188 CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



Deposits : The anchor arms are not always symmetrically placed. They are 

 slightly serrated. The anchor handles are strongly serrated. The anchor plate is 

 perforated irregularly the arrangement differing in different plates. There are 

 several larger holes with serrated margins, and also several smaller smooth holes. 

 There is no handle to the plate. There are also a number of short rods scattered 

 throughout the skin, having a small hole at each end. 



Neither this nor the preceding species can possihly belong to any of the species 

 previously recorded from Ceylon, viz., S. striata, S. recta, S. grisea, and & beselii, 

 and in their spicules they seem to differ from all known species of the genus. 

 Consequently, they probably both of them represent new species, but they are too 

 fragmentary to be descrihed. 



Order: ACTINOPODA. 

 Family : DENDROCHIROT.E. 



Cucumaria tricolor, Sluiter (15). 



One specimen from near Donnan's Paar (Stu. LX.), Gulf of Manaar, 28 fathoms. 



Length of body, 30 millims. 



The following is a description of the colour of the living animal as noted by 

 Professor Herdman : "The interambulacra are violet-purple, and the ambulacra 

 appear as light yellow bands, on which are situated pedicels of a deeper yellow." 

 There are also a couple of sketches in the notes which agree with Sluiter's figures 

 and show the characteristic form of body. 



The body is curved so that the anus is thrown on to the dorsal surface, thus making 

 the trivium longer than the bivium. The pedicels on the trivium are arranged in 

 three well-defined series, each series being composed of two or three rows. The 

 pedicels on the bivium are not so easily determined, and only on careful examination 

 can an irregular and feebly marked single row of scattered pedicels be distinguished 

 on each side of the dorsum. 



The mouth, which is terminal, is surrounded by five very prominent rows ol 

 protuberances which terminate the five ambulacra of the body. These prominences, 

 of which there are three in each row, do not appear to be tube feet, but are more 

 probably papilla). The anus is armed with five teeth, and is surrounded by four 

 papilla? similar to those surrounding the mouth. Gonads are not present. 

 No deposits were found in the skin. 



The calcareous ring is small and consists of ten pieces, without any posterior 

 prolongations. It agrees with Sluiter's drawing. 



The only serious difference between Sluiter's description and the above is with 

 regard to the calcareous deposits. The Ceylon specimen has no deposits ; but since 



