104 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. [CHAP. 111. 
aperture does not penetrate the plate, but perforates 
a membrane which fills up a diamond-shaped space, 
one-half of which is cut out of the outer edge of the 
ovarial plate in the form of a large triangular notch, 
while the other half is formed by a separation into a 
like notch of the two upper interradial plates, in the 
middle line of the interradial space. The charac- 
teristic paddle-shaped spines are ranged in several 
rows round the mouth. The large spines round the 
equator of the corona are diverse in form, some of 
them cylindrical, only slightly tapering towards the 
tip, and others bulging out and thick near the neck 
and coming somewhat rapidly to a sharp point. The 
colouring of the animal is very remarkable. The 
short spines covering the test are of a rich purple, 
“and a purple of even a deeper and richer hue dyes 
about one-third of the length of the spine, from the 
head of the spine outwards, ending abruptly in a 
sharply defined line. The spine beyond this purple 
portion is of a beautiful pale rose colour. ‘Two 
mature examples of this fine species were found, 
and two young ones, one nearly half-grown and the 
other much smaller. 
We now moved slowly to the northward towards 
the Faroe Bank, and soundings were taken to fix as 
closely as possible the point of passage from the warm 
water into the cold; a temperature sounding taken in 
lat. 59° 37’, long. 7° 40’, gave a depth slightly less 
than that of the ‘ Holtenia ground,’—475 fathoms,— - 
with a shghtly higher bottom temperature, 7°°4C.; and 
at Station 50, lat. 59° 54’, long. 7° 52’, with a depth of 
335 fathoms, the minimum temperature had risen to 
79C. A sounding at Station 51, lat. 60° 6, long. 
