NOTES ON ASTRONYX LOVENT, MULLER 27 



5 5 fathoms in the Sound of Sleat as before, two smaller speci- 

 mens coming up, along with Funiculina. In Loch Duich they 

 proved to be numerous and larger, and in this they were in 

 keeping with the Pennatulse, which were also plentiful and 

 of fine proportions. On the west of the Minch, in 63 fathoms, 

 off the mouth of Erisort, we again met both the one and 

 other of these low type organisms in juxtaposition, while 

 Lochs Nevis and Hourn were both plentifully supplied with 

 this Starfish, all so closely intertwined with the Seapens that 

 their connection could not well be questioned. Loch Nevis, 

 with its opening opposite the point of Sleat, but the Loch 

 itself trending southward, is the most southern habitat I 

 have yet found it in. But the fact that in both Nevis and 

 Hourn they were more especially abundant, would not lead 

 me to look upon them as the southern limit ; so that 

 specimens may be naturally looked for still further south 

 in the waters of the west. 



The habitat in all cases then seems to be in deep water, 

 from 50 to 100 fathoms; and as this depth is not readily 

 found until a considerable northern latitude is attained on 

 either coast, the possibility is that only stray specimens will 

 be taken south of the Small Isles, and then under exceptional 

 circumstances. We have never yet taken them, although we 

 have trawled and dredged all the ground clown to the south 

 of Islay, south of the Sound of Sleat. Again, if they specially 

 haunted the ground on which the Funiculina quadrangularis 

 displayed its greatest charms, we should find them in Loch 

 Linnhe and the Mull lochs, where these are especially fine and 

 abundant. But although that ground has been repeatedly 

 worked by us at all times of the year, we have failed to dis- 

 cover Astronyx Loveni amidst the Seapens. The enemy of 

 Funiculina in these latter waters is the crustacean Arcturus 

 longicornis, which evidently browses persistently upon the 

 polyps, and refuses to allow itself to be removed. 



Astronyx therefore seems to demand not only the con- 

 genial company of suitable provender such as Funiculina, but 

 deep water, which in itself may mean more temperature than 

 pressure. On the East Coast therefore it may not require 

 such great depth, as the temperature may be more suitable 

 at lesser depths. The fact that they are occasionally taken 



