302 ECHINODERMS OF THE BRTTTSFT T8LES 



The food consists of various kinds of bottom organisms, but 

 also simple bottom material may fill the intestine. 



In British seas this species is common off the south-west 

 and north coasts, especially in depths of ca. 200-1000 m. ; on 

 the North Sea coasts it is not known farther south than 

 St. Andrews, and in the open North Sea it does not appear to 

 occur south of the 100 m. line. The Var, microstoma is known 

 only from off the west coasts, e.g. from the Lousy Bank. It is 

 elsewhere distributed from Bear Island in the north to Cape 

 Bojador and the Mediterranean in the south ; it is not known 

 from outside the N.E. Atlantic area, statements to this effect 

 being erroneous. The bathymetrical distribution is ca. 20- 

 1280 m. 



4. Echinus melo luSimsirGk. (Fig. 171.) 



Test globular, not subcorneal. Primary tubercles very scarce, 

 not only in the ambulacra but also in the interambulacra, on the 



Fig. 171. — Echinus tnelo ; naked test, in side view. Somewhat reduced. 

 (After Koehler, Echinod., Faune de France.) 



upper side, lacking on every second or third plate. Secondarj^ 

 tubercles small and scarce, the series of primary tubercles there- 

 fore distinct, although incomplete. Primary spines rather short 

 and slender. No spines on the buccal plates. Pedicellariae as in 



