130 



CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. 



Cucumaria pulcherrima (Ay res) 

 Plate XXXII, figs. 2 to 6. 



[Bull. 



FIG. 22. Cucumaria pulcherrima. Specimen preserved in alcohol, 

 showing ambulacral areas and arrangement of tube-feet (pedicels). 

 Five times natural size. 



This pretty little holothurian, formerly known as Pentamera 

 pulcherrima, has been collected at many localities from Vineyard 

 Sound to South Carolina, although very few specimens have been 

 taken from their natural habitat. Living animals are rarely 

 found even in systematic dredging. In certain localities, how- 

 ever, considerable numbers are washed up on the beach after 

 hard storms. Most of the specimens in collections have been 

 secured in this way. The species has been dredged at least once 

 in Vineyard Sound, although in very thorough dredgings in the 

 same region during several subsequent years no specimens were 

 secured. In the very locality where large numbers of individuals 

 have been washed up on the beach during the winter, systematic 

 search by means of dredgings on the bottoms off shore the 

 following summer were without success. It has been found on 

 the beach after severe storms at several localities on the Con- 

 necticut shore. Among the seaweed thrown up by the waves on 

 the rocky points both east and west of New Haven, the species 

 has been found repeatedly during the colder months of the year. 



In the harbor of Beaufort, North Carolina, the species occurs 

 near low-water mark in muddy localities where there is a growth 



