FROM THE EDDYSTONE GROUNDS TO START POINT. 



467 



it extends into the Skager Rak as far as the Swedish Coast (Diiben and 

 Koreii, M. Sars, IMobius), but is absent from the Kattegat and from the 

 Baltic" (Ludwig, No. 70, p. 393). According to the same author the 

 species is not found in the English Channel east of a line drawn from 

 Plymouth to Cherbourg. 



As was pointed out above, during the course of the present investiga- 

 tion A. glacialis was never once taken in the hauls south of Bolt 

 Head nor in those made between Prawle and Start Points (in a 

 total of 24 hauls), altiiough it was quite common in the neighbourhood 

 of the Eddystone. The most easterly station at which it was found 

 was haul 60, three miles south-west of Bolt Tail. The depth was here 

 23-25 fathoms, and the bottom fine sand. Large specimens of Asterias 

 glacialis are noted in my records as fairly plentiful, as were also 

 Asterias ruhens, Solasier pajjposus, and Echinus esculentus, and the haul 

 was evidently made upon or close to a Pecten bed, as the presence of 

 P. opercularis is recorded, and the shells of this species were taken in 

 quantity. 



It would almost seem, therefore, that there is a sharp line of demar- 

 cation in the distribution of Asterias glacialis in the neighbourhood of 

 Bolt Head. Although it is true that Pecten opercularis was never 

 abundant in any of the 24 hauls to the eastward of this line, it was 

 present in several places, together with Asterias ruhens, and there is no 

 apparent reason why A. glacialis should not have been present as well. 

 Indeed, one would rather have expected to find it on a ground such as 

 the Prawle Stony Ground.* 



Depth. to 60 fathoms (Bell, No. 7) to 98 fathoms (Ludwig). 



Bottom-deposit. A. glacialis is generally found on rocky and stony ground, 

 but occurs also on sand. It is not, however, found upon mud (Ludwig). 



Since on the grounds in the neighbourhood of the Eddystone both 

 Asterias glacialis and Asterias rubens live side by side, under practically 

 identical conditions, the following comparison of the general distribution 

 of the two species, so far as at present known, is of interest : — 



Geographical. i Depth. I Bottoni'dcposit. 



Asterias rubens. 



0-337 fatlioms. 



All kinds of bottom, 

 from rocky and 

 stony ground to 

 mud. 



Ea.stern side of N. Atlan- 

 tic from Senegal to 

 Finmark, including 

 North Sea, Kattegat, 

 and Baltic. 

 Arctic Ocean (uncertain). 

 In Japanese Seas. 

 Absent from Mediter- 

 ranean. 



* My colleague, Mr. Holt, who has done a good deal of dredging and trawling in Start 

 Bay and Teignmouth Bay, tells me that the most easterly record he has of A. glacialis is of 

 a few specimens four miles S.W. b}- W. of Bolt Head. 



