50 TH. MORTENSEN, (Schwed. Südpolar-Exp. 



metrical distribution of this species is thus not known with certainty to exceed 

 75 — 250 m. 



The statement of the occurrence of the species at Kerguelen and Heard Island 

 (»Challenger» Echinoidea) is uncertain, being founded on incorrect determinations, 

 partly at least, and must be left out of consideration until it has been definitely 

 proved that this species is really found in the said material or is otherwise recorded 

 from these regions. The occurrence of the species at New Zealand (Rev. of Echini, 

 p. 124) is still more improbable. The statement is founded on specimens in the 

 Smithsonian Institution. But there are no specimens from that locality there, at 

 least now, only two specimens with »unknown locality», according to Professor Rath- 

 bun's »Catalogue of the collection of Recent Echini in the U. S. National Museum> 

 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1886, p. 278), and Miss Rathbun, who has kindly made a 

 renewed research on this matter for me, gives me the same communication. Thus 

 this evidence for the occurrence of the species at New Zealand is not worth much. 

 The species is further named by Mr. H. Farquhar in his paper »On the Echino- 

 derm Fauna of New Zealand» (Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. \\'ales 1898, p. 320), but no 

 new evidence of its occurrence there is given; in his later »Notes on new Zealand 

 Echinoderms) (Trans. New Zealand Inst. XXXIX, 1906, p. 130) he says that, though 

 it might be expected to occur there »it is not known to New Zealand naturalists 

 (and) it may be omitted for the present». — A definite statement of its occurrence 

 at New Zealand is given by Filhol,* who reports to have dredged the species in 

 considerable numbers in Cooks Strait and at Stewart Island; also at the Campbell Island 

 some specimens were obtained. There is, however, scarcely any doubt that this state- 

 ment rests on wrong identification; the fact that the species is stated to be common 

 in Cook's Strait decidedly points towards a confusion with Pseudechimis albocinctus. 

 It would be very desirable to have these specimens reexamined, those from New Zea- 

 land as well as those from the Campbell Island; the latter would perhaps give a 

 valuable contribution towards the solution of the problem, whether the marine littoral 

 fauna of the Campbell Island is more nearly related to that of New Zealand or that 

 of the Antarctic Continent. (Cf. Die Echinoiden d. Deutschen Südpolar-Exped. p. 93). 

 Unfortunately none of the specimens are in the collection of the Museum d'histoire 

 naturelle in Paris, as I am informed by Professor JOUBIN, so the question must be 

 left undecided. — Also from the littoral region of the Antarctic Continent ■»Echinus 

 margaj-itacetcs^ is recorded, viz. by Prof. Bell in his papers on the Echinoderms 

 of the iSouthern Cross» (1902, p. 219) and of the »National Antarctic Expedition> 

 (Natural History. IV. Zoology. Echinoderms. p. 6). As, however, in the first 



* Recherches zoologiques, botaniques et géologiques faites à l'île Campbell et en Nouvelle Zélande. 

 Zoologie. Chap. X. Ëchinodermes. Recueil de mémoires, rapports et documents relatifs à l'observation du 

 passage de Venus sur le Soleil. III. (2). 18S5. p. 572. 



