44 BULLETIN 104^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Rhumbler has argued that Psariwnosyliaera is the immature form of 

 this genus, but Heron-Allen and Earland seem to have shown con- 

 clusively that the two are distinct. 



SACCAMMINA SPHAEEICA O. O. Sars. 



Plate 16, figs. 4, 5; plate 19, figs. 2-5. 



Saccammina sphaerica (M. Sars, nomen nudum, Forh. Selsk. < 'hristiania, 18fj8 (18G9), 

 p. 248), G. 0. Sars, Forh. Selsk. Christiania, 1871, p. 250.— ( arpenter, The 

 Microscope, ed. 5, 1875, p. 532, figs. 272a-c. — H. B. Brady, Rep. Voy. Chal- 

 lenger, Zoology, vol. 9, 1884, p. 253, pi. 18, figs. 11-17.— Egger, Abh. Bay. 

 Akad. Wiss. Mlinchen, vol. 18, 1893, p. 254, pi. 4, fig. 8. — Rhitmbler, 

 Zeitschr. Wiss. Zool., vol. 57, 1894, pp. 433-819, pis. 21-25.— Goes, Kongl. 

 Svensk. Vet. Akad. Handl., vol. 25, No. 9, 1894, p. 13, pi. 3, figs. 1);-18.— 

 Chapman, Proc. Zool. Soc. Loudon, 1895, p. 13.— Goes, Bull. Mus. Comp. 

 Zool., vol. 29, 189(i, p. 2().— Flint, Rep. U. S. Xat. Miia., 1897 (1899), p. 2G9, 

 pi. 9, fig. 2. — Rhumbler, Arch. Prot., vol. 3, 1903, p. 243, figs. 78a-d (in 

 text).— Dakin, Rep. Ceylon Pearl Oyster Fish., vol. 5, 1908, p. 232.— Heron- 

 Allen and Earland, Journ. Quekett Micr. (Jlub, ser. 2, vol. 10, 1909, pi. 34, 

 figs. 5, 5a.— Cushman, Bull. 71, U. S. Nat. Mus., pt. 1, 1910, p. 39, figs. 33-36 

 (in text). — Heron-Allen and Earland, Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. 31, 

 pt. 64, 1913, p. 40: Journ. Roy. Micr. Soc, 1913, p. 15, pi. 1, figs. 1-19, pi. 2, 

 figs. ], 2.— Pearcey, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, vol. 49, 1914, p. 1,000. 



Description. — ^Test typically free, rarely attached, spherical or 

 pyriform; consisting of a single chamber without divisions, wall of 

 fairly coarse sand grains, firmly cemented, interior smooth, exterior 

 usually smooth, in specimens with very large sand grains and small 

 test somewhat roughened, but the interstices usually partly at least 

 filled by cement; aperture single, circular, mth a very shght iieck 

 protruding from the surface, of the test; color variable, from light 

 grayish white to nearly black. 



Diameter, 1-3.5 mm. 



Distrihution. — This seems to be universally distributed in the deeper 

 waters of all the oceans, being recorded from all the great ocean basins, 

 and is known from the Antarctic Ice Barrier to the Arctic off Green- 

 land and Franz Joseph Land. On the eastern side of the Atlantic it 

 is recorded from Norway, North Sea, about the British Isles, Faroe 

 Channel, Bay of Biscay, and oft' the coast of Africa. On the western 

 side it is recorded by Flint from off the coast of Brazil, Albatross 

 D2760, in 1,019 fathoms. 



In the Albatross dredgings which I have examined the species 

 occurs at numerous stations from Nova Scotia southward along the 

 coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. These stations range in depth 

 from 82 to 2,045 fathoms and bottom temperatures from 34.4° to 

 40.7° F. 



The development of S. sphaeHca has been noted by Heron-AUeu 

 and Earland. The smallest specimens are usually pear shaped and 

 the material of the test comparatively coarser and the aperture a 

 mere chink at the protuberant end. Two forms are usually ob- 



