DEXAMINE SPINOSA, 
239 
the British Museum, while Amp. Marionis is in the 
Museum of the Jardin des Plantes. We have carefully 
examined both specimens, and have not a doubt but 
that they belong to one species. Montagu took his 
specimen at Tor Cross, on the Devonshire coast, whilst 
Milne-Edwards obtained his from the shores of Brittany ; 
and we have received it also from the coast of Nor- 
mandy, from our old and esteemed friend Mr. J. 
Gwynn Jeffreys. To give a list of the habitats of this 
species is to catalogue the localities searched by all our 
valued correspondents. Suffice it to say that we have 
obtained it from almost every place, from the Shetlands 
in the north, to the English Channel in the south ; and 
Mr. Jeffreys has also sent it to us from the coast of 
Italy; so that, at the depth of a few fathoms of water, 
it appears to be very generally distributed along the 
coast line of Western Europe. 
It is a prettily-coloured species, being brilliant red, 
speckled with darker spots of the same colour, when 
first taken from the sea. Specimens taken nearer the 
shore are generally of a darker and less bright tint, 
obtaining a stain of blue, which deprives them of that 
beauty which specimens from the deeper water exhibit. 
We have observed this variation of colour in other 
species under similar change of conditions. 
