292 BULLETIN 15, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Killisnoo, Alaska, 1 specimen; Straits of Fuca, 1 specimen; Alaska, 7 

 specimens; Constantine Harbor, 8 to 10 fathoms, 1 specimen; lat. 

 66° 12' N.; long. 168° 54' W., 1 fragment; Mechigme Ba}^, Siberia, 

 5 specimens; Arctic Ocean, 3 specimens; locality % 8 specimens. 

 Bathymetrical range, 8 to 576 fathoms. Temperature range, 60.6° 

 to 80.7°. Three hundred and four specimens. 



This unusually fine series of ''basket-fish,'' ranging in disk diameter 

 from 9 to 115 mm. (this being, I believe, the largest ophiuran on 

 record), has enabled me to determine the status of some of the many 

 species of Gorgonocephalus. There is, I think, no room for doubt 

 that G. stimpsonii and G. japonicus are both synonyms of G. caryi, 

 the last name liaving priority. There is much individual diversity in 

 the abundance and coarseness of the granules on the disk, as well as in 

 the number and length of the arm divisions. Thus a specimen from 

 off California has few long arm divisions and small granules confined 

 to the radial shields, while the Saghalin and many Alaskan speci- 

 mens have many short arm divisions and coarse, irregular granules 

 all over the disk. Specimens similar to the one from California are 

 in the collection, however, from Alaska and also from Japan, and 

 intergradations between the extremes are common. The specimen 

 from station 4935 (disk diameter 21 mm.) is notable for long, narrow 

 genital slits and the presence of only 2 arm spines on most of the 

 joints, and those two unusually long, though they do not equal the 

 joint. There is more than a possibility that caryi is not specifically 

 distinct from eucnemis, but I have not had sufficient material of the 

 latter species to enable me to settle the point. My suspicions go even 

 further and lead me to think that agassizii, eucnemis, and caryi 

 may prove to be three names for a single species. Material from the 

 west coast of Greenland and the regions north of America would be 

 very desirable in settling the question. The geographical range of 

 caryi from California northward and northwestward to nearly 60° 

 N. in Bering Sea, and thence southward and southwestward to below 

 31° N. in the Eastern Sea is remarkably extensive. 



GORGONOCEPHALUS SAGAMINUS. 



Gorgonocephalus sagaminus Doderlein, Zool. Anz., vol. 25, 1902, p. 321. 



Localities. — Albatross station 3707, off Ose Zaki, Honshu Island, 

 Japan, 63 to 75 fathoms, volcanic sand, ashes, gravel, 11 specimens; 

 station 3715, off Ose Zaki, Honshu Island, Japan, 65 to 68 fathoms, 

 volcanic sand, shells, rocks, 1 specimen; station 3720, off Ose Zaki, 

 Honshu Island, Japan, 63 fathoms, volcanic sand, shells, 1 specimen; 

 station 3740, off Ose Zaki, Honshu Island, Japan, 65 fathoms, volcanic 

 sand, shells, pebbles, 3 specimens; station 4894, Eastern Sea, lat. 

 32° 33' N.; long. 128° 32' 10" E., 95 fathoms, green sand, broken 

 shells, pebbles, 1 specimen; station 4986, Sea of Japan, lat. 43° 1' 40" 



