Ib86.] PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 255 CATALOGUE OF THE COLLECTION OP RECENT ECHINI IN THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM (CORRECTED TO JULY 1, 1886). By RICHAKD RATIIBUIV. INTRODUCTION. The following catalogue is published for a twofold purpose. First, in order to secure a permanent record of the species and sijecimens of Echini contained in the U. S. National Museum, which have now, with few exceptions, been completely identified and labeled; and second, to i^resent in convenient form for reference such data as that collection affords respecting the distribution of the numerous members of that group. The National Museum collection of Echini is second, in this country, only to that of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Harvard Col-lege, both in size and comprehensiveness, but we have no means of comparing it with European collections, although it is probably ex-celled by few, if any, in the old world. It "now contains 152 species that have been determined, but many species are represented by large series of specimens, covering a wide range of distribution, both geo-graphical and bathymetrical, and thus affording excellent opportunities for the study of variation under different conditions of environment. The materials composing this collection have been derived from many sources, aiid credit is given in the list to all contributors, but a few of these are deserving of special mention. The most important coutributious liave been made by the U. S. Fish Commission, beginning in 1871 and continuing down to date. The explorations of this Commission have extended along the eastern coast of North America, from the Grand Bank of Newfoundland to the northern coast of South America, and from the littoral zone into the deepest water yet recorded off the Atlantic coast of the United States. At the south, they have covered a large part of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, including the shores of several of the West Indian Islands and the Bahamas. Interesting specimens from the fishing banks of Eastern North America have been received, through the Commis-sion, from the Gloucester fishermen, many of whom were constantly engaged in making collections in its behalf, from 1878 to 1880, Not all of the Echini collected by the Fish Commission have yet been turned over to the Museum, but representatives of nearly all the species obtained and the bulk of the specimens have already been sent in. The number of species with which the Commission is credited on the following pages is 54. Of the interesting deep-sea collections made by the U. S. Coast Survey steamer Blake, under the supervision of Mr. Alexander Agassiz, off the eastern coast of the United States, and in the Gulf of Mexico and
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