

I 



igoi] Reviews. 169 



that the much more familiar Psolus phantapiis is recorded only 

 from Grand Manan, at 40 fathoms depth, and at Eastport and in the 

 St, Lawrence estuary. Of the Sea Urchins, three Canadian 

 species are here placed on record, while the Starfishes embrace 

 eig"ht species, Dr. Whiteaves rightly concurring in the view that 

 the huge specimens of " Five fingers," measuring 12 or 15 inches 

 across are simply over-grown Asterias vulgaris, which usually 

 measures 4 or 5 inches across. The six-rayed Starfishes, abound- 

 ing below Rimouski, have been by many observers regarded as 

 abnormal "five-fingers," but they are referable to Asterias polnris 

 Miill. and Trosch, and range fron the Nova Scotia banks to Cape 

 Chidley in Labrador. Of special interest are the three species of 

 Antedon occurring in Nova Scotian and southern New Brunswick 

 waters. Future dredgings may add to this list of species, as well 

 as extend their Canadian distribution, though the Crinoidea be- 

 long to a past epoch, and of the 1500 species existing in Palaeozoic 

 times a meagre remnant now remains in our seas. Their stalks 

 and ovate or globular bodies abound in the rorks upon which 

 Ottawa stands and testify to their abundance in the old-time seas. 



It IS im.possible in a short notice like the present to refer even 

 in the briefest way to many of the suggestive thoughts aroused by 

 a perusal of Dr. Whiteaves' catalogue. One point, however, may 

 be referred to as possessing a very general interest. It bears 

 directly on the fascinating problems of animal distribution. A 

 great proportion of species named in this list are L^nistoniam, to 

 adopt the Dominion Statisticians' uncouth yet expressive adjective 

 (as a substitute for the misused term American), or at any rate 

 they are regarded as peculiar to this continent. Our lobster is 

 Homarus americanus not the H. vulgaris M. Edw., of Europe, yet 

 the differences would be difficult to define. Prof. Knight of King- 

 ston found that a small cephalic gland present in our lobster is 

 absent in Scottish specimens, and Prof. Herrick states that the Euro- 

 pean lobster's stages of larval development have been abbreviated, 

 so that it is of larger size at a corresponding age than our species. 

 Further study will show whether the differences are essential and 

 specific, or unimportant and varietal merely. Certainly the com- 

 mon whelk of our shores though called Buccinuni undalum, L., may 



