sharp spines, besides their spinules.
The dorsal paxille are nearly alike, becoming more complex
toward the borders. Each has a rather short central spinule, sur-
rounded by six to ten longer, spaced, marginal spinules, scarcely
enlarged at the tip, and forming a simple stellate group, giving
the paxillar area a very uniform appearance. Madreporic plate
was concealed by the paxille.
On the actinal side there is a row of two-valved pedicellariz,
between the adambulacral and inferomarginal plates.
Perrier (1884) mentions a much larger specimen, with radii
12™™ and 115™™, and considers the presence of two-valved pedi-
cellariz distinctive of the species.
The Bahama Expedition took, at station 63, in 85-95 fathoms,
a young specimen agreeing very closely with the type, in size
and most other characters. Its radii are 5.5™™ and 36™™; ratio,
1:6.54. It has two large, nearly equal, acute spines on the mar-
ginal plates, and occasionally a third, lower down. It also has a
series of small bivalve pedicellariz external to the adambulacral
plates, as in the type, so that there can scarcely be a doubt as to
its identity.
It differs, however, from Perrier’s description in the character
of the dorsal paxille. Instead of being nearly uniform, they are
decidedly diverse in size. The lateral row, on each side, con-
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 205
sists of stellate, round paxille about twice as large as those of
adjacent rows, and these are in turn at least twice as large as
those along the median region. The latter are very small, with
few slender spinules, and much crowded.
The adambulacral plates of this specimen have three rather
long, acute spines in a transverse row ; the inner one, on the apex
of the plate, is shorter than the others, more slender, somewhat
recurved and compressed.
Large numbers of specimens, many of them of large size, were
taken at about forty stations, off the eastern coast of the United
States, in 1880-1887, by the United States Fish Commission
steamers, mostly in 53 to 146 fathoms, from N. lat. 37° 31’ to the
region south of Cape Hatteras. The Albatross also took it in the
West Indies.
It was taken by the Blake, off Barbados, in 200 fathoms (Per-
rier). The locality of the type was not given. It was from the
Mus. Comp. Zodlogy, dredged in ‘*101 feet.’’ Perhaps from the
Hassler Expedition, off Barbados.
It was taken by the Bahama Expedition at station 63, in 85-95
fathoms, off Florida (2 spec. See pl. xix, fig. 1).
LUIDIA BARBADENSIS Perrier.
Luidia barbadensis Perrier, op. cit., p. 29, 1881. Etoiles de Mer, p. 267,
pl. x, figs. 7, 8, 1884.
Plate xxiv; figure 1.
Rays flat above, slender, commonly six, sometimes five. The
type had the radii 10™™ and 125™™; ratio, 1:12.5. Greater
breadth of rays about 11™™.
According to Perrier the characters of the type are as follows:
Rays six, very long and extremely fragile. The three outer
rows of paxillx, on each side, have the paxille larger than those
of the middle region; next there are two pretty regular rows of
small paxille; the median ones are still smaller and irregularly
placed.
The inferomarginal plates are covered with small spines and
have a median row of larger conical spines, of which the last two
are considerably larger and form the marginal row of spines.
The adambulacral plates have one furrow-spine, which is com-
206 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
pressed and slightly recurved ; outside of this are two other spines
equally compressed, nearly straight, and placed a little obliquely,
one behind the other. Outside of these are two or three smaller
and more slender spines. Some of the plates bear papilliform
pedicellariz with three valves.
The two specimens figured by Perrier (1884) have five rays.
The largest one of his types, when examined by me (1896) had
six broken rays. It was from station 274, off Barbados, and is
probably the one described by Perrier.
It was taken by the Blake at four stations, in 40 to 209 fath-
oms, mostly off Barbados.
The color, in life, appears to have been red.
A specimen from the Albatross collection (No. 10,449; see pl.
xxiv, fig. 1) has six rays, but all of them had been broken off near
the disk and are in process of restoration, giving it the appear-
ance of having six short, rapidly tapered and acute rays. The
original parts agree very well with Perrier’s types and descrip-
tion. Radius of the disk 10™™; of the rays, as repaired, 35 to
jon.
On the repaired portions of the rays the dorsal paxille are
smaller than on the old part, and have fewer spinules, but are
otherwise similar. On the old parts the four outer rows of pax-
ille are distinctly larger than the others, but not equal among
themselves. Those of the outer row are roundish with a convex
rosette of about ten to twelve rather stout, clavate spinules, one
to three being central, besides a large number of marginal slen-
der, fasciolated spinules. Those of the second row are trans-
versely a little oblong, with sixteen to twenty similar spinules on
top, in two series, in rosette form. Those of the third row are
more nearly square with about twelve to sixteen spinules in the
rosette. Those of the fourth row are somewhat smaller and have
about twelve to fourteen spinules in the rosette. Those of the
fifth row are decidedly smaller, nearly round, and more like those
of the median area. They mostly have a regular, round, terminal
rosette of seven to nine spinules, of which one or two are cen-
tral. On the median area they become still smaller, with fewer
spinules, and are crowded irregularly, with papule between
them. On the repaired parts the outer row of paxille usually
has the largest rosettes.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 207
On the old parts the marginal plates have six or seven slender,
acute spines in a transverse row. The upper one is small and
sharp; the second and third are long and subequal; below these,
on the inferior side, are three or four much smaller ones, in a
row. Between and around the spines are numerous slender,
sharp spinules.
The inner spine of the adambulacral plate is small and strong-
ly eurved; the second, on the margin, is nearly straight, about
twice as large; both are compressed. The next two are smaller,
acute; they stand nearly side by side, divergent. Outside of
these is a rather large, conical, erect pedicellaria on many of the
plates. Most of them have three valves; some only two.
Similar three-valyed pedicellariz of larger size occur on the in-
terradial areas; four or five on each.
Station 2403, off West Florida, in 88 fathoms (No. 10449).
LUIDIA CONVEXIUSCULA Perrier.
Lwidia convexiuscula Perrier, op. cit., 1881, p. 30; Etoiles de Mer, p. 268,
pl. x, fig. 6,27 1884.
A very slender six-rayed species. The type has the radii 5™™
and 28™™; ratio, 1:5.6.
Perrier gives the following characters:
Dorsal surface slightly convex, with the paxille almost equal,
but a little smaller upon the median part of the rays and on the
disk. They bear small, nearly equal, divergent spinules; the
central ones are a little larger than the rest, but are not pro-
longed into aspine. There are about fifteen rows of paxille.
The inferomarginal plates are short, covered with small spines,
and bear a single long marginal spine.
The adambulacral plates have one long, compressed, recurved
furrow-spine, and outside of it a cluster of smaller spines.
Perrier recorded this species from six Blake stations, in 56 to
208 fathoms, among the Lesser Antilles, and in one station, in
the Gulf of Mexico, in 101 fathoms.
Some of these specimens were examined by me in 1896.
27 The references to the figures of this and the preceding species were
incorrectly given by Perrier (1884) in his text.
208 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Lumia MARCGRAVI Liitken.
Iwidia maregravii (Steenstrup MSS.) Liitken, op. cit., 1859, p. 43. Verrill,
op. cit., 1867, p. 343.
Stella marina, Maregrave, Hist. Rerum nat. Brazil, viii, p. 189, 1648.
Asterias 4. ‘‘The large starfish with eight or more slender arms’’ Browne,
Civil and Nat. Hist. Jamaica, 393, 1756.
Luidia senegalensis (pars) Mill. and Trosch., Syst. Aster., p. 78, 1842 (non
Lam.). Perrier, Revision, p. 262, 1876. R. Rathbun, op. cit., p. 149,
1879.
A large species, up to 360™™ in diameter, with a disk of 51™™,
almost always with nine slender, flattened, narrow rays; rarely
eight. It is very fragile like most other species of the genus.
