'BB'Li,—Echinoderms collected by the 8S. " Fingal.'" 521 



there, too, the range of variation is not limited to colour,^ or to the 

 characters of the spines. 



The experience of recent deep-sea dredgers that species which 

 are said to be inhabitants of shallow water are to be found some 

 way beyond the 100 fathom line is repeated here ; so that not only 

 is there extension of knowledge as to range of variation in structure, 

 but as to distribution also. To those who, like myself, are desirous 

 to learn more about so-called known forms than to produce new 

 species from the vasty deep, such a collection as the present offers 

 many attractions. 



Since the appearance of my two earlier contributions^ to our 

 knowledge of the fauna of the deep water off the Irish Coast, 

 Mr. W. Percy Sladen has published^ a report on a collection, which 

 is regarded as very rich in new species, made in 1888 by a Committee 

 appointed by the Royal Irish Academy ; these new species were all 

 from 750 fathoms, and some are to be found in the collection en- 

 trusted to me. These earlier papers will allow me to pass rapidly 

 over most of the species now to be enumerated. 



I. — HOLOTHURIOIDE A. 



ISynapta digitata, Mont. 



Roundstone Bay, Connemara, 5 fms. (St. 28) ; Killybegs, Co. 

 Donegal (St. 51) shallow water. 



Psolus, sp. juv. 



From 500 fms. 45 miles N.N.W. of Black Eock, mouth of 

 Blacksod Bay, Co. Mayo (St. 201). 



This is, I think, the first time this genus has been recorded off 

 the west coast of Ireland, but it has been found in Shetland and 

 on the east coast. Canon Norman would, I think, name them the 

 young of P. phantapus ; their resemblance to P. FabHcii is, how- 

 ever, too striking for me to commit myself altogether to his view 

 without further knowledge than I at present possess. 



* The variation in colour was first noticed by Prof. Alex. Agassiz, "varying from a 

 dark claret to a grayish pink colour." — Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Cambridge, Mass. 

 VIII., p. 74. 



2 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. iv. 1889, p. 432; and Jour. Marine Biol. Assoc. 

 1890, p. 324. 



i* Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. i. 1891, p. 687. 



