328 ruocEEDixus of thk acadkmy of [1890. 



Tlii-s species has uot before been recorded from the Gulf of Mexico. 

 It is found throughout the West Indies and extends northward to 

 Cape Fh)rida and southward to Fernando de Noronha. It is also 

 found throughout the whole tropical region of the globe witli the 

 exception of the West Coast of America. 



Echinometra subangularis, Leske, 1778. Kl. Add. 



A. Agassi'/,, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. Vol. Ill, 1872-1874, pp. 116, 2S:'., 4:U, Pis. Xa, 

 XXVI. 



Sv6n Tjovi'h, Bihaiij;- Kongl. Svensk. Vetensk. Akad. Ilandl. Vol. I?,, IV, 18S8, 



p. n:^. 



A large series of specimens of this species were collected at Vera 

 Cruz. They were f )und in great quantities in the shallows lying 

 to the northwest of the town, es})ecially upon the rock and serpuloid 

 reef known as the Caleta. Tliey are characterized by a somewhat 

 flattened and circular test. The spines show a great range of 

 variation in their coloring. They are of various shades of reddish- 

 brown, purple and olive. Some specimens are of very light tints 

 and others are almost black. The spines are often tipped with dif- 

 ferent colors. 



This species is found throughout the West Indies, and as far 

 northward as Charleston, S. C. and southward as Desterro, Brazil. 

 It is also found upon the West coast of Africa, and at Ascension 

 Island. 



Mellita pentapora, Gmelin, 1788, Liun. Syst. Nat. 3188. 



Afel/ifa testudinata, Klein,i 1734, Nat. Disp. Eeh., p. 30, PI. XXI, fig. C. D. 



A. Agassiz. Mem. Miis. Comp. Zool., Vol. Ill, ])p. 141, 322, 538, Pis. XI, XI la. 

 Xllc. 



This form is very abundant in some places upon the beach at 

 Vera Cruz. 



The specimens collected are considerably shorter in their antero- 

 posterior diameters than the typical forms of this species. Both Klein 

 and Louis Agassiz^ based their description of Mellita testudinata 

 npon specimens received from Vera Cruz, and it is an interesting 

 fact that the figures given by each of these authors illustrate this 

 peculiarity. Evidently it represents, not an individual variation, 



1 As Klein's names are not admissible under the British and American As- 

 sociation rules, I have adopted the first post-Linnasan binomial, viz, Echinus 

 pentaporus of Gmelin. 



2 Monographic d' Echinodermes. Des Scutelles, 1841, p. 40, Tab. 4a, figs. 

 7-10. 



