[CEYLON PEARL OYSTER FISHERIES 1903 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORTS, No. III.] 



REPORT 



ON THE 



GEPHYREA 



COLLECTED BY 



Professor HEPDMAN, at CEYLON, in 1902. 



BY 

 ARTHUR E. SHIPLEY", 



FELLOW AND TUTOR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND UNIVERSITY LECTURER ON 

 THE ADVANCED MORPHOLOGY OF THE INVERTEBRATA. 



[With ONE PLATE.] 



The collection of Gephyrea, made in Ceylon by Professor Herdman during his 

 Expedition to inquire into the Pearl Fisheries of that Island, was small, but it contained 

 at least two specimens of great morphological and systematic interest. These two 

 specimens, obviously belonging to the same species, I have placed in a new genus 

 which I have called Centrosvphon, their nearest allies amongst the Sipunculoids being 

 Aspidosiphon and Cloeosiphon, and I have dedicated the species to its discoverer. The 

 collection also included many specimens of the coral Heteropsammia michelini, Ed. 

 and H., with its associated commensal Aspidosiphon corallicola, Sluit. There were 

 also specimens of the corals Heterocyathus aquicostatus, Ed. and H., and Stephanoseris 

 rousseaui, Ed. and H., which no doubt contain also their appropriate species of 

 Aspidosiphon. Further, there were three specimens of As. spiralis, Sluit., a single 

 specimen of As. steenstrupii, Dies., a single specimen of Cloeosiphon asperg ilium, 

 Qiiatr., a few specimens of three species of Physcosoma, and a fragment of a 

 Sipunculus. The Echiuroids were represented by a single specimen of Bonellia 

 pumicea, Sluit. 



SIPUNCULOIDEA. 



Aspidosiphon corallicola, Sluiter, Plate I., figs. 1, 2, 3, 11 and 12. 



A few specimens of this species, recently described by Sluiter,* were found 

 living in coiled tubes which penetrate the calcareous skeleton of the solitary coral 



* C. Ph. Sluiter, 'Pie Sipuneuliden and Echiuriden der Siboga-Expedition,' Leiden, 1902. 



