124 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Porcupine station 17a; off Cape Carvoeiro, Portugal (lat. 3939' N., long. 939' 

 W.); 1,353 meters; bottom temperature 9.6 C.; 1870 [P. H. Carpenter, 1884, 1888, 

 1891; Hartlaub, 1895; Grieg, 1904; A. H. Clark, 1913, 1923; Mortensen, 1927] (3, 

 B. M.). 



Geographical range. From the Canary Islands northward to Cape Carvoeiro, 

 Portugal. 



Bathymetrical range. From 1,280 (?914)-2,165 meters; the average of 8 records 

 is 1,491 meters. 



Thermal range. One record, 9.6 C. 



History. This species was described as Antedon lusitanica by Dr. P. H. Carpenter 

 in 1884 from 10 mutilated specimens that had been dredged by the Porcupine in 1870. 

 Carpenter said that this species seems to be dimorphic, like Actinometra (Neocomatella) 

 pulchella, and to constitute another exception to the general rule that 10-armed types 

 are sharply separated from those in which the primary arms divide. He remarked that 

 the length and spiny character of its cirri, and the peculiarities of its pinnules, readily 

 distinguish it from all the species of Antedon hitherto described. But, he said, it has 

 many points of resemblance to some of those dredged by the Blake in the Caribbean 

 Sea. It is a type of some interest for two reasons. It is the only European comatulid 

 which is in the condition of the so-called recent cystid, Hyponome sarsii (Zygometra 

 microdiscus) , with a plated disk and the ambulacra converted into tunnels by the folding 

 down of the plates at then 1 sides; and it is the only European Antedon with more than 

 10 arms. 



In 1884 also Capt. Jacques Theophile Parfait in a report on the scientific investiga- 

 tions of the French steamer Talisman, of which he was the commanding officer, in 

 1883 mentioned some "comatules jaune soufre" from lat. 3347' [=17'] N., long. 

 1123' W., in 1,635 meters. 



In the Challenger report on the stalked crinoids published in 1884 Carpenter said 

 that a few fragments of stems and arms of Pentacrinus (Annacrinus) wyville-thomsoni 

 had been dredged with the ten specimens of Antedon lusitanica from Porcupine station 

 17a. In the Challenger report on the comatulids published in 1888 Carpenter rede- 

 scribed and figured Antedon lusitanica and discussed the occurrence of two IIBr 2 

 series in one of the ten specimens at length. He remarked that sacculi are present 

 and fairly well developed. He said that the nearest ally of lusitanica is undoubtedly 

 Antedon (Stiremetra) breviradia from the South Pacific. He noted that both species 

 have the ossicles of the IBr series short and broad, this being especially the case in 

 lusitanica, while in most examples of lusitanica the margin of the axillaries and first 

 brachials is much less rounded than the rest of the dorsal surface and seems to stand 

 off from it as a lateral process, a character which is scarcely perceptible in breviradia. 

 He said that PI is also different. The keels on the inner edges of the lower segments in 

 lusitanica are less prominent than in breviradia, but at the same time they are more 

 distinctly separated from each other, and the earlier cirrus segments are relatively 

 longer. 



In 1891 Carpenter recorded three specimens of Antedon lusitanica that had been 

 brought up on a cable belonging to the Brazilian Submarine Cable Co. from a depth of 

 500-700 fathoms in the neighborhood of Madeira and sent to him by J. Y. Johnson, of 

 Funchal. With these was found Annacrinus wyville-thomsoni, as had been the case 



