Scaphechinus mirabilis Agassiz, 1863 is a widely distributed sand dollar in Japan. We observed early development of this species based on the specimens from Etajima Island, Hiroshima Prefecture. Our study revealed that S. mirabilis is a good teaching material for observing early development by the following features: the jelly coat with reddish-purple pigment spots, showing to enable the observation of the jelly coat without Indian ink; the fertilization membrane is clearly observed; and the blastomeres separate clearly, showing the observation of the cleavage is easy.