4 BULLETIN 104, UIs^ITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



compactly built, exterior more or less rough, often acerose, with par- 

 tially embedded sponge-spiculcs; interior smooth. Complete speci- 

 mens sometimes ^ inch (10.5 mm.) in length." 



Distribution. — Norman originally described this species from 

 material dredged at the entrance to Davis Strait. From the Chal- 

 lenger records there are seven Atlantic stations for this species, as 

 follows: Station 5, latitude 24° 20' N.; longitude 24° 28' W., 2,740 

 fathoms (5,011 meters); station 23, latitude 18° 26' N.; longitude 63° 

 29' W., 450 fathoms (823 meters); station 24, latitude 18° 38' 30" 

 N.; longitude 65° 05' 30" W., 390 fathoms (713 meters); station 85, 

 latitude 28° 42' N.; longitude 18° 06' W., 1,125 fathoms (2,057 

 meters); station 98, latitude 9° 21' N.; longitude 18° 28' W., 1,750 

 fathoms (3,200 meters); station 120, latitude 8° 37' S.; longitude 

 34° 28' W., 675 fathoms (1,234 meters); station 323, latitude 35° 

 39' N.; longitude 50° 47' W., 1,900 fathoms (3,475 meters). 



Pearcey recorded this with the preceding species from Scotia 

 station 420 from the Antarctic, latitude 69° 33' S.; longitude 15° 19' 

 W., in 2,620 fathoms (4,791 meters). 



In the Albatross material it has occurred on the eastern coast of 

 the United States from latitude 40° southward and at one station 

 in the western part of the Caribbean. These Alhatross stations range 

 in depth from 399 to 2,045 fathoms (730 to 3,740 meters) and the 

 bottom temperatures from 36.8 to 39.1° F. (2.6 to 3.8° C). 



Most of the material from the Atlantic coast is very irregular in 

 contour and most closely resembles Brady's plate 27, figures 5-8, 

 with numerous stolon-like processes. In this connection it should 

 be noted that the complete specimens figured by Brady, ChaUenger 

 Heport, plate 27A, figures 1-3, are, if the magnification is correctly 

 given, about the size of a single chamber of the form I have seen 

 and that figured by Brady on plate 27. 



The various forms of the chambers given would indicate a primi- 

 tive organism which has not acquired a fixity of shape for its test, 

 but gives off numerous apertures and new chambers at various 

 places. Such indications seem to confirm the idea of placing this 

 genus in a subfamily by itself as the most primitive of the several 

 chambered forms included in the Lituolidae. 



The color in the specimens I have had has invariably been a light 

 gray. The walls are very thin, but are firmly cemented. 



The species is known from both the North and South Pacific, and 

 Millett has recorded rounded specimens from the Malay Archipelago. 

 The various forms from different areas would suggest that more than 

 one species or variety may be present with corresponding limita- 

 tions of distribution, but specimens are never numerous at an}^ of 

 the statiions from which I have had material. 



