26 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Here was obtained the curious Echiniscus gladiator, which is 

 not at all rare in Scotland, though it has not, so far as I 

 have heard, been got anywhere else. An egg found among 

 this Sphagnum comes very close to Macrobiotus coronifer, 

 Richters (5) and (6), though the spines arc of different form to 

 those figured by Richters. If the identification be correct, 

 we have the curious association on the summit of Ben 

 Lawers of arctic and antarctic Tardigrada, along with 

 many common lowland species. 



Many Tardigrada are unquestionably of world-wide dis- 

 tribution. DipJiascon c/ti/ense, Plate, has been found in Spits- 

 bergen (5) and the South Orkneys, and at many intermediate 

 places, alpine and lowland, in both hemispheres. This is 

 however, by no means the case with all species. The 

 Tardigrada have not in the same degree the potentially 

 cosmopolitan character which Jennings 1 assigns to the 

 Rotifera. Macrobiotus hufelandi is reported from all over 

 the world, but many of these records are unreliable, although 

 the animal probably has a world-wide range. Scourfield's 

 (7) M. hufelandi, for instance, reported from Spitzbergen, is 

 evidently M. echinogenitus, Richters, though Richters after- 

 wards did find M. hufclandi (Richters) in Spitzbergen. 

 Prof. Richters further reports J/. hufclandi (Richters, not 

 Plate) from Possession Island in the Antarctic. On the 

 other hand, in another part of the Antarctic region I found 

 not a single egg of J\I. hufelandi (Richters or Plate), all the 

 spiny Tardigrade eggs being quite peculiar. The association 

 of Tardigrada which we find on the top of Ben Lawers, has. 

 therefore, much greater significance than would, for instance, 

 an association of Bdelloid Rotifera, in which we would find 

 nothing to distinguish it from a lowland collection. 



LIST OF SPECIES. 



Genus ECHINISCUS. 



E. arctomys, Ehr. Several examples. 

 E. mittalnlis, Murray (1). Plentiful. 

 E. gladiator, Murray (1). Several. 



E. tt'cndti, Richters (5). One example. The 2-clawed larva was 

 also found. An Echiniscits, which comes nearest to this 



1 "U.S. Fish Comm. Bull. 1899," p. too. 



