REPORT ON THE CRINOIDEA. 35 



not range further south in the Atlantic than 10° S., though it has the same distribution 

 as the tridistichate series in the Pacific and is generally more fully represented, forms 

 like Antedon palmata, Antedon elongata, and Antedon indica being often met with in 

 considerable abundance and variety. This group is also much more common than the 

 tridistichate group in the Caribbean Sea, especially below 100 fathoms ; and it ranges 

 down to 270 fathoms, at least 120 fathoms deeper than any member of the tridistichate 

 group has yet been found in that locality. 



The range of the genus Actinometra, both in depth and in space, is very much more 

 limited than that of Antedon. It corresponds very closely, however, with the geographi- 

 cal and bathymetrical ranges of the multibrachiate species of this genus, though both 

 alike are slightly more extensive than the range of Actinometra. Thus, for example, the 

 multibrachiate forms of Antedon almost reach the parallels of 40°; while the northernmost 

 Actinometra does not reach 36° N., either in the Atlantic or in the Pacific, and the 

 southernmost are those of the Cape of Good Hope (34° 24' S.) and Port Philip (37° 48' 

 S.). In like manner no Actinometra has been obtained with certainty at a greater depth 

 than 533 fathoms ; though it is possible that this should be extended to 610 fathoms in 

 the Pacific. 1 But as we have just seen, the tri- and bidistichate groups of the multi- 

 brachiate species of Antedon extend down to 630 and 740 fathoms respectively. 



Like these forms too, Actinometra is far more extensively developed in the eastern 

 than in the western hemisphere. Several species are known from Southern Japan, and 

 the genus is abundant all through the Eastern Archipelago and down the east coast of 

 Australia as far as Port Jackson ; whde a single species from the latter locality also occurs 

 at Port Philip and in King George's Sound (Actinometra trichoptera). A few more are 

 scattered at Ceylon, the Eed Sea, Madagascar, Port Natal, and the Cape of Good Hope ; 

 but they are not known at all from the West African coast, nor from South America 

 south of Cape Frio. From this region, however, a couple of species occur abundantly up 

 to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf Stream, but they do not pass the parallels of 25° N.; 

 though in the East Atlantic one species has been dredged four times beyond the thirty- 

 fourth parallel and at much greater depths than in the Caribbean Sea, e.g., 1500 metres 2 

 ( = 812 fathoms). This type (Actinometra pulcliella) is one of special interest, not only 

 from its singularly Protean character, but because it is the only Actinometra common to 

 the two sides of the Atlantic ; while it is also, with one exception, the only Actinometra 

 ranging below 300 fathoms. The genus has been dredged eleven times at depths below 

 200 fathoms, four times by English, once by French, and six times by American expedi- 



1 There is no record of the particular dredging at the Station numbered 174 which yielded Comatulse, the depths 

 being 210, 255 and 610 fathoms, except that the last one yielded Atelecrinus wyvillii. Three species of Actinometra were 

 obtained, together with five of Antedon, and from their general facies I should be decidedly inclined to refer them to one 

 of the two lesser depths. 



2 According to H. Filhol (La Nature, 1884, p. 330), an Actinometra, which I take to be Actinometra pulchella, was 

 obtained by the " Talisman " off Rochefort at this very unusual depth. 



