HOLOTHURIOIDEA. 189 



it has been kept for several months in a solution of formol, it is by no means safe to 

 attach importance to this fact. 



There is a slight disagreement in the arrangement of the pedicels. Sluiter's 

 specimen had five well-marked series of pedicels, those on the trivium consisting of 

 five or six rows, and those mi the bivium of two or three rows. But the smaller 

 number of pedicels on the Ceylon specimen may be explained by the fact that it is 

 evidently much younger, being only one-fifth the size. 



There is also a slight difference of colour. The pedicels of Sluiter's specimen were 

 red ; those of the Ceylon specimen were a " deep yellow." This is probably of no 

 importance. 



This species is now recorded from Ceylon for the first time. Its known distribution 

 is Aril Islands and Ceylon. 



Cucumaria turbinata (Hutton), Plate I., figs. 2-6. 

 Labidodesmus turbinata, Hutton (3), 1878. 



One specimen from Gulf of Manaar (Stn. VI.), 6 to U fathoms. 



Hutton described this species under the name Labidodesmus turbinata, but Theel, 

 in his " Challenger" report, places it in the genus Cucumaria, with the remark that a 

 re-description of the animal is necessary. 



fSo far as I can ascertain from Hutton's scanty description, the Ceylon specimen is 

 identical with his New Zealand species, the type specimen of which is now in the 

 British Museum. Professor Herdman has kindly examined for me the British 

 Museum specimen, and compared it with my description and drawings of the Ceylon 

 specimen, and was convinced that both belong to the same species. As Hutton, in 

 his description, said nothing about deposits, Professor F. Jeffrey Bell kindly allowed 

 me to examine a small piece of the skin of the British Museum specimen. I found 

 that there were no deposits present, but since the specimen has been preserved for 

 25 years, it is by no means safe to conclude that the skin of the living animal was 

 devoid of calcareous spicules. I am now, therefore, able to supply what Theel stated 

 was necessary, namely, a re-description of Hutton's species. 



The following is a description of the Ceylon specimen, which I believe to be that 

 species : 



Length, 25 millims. Greatest width, 12 millims. 



The colour of the spirit specimen is dark brown on the bivium, and lighter brown 

 on the trivium. The body (Plate I., fig. 6) is widest at the middle, and at the 

 anterior end tapers into a cylindrical neck which is about one-third of the length of 

 the body. At the posterior end the body suddenly contracts and ends in a point at 

 the anus. 



The New Zealand specimen ends in a " short pointed tail " at the posterior end. 

 There is no actual process or " tail " in the Ceylon specimen, but it is not inconceivable 



