304 SUBANTARCnC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. [Echinoderms. 



examination of it and of other specimens in my collection I am unable to detect any 

 difTerence, except perhaps that of size, between it and the well-known Atlantic species 

 as described by Bell and Lyman (1865) in considerable detail. The arms of the type 

 are now imperfect, but the diameter of the disc is 4 mm., and this agrees with other 

 individuals, though some are smaller. There is, however, one apparent difference : 

 Hutton says of his species that there is " a single broad tentacle scale " ; in reality 

 there are two small scales, the distal one being, no doubt, the " blunt tooth on the 

 latero-anterior margin " of the under arm-plate (Hutton). 



It was not unnatural for Hutton to create a new species for this New Zealand 

 Amphiura, as at the time he wrote he was probably unacquainted with Lyman's 

 record of A. squamata at Chili, or, indeed, in the southern seas ; and he would not 

 suspect the occurrence of a British species on our shores. Farquhar recorded it, 

 as A. elegnns, from Gisborne, in 1898 ; while Ludwig (1899) examined specimens 

 which were gathered at Gisborne and sent to him by Mr. Suter, and found no difference 

 between them and the European form. He had apparently been in doubt as to the 

 validity of Farquhar's identification, which he thus confirmed. 



Of the three specimens collected by me during this expedition, two measure, 

 respectively, R = 10 mm., r = 2 mm. ; R = 7 mm., r = 1-25 mm. The third is 

 about the size of the last, but the arms are injured. 



Locality. — Auckland Island, Carnley Harbour ; shore and 2 fathoms (W. B. B.). 



Distribution. — New Zealand ; Mediterranean ; North Atlantic ; Brazil ; Cape 

 of Good Hope; south-east Australia (" Challenger "); Chili (Lyman) ; Gough Island 

 (Koehler). 



It is, thus, almost cosmopolitan, and is one of the very few Echinoderms that 

 afford any evidence in support of the bipolar theory. It occurs, as Ludwig has pointed 

 out, both in the Arctic and the Antarctic seas ; but this is probably explicable, as 

 suggested by Ludwig, on the view that it has been conveyed on the bottoms of 

 trading-ships from its home in the Atlantic and Mediterranean to the various 

 localities at which it has been recorded. 



IIL ECHINOIDEA. 



Fam. ECHINIDAE. 

 Echinus, Linnaeus, 1758. 

 Echinus margaritaceus, Lamarck, 1816. 



This species is recorded by Filhol as having been obtained by dredging in Per- 

 severance Harbour, opposite Point Terror (p. 572). 



Although this species has been included in the New Zealand fauna (see Farquhar, 

 Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 1898, p. 320), yet, so far as I can ascertain, there are no 

 specimens of it in any of the collections in the Dominion. I have referred to this 

 matter in my account of E. angulosus (see " Report on Echinoderms " in Sci. Results 

 Trawl. Exp. "Nora Niven"). I hesitate to suggest that Filhol has made some error 

 here, but no specimen of this or, indeed, any other Echinid was obtained during 

 our expedition. 



It was recorded by Bell from the winter quarters of the " Discovery," and is 

 apparently a circumpolar species ; but it appears to^live in deep water, so that its 

 absence from our collection during this expedition is not surprising. 



