Boone, Echinodermata, Cruises of "Eagle" and " Ara," 1921-28 161 



Echinod., p. 37, pi. II, fig. 2, pi. VIII, fig. 1, 1892.— Koehler, 

 Faune de France, Echnid., p. 153, fig. 103, and fig. 104, 1924.— 

 Mortensen, Echnid. British Isles, p. 403, fig. 241, -1, 1927. 



Cucumaria frondosa (Gunnerus). 

 Plate 102 and text figure 10. 



Type : The type was taken on the sea-bottom near Roodeons, Praf t- 

 gard in Nordland, also near Trondjem, Norway, where it was found 

 quite still on the sea-bottom. Depository not stated. 



Distribution : Subarctic, found in Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergeu 

 to Norway and southward to the coasts of the British Isles ; found on 

 the east American coast from Labrador to Nantucket. Bathymetric 

 occurrence: shallow water to 200 meters. 



Material examined-. Two specimens, dredged in the Bay of 

 Islands, Newfoundland, September 10, 1923, by the "Ara." 



Habits: This large cucumber is found in great numbers along the 

 lower tidal limits of the Laminarians, where a true idea of its beauty 

 is best observed. The breeding season is summer in the Arctic, 

 February to March in more southern waters. The larvae are red, 

 barrel-shaped, and frequently occur in masses so abundantly as to 

 make the water appear red. They are eaten by certain fishes. The 

 adult cucumbers are reddish or purplish brown, much darker tinted 

 on the dorsal side and lighter on the ventral, sometimes nearly white ; 

 the pedicels are frequently rose-tinted. 



Technical description: This is the largest sea-cucumber of the 

 northeast American coast, in life ranging, when fully extended, from 

 250 mm. to 600 mm. or more, with a body diameter of 80 to 100 mm., 

 which is, of course, much less when the animal is fully extended. In 

 life the ventral surface is decidedly flattened, the sides curving 

 upward, the dorsal surface moderately flattened, the anterior end 

 truncated, the posterior bluntly rounded. The accompanying photo- 

 graph was made from a much contracted, dead, museum specimen, 

 and, unfortunately, gives no adequate conception of the living sea- 

 cucumber. There are ten tentacles, more rarely nine or eleven, of 

 approximately equal size, short, stout and much branched. The pedi- 

 cels are quite large, forming a broad series on each ambulacrum, 

 with smaller, less perfect ones scattered over the dorsal interam- 



