138 BULLETIN 1(H, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



which he had from the western Atlantic was not typical. That ma- 

 terial has been placed in the following species : 



VAGINUUNA SPIXIGERA H. B. Brady. 



Plate 37, figs. G-S; pi. 38, fis:. 1. 



Marginulina, species, Whiteavt:s, Rep. British Association, Brighton Meet- 

 ing, Trans., 1872, p. 144. 



VaginuUna splnigera H. B. Bkady, Quart. Journ. MIcr. Sci., vol. 21, 1881, 

 p. 63; Rep. Voy. Challenger, Zoology, vol. 9, 1S84, p. 531, pi. 07, figs. 

 13, 14.— Weight, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, ser. 6, 1889, p. 449.— 

 Pearcey, Trans. Glasgow Nat. Hist, vol. 2, 1890, p. 178. — Flint, Rep. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., 1897 (1899), p. 314, pi. 60, fig. 3.— Whiteaves, Geol. 

 Survey Canada, 1901, p. 10.— Cushman, Bull. 100, U. S. Nat. Mus.. vol. 

 4, 1921, p. 259, pi. 42, fig. 1. 



Description. — Test elongate, tapering, gradually increasing in di- 

 ameter toward the apertural end, near the initial end are typically 

 two long acicular spines, sometimes nearly half the length of the 

 test itself, at widely divergent angles; chambers fairly numerous, 

 the early ones coiled, the later ones uncoiled, oblique, the dorsal 

 side higher than the ventral; sutures distinct, vsomewhat limbate, 

 occasionally showing a slight tendency toward beading and the last- 

 formed chambers sometimes depressed ; aperture at the dorsal margin 

 of the last-formed chamber, slightly projecting, radiate. 



Length without the spines up to 5 mm. 



Distribution. — This species was originally described by Wliiteaves 

 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence but he did not give it a specific 

 name. M. Sars gave a name Marginulina spinosa in one of his lists 

 from off the coast of Norway, but as no description or figure was 

 given, the name has not been used. Brady described the species in 

 1881 and figured it in the Challenger report for the first time. The 

 Challenger records are three — off the coast of South America, near 

 Pernambuco, Brazil, 675 fathoms (1,234 meters), and from two in 

 the Pacific, off Sydney, New South Wales, 410 fathoms (750 meters), 

 and north of the Ki Islands, 580 fathoms (1,061 meters). Wright 

 records the species as rare, off the southwest coast of Ireland, 1,000 

 fathoms (1,829 meters). Pearcey records a few from the warm area 

 of the Faroe Channel. Flint recorded it from two stations off the 

 northeastern coast of the United States in 328 and 430 fathoms (600 

 and 805 meters). Another record is that which I have given from off 

 Bouro Island, at Albatross station D5637, in 700 fathoms (1.280 

 meters) . This is not far from one of the Challenger stations. 



There is some variation in the spines developed at the base of 

 the test. The typical form has two, usually widely divergent, but 

 occasionally a third is developed, more nearly in the axis of the 

 test — very rarely the spines themselves are bifurcate. In specimens 

 which are evidently senescent there is a reduction in the width of 

 the final chamber. 