The larger lateral paxille are triseriate, rectangular, covered
with about fifteen obtuse, central granules, surrounded by num-
erous setiform marginal spinules. The paxille in the median
radial area are much smaller and minute.
A triangular area, bearing paxille, is intercalated in the in-
terradial area, between the second and first rows of lateral
paxille.
The inferomarginal plates are densely covered with short flat
spines, larger centrally, and bear two larger, short, biserial, mar-
ginal spines. Adambulacral plates bear three or four com-
pressed spines, the two inner ones curved.
The color, in life, according to Clark, is greenish or grayish
above, yellow below, much as in ZL. clathrata, from the same
places.
Our dried specimens are light gray with a darker bluish
gray medial stripe, on each ray. Both have nine rays.
Perrier (1876) states that he has compared specimens from
W = Africa with others from Brazil and Guadeloupe and found
no diites ences.
Liitken, however, made a very careful study of the American
species and found it distinct, though nearly allied. He was
certainly a very expert authority on starfishes.
Personally I have not been able to study a sufficient number
of specimens from both regions to warrant any decided opinion.
It is generally admitted that some other species of Echinoderms
are common to the W. African and American seas.
Originally this species was recorded from Brazil by Marc-
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 209
grave (1648), and a century later, by Browne (1756) from Port
Royal and Kingston, Jamaica, where it has recently been found
by Clark, in very shallow water, at Port Royal. Cotinguiba,
Brazil, and San Domingo (Liitken). Pernambuco, Brazil, abun-
dant (Rathbun), and Yale Mus., coll. C. F. Hartt, No. 5,201.
I do not know that it has been taken on the Florida coasts, or
at the Bahamas. It seems to abound most on the tropical coast
of Brazil. The Yale Museum has a cotype from Brazil, No. 1,343,
sent by Liitken.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In the following list, most of the works relating particularly
to West Indian starfishes have been included. Many of the
early ante-Linnean works and later general works and text books
have been omitted, though some that have been quoted above
are included. Others, not here included, are quoted in full in
the synonymy of particular species.
Although this list does not profess to be complete, it is believed
that it will prove useful, for no such bibliography of this sub-
ject has hitherto been published for the West Indian fauna.
AGASSIZ, ALEXANDER. Preliminary Report on the Echini and Starfishes
dredged in deep water between Florida and Cuba reefs, by L. H. de
Pourtalés, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoology, vol. i no. 9, pp. 253-308, 1869.
(List of starfishes, eight species, on p. 308.)
North American Starfishes. Memoirs Museum Comparative Zodlo-
gy Harvard College, vol. v, no. 1, 4°, 136 pp., 20 pls., Cambridge, Mass.,
1877.
The first part relates to the embryology of Asterias. The second
part includes descriptions and excellent figures, partly structural, of
various species, including several from Florida and the West Indies,
viz. Oreaster reticulatus, Echinaster sentus, Astropecten articulatus,
Luidia clathrata, Linckia guildingu, Asterina folium.
Three Cruises of the Blake. 2 volumes. In Bulletin Mus. Comp.
Zool., vol. xv. Starfishes are in vol. ii, pp. 102-109, with figures 377-
387, 1888.
Agassiz, L. Prodrome d’une Monographie des Radiares ou Echinodermes.
Mém. Soc. Sci. Nat. Neuchatel, vol. i, pp. 168-199, 1835.
BLAINVILLE. See De Blainville, 1835.
Browne, Patrick. The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, iii, 1756.
Includes Oreaster reticulatus, ete. Not binomial.
BRUGUIERIES, Histoire Natur. des Vers., Encyclopédie Méthodique. Paris,
1794.
CLark, Husert Lyman. Notes on the Echinoderms of Bermuda. Annals
New York Acad. Science, no. 19, vol. xi, pp. 407-413, Sept., 1898.
The Echinoids and Asteroids of Jamaica, Johns Hopkins Univ.
Circulars, no. 137, pp. 1-6, Nov., 1898.
Includes 14 species of Asteroids, with brief descriptions.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 211
Some Japanese and East Indian Echinoderms. Bulletin Museum
of Compar. Zodlogy, vol. li, p. 286, 1908.
Includes an analytical table of all described species of Pteraster.
Der BLANIVILLE. Dictionaire des Sciences Naturelles, vol. iii, Article ‘‘ As-
terie.’’ 1804.
Manuel d’Actinologie. Paris, 1834.
DuCHASSAING, P. Anim. Rad. des Antilles. Paris, 1850.
DusarDIN ET Hups&. Echinodermes, in Suites a Buffon. 1862. (Largely
a translation of Mull. and Trosch., Syst. Asteriden.)
Various errors of translation have been noticed by Perrier, op. cit.,
1875, 1876. Some relate to W. Indian species.
FIELD, G. W. Echinoderms of Kingston Harbor (Jamaica). Johns Hop-
kins University Circular for April, 1892.
FISHER, WALTER KENDRICK. Necessary Changes in the Nomenclature of
Starfishes. Smithsonian Miscell. Collections, vol. lii, pp. 87-93, 1908a.
Some Necessary Changes in the Generic Names of Starfishes.
Zoologischer Anzeiger, vol. xxxiii, no. 11, August 18, pp. 356-359, 1908b.
The Genus Blakiaster. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. liv, no. 4, pp.
161-165, pls. i, ii, 1911a.
Discusses also Leptychaster and Bunodaster.
Asteroidea of the North Pacific and adjacent Waters. Part I.
Phanerozonia and Spinulosa. Bulletin 76, Smithsonian Institution.
419 pp., 4to, 122 plates, 1911b.
Forses, EpwarD. A History of British Starfishes and other Animals of the
Class Echinodermata, 8°, 269 pp., London, 1841. Published in six
monthly numbers, the first of each month, from October, 1840, to
March, 1841 (teste Bell, op. cit., 1890, p. 493). 1840-41.
GMELIN. Linné, Systema natura, ed. xiii, p. 3161. 1789.
Gray, JOHN Epwarp. A Synopsis of the Genera and Species of the Class
Hypostoma (Asterias Linneus). Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, Lon-
don, 1840 (pp. 175-184, November, 1840a; pp. 275-290, December,
1840b).
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xx, 1847a.
Descriptions of Some New Genera and Species of Asteriadx, Proc.
Zo6l. Soe. London for 1847, pp. 72-83, 1847b.
Synopsis of the Species of Starfish in the British Museum, pp. i-iv,
1-17; pl. i-xvi. London, 1866.
GRIFFITHS, in Cuvier, Animal Kingdom, vol. xii, Sanborn, 1834.
GruBh, Epw. Archiv fur Naturgesch, vol. xxiii, p. 340.
Includes Astropecten ciliatus from Puerto Cabello.
HAMANN, OTTo. Echinodermen. Bronn’s Klassen und Ordnungen des
Thier-reichs, Heft 2, Abth. 3, pp. 657-719, 1899.
Hartoc, Marcus M. True Nature of the Madreporie System of Echinoder-
mata, with Remarks on Nephridia. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., pp. 321-
326, November, 1887.
212 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
HERAPATH, W. B. On the Pedicellariz of the Echinodermata. Quarterly
Journ. Micros. Sci., vol. v, p. 175, 1886.
Ives, CHARLES. The Isles of Summer, Nassau and the Bahamas. Pp. 356,
16mo, 14 text cuts, 12 plates. New Haven, Conn., 1880. Published by
the author.
Contains a good figure of Oreaster gigas, pl. 19, fig. 2, and figures of
other echinoderms, corals, fishes, shells, etc., by J. H. Emerton.
Ives, J. E. Catalogue of the Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea in the Collection
of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; Proc. Acad. Nat.
