UCHINODERMATA 91 



Echinarachnius parma Lamarck (Sand Dollar) 



PLATE VIII. Fig. 3 



Disc or shell flat and circular, about 3 inches in 

 diameter and covered with small brownish spines; 

 often covered with a fine alg'a (sea weed) giving a 

 greenish color. On the upper side can be seen a 

 plainly marked five pointed petal design. 



This sand dollar is very common on the New 

 England coast. It is abundant locally off the New 

 Jersey coast, particularly near Five Fathom Bank 

 (14 miles off Wildwood) in 60 feet of water and 7 

 miles off Atlantic City in 50 feet. It ranges from 

 New Jersey to Labrador and is also found from 

 Bering Sea to Puget Sound. 



New England fishermen sometimes prepare an 

 indelible purple ink by grinding the tests of this 

 animal and mixing with water. 



Mellita quinquesperforata Leske (Keyhole Dollar) 

 (M. pentapora Gmelin; M. testudinata Klein) 



PLATE VIII. Fig. 1 



Superficially similar to the above but with five 

 narrow keyhole-like openings (lunules) in the test. 

 Dried white tests of this species are occasionally 

 found on beaches in southern New Jersey, but as far 

 as is known, it has not been found alive north of 

 Virginia. Very common on beaches from North 

 Carolina to Florida and locally to Brazil, It is com- 

 mon as a fossil in the Pleistocene deposits (Cape 

 May formation) of New Jersey, and it is possible 

 that some of the tests found on the beach had been 

 washed from some submarine fossil deposit. 



