DEXAMINE SPINOSA. 239 



the British Museum, while Amp. Marionis is in the 

 Museum of the Jardin des Plantes. We have carefully 

 examined both specimens, and have not a doubt but 

 that they belong to one species. Montagu took his 

 specimen at Tor Cross, on the Devonshire coast, whilst 

 Milne-Edwards obtained his from the shores of Brittany ; 

 and we have received it also from the coast of Nor- 

 mandy, from our old and esteemed friend Mr. J. 

 Gwynn Jeffreys. To give a list of the habitats of this 

 species is to catalogue the localities searched by all our 

 valued correspondents. Suffice it to say that we have 

 obtained it from almost every place, from the Shetlands 

 in the north, to the English Channel in the south ; and 

 Mr. Jeffreys has also sent it to us from the coast of 

 Italy; so that, at the depth of a few fathoms of water, 

 it appears to be very generally distributed along the 

 coast line of Western Europe. 



It is a prettily-coloured species, being brilliant red, 

 speckled with darker spots of the same colour, when 

 first taken from the sea. Specimens taken nearer the 

 shore are generally of a darker and less bright tint, 

 obtaining a stain of blue, which deprives them of that 

 beauty which specimens from the deeper water exhibit. 

 We have observed this variation of colour in other 

 species under similar change of conditions. 



