264 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM VOLUME 1 



South of Cape Santa Maria di Leuca (the southeasternmost point of Italy) (lat. 

 3954'24" N., long. 1840' E.); 136 meters; sandy yellow mud with many shells; 

 August 19, 1892 [von Marenzeller, 18941. 



Thor station 17; off the island of Salamis (Kolouri), near Piraeus, Greece (lat. 

 3749' N., long. 2327' E.); 55 meters; December 30, 1908 (2, C.M.). 



Geographical range. -Adriatic Sea (absent from the Italian coast between Istria 

 and Apulia) and eastward to the Gulf of Aegina. It probably passes into mediter- 

 ranea south of Italy and Greece and among the Cyclades. 



Bathy metrical range. From the low tide mark to 932 meters; most frequently 

 recorded from between 15 and 70 meters; only once recorded beyond 179 meters. 



Occurrence. This species is common at Trieste (M. Sars, 1857) and along the 

 entire eastern shore of the Adriatic in 18 to 73 meters (Heller, 1868). 



In the Gulf of Trieste (E. Graeffe, 1881) it is to be found throughout the year 

 in large numbers everywhere in depths of 11 meters and over. On the stony banks 

 it occurs in numerous color varieties. 



On the bottoms of gravel and scattered fragments of shells, stones or nullipores 

 which form the bed of the sea in 37 to 55 meters in a wide circle around the island 

 of Lussin and partly also around the island of Veglia, and which occur less exten- 

 sively in other parts, swarms of Antedon adriatica are quite a characteristic feature 

 (Faber, 1883). 



Grube (1864) says that in shallow places about Lussin in a depth of about 2.5 

 meters there are found on a rocky bottom smaller and larger rounded, fragile, marty 

 calcareous boulders and nullipore balls white or rose-red in color, upon and within 

 which live these Feather Stars. He also notes that all the specimens which he dredged 

 at Lussingrande in 68 meters were variegated in color. 



The frequent occurrence of this form in water down to 179 meters and its ex- 

 istence even at 932 meters on mud and fine sand as reported by von Marenzeller 

 (1894, 1895) is especially interesting. 



Occurrence of the early stages. Prof. E. Graeffe (1881) wrote that the penta- 

 crinoids are attached to stones and other objects, but in the sea are very difficult 

 to find. To obtain them it is easier to raise them in an aquarium in which a number 

 of sexually mature individuals have been placed. 



He said that the duration of the developmental stages is a few weeks; but he was 

 unable to determine the duration of the pentacrinoid stage, since he kept the penta- 

 crinoids in an aquarium for only a few weeks, during which time they did not become 

 appreciably larger. 



History. First recorded from the Adriatic Sea in 1792 by Olivi, this species was 

 reported from Trieste (as mediterranea) by Heusinger in 1833 and from Cattoro (as 

 europaea) by von Siebold in 1843. M. Sars again listed it as common at Trieste in 

 1857. 



Beginning especially with the founding of the Austrian Lloyd steamship company 

 in 1836, and the resulting increased facilities for travel between Trieste and points on 

 the Dalmatian coast, this region, remarkable for the natural beauty of its rugged and 

 broken shore line, began to attract the attention of the Austrians and Germans. For 

 naturalists this coast is an especially interesting one, as the extraordinarily rich fauna 

 of the Quarnero, then but little known, includes a number of conspicuous northern 



