From the ANNALS AND MAG A /INK OK NATUKAL HISTORY, 

 Ser. 8, Vol. xix., May 1917. 



Occurrence of a llolothurian new to the Fauna of Bermuda. 



By W. J. CKOZIER. 



(Contributions from the Bermuda Biological Station for 

 liesearch. No. 61.) 



THE West-Indian affinities of the Bermudan fauna and flora 

 (Britton, 1912, p. 19 >) have been evident to every student 

 of these regions ; yet, as Pilsbry (1900, p. 494) remarks in 

 considering the Pulmonates, there is "abundant evidence of 

 what we call chance, or the rigorous selective action of an 

 over-sea journey, in the Bermudian assemblage." Con- 

 tinued collecting is disclosing- further additions to the marine 

 population in the shape of species identical with well-known 

 West-Indian forms *. In one such case, which is the subject 

 of this note, it seems to me that the addition may legiti- 

 mately be considered as of recent date. 



The pedate Holothurians of Bermuda waters have been 

 collected ever since 1883 by He.ilprin, Verrill, Clark (1901), 

 and others. Each of the five species previously reported 

 (Cucumaria punctata, SlicJwjnts iiiolni, Holothuria surinam- 

 ensis, II. capfiva, and //. rathlntui) is well represented in 

 the West-Indian area. Certain conspicuous Antillean types 

 have, however, been lacking in the Bermudan collections ; 

 Actinopyga and several species of Holotliuria are in this 

 category f. 



I have had occasion to examine with care several thousand 

 specimens of Sticliopus ntolni, Semp. with which, on super- 

 ficial examination, Aclinopyga might conceivably be con- 

 fused, and have, indeed, given particular attention to Holo- 

 tlmrians collected at many points in Bermuda. No unusual 

 specimens were observed until July 3, 1916, when there was 

 secured from a depth of about (! feet beneath low water, in 

 the channel entrance to Hungry Bay (on the exposed south 



* Among the Enteropneusta, for example, of which an illustrated 

 account is in course of preparation, at least two of the four or more 

 species which I have found occur also in the Bihnmas and at Jamaica, 

 as well (probably) as at other stations in the West Indies. 



t Of the five apodous species found here (Clark, 1907), only two 

 (Chirodota rotifera and Synapt.ula hi/driformis) are typically West- 

 Indian, while two others (Leptosynapta inhcerens and L. roseola) are 

 northern forms ; the remaining one (L. acanthia) appears to be peculiar 

 to the Bermudas. 