Sci. Philadelphia, for 1889, p. 160 (distribution), 1889.
Echinoderms from the Northern Coast of Yucatan and the Harbor
of Vera Cruz. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, pp. 317-340, pl. viii,
1890.
Echinoderms from the Bahama Islands. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci-
ences, Philad., for 1891, pp. 337-341, pl. xvi, 1891a.
List of the Echinoderms and Crustacea in the Cabinet of Fred-
erick Stearns, Detroit, Mich. Private publication, not dated; 1891b.
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First ed., vol. ii, Paris, 1816.
———. Second ed., vol. iii, 1840.
Linck, JoH. HENR. De Stellis marinis, folio, 107 pp., 42 pls., Lipsie, 1733.
LINNE, CARL. Museum Tessinianum, 1753.
Includes Asterias gigas (Oreaster).
Systema Nature, ed. x, 1758.
Ditto, ed. xii, 1766.
Ditto, ed. xiii. See Gmelin.
Lupwic, HuBErt. Verzeichniss der von Prof. Dr. Ed. Van Beneden an der
Kiste von Brazil, gessamelten Echinodermen. Mem. Cour. Acad. Roy.
Belgique, vol. xliv, no. 5, 1882.
Die Seesterne des Mittelmeeres, 4°, 191 pp., 12 pls., Berlin, 1897.
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LUTKEN, CHRISTIAN FREDERICK. Bidrag til Kundskab. om de ved Kysterne
af Mellen-og Syd-Amerika levende Arter af Sdstjerner. I, Naturhist.
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Kritiske Bemaerkninger om forskjellige Sostjerner (Asterider),
med Beskrivelse af nogle nye Arter, ii, Naturhist. Foren., Vidensk.
Meddel. Kjobenhavn, for 1864, pp. 123-169, 1865.
Fortsatte kritiske og beskrivende Bidrag til Kundskab om Sostjer-
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havn, for 1871, pp. 227-304, pls. iv, v, 1871.
MarceraF, GEORGE. Historia naturalis Brasilie, vol. viii, 1648.
TIneludes Luidia marcgravii and Oreaster reticulatus.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 213
Mosius, Neue Seesterne des Hamburger und Kieler Museums. Hamb.
Abhand. Geb. Naturw., iv, 1859.
Ineludes Asteriscus stellifer, Brazil.
MiuiLLER, JOHAN, and TROSCHEL, FRANZ HERMANN. In Wiegmann’s Archiv,
vi, Bd. i, pp. 318-326, Sept., 1840.
Monatsb. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., p. 102, April. Berlin, 1841.
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The author seems unaware of the earlier list by the writer. (See
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Narpo, J. D. De Asteriis, Oken’s Isis, heft ili, pp. 716-717, 1834.
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In Bull. Labor. Nat. Hist. State Univ. Iowa, vol. iii, nos. 1, 2, pp.
1-251, 1895. Starfishes are treated on pp. 78, 130, 135, 165-169, 212,
and plate.
Contains notes on habits and colors in life.
PERRIER, JEAN OCTAVE EpMoND. Recherches sur les Pedicellaires et les
Ambulacres des Astéries et des Oursins, 4°, 188 pp., 2 pls., Paris, 1869.
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1869; vol. xiii, article i, pls. ii-vi, 1870.
Sur les Pedicellaires des Astéries et des Oursins. Arch. Zodl.
Exper. et Génér., iii, pp. vii-xv, 1874.
Classif. et la Synonym. des Stellerides. Comptes rendus, No. 81,
1875, p. 1271, 1875a.
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Naturelle de Paris, 8°, 384 pp., Paris, 1875b (Asteriide, Echinasteride,
Ophidiasteride). Arch. Zool. Exper. et Génér., vol. iv, pp. 265-450.
1875c. Vol. v, pp. 1-104 (Goniasteride) ; 209-304 (Asterinide, Astro-
pectinide, Pterasteride). 1876a.
Diagnoses of new species of Asteriide and Linckiide in the British
Museum. Ann. and Mag. Nat. History, ser. 4, vol. xvii, pp. 34-36,
1876b. Translation by E. A. Smith.
——. On the Classification and Synonymy of the Stellerida. Ann. and
Mag. Nat. History, ser. 4, vol. xvii, pp. 259-261, 1876c.
A translation of No. 1875a. It contains many statements in regard
to the synonymy of the species of Lamarck, Gray, Miller and Troschel,
and others, based on examinations of the original types, but without de-
scriptions.
Les Stellerides des Illes du Cap Vert, Voy. Expl. A. Bouvier,
Zool. Soc. France, Bull., ii, pp. 241-246, 1877.
214 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Etudes sur la Répartition Géographique des Asterides. In Nouv.
Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., ser. 2, vol. i, pp. 1-108, 1878.
Les Stellerides de 1’Isle Saint Paul. Arch. Zool. Exper. et Gen.,
vol. viii, pp. 47-49, 1879-80, 1879.
Les Etoiles de Mer des regions profondes du Golfe du Mexique.
Paris Acad. Sci., Comptes Rendus, No. 91, pp. 436-439, 1880.
Contains Zoroaster ackleyt, Z. sigsbei, Hymenodiscus, gen. nov.
Sur les Etoiles de Mer, draguées dans les region. prof. du Golfe
du Mexique, et de la Mer des Antilles par le navaire ‘‘The Blake,’’
Paris Acad., Comptes Rendus, No. 92, pp. 59-61, 1881a.
Contains Anthenoides peircet nov.
Description Summaire des Espéces nouvelles d’Astéries, Bulletin
Mus. Comp. Zodlogy, vol. ix, no. i, pp. 1-31, June, 1881b.
These descriptions are reproduced, with few changes, in the final re-
port, 1884.
Les Campagnes du Travailleur, Assoc. France, Comptes Rendus,
pp. 577-583, 1883a.
Expedet. de Talisman. Revue Sci., vi, pp. 737-741, 1883b.
Mémoire sur les Etoiles de Mer, rec. dans la Mer des Antilles et la
Golfe du Mexique (Blake Expedition). Nouv. Arch. du Mus. d’Hist.
Nat., ser. 2, vol. vi, pp. 127-276, pls. i-ix, 1884.
Note Preliminaire sur les Echinodermes, rec. par le Travailleur et
la Talisman. In Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., ser. 2, vol. vi, p. 154,
1885.
Echinodermes de la Mission Scientifique du Cape Horn; I, Steller-
ides. Mission Scientifique du Cape Horn, Zodlogie, vol. vi, 198 pp., 13
pls., Paris, 1891a.
Stellerides Nouveaux provenant des Campagnes du Yacht L’Hiron-
delle. In Mém. Soe. Zo6l. de France, vol. iv, pp. 258-271, Paris, 18916.
Echinodermes; I, Stellerides. Expéditions Scientifiques du Travail-
leur et du Talisman pendant les Annees 1880-83, 4°, 432 pp., 36 pls.
In Archives des Missions scientifique et littéraires. Raport sur les
Travaux de la Comm. chargée par M. le Ministere de 1’Instruction pub-
lique d’etudier la Faune sous-marine dans les grandes profoudeurs de la
Méditerranée et de 1’Ocean Atlantique, par M. Alphonse Milne-Ed-
wards. Ser. 3, vol. ix. Paris, 1894.
In this important work many of the West Indian species, from the
Blake Expeditions, are redescribed more fully and often under revised
generic names. On pages 36 to 40 there is a list of all the species ob-
tained by the Blake in the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico.
