Ascidians of the Bermudas

The ascidians of the Bermuda islands have already been described by Van Name (1902) and a revision published by the same author in 1921 under the title "The Ascidian Fauna of the West Indies." In view of this the present paper is confined to a brief account of the fauna as a whole, a description of several new species, and a few notes upon certain other forms. The ascidians of the Bermudas are almost identical, species for species, with those of the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, and there is little doubt that, together with the bulk of the Bermuda fauna, they have been carried there from those regions by the west Atlantic drift. Like ascidians throughout the world, their habitat is determined as a compromise between two factors, their ability to withstand waveaction and exposure, and their need for a good flow of well oxygenated water. They may accordingly be divided into three groups, those to be found only under stones, those attached to the upper surfaces of stones, or to various corals and sea-fans, and those found beyond the outer reefs.