218 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM VOLUME 1 



them in a glass dish during the afternoon. The smaller specimens obtained that day 

 were, from their structure, evidently very much younger and could not have become 

 free for a considerable time. 



In compliance with Sir William's request, Professor Carpenter stated that his 

 experience, acquired during seven years' consecutive dredging in Lamlash Bay (1855- 

 1861) was in entire accordance with his own. Although the most active period of 

 reproduction is undoubtedly (as given by Sir Wyville Thomson) the early part of the 

 summer, so that the pentacrinoids which spring from the ova then matured and fer- 

 tilized are ready to drop off their stems in the succeeding autumn, yet he never failed 

 to obtain pentacrinoids in all stages, as well as adults still "in fruit" throughout the 

 months of August and September. 



A peculiarity of the occurrence of the rosy feather star on the Manx coast is the 

 rarity in that region of the pentacrinoid young. In 1839 Forbes wrote that the adults 

 were not rare here, but that he had never found the pentacrinoids, though they are 

 abundant on the opposite shores of Ireland. Sir William Herdman (1886) once dredged 

 pentacrinoids off Port Erin in 18 to 37 meters during the first week in July and the 

 first fortnight in August, and this appears to be the only record. During the prepa- 

 ration of his memoir on Antedon (1907) Mr. Chadwick was obliged to get his larval 

 material from Naples. He states that sexual maturity occurs in the months of May 

 and June around the Isle of Man, the time differing a little according to geographical 

 position; but he was never able to secure pentacrinoids. 



The mooring for Sir William's yacht at Port Erin was inside the breakwater and 

 distant about 350 feet from it. He wrote to me saying that, in the periodical clearing 

 of the thick mooring rope from the growth of Laminaria and other coarse seaweeds, 

 pentacrinoids were several times found attached to the Laminaria fronds. 



At Torbay they have been recorded from 22 meters on September 5 (Hughes, 1873), 

 and from Berry Head in 22 meters on July 25 (Lang, 1877; Hunt, 1877). 



At Plymouth pentacrinoids have been found in February (A. J. Smith), July 

 (K. A. Todd; S. Pace), August, abundant at all stages (E. W. L. Holt), September 

 (W. Garstang, 1894) and October (W. Garstang, 1894), while the ovaries were found 

 to contain ova in October (T. V. Hodgson). 



Dr. J. H. Orton informed me that at Plymouth the barrel-shaped larvae may occur 

 from about July to about November. He also stated that the animals produce larvae 

 at the age of 14 months when the arm length is 67 mm. measured from the attachment 

 of the disk. 



At Jersey, Hornell (1895) found the pentacrinoids in summer, but the months were 

 not recorded. 



At Roscoff pentacrinoids can only be found with certainty in the summer months; 

 they become less common in September, and do not occur in October, at least along 

 the shore (Lacaze-Duthiers, 1870). Their local distribution in this region has already 

 been mentioned (part 2, p. 601). 



The nature of the objects to which the pentacrinoid young attach themselves, 

 as noticed by W. B. Carpenter (1866), varies with the locality. Brady (1863) remarked 

 that they always occur on zoophytes or seaweeds, never on stones or shells, and the 

 exceptions to this statement have been found to be very few. Astonished at the 

 limited range of the objects upon which he found the pentacrinoids, J. V. Thompson 

 (1835) suspected that the adult was gifted with the power of placing them in appro- 