Contribution a 1’Etude des Stellerides de 1’Atlantique Nord (Golfe
de Gascogne, Acores, Terre-Neuve). Résultas des Campagnes Scien-
tifiques aecomplies sur son Yacht par Albert I., Prince Souverain de
Monaco, fase. xi, 4to, 59 pp., 4 pls., Monaco, 1896.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 215
RaTHBUN, RicHarp. A List of the Brazilian Echinoderms, with Notes on
their Distribution, ete. Trans. Conn. Acad. Science, vol. v, pp. 139-158,
June, 1879.
RocHeEFort. Historische Beschreibung der Antillen-Inseln in Amerika ge-
legen, Frankfurt, 1668.
Includes Oreaster reticulatus.
RONDELET. Libri de Piscibus Marinis, 1554.
Includes Oreaster reticulatus.
Sars, MicHarEL. Bidrag til Kundskaben om Middelhavets Littoral-Fauna,
1857.
Say, THoMAs. On the Species of the Linnean Genus Asterias inhabiting the
Coast of the United States. Journal Acad, Nat. Sciences Philadelphia,
Ser. i, vol. v, pp. 141-154, 1825.
Contains descriptions of 6 Asterioidea; 12 Ophiuroidea; 1 Crinoidea
Extract in Ferrusac. Bull. des Sciences Naturelles, vol. xii, pp. 401-
403.
Sepa, ALBERTUS. Locupletissimi rerum naturalium Thesauri, vol. iii, 1761.
Contains recognizable figures of some West Indian species.
SLADEN, Wm. Percy. ‘Traces of Ancestral Relations in the Structure of the
Asteroidea. Proc. York Geolog. and Polytech. Soc., N. S., vol. vii, 10
pp., pl. iv, 1880.
Asteroidea dredged during the Cruise of the Knight Errant in
July and August, 1880. Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, 1881-1882, pp. 698-
707, 1882.
Asteroidea dredged in the Faerée Channel during the Cruise of H.
M. S. Triton, in August, 1882. Trans. Royal Soc. Edinburgh, vol. xxxii,
part i, pp. 153-164, pl. xxvi, 1883a.
The Asteroidea of H. M. 8. Challenger (Preliminary Notices).
Part ii, Astropectinide. Journal Linn. Soc. London, vol. xvii, pp, 214-
269, 1883b.
On the Homologies of the Primary Larval Plates in the Test of
Brachiate Echinoderms. Quarterly Journ. Microscopic Soc., pl. i, Lon-
don, 1884.
Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H. M. 8S. Chal-
lenger. Narrative of the Cruise, i, part 2, 1885a.
Report on the Asteroidea. Report on the Scientific Results of the
Voyage of H. M. 8S. Challenger during the years 1873-76, Zodlogy, vol.
xxx and a volume of 117 plates, London, 1889.
StoanE, Hans. A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbadoes, Nieves, St.
Christophers, and Jamaica, with the Natural History, ete. Vol. ii, 1725.
THOMPSON, WYVILLE. The Depths of the Sea. London, 1873.
TROSCHEL, FRANZ HERMANN. See Miiller, Johan, and Troschel, Franz Her-
mann,
VERRILL, ADDISON EMERY. On New and Imperfectly Known Echinoderms
and Corals. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. xii, pp. 381-396, 1869.
216 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Notes on Radiata. Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts and Sciences, vol. i,
number 2, pp. 247-613, pls. iv-x, New Haven, 1867-1871.
No. 3. On the Geographical Distribution of the Echinoderms of
the West Coast of America (and Comparison of the Tropical Echino-
derm Faune of the East and West Coasts of America). Trans. Conn.
Acad, Sciences, i, pp. 323-351, 1867c. Reprint, 1870, with additions in
footnotes.
No. 4. Notice of the Corals and Echinoderms collected by Prof.
C. F. Hartt, at the Abrolhos Reefs, Province of Bahia, Brazil, in 1867.
Trans. Conn. Acad, Science, vol. i, pp. 351-371, pl. iv, Feb., 1868.
Includes four starfishes. Two are described as new species, viz.,
Echinaster crassispina and Asterias atlantica.
Descriptions of Starfishes and Ophiurans from the Atlantic coasts
of America and Africa. Amer. Jour. Science, vol. ii, pp. 130-133. 1871a.
On Radiata from the Coast of North Carolina. Brief Cont. to
Zool. No. xxii, Amer. Journ, Sci., vol. iii, pp. 432-438, June, 1872.
— —. Results of Recent Dredging Operations on the Coast of New Eng-
land. In Amer. Journ. Science and Arts (3), vol. v, pp. 1-16, 1873a;
98-106, 1873b; vol. vi, pp. 435-441, 1873c.
Report upon the Invertebrate Animals of Vineyard Sound, etc.,
Washington, 1873d. In Report of the Commissioner of Fish and Fish-
eries for 1871, pp. 295-778, pls. i-xxxviii, 1873-74. Also author’s edi-
tion, repaged, 1874.
Note on some of the Starfishes of the New England Coast. In
Amer. Journ. Science and Arts (3) vol. xi, pp. 416-420, New Haven,
1876.
Corrections of Errors made by M. E. Perrier, in respect to New Eng-
land species of Asterias.
Notice of Recent Additions to the Marine Fauna of the Eastern
Coast of North America, nos. 1 and 2. In Amer. Journ. Science and
Arts (3), vol. xvi, pp. 207-215, 371-378, New Haven, 1878a, and 1878b.
Notice of Recent Additions to the Marine Invertebrata of the
Northeastern Coast of America, with Descriptions of New Genera and
Species and Critical Remarks on Others. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. i
(1879), pp. 165-205, Washington, 1880a.
List of Marine Invertebrata from the New England Coast. Proce.
U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. ii (1879), pp. 227-232, Washington, 1880b.
Notice of the Remarkable Marine Fauna Occupying the Outer
Banks off the Southern Coast of New England, No. 1, no. 3 and no. 4,
Amer. Journ. Science, no. 1, vol. xx, pp. 390-403, 1880c; no. 3, vol.
xxxili, pp. 135-142, 1882a; no 4, 216-225, New Haven, 1882b.
The same, no. 9, vol. xxviii, pp. 213-220, 1884a.
The same, no. 10, vol. xxviii, pp. 378-384, 1884b.
The same, no. 11, vol. xxix, pp. 149-157, 1885a.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES 217
Notice of the Remarkable Marine Fauna Occupying the Outer
Banks off the Southern Coast of New England, and of Some Additions
to the Fauna of Vineyard Sound. In the Annual Report of the U. S.
Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1882, 26 pp., 1884c.
Results of the Explorations made by the steamer Albatross off the
Northern Coast of the United States in 1883. In the Annual Report of
the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1883, pp. 1-107 (503-699),
44 pls., Washington, 1885b.
Geographical and bathymetrical distribution.
Descriptions of new Species of Starfishes and Ophiurans, with a
Revision of Certain Species formerly Described. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.,
vol. xvii, pp. 245-297, Washington, 1894.
Distribution of the Echinoderms of Northeastern America. Amer.
Journ. Science, vol. xlix, pp. 127-141, 199-212, New Haven, 1895a. Ab-
stract by H. Ludwig in Zo6l. Centralblatt, p. 40, February 2, 1895b.
Revision of Certain Genera and Species of Starfishes, with De-
scriptions of New Forms. Trans. Conn. Acad. of Arts and Sciences,
vol. x, part i, pp. 145-234, pls. xxiva-xxx, New Haven, 1899.
Additions to the Echinoderms of the Bermudas, op. cit., vol. x (part
2, Sept., 1900), pp. 583-587. 1900.
Additions to the Fauna of the Bermudas from the Yale Expedi-
tion of 1901 (47 pp., pls. i-ix; 6 cuts in text), 1901. Trans. Conn.
Acad. Sci., vol. xi, pp. 15-62, 1901.
Habits of Luidia clathrata on p. 36; rapid progression, etc.
Zodlogy of the Bermudas, vol. i, 427 pp., 45 pls., 1903.
