IM.KlsnUKXK FOSSILS. 231 



PleistoeeiK' ( 'una lit, M. I ruiii'ifn is verv abuiulaiit, and 

 occurs at low watn in ilie sands, as M. ((rni(iri<i does 

 further south. It would seem also that it forms a laru'e 

 [>art of the foo(l of the walrus and other animals, and is 

 much used hy the inhabitants. It also ajijiears that a 

 small variety of M. (uriniria, with hrown e[)idermis, is 

 most connnon in Greenland, and occurs wilii Mjia /nuicata, 

 wliicii is, however, more ])lentiful. The desci'iption given 

 hy Fahricius of J/, (irviturid obviously an'rees with tliat of 

 my small and Ijrown variety from ]\Ietis. 



It is interesting to note the companionship of these 

 illied si)ecies in the Xorth Atlantic throughout the Tleis- 

 tocene and Moilern periods, and the range of varietal 

 forms a]»plicable to each, accortling to the conditions to 

 which thev have l)een e.\'i)osed, ahjngwith their continued 

 specific distinctness, and the preference of each for certain 

 kinds of environment, so that in some [)laces one, and in 

 others the other, pretlonunates, while this relative jnedo- 

 niinance, as well as the prevalence of certain \arietal 

 forms, nught no douljt Ijc reversed by change of climate 

 or of de})th. 



J/i/rt an iiaria. Limi. 



Fossil — Leda clay and lower part of Saxicava sand ; Moulreal ; 

 Upton ; (i)iiel)ec ; Murray IJay ; Labrador ; Duck cove and jjawlor'.s 

 lake, Now Brunswick (Matthew); Auticosti ; Goose River; New 

 Richmond; Tatagouchc River, N.li. (I'aisle}') ; (iardiner, Maine; 

 Upton, l*.Q. ; Portland, Maine ; (Ireenland (MoUer) ; also in the Post- 

 pliocene of I'^urope. 



Recent — Little Metis ; Rivicre-du-Loup, &c. Very al)undant 

 throughout the (Julf of St. Lawrence and coast of Nova Scotia and New 

 England, also Arctic seas generally. Mr. Jetl'reys eonsiilers it identi- 

 cal with M. Japoiiira. Jay This or allied in \V. America, P. P. C. 



In the (iulf this species grows to a large size ; I have a specimen five 

 inches long from (Jaspc ; but in the Post-pliocene it it^ small and often 

 of a short and rounded variety. This is especially the case inland, as 



