82 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
of sea urchins could be placed in the breeding season, where 
they would be in their natural habitat and the larve could pass 
through their pelagic development without the invasion of preda- 
tory fish. Dr. Job also believes that it 1s possible to discriminate 
between the sexes of this species by means of external features. 
He advocates that certain. large beds be protected by a closed 
season every alternate year, thus allowing them a biennial sea- 
son for recuperation. There is no doubt that this sea-egg is a 
valuable food product, being exceedingly nutritious and quite 
palatable; and it is now the basis of an industry of no mean 
proportion, and might by judicial legal and scientific encour- 
agement be greatly enlarged, much to the advantage of our 
friends, the Barbadians. A laboratory for the scientific imves- 
tigation of the problem of protection, based on a better knowl- 
edge of the life history of the species, could easily be established 
in one of the unused buildings on Pelican Island, and this 
could be done at very small expense and pay for itself many 
times over in a rational control and encouragement of the in- 
dustry. 
My own limited experience with the sea-egg as a food would 
indicate that it is quite palatable and doubtless nourishing; but 
too concentrated to make it wise to partake of it in quantities. 
The natives, however, who eat it raw seem to feel no impulse 
to restrict themselves and apparently suffer no ill effects. 
Still more conspicuous is another sea-urchin known as the 
‘‘black sea-egg’’ and called Centrechinus antillarum by Dr. 
Clark. I feel, however, like entering a protest against abandon- 
ing the firmly established name of Diadema for this genus, and 
believe that it is one of the cases where long and practically 
universal usage establishes a just claim against an obscure 
priority. : 
No one goes bathing or into the water for any purpose in this 
region without being warned against the danger of being 
wounded by the cruel black spines of this ubiquitous sea-urchin. 
It is found almost everywhere in shallow water, both on sandy 
and rocky bottom. Its habit of partly or whelly concealing 
itself in depressions in the rocks or under the edges of coral 
heads makes it all the more dreaded by bathers, divers and 
fishermen. The spines are slender as needles and sometimes at- 
