562 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM VOLUME 1 



habitat (Lo Bianco, 1906) it was not affected by the rain of cinders from the eruption 

 of Vesuvius in April 1906, which was so destructive to Antedon mediterranea. 



According to P. H. Carpenter (1884) and Ranson (1925), it is very abundant off 

 the Tunisian coast, specimens of all ages coming up on the tangles in great numbers, 

 though unfortunately in a very mutilated condition. The Porcupine found it much 

 less abundant off Carthagena. 



E. Graeffe (1881) remarked its absence from the lesser depths in the Gulf of 

 Trieste. 



Judging from the results of the Selanik dredgings (Ostroumoff, 1896), this species 

 would appear to be relatively rare in the Sea of Marmara. Marion did not find it in 

 the Bosphorus. 



Occurrence of the pentacrinoids. About Naples (Lo Bianco, 1899) mature eggs 

 are found in January, and pentacrinoids on the cirri of the adults in June and Septem- 

 ber. The Puritan (Lo Bianco, 1903) dredged 2 pentacrinoids at station 25, in 200 

 meters, on February 27, 1902. 



History. Originally described as Alecto phalangium by J. Miiller in 1841 from 

 specimens obtained at Nice by Peters, it was not until 1879 that this species was again 

 identified. 



The credit for its rediscovery belongs equally to Professor A. F. Marion and to 

 Professor Hubert Ludwig. 



Professor Marion had found it abundantly in his dredging about Marseille, and 

 in 1879 he published a detailed account of it with a figure, and discussed its local dis- 

 tribution, showing that it is an inhabitant of deeper water than the common Antedon 

 mediterranea. 



On March 30, 1878, a number of echinoderms were sent from the Naples station 

 to Prof. Hubert Ludwig, then at Gottingen. Among them he found a few specimens 

 of a comatulid differing from Antedon mediterranea in its more slender build and longer 

 cirri. These he identified with Miiller's Alecto phalangium, and in April 1879 Coma- 

 tula phalangium was included in the list of marine animals obtainable from the station, 

 the price being 5 francs each. Toward the end of the year, having now seen Marion's 

 memoir, he included Antedon phalangium in his monograph on the echinoderms of 

 the Mediterranean, but he merely gave the synonymy and listed the localities, Mar- 

 seille among them, where it had been found. 



In 1880 Ludwig published a detailed account of these specimens, calling atten- 

 tion to the fact that, while the calyx pores are as numerous as in Antedon mediterranea, 

 the stone canals are relatively less numerous. He also described and figured the 

 calcareous deposits in the ambulacral lappets and in the tentacles. 



During the cruise of the Porcupine in the Mediterranean in 1870, this species had 

 been dredged abundantly on the coast of Tunisia. But Sir Wyville Thomson mistook 

 it for the one described as Comatula mediterranea by Lamarck. He wrote (1872) 

 that "many examples of the form known to Continental naturalists under the name 

 of A. mediterraneus, Lam., sp., were dredged in the Mediterranean off the coast of 

 Africa. I do not feel satisfied that this is identical with Antedon rosaceus of the coast 

 of Britain, though the two specific names are usually regarded as synonyms. There is a 

 great difference between them in habit, a difference which it is difficult to define." 



In 1881 P. H. Carpenter, having seen Marion's memoir and also having received 

 some specimens from him, recognized this species in the Porcupine collections, and re- 



