BY THE REV. J. E. TENISOX- WOODS, F.G.S., F.L.S., ETC. 201 



and there may be more. With, regard to S. rarispina, Agas., 

 there is little to add to its known habits. It is rather common 

 and always found upon a sandy bottom. I obtained it recently 

 from Port Denison, and in many places as far south as Moreton 

 Bay. 



Mesinlia glohihis, Agass. In my list given last year in the 

 Proceedings of this Society, I expressed a doubt as to the 

 genuineness of the Australian habitat for this species. I have 

 now no doubt on the matter as I have found a specimen on a 

 sandy beach in Trinity Bay. 



Amllypneustes ovum, Lamarck. This is the most common of all 

 the Australian urchins on the southern coasts, but I do not know if 

 it extends either to the west or north side of the continent. 

 Some stress has been laid on the shape of the test for specific 

 distinction. Nothing of this kind can be relied upon. In some 

 specimens of A. ovum you have a marked pentagonal outline and 

 every gradation from depressed orbicular, to perfectly oval and 

 egg-shaped. The pentagonal form is very common in young 

 individuals. Among about 200 specimens picked up after a gale 

 of wind on the beach at Wollongong, I was able to arrange a 

 perfect series of shape and colour, the tints in extreme cases 

 giving bright blue, red and yellow shades. It is a gregarious 

 species and is found only upon sandy coasts. At Guichen Bay 

 in South Australia, and Lacepede Bay, which is the next bay to 

 the north, I have seen the beach strewn for miles with the tests of 

 this urchin, of aU sizes up to nearly three inches in length. It 

 has a very thin shell and is easily broken. It is common on all 

 the South Australian coast as far as Spencer's Gulf, and is often 

 strung like beads for ornamental purposes. The color of the test 

 varies exceedingly, almost every shade may be met with, but 

 grey-green is the prevailing tint. I cannot help thinking that 

 A. griseus and A. paUidus may only be varieties of this species. 



With regard to aU the species of Holopneustes, I am still obliged 

 to state that I have seen none on the Australian coast, though I 

 z 



