408 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



curved rods with expanded or branching ends. 

 Type: Museum of Comparative Zoology. Type 

 locahty: Near Key West, Florida. Distribution: 

 From Key West northward and westward to Horn 

 Island, Mississippi. The type specimens were 

 dug out in a sandy mud flat in a mangrove key. 

 The other specimens found in the Gulf have 

 unfortunately all been preserved in formalin so 

 the spicules are partly destroyed. A large series 

 of this species and the foregoing is most desirable 

 as they appear to me to be rather closely related 

 and possibly represent different age stages. 



Genus 4 PROTANKYRA Oestergren, 1898 

 Protankyra brychia (Verrill) 



Synapta brychia Verrill, 1885, p. 539. 



Protankyra brychia Oestergren, 1898, p. 116; Deichmann, 

 1940, p. 229, pi. 41, figs. 1-.3. 



Synapta abyssicola Th^el, 1886, p. 14, pi. 1, fig. 11; 

 Deichmann, 1930, p. 210. 



Diagnosis. — Medium-sized form, 10 cm. long 

 up to 1 cm. in diameter. Tentacles 12, with 2 

 pairs of digits. Color dark yellowish with reddish 

 pigment on oral side of tentacle base. Spicules 

 large anchors, 0.7 to 1.0 mm. long with branched 

 handle. Anchor plates with numerous dentate 

 holes and a bridge or an irregular network. 

 No accessory miliary grains. Type: United 

 States National Museum. Type locality: Off 

 Cape Hatteras, at 938 fathoms. Distribution: 

 Eastern and western Atlantic, including Gulf of 

 Mexico. From 800 to 1,000 fathoms. 



Usually, fragments are all that one gets of this 

 mud-loving species. Although it is rather in- 

 completely known it seems certain that the 

 differences listed between Verrill 's and Theel's 

 species are within the limit of a variation which 

 one must expect. 



Lugwig's variety of abyssicula from the Pacific 

 Ocean which H. L. Clark gave specific rank can 

 undoubtedly be withdrawn as the presence or 

 absence of teeth on the anchors is the result of 

 age and not a constant character. 



Family 2 CHIRIDOTIDAE 



Genus 1 CHIRIDOTA Eschscholtz, 1829 



Chiridota rotifera (Pourtales) 



Synapta rotifera Pourtalfo, 1851, p. 15. 

 Chiridota rotifera, H. L. Clark. 1907, p. 1 15; Deichmann, 

 1930, p. 212; 1938, p. 136. 



Diagnosis. — About 5 cm. long, occasionally 10 

 cm. with 12 (13-14) tentacles with 4 to 7 pairs of 



digits; numerous wheel papillae with wheels of 

 varying size diameter, 0.1 to 0.2 mm.; curved rods 

 thinly scattered. Viviparous. Type: Lost. 

 Type locality: Biscayne Bay, Florida. Distribu- 

 tion: Known to range from Brazil, Trinidad to 

 Bermuda, and also Tortugas, Florida. 



According to Pourtales it occurs "among 

 interstices of the branches of a coral which occurs 

 on shoals in Biscayne Bay," and from the findings 

 in Bermuda and Tortugas, etc., one can expect it 

 wherever broken corals and sand occur. Usually, 

 many specimens are found in one spot, and as 

 S. hydriformis, it is viviparous which Ludwig was 

 the first to notice (1881), while H. L. Clark (1910) 

 wrote an extensive report on its development. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



AscANius, P. and Rathke, J. 



1805. Icones rerum naturalium. Fasc. 1-5, pis. 1-50. 



Copenhagen. 

 Ayres, W. O. 



1854. Observation upon the holothurians of our coast. 



Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 4, p. 200. 

 Barrett, L. 



1857. Description of four new species of Echinodermata. 



Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 2, 20: 46-48, pi. 4. 

 Bell, F. J. 



1883. Studies in the Holothuroidea. II. Proc. Zoo! 



Soc. London, pp. 58-62, pi. 15. 

 Brandt, T. F. 



1835. Prodromus descriptionis animalium ab H. 



Mertensio in orbus terrarum circumnavigatione 



observatum. Fasc. 1, pp. 42-61. Petropolis. 

 Bronn, J. 



1860. Die Klassen und Ordnung. d. Thierreichs. 



Strahlenthiere, pp. I-XVI, 1-434. 

 Clark, H. L. 



1898. Synapta vivipara. Mem. Biol. Lab. Johns 



Hopkins Univ. 4 (2): 53-88, pis. 11-15. 

 1907. The apodous holothurians. Smithsonian Contr. 



35: 12-231, pis. 1-13. 

 1910. The development of an apodous holothurian 



{Chiridota rotifera). Jour. Exp. Zool. 9 (3): 496-516, 



6 figs. 

 1919. Distribution of the littoral echinoderms of the 



West Indies. Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 



281: 49-74, pis. 1-3. 

 1922. The holothurians of the genus Stichopus. Bull. 



Mus. Comp. Zool. 65 (3) : 39-74, pis. 1-2. 

 1924. The Synaptinae. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 65 



(13): 457-501, pis. 1-12. 

 1933. A handbook of the littoral echinoderms of Porto 



Rico and the other West Indian Islands. Scientific 



Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, 16, 



Part 1, New York Acad. Sci., pp. 1-147, pis. 1-17. 

 1935. The Holothurians of the genus Caiidina. Ann. 



Mag. Nat. Hist. (10) 15: 267-284. 



