Echinodermata^ hy Prof. F. J. lid I. 441 



Echinus elegans, D. & K. 

 (PI. XIX. '%^. 2 and 8.) 



I refer to this species four specimens from 250 fath. ; but 

 I have had great difficulty in making up my mind about 

 them, for the Museum is very poorly provided with examples 

 of what Sars called an '' overordentlig sjeldne Art," though a 

 good many would seem to have been collected by the ' Por- 

 cupine.' The four examples now before me are all small, 

 and there would be no reason to suppose that they are sexually 

 mature wxre it not that Wyville Thomson * has put on record 

 the existence of a small (" pony ") race of Echinus norvegicus ; 

 I am quite unable to settle the question, as the specimens 

 were all dried before being sent to me f. 



I cannot see on these specimens the "beautiful vermilion 

 bands, extending from the apex towards the ambitus on both 

 sides of the bare median vertical line," which Prof. A. 

 Agassiz states to be the feature by which E. eJegans may be 

 " recognized from its congeners " \ ; but I do not see the same 

 bands in a beautiful and perfectly preserved specimen (G2 

 millim. in diameter) which the Trustees have lately acquired 

 from the Bergen Museum, and which was taken in the Hardan- 

 gerfjord at a depth of 150 fath. ; and they agree well enough 

 with the diagnosis of Diiben and Koren. They cannot be 

 expected to agree very closely with the figure given by those 

 distinguished naturalists, on account of the marked difference 

 in size. 



It often happens that a minute histological character goes 

 a long way in settling doubtful ques-tions of resemblance, and 

 the fact that the spicules in the suckers of these small speci- 

 mens are exactly similar to the straight-backed C-shaped 

 spicules of the tube-feet of an un Joubted G. elegans has done 

 much in deciding me as to what name to apply to these speci- 

 mens. I greatly regret that, though I have made several 

 efforts, I have not yet succeeded in obtaining examples of 

 what other workers in Echinology have called E. elegans §. 



* ' Depths of the Sea,' p. 117. 



t It often happens that one has to lament the fact that while spirit 

 has been saved the specimens have been for some purposes lost. 



t Rev. Ech. p. 491. 



§ With a single exception of some specimens from Norway, sent me by 

 a curator of a museum who had not a very large series, and who had so 

 named some examples of E. acutus. Since the above was sent to press 

 the Rev. Dr. Norman has, with his usual generosity, sent me a number of 

 specimens of Echinus for examination. An inspection of them le ids me 

 to think that I have rightly ascribed the four specimens now under dis- 

 cussion to E. elef/ans. — Nov. 7, 1889. 



Ann. (t- Mag. X. Hist. Ser. G. V<jJ. iv. o2 



