460 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 45. 



Several points of considerable interest are brought out by the 

 table. The one of perhaps most importance is that the surface of 

 the test of young individuals is beset with spines. This is the 

 character relied upon chiefly by Hartmeyer for the specific dis- 

 tinctness of B. thomsoni. An examination of a large number of 

 small specimens forming a closely graded series of sizes leaves no 

 room for question that the spininess is a juvenile mark — at least if 

 small size can be rehed upon as indicating youth. 



The table also makes it obvious that the tentacles, the branchial 

 folds and the internal longitudinal vessels increase in number with' 

 increase in size of the animal for a considerable period. The varia- 

 tion in tentacle number from 28 in the largest individual to 14 in 

 the smallest is quite decisive on the point in spite of the fact that 

 there are some notable departures from exact correspondence be- 

 tween body size and tentacle number. 



The increase in number of vessels with size is even more positive 

 though the correlation is not very close. 



Another point clearly estabhshed by our dissections is that the 

 extent of in-turning of the horns of the hypophysis mouth increases 

 with the size of the animal. 



It appears from the work done by the Albatross that Boltenia 

 ovifera is abundant in the eastern and central parts of Bering Sea. 

 According to Townsend (1900) the vessel has dredged at 225 stations 

 in Bering Sea. At 29, or nearly 13 per cent, of these she took 

 Boltenia. However, in some localities, particularly in Bristol Bay 

 and about the Pribilof Islands, a majority of the hauls brought 

 specimens. None at aU were taken in the western or northern 

 portion of the sea, but one specimen was collected in the south side 

 of Ikaten Bay, Alaska, July 21, 1894. The collection contains one 

 bottle of specimens from Kamschatka taken by Dr. Leonard Stejneger 

 in 1882-83. There is also a bottle from Nunivak, Alaska, by Dr. W. 

 H. Dall ; one specimen from the coal station near Cape Lisburne, by 

 Henry D. Woolfe, Sept., 1885, found on the beach after a northwest 

 gale of four days; one specimen from Cape Smyth, John Murdoch, 

 Point Barrow Expedition, Aug. 15, 1881; and one taken by the 

 United States revenue steamer Corwin in 1885, exact locahty not 

 given. 



The species appears to be rather narrowly limited in depth range 

 in these waters, the shallowest record being 13.5 fathoms and the 

 deepest 56 fathoms. 



A sandy bottom seems to be distinctly preferred. 



In view of the large number of specimens and the fact that they 

 are nearly aU not only from Bering Sea, but from a limited portion 

 of it, I have departed from the usual course of giving locality data 

 and have given merely a list of the Albatross stations with the depth 

 of water. 



