260 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 8 



Aside from color and character of the spines, it is hard to find any 

 very tangible differences between the two species. On the whole the 

 number of coronal plates and of large tubercles is greater in pictus than 

 in anamesus. Specimens 25 to 30 mm h. d. having about 20 interambula- 

 cral plates in a column, have in pictus, 27 or 28 ambulacrals, in anamesus 

 about 20 or 21. In the same specimens, pictus has 4 large primary tubercles 

 on each coronal plate just below the ambitus, while in anamesus there are 

 but 3 tubercles. Furthermore, the interambulacral areas above the ambitus 

 obviously carry fewer tubercles in anamesus than in pictus. Mortensen 

 ( 1943, pp. 437, 450) had no specimens of pictus available for critical study 

 but saw Verrill's type and cotype at New Haven. He describes them as 

 "light purple with radiating whitish bands, the spines bright purple, more 

 or less distinctly banded." In all the hundreds of Lytechinus from the 

 southern California coast, no specimen with any definitely purple tint has 

 been seen. Neither has any individual with "spines bright purple, more or 

 less distinctly banded" been detected. The difficulty is probably due to mis- 

 understanding in the use of color terms. Mortensen 's "purple" is prob- 

 ably what to me is "rose violet," but none of the Lytechinus at hand could 

 by any possibility be called "bright" colored. 



Distribution. — The 42 stations at which pictus was taken by the 

 Velero are widely scattered and show a perplexing distribution. Some of 

 the best material has been secured at Newport, Balboa, and Corona del 

 Mar, California, at or near low water mark and a few specimens have been 

 taken at or near the Channel Islands in moderately deep water, 3-39 fms. 

 But most of the specimens are from stations in the Gulf of California 

 usually in rather deep water, 40-95 fms. Much further south some very 

 small Echini have been taken which are best treated as pictus. Half a dozen 

 were secured at La Plata, Ecuador, 7-10 fms, which may possibly be 

 Mortensen's panamensis but their very small size prevented satisfactory 

 determination. A single specimen from Gorgona Island, Colombia, in 20 

 fms and one from Bahia Honda, Panama, 5-8 fms offer the same difficulty. 

 They may possibly be panamensis but it is not wise to assert that they are. 



Type. — Peabody Museum, Yale University, no. 961. 



Type locality. — "Cape San Lucas, California" (Grant and Hertlein, 

 1938, p. 25). 



Depth. — Shore to 95 fms. 



Specimens examined. — 488 specimens from 42 stations. 