Starfishes are discussed in article 10, p. 36.
The Bermuda Islands, part 5, section i, Characteristic Life of the
Bermuda Coral Reefs. Trans, Conn. Acad. Sci., vol. xii, pp. 160-316,
28 pls., 1 map, 120 text cuts, 1906.
Starfishes are discussed on pp. 280-281, pls. xxiv, xxxivc, xxxvic.
Revision of the Genera of Starfishes of the Subfamily Asterinine.
Amer. Journ. Science, ser, 4, vol. xxxv, pp. 477-485, 2 text cuts, May,
1913.
Hight new genera established.
Monograph of the Shallow-water Starfishes of the North Pacific
Coast, from the Arctic Ocean to California, with Revisions of various
Extralimital Genera and Species. Harriman Alaska Series, vol. xiv,
pp. 420, and a volume of 110 plates. Published by the Smithsonian In-
stitution, 1914a.
Review in Science, vol. xl, no. 1032, pp. 523-525, Oct. 9, 1914;
and in Amer. Journ. Science, vol. xxxviii, p. 107, 1914, with errata.
Nomenclature of Certain Starfishes. Amer. Journal Science, vol.
xxxvil, p. 483, May, 1914b. Treats of Anseropoda luna (L.); Acanthas-
ter planci (L.).
218 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Revision of some New Genera and Species of Starfishes, with
Descriptions of a few New Genera. Annals and Magazine of Natural
History, vol. xiv, No. 79, pages 13-22, plate I, July, 1914c.
Treats mostly of the family Poraniide.
Report on the Starfishes of the West Indies, Florida, and Brazil,
including those obtained by the Bahama Expedition from the University
of Iowa, in 1893, 230 pp., 29 plates. 1915.
VicuiER, C. Anatomie comparée du Squelette des Stellerides. Arch. Zodl.
Expér. et Génér., vol. vii, pp. 33-250, pls. v-xvi, 1879.
LIST OF SPECIES HEREIN DESCRIBED OR
FIGURED
Those prefixed by an asterisk (*) were taken by the Bahama Expedition.
Those with a dagger (+) are extralimital, or from deep water.
Family ASTERIIDZ
* Orthasterias subangulosa Verrill, nom. nov. PI. ii, figs. 1, 2; pl. ix,
figs. 1, la
O. contorta (Per.)
Leptasterias fascicularis (Per.)
L, hartii Rathbun
L. mexicana (Liitken)
Coscinasterias linearis (Per.)
C. tenuispina (Lam.). Pl. xxvi, fig. 2; pl. xxvii, fig. 4
* Stephanasterias gracilis (Per.). Pl. ix, fig. 2-2¢
S. hebes Ver. nov. PI. ix, fig. 3. Type
Family ZoROASTERID A
Zoroaster ackleyi Per.
Family PEDICELLASTERIDA
* Coronaster briareus Ver. PI. i, figs. 1, 2; pl. ix, figs. 4-4¢
* Pedicellaster pourtalesii Per.
Family EcHINASTERIDA
* Echinaster sentus (Say). Pl. xxix, fig. 2
E. spinulosus Ver. Plate iv, figs. 1, 2. Types
E. braziliensis M. and Tr. Pl. xxvi, fig. 1
E. echinophorus (Lam.)
E. modestus Per.
Thyraster serpentarius (M. and Tr.)
Henricia antillarum (Per.)
* H. sexradiata (Per.). Pl. xi, fig. 7
H. microspina Ver. nov.
Family SoLASTERIDA
* Lophaster radians Per. PI. v, fig. 2; pl. vii, fig. 3; pl. xi, figs. 1-le
Solaster caribeus Ver., nov. Pl. xxviii, figs. 1-la. Type
Family KoRETHRASTERIDA
* Remaster palmatus Per. PI. xi, fig. 2
Family ASTERINIDZ
+ Asterina gibbosa (Penn.)
* Asterinides folium (Liitken). Pl. iii, fig. 5; pl. xi, fig. 4; pl. xxviii,
fig. 2
+ Asterinides modesta Ver. Pl. xxvii, figs. 1,2. Types
Enoplopatiria marginata. PI. vii, fig. 2. Brazil
220 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
t E. siderea Ver. PI. xxvii, figs. 3-3a
Asterinopsis pilosa (Per.)
A. lymani (Per.)
* Stegnaster wesseli (Per.). Pl. ili, figs. 3-3a
Family PorANupDz
+ Rhegaster spinulosus Verrill
+ R. borealis Verrill. Pl. x, figs. 3, 3a. Type.
Poraniella regularis Verrill. Pl. vii, figs. l-la; pl. xv, figs. 5-5b.
Types
P. echinulata (Per.)
Marginaster pectinatus Perrier
Porania (?) austera Verrill. Pl. iii, figs. 1-la; pl. xi, figs. 6, 6a.
Types
+ Poranisca lepidus Ver. Types. Pl. iv, figs. 3-7; pl. x, figs. 4-4a; pl.
xv, fig. 6. See op. cit., 1914¢
t Culcitopsis borealis (Suss. & Breckner) Ver.
Family PTERASTERIDZ
Pteraster caribbeeus Perrier. Pl. vii, fig. 4
Family OPHIDIASTERID A:
Ophidiaster guildingii Gray
O. floride Perrier
O. alexandri Ver., nov. Pl. xiii, figs. 3-3b; pl. xxv, fig. 2. Type
* Linckia nodosa Per. PI. xiii, figs. 2, 2a; pl. xxix, figs. la, 1b .
L. guildingii Gray. Pl. xxviii, fig. 3
Narcissia trigonaria Sladen
Family OREASTERIDZ
* Oreaster reticulatus (Linn.)
Family GONIASTERIDZ
* Goniaster americanus Ver. PI. xiii, figs. 5-5a. Type
Mediaster pedicellaris (Per.)
* Rosaster alexandri Perrier. PI. xvii, fig. 2; pl. xi, figs. 3-3b
* Anthenoides peircei Perrier. PI. iii, fig. 2; pl. x, figs. 1-1b; 2-27
Family CHATASTERIDA
* Chetaster nodosus Perrier. PI. viii, figs. 1, 2; pl. xiii, figs. 4-4c
C. longipes (?) Sladen
Family ODONTASTERIDZ
Odontaster hispidus Ver. PI. xiii, fig.’ 6.
Family BENTHOPECTINIDE
* Cheiraster mirabilis Perrier. Pl. xiv, figs. 5, 5a
C. mirabilis coronatus (Per.)
* C. echinulatus Per. PI. xiv, fig. 3; pl. xix, fig. 2; pl. xxv, fig. 1
+ C. planus Ver. nov. PI. xviii, fig. Type
t C. enoplus Ver. nov. PI. xviii, fig. Type
Pectinaster vincenti Per.
9°
ae
al
SPECIES HEREIN DESCRIBED 221
*P. mixtus Ver. nov. PI. xv, fig. 2; pl. xvii, fig. 1; pl. vi, fig. 2. Type
*P. gracilis Ver. nov. PI. vi, fig. 1; pl. xv, figs. 1-1b; pl. xiv, fig. 4.
Type
P. oligoporus Per.
P. dispar Ver. nov. PI. xiv, figs. 1-1b. Type
t Pectinaster (Pontaster) forcipatus (Sladen). Pl. xv, figs. 3, 4.
Young
t Pontaster sepitus Ver. See foot-note, p. 130.
Family ASTROPECTINIDZ
* Astropecten articulatus (Say)
. articulatus dubius (Gray)
. duplicatus Gray. Pl. xxii, fig. 2; pl. xxiii, fig. 1.
