TROPICAL PACIFIC HOLOTHURIOTDEA. 



INTRODUCTION 



The number of holothurians collected by the Albatross on her Tropical 

 Pacific expeditions was not large and hence a single report is preferable. Those 

 taken in 1899-1900 were originally sent to Professor Mitsukuri at Tokyo and 

 he had made numerous notes, prepared many slides, and identified many of the 

 species before his failing health put an end to his work. Later the collection 

 was received at Cambridge. The collections of 1904-1905 were sent to Pro- 

 fessor Ludwig at Bonn but his death occurred before he had made any iden- 

 tifications and the material was forwarded to Cambridge in the spring of 1914. 



The earlier collection is a small one, consisting of only fifty-nine specimens, 

 representing sixteen species, and eleven are common, wide-spread Indo-Pacific 

 littoral forms. Of the remaining five, two appear to be species hitherto un- 

 known. 



Expedition 1899-1900 — List of Species — (New Species indicated by an *). 



Synapta maculata. Holothuria atra. 



Pseudocucumis africana. Holothuria diffieilis. 



Pelagothuria natatrix. Holothuria impatiens. 



*Peniagone bispiculata. Holothuria leucospilota. 



Peniagone vitrea. Holothuria monocaria. 



Euphronides verrucosa. Holothuria pardalis. 



*Mesothuria multipora. Holothuria scabra. 



Stichopus chloronotus. Actinopyga mauritiana. 



The collection of 1904-1905 is a much larger and more interesting one, con- 

 taining 218 specimens of forty-three species, of which eleven are described as 

 new and only a dozen are well-known littoral forms. There are also half a 

 dozen additional specimens, which owing to their condition are quite unidenti- 

 fiable ; they seem to represent three species of Elpidiidae ; one is probably refer- 

 able to Euphronides while the others are apparently Psychropotes. 



