198 HABITS OF SOME AUSTRALIAN ECHINI, 



Stomopneustes atropurpurea, nobis. This species is very like S. 

 variolaris, Lamarck, found both in the Indian Ocean and in the 

 Pacific. "When I made my first list of the Australian Echini the 

 only Australian species known to me was in the Australian 

 Museum and there was no record as to its habitat. Since then I 

 have found a large number of specimens at Port Douglas, Trinity 

 Bay, in about Lat. 16° N. All that were obtained by me lived 

 on one small patch of rocky shore fronting a peninsula called 

 Island Point, which is not more than a mile in extent. Had I 

 not found a fragment of a broken test upon the beach I should 

 never have known that it could be found in that locality. I don't 

 know of any urchin which hides itself more skilfully. It chooses 

 a large immoveable boulder for its shelter, and buries itself in 

 the deei^est recess it can find underneath, and only those recesses 

 which are almost closed in on every side. It was only after a 

 lengthened search made by stooping low down and peering under 

 every boulder that at last I was rewarded by seeing a few dark 

 sjpines projecting out of a dark crevice. It was far out of reach 

 of my hands so I had to content myself then with knowing that 

 I had found the sort of hiding place I had to look for. I then 

 procui-ed a stout h-on pot-hook which I fastened to the end of a 

 bamboo. With this I imagined I could easily get them out of 

 the crevices. But I was entirely mistaken. Some of them would 

 not yield to all the force I could employ, and some after a 

 prolonged effort were got out and entirely destroyed. There was 

 no scarcity of specimens. Once I knew where to look for them I 

 discovered them on every side, but only to renew my disappoint- 

 ment in trying to dislodge them. In four or five instance I was 

 able to move the stones on which they were, and I found that they 

 were so firmly attached by their snckers as not to be pulled away 

 by the hand. Any attempt in this way only broke the spines. 

 But by passing a knife underneath they were easily lifted up, 

 and then they would commence to move off slowly on the tips of 

 their spines, which throughout the whole order serve the purpose 



