208 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM VOLUME 1 



Setubal; Costa da Gale, 60 meters; Sines [Nobre, 1938]. Vila do Conde, 20 meters; 

 Boa Nova; Foz do Douro; Nevogilde [Elias da Costa, 1942]. 



Cliffs of Portinho [R. Greeff, 1882]. 



Cezimbra, January 18, 1880 [A. H. Clark, 1912] (3, H.M.). Same [Cumano, 

 1934]. 



Erroneous locality. Prof. F. J. Bell (1893) mentioned this species as possibly occur- 

 ring in Bengal. This is obviously a slip for Brazil, since it is clear that he had in mind 

 Carpenter's reference (1891) of the Brazilian A. duebeni to this species. 



Geographical range. From the Shetland and Orkney Islands southward about the 

 coasts of Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England (except the coast of the North Sea 

 between Northumberland and the Straits of Dover), the Atlantic coasts of France 

 (south of the Straits of Dover), northern Spam and most of Portugal. 



To the northward it passes into Antedon petasus, to the southward into A. bifida 

 moroccana; in the region of Cape St. Vincent it presumably passes into A.mediterranea. 



Bathymetrical Range. From the low tide level, and occasionally in tide pools and 

 attached to floating objects such as buoys, hulks, etc., to 457 meters; but apparently 

 most abundant between 15 and 40 meters. 



Occurrence. The rosy feather star is by no means evenly distributed throughout 

 its range. Often extremely abundant in restricted areas of greater or lesser extent, in 

 other regions, even perhaps closely adjacent, it may be rare or even quite absent. 

 Furthermore, in some localities where continued observations have been carried on, its 

 numbers have been found to vary greatly from year to year. 



Professor Edward Forbes noted (1841) that the adult feather stars frequent both 

 deep and shallow water. In deep water he found them always fully grown, and when 

 dredging in such a situation he never saw a small one. He appears to refer especially 

 to deep water in the Irish Sea where he found large ones at some distance from land in 

 37 meters. 



In the Laminaria zone they abound in several localities and there all sizes are 

 found in company with the stalked young. Forbes infers that they probably frequent 

 those forests of seaweeds for breeding purposes at certain seasons and retire to the deep 

 at other times. 



Brady (1863) also mentions that the larger specimens occur in deeper water, and 

 that this species appears to come up into groves of zoophytes and Laminaria to spawn. 



Professor William B. Carpenter says that the usual habitat appears to be in water 

 of depths from 18 to 37 meters, though it is found sometimes in shallower and some- 

 times in deeper water. His experience agrees with that of Professor Forbes, that the 

 largest specimens are obtained from deep water. The animals are generally brought 

 up by the dredge either actually clinging to seaweeds, usually Laminaria, or to zoo- 

 phytes or polyzoans, or in such association with them as suggests the idea that their 

 detachment was effected in the act of dredging. 



Mr. Arthur Roope Hunt (1884) says that in the vicinity of Torbay the feather 

 stars are found frequenting the clear water off rocky headlands where they are neces- 

 sarily exposed to strong currents, both tidal and wave engendered. Here nothing will 

 avail them but sheer strength in holding on ; and this they possess in an eminent degree 

 from the time they are first attached to a weed or a zoophyte in the early stages of 

 growth to the time when, as fully grown adults, they are free to exercise their limited 

 powers of locomotion. 



