758 eepoet — 1884. 



Relieved to derive their origin from a common parent, have attained their habitats 

 ■without any connecting influence as far as we can determine. 



Mons. A. Certes says that he took some carefully collected sediment, from which 

 he evaporated the water, and kept for three years ; he then heated the material with 

 boiled and filtered rain water. 



On the following day, notwithstanding all care had been taken to keep out germs 

 from the air, specimens of Flagellata and Ciliata exhibited themselves, and two 

 months later, nauplius-like forms appeared, which rapidly increased, and later 

 assumed the form of Artemia salina. 



Life being so long persistent in animals so high in organic structure is suggestive 

 that, under more favourable conditions, others still higher might retain their vitality 

 for a longer time than is generally believed, and that wading birds may be the 

 means of carrying mud in which small crustacea, such as Atoydea, may have been 

 encased with their ova, and so have transferred to a considerable distance the speci- 

 mens of a distant locality. 



One of the most abundant of specific forms is that of the genus AtyhfPiis, in 

 which I include those congeners that have been separated from it, more for the 

 convenience of classification than on account of any structural value. 



It contains twenty recognised species, and, with the exception of one single 

 instance, they have all been taken within a depth of fifty fathoms of water. 

 They are mostly recovered from muddy bottoms, but they are frequently found 

 sheltered among masses of sponge or coral. From their peculiar habitat, and the 

 protected condition of their eyes, I am induced, to believe that they burrow 

 beneath the surface of the mud. 



They are mostly inhabitants of the warm seas, abounding in tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions, becoming more scarce in the temperate, and gradually disappearing 

 towards the cold temperate and Antarctic regions. One species, that of Bctcms 

 truncatus, is recorded from Cape Horn, where it was dredged in about ten fathoms 

 of water. With this exception none has been observed farther south than New 

 Zealand, or 50° of 8. latitude, or farther north than the English Channel, or 52° of 

 N. latitude. 



They are essentially a sub-littoral form, for the instances of their having been 

 taken beyond twenty fathoms of water are tew, and those are suggestive of a doubt- 

 ful record. 



Alphrpus avarus is twice recorded in the ' Challenger ' collection as having been 

 taken off the coast of New Holland — once at a depth of eight fathoms, and once 

 at 2,675 fathoms. 



I cannot conclude this short sketch of the habits and range of some of the more 

 common and abundant species of prawns without noting: that of a minute swimming 

 specimen that is called, in 'Bell's History of the British Crustacea,' T/iasanojjoda 

 Oouchii. 



In the spring of the year this little creature, scarcely three-quarters of an inch 

 in length, appears in great abundance in the English Channel a short distance 

 beneath the surface of the sea ; myriads come pouring in from the Atlantic. 



These, which are mostly laden with ova, are of a slightly yellowish colour, and 

 semitransparent ; following these the herring comes ravenously on, and devours all 

 it meets with ; after the herring swim larger fish, which, in their turn, are chased 

 by others. The geographical distribution of the more minute crustacea guides and 

 limits that of the more important animal, and the study of the former will un- 

 doubtedly add much to our knowledge of the latter, and teach us that much of 

 our own position in the world is dependent upon the existence and the condition 

 of life of other animals, which, from our want of knowledge of them and their 

 habits, we are accustomed to regard as unimportant and insignificant. 



2. On the Geographical and Bathymetrical Distribution of the Crinoidea. 

 By P. Herbert Carpenter, D.Sc. 



The geographical distribution of the Crinoids is fully as extensive as that of 

 the other echinoderms. Comatulse range between the two parallels of 81° N. and 



