POSITION AND DISTRIBUTION OF SAGAKTIA LUCIiE. 733 



stated to occur at Woods Hole in 1898, and Verrill collected there 

 extensively during the period 1871-1887 without finding it. 

 Parker (1902) added to these data observations on its occurrence 

 at jSTevvport in 1895 and at Nahant in 1899, it having been 

 unknown in either of these localities before the dates mentioned, 

 and he also records its occurrence at Salem, Mass., in 1901, that 

 being apparently the northern limit of its distribution at that 

 time. The records brought together by Parker seem to show 

 clearly that the species has rapidly increased its distribution, at 

 first eastward and then northward, until in ten years after it 

 was first observed in Long Island Sound it had reached Salem. 

 I have nothing to add to these records, except to state that in 

 the summers of 1889 and 1890 I made special efforts to collect 

 representatives of all the Actinian species occurring in the Woods 

 Hole region and feel certain that, if Sagartia lucice had occurred 

 in that locality at that time in any considerable numbers, 

 I could not have failed, as I did, to find it. 



But whence did it come to Long Island Sound ? Verrill 

 suggests that it might have been brought from farther south on 

 the shells of oysters that, were annually brought north in large 

 quantities and deposited in the waters of the Sound, and this 

 possibility seems to find support in the following observations. 

 In 1 887 I described as Sagartia pitstulata a form found on dead 

 shells in shallow water in the vicinity of Beaufort, IST.C. Its 

 specific name was suggested by the appearance given to the 

 column by the longitudinal and circular furrows that beset it, an 

 appearance that may frequently be observed in living examples 

 of S. lucice, which form it also resembled in its coloration, 

 except that the orange stripes of the column were lacking. This 

 may seem an important difference, but vindoubted individuals of 

 S. lucice without the characteristic stripes have been observed 

 (Davenport, 1903; Walton, 1908). Unfoi'tunately my prepara- 

 tions of S . picstulcotcc are unsatisfactory and the preserved material 

 has long since disappeared, so that I cannot determine the extent 

 of its similarity to /S'. lucice. This much, however, is certain, it 

 has no sphincter ; but there were only slight indications of the 

 fosse, and it was not possible to determine the arrangement of 

 the mesenteries. The points of resemblance shown by the two 

 forms suggest their identity, but further observations are 

 necessary to establish this and with it the extension of the 

 distribution of the species so far to the south. 



But the story of the distribution is far from being completed 

 with the consideration of the west coast of the North Atlantic. 

 Walton (1908) has placed on record the discovery at Plymouth 

 in 1896 of a form Avhich Mrs. Davenport later identified with 

 ■S. lucice. Previous to the date mentioned it had not been found 

 in that locality, notwithstanding the extensive collections that 

 had been made there, and from the Millbay Docks, where it was 

 first observed, it has extended throughout the entire harbour and 

 is now one of the common forms inhabiting the district. The 



