PART 5 A MONOGRAPH OF THE EXISTING CRIXOIDS 709 



Banquereau; 366-549 meters; Gloucester donation 129 (fragments, U.S.N.M., 

 35898). 



Fishing Banks (lat. 4430' N., long. 57 08' W.); 366 meters; schr. Polar Wave; 

 Gloucester donation 364 [Yen-ill, 1882] (1, U.S.N.M., 35983). 



Off Nova Scotia, on the fishing grounds [Verrill, 1882; Whiteaves, 1901]. 



Off Nova Scotia (lat. 4432' N., long. 5710' W.); 366 meters (19, U.S.N.M.. 

 35872). 



Nova Scotia to New Jersey [P. H. Carpenter, 1888]. 



Geographical range. Coast of eastern North America from Chesapeake Bay (lat. 

 3707' N.) northward to the Banks of Newfoundland, where it probably passes over 

 into the following form (sarsi). 



Bathymetrical range. From 46 to 891 meters; the average of ninety-seven records 

 is 347 meters. 



Thermal range. From 3.72 C. to 13.89 C.; the average of eighty-one records is 

 7.82 C. 



Occurrence. This is one of the most abundant echinoderms off southern New 

 England (Verrill, 1S80), and over ten thousand have been brought up in a single haul 

 of the dredge (Verrill, 1882). 



It was found to be abundant at U.S. Fish Commission stations 897, 939, 1033, 

 1092, 1138, and 1150, and very abundant at station 1038, which was the station at 

 which more than ten thousand were secured (Verrill, 1882, 1884). 



All of these stations but one (897, off Chesapeake Bay) are off Martha's Vineyard, 

 Massachusetts; all are in depths between 256 and 483 meters, with temperatures 

 ranging from 7.78 C., to 8.89 C., three of them having the temperature 8.33 C. The 

 temperature given for station 1092 (5.00 C.) is probably erroneous. 



In this same region Howe (1901) in 1S99 found it by hundreds in from 174 to 362 

 meters, in temperatures between 9.22 and 11.33 C. 



While very common and widely distributed between Chesapeake Bay and Cape 

 Cod it appears to be much less frequent in the more northern portions of its range, 

 from which there are relatively few records, each based upon a small number of 

 individuals. 



The bottom frequented by this animal is mostly soft, mud, or mud and sand. Of 

 the 90 records 30 are for mud only, 24 are for mud and sand, and 17 are for sand. Of 

 the remaining 19, 2 are for rocky bottom, 1 is for shelly bottom, and 1 for gravel; 

 the others are for mixed bottoms, with mud or sand as one of the ingredients. 



Occurrence of the pentacrinoids. The pentacrinoids of this species have been twice 

 found, at Albatross station 2212, between Cape Hatteras and Nantucket, in 783 meters, 

 and at Albatross station 2232, off Cape Hatteras, in 444 meters. These were described 

 in part 2, p. 563. 



History. -This species was first described by Retzius in 1783, the origin of his 

 specimen being given as St. Croix. In 1788 Gmelin cited the locality as "Santa Cruz," 

 while Retzius in his later work (1805) gave merely "American Ocean." 



P. H. Carpenter examined the type specimen at Lund, and there is no doubt what- 

 ever about its identity; but he was unable to say just where St. Croix is. He found it 

 difficult to believe that it is the St. Croix or Santa Cruz in the Virgin Islands, since he 

 was unable to identify the type with any of the West Indian species in the extensive 

 Blake collection, but he had no other suggestion to offer. 



