I. '08. 74 



Size.—Sav^ (1885) records an example of 83 mm. 



Colour in life. — Sars (1885) states that freshly caught speci- 

 mens are of an exceedingly vivid and hrilliant blood red colour. 

 The ocular pigment is opaque white, and the antennal flagella 

 exhibit at their base more or less distinctly alternating trans- 

 verse bands. 



All the examples of this species found off the Irish coast 

 are very small, measuring only 10 to 29 mm. in length ; they 

 nevertheless agree very closely with the description of the 

 adult given above. In the very smallest specimens the teeth 

 on the rostrum are few in number or wholly obsolete and 

 only a single series of gills— pleurobranchs — are apparent. 

 The ocular papilla, a rather conspicuous feature in the adult, 

 is still more evident in these young individuals. 



General distribution. — Hymenodora glacialis was first de- 

 sciibed from a specimen found floating on the surface off the 

 East Coast of Greenland. Sars (1885) recorded the species 

 from the collections made by the Norwegian North Atlantic 

 Expedition from many stations between lat. 63° and 80° N. 

 and between Greenland and Spitzbergen, and it was again 

 found in the same area by the Swedish Arctic Expedition 

 (Ohlin). The Danish-Ingolf Expedition collected numerous 

 examples near Jan Mayen and Iceland (Hansen). The species 

 has been taken in the Faroe Channel (Norman), and frag- 

 ments of a single specimen which may almost certainly be 

 referred to this species were obtained in the Bay of 

 Biscay (Kemp). In the West Atlantic the species has 

 been found between lat. 35° 45' and 40° 26' N. and between 

 long. 67° and 74° 36' W. (Smith). In the Pacific it has been 

 recorded from the Bering Sea and Alaska (Rathbun) and from 

 the Gulf of California, the Gulf of Panama and the Ecuador 

 coast (Faxon). 



I have examined a specimen caught by the Thor at the fol- 

 lowing locality : — 



10/8/'06. — 49° 27' N., 13° 33' W. Soundings 1420 

 fathoms. Midwater trawl, 0-1,550 fathoms — One, 12 

 mm. 



Irish disirihutiou. — This species has been found off the west 

 coast of Ireland on the follow^ing occasions : — 



Helga. 



S.R. 139— 11/8 /'04.— 55° 0' N., 10° 48' W. Soundings f^ooo 

 fathoms. Triangle net, 0-1,000 fathoms. Surface 

 temperature 14-6° C, at 800 fathoms 7 0° C— Three, 

 13-25 mm. 



S.R. 224— 12/5 /'05.— 53° T N., 15° 6' W. Soundings 860 fathoms. 

 Midwater trawl, 0-750 fathoms — Thirteen, 10-15 mm. 



SR. 231— 20/5 /'05.— 55° V N., 10° 45' W, Soundings 1,200 

 fathoms. Midwater trawl, 0-1,150 fathoms — Fourteen, 

 15-29 mm. 



