Subgenus 2. Diplactinium, Haeckel.
Definition.—Arms on the distal end armed with a radial terminal spine.
2. Diplactura diploconus, n. sp. (Pl. 38, fig. 5).
Phacoid shell three times as broad as the medullary shell, with eight pores on its radius, surrounded by a single chambered ring. Arms club-shaped, twice as long as the diameter of the phacoid shell, at the distal end as broad as the latter, at the base only half as broad. Both poles of the common axis of the arms are armed with a strong spindle-shaped terminal spine.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the phacoid shell 0.09, of the medullary shell 0.03; length of the arms (without terminal spines) 0.17, basal breadth 0.05, distal breadth 0.09.
Habitat.—Pacific, central area, Station 268, depth 2900 fathoms.
Genus 205. Amphiactura,[1] Haeckel, 1881, Prodromus, p. 458.
Definition.—Coccodiscida with two opposite chambered arms on the margin of the circular disk, connected by a spongy patagium.
The genus Amphiactura differs from the foregoing Diplactura in the development of a patagium between the arms, and therefore bears the same relation to it as Amphymenium in the Porodiscida does to Amphibrachium, or Spongobrachium in the Spongodiscida does to Spongolene. In this and in the following Discoidea provided with a patagium, this connecting web constantly exhibits a different texture of its framework, which is sometimes more regularly chambered, at other times more irregularly spongy.
1. Amphiactura amphibrachia, n. sp. (Pl. 38, figs. 3, 4).
Phacoid shell three times as broad as the medullary shell, with eight pores on its radius. Arms nearly equilateral triangular, twice as long as the diameter of the phacoid shell, at the truncated distal end as broad as the latter, at the base only one-third as broad. Patagium a circular lenticular disk, enveloping only the basal third of the arms, with three to four concentric circular rings, divided into chambers by about forty radial beams, which are prolonged beyond the margin of the patagium into radial spines. The vertical section (fig. 4) shows that the chambers of each arm (eleven to twelve transverse rows in the radius) are disposed in two layers.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the phacoid shell 0.09, of the medullary shell 0.03; length of the arms 0.18, basal breadth 0.03, distal breadth 0.09.
Habitat.—Pacific, central area, Station 263, depth 2650 fathoms.
- ↑ Amphiactura = Stellated shell with tail on both sides; ἀμφί, ἀκτίς, ὀυρά.
