FINE COLOURING 243 
narrow, and tapering to a truncate point. To this family 
belong apparently half a score of genera, almost all of 
which have been established within recent years. Jor the 
name of the family 8. I. Smith’s Miersiide has priority, 
but on the other hand the subfamily name Acanthephyri- 
nee is older than Mierside, and moreover the species of 
Miersia which led to the use of the name Miersiide were 
subsequently transferred to the genus Acanthephyra, so 
that Acanthephyridz would seem to be legitimate. 
Acanthephyra, A. Milne-Edwards, 1881, is now repre- 
sented by numerous species, practically from all parts of 
the world, except the Arctic regions, in the South reach- 
ing as faras Kerguelen Island. The species have been 
taken from great depths, seeming to descend even to 
nearly 3,000 fathoms. In the Albatross dredgings the 
species Acanthephyra Agassiz, S. I. Smith, which Spence 
Bate identifies with Acanthephyra purpurea, A. Milne- 
Kdwards, was taken at forty-five stations ranging in depth 
from 105 to 2,949 fathoms, and since then a specimen has 
been taken alive in a dip-net, actually at the surface. 
From a deep haul off the Azores, at 1,675 fathoms, the 
Challenger obtained an example of which it is said, ‘ The 
specimen is beautifully preserved both in form and colour, 
the latter being of a rich crimson-lake, which suffuses 
every part of the animal. The hairs which fringe the legs 
are long, delicate, and generally planted perpendicularly 
to the surface.’ The suggestion is made that this species 
is probably a free swimmer, able to range without incon- 
venience from one depth to another. In Acanthephyra 
nucrophthalma, 8. I. Smith, the smallness of the eyes is 
considered to indicate that it is a truly abyssal species, in 
accord with the depths of a little more and a little less 
than 2,600 fathoms from which the specimens were ob- 
tained. ‘There is always the chance that dredges and 
trawls with open mouths may catch a variety of animals 
while going down or coming up and not on the deep floor 
of the ocean, but the vast number of species which have 
only become known since deep-sea dredging commenced, 
makes it sufficiently clear that the general abode of the 
19 
