Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. 



Volume 121 1966 Number 3577 



BREDIN-ARCHBOLD-SMITHSONIAN 

 BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF DOMINICA 



1. The Echinoids of Dominica ^ 



By Porter M. Kier 



Associate Curator, Division of Invertebrate Paleontology 



Although the echinoids have been described from most of the larger 

 islands of the Caribbean, no one has ever reported the echinoids of 

 Dominica, As a member of the Bredin-Archbold-Smithsonian Bio- 

 logical Survey of Dominica, I spent April 1964 studying and collecting 

 echinoids off the island. Underwater diving apparatus was used to 

 make traverses down to 85-foot depths off most of the promotories 

 and in most of the bays. Live individuals were found in 8 of the 10 

 species collected and their living positions are described. Most of the 

 diving was done in the Caribbean because of the lack of suitable boats 

 on the Atlantic side of the island. 



I thank Miss Maureen Downey of the U.S. National Museum for 

 identifying the basket stars and crinoids and Mr. Louis R. Purnell 

 for making the drawings. I wish also to thank William P. Campbell, 

 who assisted in the collecting. 



1 This paper is the first of a series on the faunal studies from the survey that 

 will appear in the "Proceedings of the United States National Museum." A com- 

 panion series on the flora will appear in the "Contributions of the United States 

 National Museum." 



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