- duplicatus variabilis (Liitken). PI. xvi, figs. 2, 2a; pl. xxiii, fig. 2
. antillensis Liitken
braziliensis M. and Tr.
comptus Ver. nov. PI. xii, figs. 3-3c; pl. xxii, fig. 1
richardi Per.
cingulatus Sladen
nitidus Ver. nov. PI. xx, fig, 2
nitidus forcipatus Ver. nov. PI. xvi, fig. 3; pl. xx, fig 1
alligator Per.
. nuttingii Ver. nov. PI. xii, figs. 2-2e; pl. xxi, figs. 1, 2
americanus Ver. PI. xvi, figs. 1, la
americanus subgracilis Ver. nov.
. ciliatus Grubé
* Blakiaster conicus Per. PI. iii, fig. 4; pl. xi, fig. 5; pl. xiii, figs. 1-le
Sideriaster grandis Ver. PI. xii, figs. 5-5b. Type
+S. (?%) vestitus (Say)
t Plutonaster intermedius Per.
Family GONIOPECTINID
Prionaster elegans Ver. PI. xii, figs. 4-4c. Type
Family Luipipa
* Luidia clathrata (Say). Pl. xxiv, fig. 2
* Luidia alternata (Say)
*Luidia alternata bicolor Ver. nov. PI. xii, figs. 1-le
Luidia elegans Per. PI. xvi, figs. 4, 4a; pl. xix, fig. 1
Luidia barbadensis Perrier. Pl. xxiv, fig. 1
Luidia convexiuscula Perrier
Luidia maregravii Liitken. Pl. v, fig. 1. Cotype
*
PPP PPD Db bb bb bbb
LIST OF DEEP SEA SPECIES NOT DESCRIBED IN
THIS REPORT
Family BrisinecIpz
Hymenodiscus agassizii Perrier, 1881; 1884; 1894, pp. 45, 52; 391-450
fath.
Freyella, sp. near F. sexradiata
Brisinga cricophora Sladen, 1859. Off Bermuda; 390 fath.
Brisinga, near B. costata
Brisinga, near B. elegans
Family ZOROASTERIDE
Mammaster sigsbei Per., 1881; 1884; 1894, p. 125; 208-324 fath.
Zoroaster fulgens Sladen, off Brazil, 675 fath.; off E. N. Amer. coast,
1250-1350 fath.
Family SOLASTERIDZ
Radiaster elegans Per. 1881; 1884; 1894, p. 174; 982 fath.
Ctenaster spectabilis Per. 1881; 1884; 1894, p. 155; 1920 fath. Prob-
ably the same as Pteraster spectabilis Perrier in lists (without de-
scription).
Family PTERASTERIDA
Hymenaster, sp.
Hymenaster, sp.
Calyptraster coa Sladen, 1889, p. 489, pl. 78, 79. Off Brazil, 132-400
fath.
Family OPHIDIASTERIDZ
Fromia, sp.
Family GONIASTERIDA
Ceramaster grenadensis (Per.) Verrill, 1899, p. 162; 176 fath.
Plinthaster comptus Ver., 1899, p. 163, pl. xxvii, fig. 2, 555-683 fath.
Plinthaster nitidus Ver., 1899, p. 165, pl. xxvii, fig. 1-1b; 335 fath.
Pyrenaster dentatus (Per.) Verrill, 1899, p. 167, pl. xxvii, fig. 3-3b;
250-1639 fath.
P, affinis? (Per.) Verrill, 1899, p. 168; 1131-1323 fath.
Peltaster nidarosiensis (Storm.) = P. hebes Ver., 1899, p. 169. See
pl. xxviii, fig. 4, 4a; 294 fath.
Litonotaster intermedius (Per.) Verrill, 1899, p. 172, pl. xxviii, figs.
5-5b, 1467-1930 fath.
Hippasteria caribeea Ver., 1899, p. 174, pl. xxviii, fig. 1, la; 268 fath.
Cladaster rudis Ver., 1899, p. 176, pl. xxviii, figs. 2-2c; 440 fath.
Mediaster agassizii Ver., 1899, p. 181
Nymphaster ternalis (Per.) Verrill, 1899, p. 185, pl. xxvi, fig. 7; 196-
1181 fath.
DEEP SEA SPECIES NOT DESCRIBED = 223
N. subspinosus (Per.), 1881, 1884; Verrill, 1879, p. 185; 163-388 fath.
N. arenatus (Per.), 1881, 1884; Verrill, 1899, p. 186; 164-874 fath.
N. basilieus Sladen, 1859, p. 308, pl. lvii, figs. 8, 9; Brazil, 1200 fath.
Pseudarchaster hispidus Ver., 1889, p. 191, pl. xxx, fig. 5; 600 fath.
P. ordinatus Ver., 1899, p. 194, pl. xxx, figs. 4-4b; 324-335 fath.
P. granuliferus Ver., 1899, p. 192; pl. xxx, fig. 6, 6a. Sta. 2751.
Paragonaster subtilis (Per.), 1881; 1894, p. 358; Verrill, 1899, p. 196;
1930 fath. :
Plutonaster intermedius (Per.), 1881; 1894, p. 316, des.; 833-955 fath.
P. efflorescens (Per.), 1884; 1894, p. 322; Verrill, 1899, p. 211; 955 fath.
P. pulcher (Per.), 1881; 1884; 1894, p. 332; 573 fath.
Dytaster insignis Per., 1881; 1884; 1894, p. 299, des.; 1930 fath.
Dytaster sp., near D. robustus Ver.
Family ODONTASTERIDZ
Odontaster sp., near O. setosus Ver.
Odontaster sp., compact species
Family BENTHOPECTINIDA
Benthopecten simplex (Per.), 1881; 1894, p. 254, deser.; 1323 fath.
Family GONIOPECTINIDA
Goniopecten demonstrans Per., 1881; 1884; 1894, p. 295; Verrill, 1899,
p. 213, pl. xxvii, fig. 5; 335-358 fath.
Family ASTROPECTINIDZ
Psilaster sp., near P. flore Ver.
Leptychaster, sp.
Family PoRCELLANASTERIDA
Porcellanaster ceruleus Sladen
Ctenodiscus crispatus? (Retz.)
EXPLANATION OF PLATES
PLATE I
Figure 1. Coronaster briareus Verrill. Dorsal side, X 1%
Figure 2. The same specimen. Ventral side, X 1%
PuaTE II
Figure 1. Orthasterias subangulosa Ver. Ventral side, X 2
Figure 2. The same specimen. Dorsal side, X 2
PuateE IIT
Figure 1. Porania (?) austera Ver. Type. Ventral side, X 1%
Figure la. The same specimen. Dorsal side, X 1%
Figure 2. Anthenoides peircei Per. Young. Ventral side. Much enlarged
Figure 3. Stegnaster wesseli (Per.). Ventral side, X 1%
Figure 3a. The same. Dorsal side, X 1%
Figure 4. Blakiaster conicus Per. Ventral side, X 1%
Figure 5. Asterinides foliwm (Lutk.). Ventral side, X 21%4
PLATE IV
Figure 1. Echinaster spinulosus Verrill. From West Florida. Under side,
natural size. Type
Figure 2. The same, No. 7395, Yale Mus. Dorsal side, natural size
Figures 3-7. Poranisca lepidus Ver. Cotypes. Young of several sizes;
dorsal and ventral sides; all from one locality. See Annals and Mag-
azine Nat. Hist., vol. xix, page 19, pl. 1, fig. 3, J1., 1914¢. See also pl.
x and pl. xv, below.
PLATE V
Figure 1. Luidia marcgravii Litken. No. 1343, Yale Mus. Cotype from
Liitken. Dorsal side. About 1% natural size.
Figure 2. Lophaster radians Per. Bahama Exped., station 64. Ventral
side of an alcoholic specimen, X 214. See also pl. vii, fig. 3 and pl. xi,
figs. 1-1e.
