A MONOGRAPH OF THE EXISTING CRINOIDS 287 



varieties is the only way to present a serviceable description for the recognition of such 

 varied specimens. 



Hartlaub remarked that it would have been easy to make new species out of one, 

 or some, of the varieties, new species which would have been no more poorly based than 

 many established by Carpenter, as for instance, his pourtaltei, but in view of the great 

 variability of almost all the characters he decided not to do this. He said that I had 

 already done this in part, as in December 1909 I had written him that his figure 1 on 

 plate 4 (Antedon brevipinna var. pourtaUsi from Blake station 219) is the same as my 

 Crinometra pulchra, and his figure 7 on the same plate (Antedon brevipinna var. elegans 

 from Blake station 193) is the same as my Crinometra concinna. 



Greater familiarity with the genus Crinometra has shown me the correctness of 

 Hartlaub's conclusions regarding C. brevipinna. Indeed, he did not go far enough. 

 The two specimens from Blake station 157 that he recorded and described under the 

 name of Antedon angusticalyx (= Perissometra angusticalyx) are in no way distinguisha- 

 ble from unornamented varieties of brevipinna with the IIBr series 4(3+4). These two 

 specimens are herein referred to brevipinna var. angusta, var. nov. 



Hartlaub mentioned several specimens that seemed to him to be intermediate 

 between brevipinna and granulifera, which he regarded as a distinct species though he 

 failed to give its differential characters. Since he described granulifera (and angiisticalyx) 

 in Carpenter's Granulifera group and brevipinna in Carpenter's Spinifera group a natural 

 inference is that he considered granulifera to be characterized by having the IIBr series 

 4(3+4) while in brevipinna the IIBr series are 2. But in Crinometra this difference is 

 of no significance. Indeed, in one of Pourtales' type specimens there are three IIBr 2 

 and two IIBr 4(3+4) series; in another all five IIBr series are 4(3+4) ; and in the third 

 the IIBr series are 4, with the two outer elements not united by syzygy. I am therefore 

 placing Pourtales' Antedon granulifera hi the synonymy of brevipinna and referring to 

 brevipinna the two much broken specimens from Blake station 45 (the type locality of 

 granulifera), the two from Blake station 34, and the two from Martinique described 

 under granulifera by Hartlaub. 



In the following pages there are recognized 19 varieties of Crinometra brevipinna. 

 Few, if any, of these represent fixed and stable types. All that are adequately known 

 are subject to more or less wide variation by which they approach, or intergrade with, 

 one or more other varieties. 



It appears to be generally true that all or most of the individuals from a single 

 dredge haul during which there was no appreciable alteration of depth or temperature 

 will be very similar and will show certain features in common by which they differ from 

 those from other dredge hauls. In other words, they represent inbred family groups, or 

 groups showing a more or less definite correlation with their environment. 



These recognized varieties vary in significance all the way from fairly well 

 characterized and stable types, like insculpta, gemmata, and pulchra to mere individual 

 variants some of which appear to be nothing more than undeveloped individuals of 

 more elaborately ornamented varieties. Much light will be shed on this subject when 

 the 288 specimens secured by the Atlantis in Cuban waters in 1938 and 1939 have been 

 studied. 



The type specimen of brevipinna is a young individual with the varietal characters 

 not yet fully developed so that it cannot properly bo allocated, and the specimens 



