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which (Asthenosoma gracile and Pourtahsia lagunctda) range 

 beyond the New Zealand seas. Of the rest fourteen are known 

 to occur also in Australia, some of which are widely ranging 

 forms. Two species [Echiniis magellanicus and Echinus -margari- 

 taceus), which are widely diffused in the Southern Ocean and 

 western Pacific, appear to be absent from the Australian fauna, 

 though we might expect to find them there. Evechinus chloroticu^, 

 the commonest New Zealand Echinoid, ranges northwards to 

 Fiji, and this or a nearly allied form {E. auxtnile) occurs in 

 Australia. The occurrence of Laganum rost'atum, a Zanzibar 

 form, in New Zealand appears to be extremely doubtful, and our 

 species may be Laganum decagonaJe, which has a wide range in 

 the western Pacific and Indian Ocean, and occurs freely in north- 

 eastern Australia. I suspect that our species of Salmacis, identi- 

 fied as S. globator, may prove to be S. alexandri<t, Bell ("Alert" 

 Rpt. p. 118, and Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. Vol. ix. p. 505), 

 which is a common Australian form. Of the twenty-three above- 

 mentioned species sixteen belong to the order of regular Echinoids 

 — Desmosticha. Only two Clypeastroids have been recorded as 

 from New Zealand. The occurrence of one, Laganum rustratuin , 

 is doubtful, but the other, Arachnoides placenta, partially com- 

 pensates for the poverty of species in New Zealand by its great 

 abundance and general distribution in shallow water. Of Spa- 

 tangoids (heart-shaped urchins) we have but five species, three of 

 which are remarkable for their extremely wide range. One species 

 ( Pourtalesia lagvncula) is exclusively a deep-water form. Perhaps 

 the most interesting of all the New Zealand Echinoids is Echino- 

 hri>isus recens, which has also been found in Madagascar. It is 

 the lingering remnant of an old-world fauna which has long since 

 passed away, and as the recent form is apparently rare both in 

 Madagascar and New Zealand it will most likely soon become 

 extinct. Species of the genus Echinobrissuti were abundant and 

 widely distributed during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, 

 and one species (E. auntralice, Duncan) occurs in the Australian 

 Tertiaries (Qr. Journ. Geol. Soc. Vol. xxxiii. p. 50). Prof. Ralph 

 Tate has shown that the affinity of the Echinoid fauna of New 



