Position of the 1 Bulldog ' Ophiurans. 383 
deep-water forms from the neighbouring seas, in order to 
obtain evidence regarding the method of the continuity of 
the Arctic shallow-water forms over such a vast extent of area 
as some possess. 
Dr. Wallich granted my request for an examination of his 
treasures at once, and has been good enough to permit me to 
anatomize one of his specimens. My examination of the well- 
preserved little Ophiuran has not only satisfied a very reason¬ 
able curiosity to know what the genus and species of this 
firstfruits of the deep might be, but it has explained the pre¬ 
sence of a well-known species, which is celebrated for its 
variability, on both sides of the North Atlantic. 
The Ophiuran sent to me by my friend from 1260 fathoms, 
lat. 59° 27' N., long. 20° 41' W. (collected Oct. 1860), belongs 
to the genus Ophiacantha , Miill. & Trosch.; and on comparing 
it with specimens from Maine, Norway, and Smith’s Sound, 
there is no doubt that it must be classified under the species 
spinulosa of the authors of the genus. 
Ophiacantha spinulosa , Miill. & Trosch. (Syst. Asterid. 
p. 107), is a handsome Ophiurid so far as its geometrically 
shaped oral structures are concerned; and it has more striking 
minute beauties, some of which are very well known, such, 
for instance, as the microscopic structure of the spinules of 
the disk. But it follows the law of all widely distributed 
species, and it varies considerably according to locality ; and 
when it is known that the bathymetrical range varies from 
16 fathoms in Smith’s Sound, through intermediate depths 
elsewhere, to probably 90 fathoms, and that it grows to a con¬ 
siderable size at a depth of 1260 fathoms, this variability 
is not surprising. 
It is essentially a lover of cold water, and it flourishes in 
the icy regions of Franklin-Pierce Bay in shallow water, as 
well as in the low temperature of the ocean’s floor. So far 
as size is concerned, the disk of the deep-sea specimen mea¬ 
sures \ an inch in diameter, and the limbs are about 2 inches 
in length; and this is a greater dimension than is usual. 
Perhaps the crowds of Globigerina which crammed the inside 
of the deep-sea specimen, and which must have been there 
when it made its ambitious clasp, and were its usual food, 
account for the size. But it is difficult to explain what 
nourishment the smaller forms, from the very high latitudes, 
can derive from a mud with much crushed silica and but a 
very few Foraminifera in it. Thesfe had apparently a harder 
life than their deep-sea fellows, and their stomachs were fre¬ 
quently empty; and such is the condition of some of the 
Smith’s-Sound specimens. One might suggest that the mor- 