PLATE VI
Figure 1. Pectinaster gracilis Ver. Type. No. 10,564. Dorsal side, X 2
Figure 2. Pectinaster mixtus Ver. Type. No. 10,226. Dorsal side, X 2
PuateE VIT
Figures 1, la. Poraniella regularis Ver. Type. No. 10,190 N. M. Dorsal
and ventral sides, X 1144. See also pl. xv, figs. 5, 5a, details
Figure 2. Enoplopatiria marginata Hupé, from Brazil. Dorsal side, X
1%. No. 1341, Yale, from Liitken.
Figure 3. Lophaster radians Per. Dorsal side, 1% natural size.
Figure 4. Pteraster caribbeus Per. No. 18,415, N. Mus. Ventral view,
X 2
EXPLANATION OF PLATES 225
PLATE VIII
Figure 1. Chetaster nodosus Perrier. Ventral view. About 4/5 natural
size.
Figure 2. The same specimen. Dorsal view, 4/5 natural size.
PLATE IX
Figure 1. Orthasterias subangulosa Verrill. Under side of middle of a
ray, X 5
Figure la. The same specimen. Dorsal side, X 5
Figures 2, 2a. Stephanasterias gracilis (Perrier). Under side of portions
of a ray, X 10
Figure 2b, The same. Dorsal side, X 10
Figure 2c. The same. Jaw and under side of disk, X 10
Figure 3. 8S. hebes Verrill, nov. Type (No. 18,426). Under side of por-
tion of a ray, X 10
Figure 4. Coronaster briareus Verrill. Dorsal side of disk and bases of
rays, of a specimen from station 61, Bahama expedition; X 5
Figure 4a. The same specimen. Under side of bases of three rays and
jaws of an alcoholic specimen; X 10
Figure 4b. The same. Two of the dorsal spines with groups of minor
pediceliarie, X about 30
Figure 4c. The same. One of the large felipedal pedicellaria. Much en-
larged
PLATE X
Figure 1, Anthenoides peircei Perrier. Under side of a portion of a very
young specimen, same as plate iii, figure 2; X 3
Figure la. The same specimen. Dorsal side, X 3; n, nephridial or dorsal
pore.
Figure 1b. The same specimen. Adambulacral spines, X 7.
Figures 2, 24. The same species. Under side of a ray of a young speci-
men, but considerably older than that of figure 1; x 3
Figures 2b, 2c. The same. Dorsal side of a ray, X 3
Figure 2d. The same specimen. Adambulacral spines, X 7
Figure 2e. The same. Adambulacral spines in profile; f, furrow-comb; e,
row on actinal face; X 7
Figure 2f. The same specimen. ‘lwo bivalve pedicellariw, P,P’, and ad-
jacent interactinal plates; X 18
Figure 3. Rhegaster borealis Verrill. Type. No. 343. Yale. Part of the
ventral side of a ray, X 5
Figure 3a. The same specimen.- Group of dorsal papular pores, X 8
Figures 4, 4a. Poranisca lepidus Verrill. Type. Station 2269. Ventral
and dorsal sides, & 5
Figure 4b. The same. One of the inferomarginal plates and group of
spinules. See also pl. iv, figs. 3-7.
226 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
PLATE XI
Figure 1. Lophaster radians Perrier. Portion of dorsal side of a ray X 5.
Figure la. The same specimen. Under side of portion of a ray of an al-
coholic specimen; po, podia; a, adambulacral spines; i,i, inferomar-
ginals; m, superomarginals; X 5
Figure 1b. The same. One of the dorsal parapaxille; * 16
Figure 1c. The same. Adambulacral spines of one plate; 16
Figure 2. Remaster palmatus Perrier. Dorsal view of a part of the disk
and two rays, X 6. Many of the dorsal spines are removed, to show
plates; p, dorsal pore
Figure 3. Rosaster alexandri Perrier. Part of disk and two rays of a
young specimen, dorsal view; p, dorsal pore; i,i, large basal interradial
plates; m, madreporic plate. The spinules are partly removed to show
form of plates; X 3.
Figure 3a. The same. Two of the dorsal plates with rosettes of spinules,
x 16.
Figure 3b. The same. Two of the dorsal spinules more enlarged.
Figure 4. Asterinides folium (Liitk.) Dorsal view of a six-rayed speci-
men, about natural size.
Figure 5. Blakiaster conicus Perrier. Under side of disk and jaw of the
specimen on plate ii, figure 4, Bahama Exped.; spinules are removed
from part of the plates; j, jaw-plate; a, a, adambulacral plates; a1, a1,
adoral adambulacral plates, one with spines; ia, ia1, interactinal plates;
0, 01, 011, impaired interactinal plates; p, pit where a pedicellaria was
seated. X 5.
Figure 6. Porania austera Verrill. Type. Dorsal view of portion of disk
at base of rays; s, s, superomarginal plates; 7, 7, inferomarginal plates;
j, j their secondary row of spinules. X 5.
Figure 6a. The same specimen. Under side of a portion of the disk and
base of aray. X95.
Figure 7. Henricia sexradiata (Perrier). Under side of a ray. Specimen
from Bahama Expedition; m, inferomarginal plates; i, interactinals;
a, adambulacrals; s, s, adambulacral spines. X 16.
PLATE XIT
Figures 1, la. Luidia alternata bicolor Verrill. Type. Dorsal and ven-
tral views of a part of aray. X 3.
Figures 1b. The same. Section of a ray; diagramatic; a, a, ambulacral
single ampulle; p, podia; ap, ambulacral plates; ad, adambulacral
plate and spines; m, marginal plate and spines; pa, dorsal paxille.
Figure lc. The same. One of the marginal spines; the shaded portion is
chocolate-brown; the unshaded distal part is white. X 13.
Figure 2. Astropecten nuttingi Verrill. Type. Dorsal side of proximal
part of aray. X 6.
Figure 2a. The same specimen. Under side of portion of a ray. X 10.
From Bahama Expedition. Station 58.
Figure 2b. The same. Diagram of profile of a border of a ray.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES: 227
Figure 2c. The same. Dorsal side of a superomarginal plate (m) and
projecting border of the inferomarginal plates (i, 7) and bases of
spines. X 13.
Figure 2d. The same. One of the dorsal paxillary rosettes. X 16.
Figure 2e. The same. Three rosettes more enlarged. X 24.
Figure 3. Astropecten comptus Verrill. Type. (No. 8,514, N. Mus.)
Dorsal view of portion of a ray. X 4.
Figure 3a. The same specimen. Under side of portion of a ray. X 4.
Figure 3b. The same. One of the fasciolated grooves between the in-
feromarginal plates. X 10.
Figure 3c. The same. Two of the dorsal paxillary rosettes. X 24.
Figure 4. Prionaster elegans Verrill. Type. Under side of a part of
the disk and base of aray. X 44.
Figure 4a. The same specimen. Under side of a part of the disk and
base of a ray. X 4%.
Figure 4b. The same specimen. Tip of a ray. X 6.
Figure 4c. The same. One of the dorsal paxillary rosettes, enlarged.
Figure 5. Sideriaster grandis Verrill. Type. Under side of portion of a
rays, <4.
Figure 5a. The same specimen. An adambulacral plate and its spines.
x 6.
Figure 5b. The same. One of the dorsal paxillary rosettes. XX 44%.
PLATE XIIT
Figure 1. Blakiaster conicus Perrier. Portion of the proximal part of a
ray, under side; ad, adambulacral plates and spines; ia, interactinals;
m, inferomarginals. X 10.
Figure la. The same. Dorsal plates and papule after removal of spin-
ules. X 12.
Figure 1b. The same specimen. A superomarginal plate and adjacent dor-
sal paxille. X10.
