66 University of California Publications in Zoology. [Vol. 6 



ical research to require the remark that such-and-such a eon- 

 elusion holds "at least so far as concerns such-and-such an 

 animal or plant", that it seems as if the taxonomic standpoint 

 will sooner or later have to he taken seriously into account in 

 all researches whatever. 



Halocynthia {('iinthi<i \ haustor Stimp. is one of the most 

 abundant species of aseidian in Puget Sound. The original de- 

 scription of it by Stimpson ( '64) being inadequate, von Drasche 

 ('84) re-described and figured it in much .greater detail. Herd- 

 man ('98) testified to the general accuracy of von Drasche's de- 

 scription and added some observations of his own. Examination 

 of numerous specimens from the Sound carried on in connection 

 with the preparation of this paper modifies somewhat the pub- 

 lished descriptions, hut in no wise impairs the validity of the 

 species. //. hut/star has consequently a secure place in science. 



In San Diego Bay. in Wilmington, or San Pedro Bay. and 

 at various other points on the coast of Southern California as 

 far north at least as Point Conception, occurs abundantly an 

 aseidian so closely resembling II. liaustor that the innumerable 

 specimens taken during the last ten years, particularly in San 

 Diego and Wilmington hays, appear under labels bearing this 

 specific name. However, recent thoroughgoing study of the 

 southern animals, as also of the northerners, reveals the fact 

 that they are sufficiently different to require different designa- 

 tions. The southern one I consequently name Halocynthia john- 

 smii after Miss .Myrtle Johnson, one of my students, hut for 

 whose dissections and sketches no such extensive examination 

 of the structure and variation of the species would have been 

 practicable. 



The great abundance and ready accessibility of the species 

 along with its hardiness will, in all probability, make it a favor- 

 able subject for future special investigations. I have thought 

 it desirable, partly on this account, to deal with the species con- 

 siderably more fully than under prevailing conditions it is cus- 

 tomary, or perhaps altogether convenient, to do in the original 

 record of a new species. 



The species undoubtedly flourishes best in shallow, land- 

 locked waters. Nowhere has it been found in more than strag- 



