1 8 TH. MORTENSEN, (Schwed. Südpolar-Exp. 



St. 54. Falkland Islands (51° 40' Lat. S. 57' 50' Long. W. 10 m. Stanley Har- 

 bour. Mud with shells). 2 specimens. 

 » 55. — • — (55° 11' Lat. S. 60° 26' Long. W. 40 m. Port Albemarle. 



Sand bottom with algae). Several small specimens. 

 Further there are specimens from the »Fuegians-Expedition, from Port Lanis, 

 3 specimens, and from Cape Valentyn, 150 fms., bottom with dead shells, i specimen. 



A. canaliculata is as yet known with certainty only from the South American 

 East Coast, from its Southern extremity to about 44 Lat. S., and from the Falk- 

 land Islands and the Burdwood Bank; its bathymetrical distribution is not known 

 with certainty to be more than o — 150 fms. Evidently it is mainly a littoral form, 

 occurring even at the low water mark. It is worth noticing that it is not recorded 

 from the West Coast of South America. 



According to the literature the species has a much greater horizontal and bathy- 

 metrical distribution; but none of these statements as to the occurrence oi canalicu- 

 lata in other parts of the world rest on sufficient evidence, either the localities or 

 the identifications being unreliable. 



The species was originally described under the name of Temnocidaris canalicu- 

 lata (List of Echini etc. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. I. 1S63. p. 18) with the only 

 locality »Caroline Islands*. In the »Revision of Echini» this locality is not mentioned, 

 but Rose Island (Samoa Islands, according to Andrée's Atlas), Orange Harbour 

 (? — not in Andrée), Zanzibar and Natal, besides the South American localities. 

 In the »Challengers Echinoidea (p. 209) are further given the localities: Marion Island, 

 Kerguelen, Heard Island, Australia and Antarctic, and the bathymetrical distribution 

 is given as — 1975 fathoms. All these statements are summed up thus by E. Pratt 

 (Op. cit. p. 17): »This species has an extensive distribution. Southern Oceans, 

 1600 — 1975 fath. Sandwich and Navigator Islands. Natal. Falklands, 5 — 12 fath. 

 It ranges along the southern extremities of all the southern continents and extends 

 north of the equator to Japan. G. canaliculata has a wider distribution than any 

 other species of this genus, which is restricted, with this exception to the Southern 

 hemisphere and to the tropics. An interesting fact concerning this species is that it 

 extends through the tropics to the northern hemisphere along the western shores of 

 the Pacific and not along the eastern shores, as one would e.xpect. This is still 

 more interesting when we note that this species occurs at the southern extremities 

 of America and Africa.» A finer illustration of what may result from uncritical 

 -compilation of statements found in the literature * could scarcely be wished. 



* I have been unable to find in the literature any statement of the occurrence of this species at Japan; 

 is it, perhaps, the fact that the species is mentioned in Doderlein's »Japanische Seeigel 3 (though under 

 the heading »Récente Cidariden von nicht japanischer Herkunft») which has caused Miss Pratt to state 

 that it occurs also at Japan? In any case the species certainly does not occur there. 