Figure le. The same. Two of the papilliform pedicellarize (p), much en-
larged.
Figure 2. Linckia nodosa Perrier. Dorsal side of a ray. X 4.
Figure 2a. The same specimen. Ventral side of part of a ray. X 4.
Figure 3. Ophidiaster alexandri Verrill. Type. Dorsal side of part of a
ray. X 4.
Figure 3a. The same specimen. Under side of part of a ray. X 4.
Figure 3b. The same specimen. Under side of a portion of a ray with
spinules removed to show plates; a, adambulacral plates; a1, adambula-
cral spines; i, 7, interactinal plates, in three rows; m, m, inferomargin-
als; m1, m1, superomarginals. X 4.
Figure 4. Chetaster nodosus Perrier. Portion of under side of a ray;
ad, adambulacral plates; m, marginal plate. X 16.
Figure 4a. The same specimen. Portion of the dorsal side of the base of a
ray. X 16.
228 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN
Figure 5. Goniaster americanus Verrill. Portion of the under side of the
disk, with the jaw. X 4%.
Figure 5a. The same. Dorsal plates, with fossate pedicellariew. X 20.
Figure 6. Odontaster hispidus Verrill. Portion of dorsal side of a ray;
p, dorsal parapaxille; m, superomarginal plates; v, v, inferomarginal
spines. X 6.
PLATE XIV
Figure 1. Pectinaster dispar Verrill. Type. No, 18,468. Part of under
side of a ray; plates 6 to 9. X95.
Figure la. The same specimen. Papularium. X 15,
Figure 1b. The same specimen. Portion of the dorsal side of a ray.
x 5.
Figure 2. Cheiraster mirabilis Perrier. Part of a ray, under side. X 7.
Station 2, Bahama Expedition.
Figure 3. C. echinuwlatus Perrier. No. 10,109, N. Mus. Part of disk,
under side. X 8.
Figure 4. Pectinaster gracilis Verrill. Sta. 238. Portion of under side
OF Ta) Tava LO:
Figure 5. Cheiraster mirabilis Perrier. From station 34, Bahama Ex-
pedition. Part of disk and base of a ray, showing papularium. % 5.
Figure 5a. The same specimen. Portion of under side of a ray. X 5.
PLATE XV
Figure 1. Pectinaster gracilis Verrill. Cotype. Young. Sta. 238. Part
of under side of the disk showing one sutural pectinate pedicellaria
between two interactinal plates. X 9.
Figure la. The same specimen. Upper side of distal portion of a ray,
with spinules removed from dorsal plates. X 9.
Figure 1b. The same specimen. Base of ray and papularium in early
stage of development with only three pores. X 15.
Figure 2. Pectinaster mixtus Verrill. Cotype. Distal part of a ray with
the spinules removed from part of the plates. 6.
Figure 3. Pectinaster forcipatus (Sladen). No. 18,488. Papularium of a
young specimen; d, dorsal pore. X 12.
Figure 4. The same species, No. 18,488a, N. Mus. Papularium with the
spinules removed from plates. X 12.
Figure 5. Poraniella regularis Verrill. Type. No. 10,190. Nat. Mus.
Under side of two rays and part of disk. X 6.
Figure 5a. The same specimen. Dorsal side of a ray; s, superomarginal
plates; i, inferomarginals; j, secondary row of spines on the latter.
Figure 5b. The same. Adambulacral spines of one plate; f, furrow-comb
of three spines; e, e, two spines of actinal face.
Figure 6. Poranisca lepidus Ver. Type. One of the jaws. X 10.
PLATE XVI
Figure 1. Astropecten americanus Verrill. No. 25,149. N. Mus. Under
side of part of disk and a jaw, showing papilliform pedicellarie
(P, P) on adambulacral plates. X 7.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES 229
Figure la. The same specimen. Part of dorsal side of a ray, near base.
X 7.
Figure 2. A. duplicatus variabilis (Liitken). Type. No. 2,084, Yale Mus.
Portion of a ray, 4th to 6th plates, dorsal side. X 9.
Figure 2a. The same specimen, Under side of portion of a ray. X 9.
Figure 3. A. nitidus forcipatus Verrill. Type. No. 10,067, N. Mus. Por-
tion of under side of a ray. X 7.
Figure 4. Luidia elegans Perrier. No, 5,525, Yale Mus. Portion of un-
der side of a ray. X 7. :
Figure 4a. The same specimen. Portion of the dorsal side of a ray. X 7.
PuaTeE XVII
Figure 1. Pectinaster miatus Verrill. Young, (No. 18,470). Dorsal side.
X 3.
Figure 2. Rosaster alexandri Perrier. Dorsal side. X 3, off Havana.
Bahama Expedition. Some plates are lacking.
PuLaTE XVIIL
Figure 1. Cheiraster enoplus Verrill. Type. No. 7,425, N. Mus. Dorsal
side; 3/5 natural size.
Figure 2. C. planus Verrill. Type. No. 18,469, Nat. Mus. Dorsal view.
aleliers
PuaTE XIX
Figure 1. Luidia elegans Perrier. Young. Dorsal view. 3%. Ba-
hama Expedition, station 63.
Figure 1. Gina
Astropecten spatuliger............. 187
PAST OME CLIT CSG are ed tetas, crcien ooisa nat oratteveas 151
BuUSietay UROL aria aeseneratere sects avesarers 78
PANE LBUD cle. oa aol el ayer sfiehe hexsuenay a (at auoner ota tels 34
bATHACenRis. eis. hye cin srlers Sioeie.e 205
enthopectinydae erty. sini > ece s.0) eens 122
bicolor;) alternata, Wiuidia........... 203
SUE STOR Me a aie) Saayc aso eln cohavern overt ile 187
Blakiaster) COMICUS. «sec. bls cs see ole 189
braziliensis, Astropecten............ 173
braziliensis, Echinaster............4. 41
bprraneuss) Coronaster. 2s oe cls + 148
dubius, articulatus, Astropecten..... 165
duplicatus, Astropecten’.../.3...:.... 165
CHINA Stent tay icexyalst oi ef orcas, ete ehe aiey cial Ae 35
Hehinaster’ braziliensis's 4.55.40 06 6 41
Echinaster echinophorus............ 42
WiCHUNaSEELLO eS plea iraia el saie ote ete vere 34
Hchinaster’ WMoOdestWs cic eee 43
MChiniaster: Seng) ciae.veie) o avcenera 36
BChin gRter -SPLUUMLOSUS | caletsras «atl oie 40
echinophorus, Echinaster........... 42
echinulata, | Poraniellac cnc) -... ares 73
echinulatus, Cheiraster............. 129
eleranss Wamwdias acs acess race cilia 203
elegans!) Prionasters ssc ele site 197
Bmoplopatinisics setters ais cies ok ayetceaans 61
Enoplopatiria marginata............ 62
Knoplopatiria siderea.............- 63
enoplus: Cheipagter. ia. ancauieeeeieies 135
fascicularis, Leptasterias........... 22
florida, (Ophidiaster. sn. ad ase 90
folinm, cAsteninidess ¢
i]
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|
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
PLATE XIV
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A. H. Verrill del.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
PLATE XVI
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A. H. Verrill del.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
PLATE XVII
A. H. Verrill phot.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
PLATE XVIII
X14
A. H. Verrill phot.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
Verrill phot.
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STARFISHI
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WEST
PLATE XX
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A. H. Verrill phot.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
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WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
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A. H. Verrill phot.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
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WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
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PLATE XXVI
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WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
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PLATE XXVII
A. H. Verrill phot.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
PLATE XXVIII
A. H. Verrill phot.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
PLATE XXIX
A. H. Verrill phot.
WEST INDIAN STARFISHES
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