50 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Firth, where, in the deep water (30 to 50 fathoms) the species 

 is moderately common, being of frequent occurrence among 

 the refuse of the trawl net. Plate II. Fig. 4 represents one of 

 the Firth of Forth specimens, while Fig. 5 is one of the Moray 

 Firth specimens ; respectively \ and \ their natural size. In 

 the Forth specimen, as shown by the figure, the space between 

 the arms is shallow, and the arms are very short. In the 

 Moray Firth specimen, on the other hand, the space between 

 the arms is deeply concave, and the arms comparatively long. 

 I have examined a considerable number of the Moray Firth 

 specimens and find that, though the length of the arms and 

 the concavity of the space between them varies to some extent, 

 none of those examined possessed the short arms, or the 

 shallow, and nearly straight, interspaces that distinguished 

 the two specimens from the Firth of Forth. 



One of the Forth specimens was obtained a few miles 

 east of May Island by a trawler, and is the one represented 

 by Fig. 4. The other was obtained by myself from deep 

 water some distance west of the May Island, and is now in 

 the Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh. 



III. On Brissopsis lyrifera (Z. Agassiz). 



I have on several occasions during the last three years 

 obtained specimens of Brissopsis lyrifera in the vicinity of May 

 Island, Firth of Forth. Though by no means a rare species 

 on some parts of the Scotch coasts it does not appear to have 

 been known to occur in the Forth estuary or its vicinity pre- 

 vious to my discovery of it in 1888. It was first obtained 

 about two miles north-westward of the May, and since then 

 further specimens have been captured both in the locality 

 referred to and also at Trawling Station ix., a few miles south- 

 eastward of that Island. The following records of this species 

 from the latter locality are from the " Eighth and Ninth Annual 

 Reports of the Fishery Board for Scotland ": — 6th June 1 889, 

 three specimens; 17th August 1 889, one specimen; 13th May 

 1 890, one specimen ; 5th August 1 890, one specimen. A few 

 others have been obtained this year (1891). In Mr. W. E. 

 Hoyle's " Revised List of the British Echinoidea " in the 

 " Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh " 

 for 1889-90, "Aberdeenshire and the Moray Firth" and 



