■32 QjuUetin of the Jhatural History Society. 
standing as it were on tiptoe, so that the ramilications of the arms form 
a kind of trellis work all around it, reaching to the ground, while the 
disk forms a roof. In this living house with latticed walls small 
fishes and other animals are occasionally seen to take shelter; but woe 
to tlie little shrimp or fish who seeks refuge there, if he be of such a 
size as to offer his host a tempting mouthful.” It is often brought up 
by the fishermen on their lines and nets, but owing to its living only in 
very cold water, it is very difficult to keep it alive. Hence little is known 
of its habits and nothing of its development. Whether it be viviparous or 
passes through a metamorphosis is uncertain, but certain points in its 
structure would seem to indicate the former. The youngest stage ever 
found had a single fork in the arm, and resembled otherwise a young 
OphiophoUs aculeata. 
FAMII.Y OPHIURIDA:. 
With simple unbranched arm.^ (uid ventral plates to the amhnlacral grooves. 
3. Ophiacantlia bidentata, (Retzius), 1<juxgmax. 
Ophiacantha spinulosa, M. et T. (i>) etc. 
Deschiptton. (J) p. 93, (U) p. 68. 
Figure. (F) pi. I]., (U) pi. IV. 
Distribution, {a) General;— Ten to below one thousand 
fathoms. South of Cape Cod to the Arctic Ocean, North 
Atlantic to Norway and Spitzbergen. 
(b) hi N. B. waters; — Grand Manan, coralline zone, shelly 
bottoms, sparingly, Stimpson, (D). Bay of Fundy, four or five 
miles off the eastern end of Campobello, 100 to 125 fathoms, 
mud and broken shells, Verrill, (N). Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
abundant in 100 to 250 fathoms, as well as in shallow water, 
Whit eaves, (P). 
This is a “Syrtensian” rather than an “Acadian” species, and 
hence rarely met with in our shallow waters. It has been very appro- 
priately named “ spinulosa,” for both disk and arms fairly bristle with 
spines. The disk, which is from one-third to one-half an inch in 
diameter, is evenly covered both above and below with .short, stout 
cylinders, each of which ends in Ji rounded crown of fine thorns. The 
mouth has six or seven papilhe to each of its angles. The arms are 
between four and five times as long as the diameter of the disk. The 
side arm plates are large, meeting both above and below along the 
whole length of the arm ; the upper arm-plates show a small triangular, 
and the lower a squarish or shield-shaped portion. Each side arm- 
plate bears about seven long, slender, tapering spines. 
