[From thk Transactions of the Connecticut Academy, Vol. V.] 



A List of the Brazilian Echintoderms, with Notes on their 

 Distribution, etc. By Richard Rathbun. 



The following list comprises all the species of Echinoderms col- 

 lected or observed on the Brazilian Coast, by Mr. John C. Branner, 

 the author, and other members of the Geological Commission of 

 Brazil, during the years 1875-77; together with the species hitherto 

 recorded from that region, in the pi-incipal works treating of this 

 class of animals. 



In accordance with the instructions of the late Prof Ch. Fred. 

 Hartt, as chief of the Brazilian Survey, collections of marine animals 

 Avere made at all the sea-coast localities visited by the assistants of 

 the survey, in the course of their geological explorations. The inten- 

 tion was to procure material from as many points as possible, to 

 serve for the study of the geographical distribution of the several 

 species. But the limited time available for zoological work usually 

 rendered it impossible to collect other than the larger and commoner 

 species, the majority of which, at least in the class of Echinoderms, 

 had already been noticed by other travelers, as occurring on the 

 Brazilian coast. Comparatively few additions were therefore made 

 to the previously known Echinoderm-fauna of Brazil, only a single 

 species, a Leptasterias, being with certainty new to science. One 

 important result of these researches, however, was the more careful 

 determination of the range and exact habitats of many of the spe- 

 cies, and this, together with the fact that no complete list of the 

 Brazilian Echinoderms has yet been published, has been deemed a 

 sufficient reason for the preparation of the present list. 



Except in a few instances, lists of synonymy have been omitted ; 

 the authority is always given for the occurrence of the species at the 

 localities recorded — in the cases of the Geological Commission and 

 the Hartt Expeditions it is the name of the collector, otherwise 

 generally the publisher. Mr. Alex. Agassiz's "Revision of the 

 Echini" is taken as the sole authority for all the localities given in 

 the list of that group, excepting where the species were also collected 

 on the private expeditions of Prof. Hartt, or by the Geological Com- 

 mission. The other authorities used throughout the paper will be 

 understood by reference to the list of bibliography which precedes 



Tbans. Conk. Acad., Vol. V. 18 Juxe, 1879. 



