Boone, Echinodermata, Cruises of "Eagle" and " Ara," 1921-28 163 



p. 321, figs. 111-2, 1924; Echinod. of British Isles, p. 398, fig. 



236, 1927. 

 Botryodactyla grandis Ayres, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. IV, 



p. 52, 1851. 

 Pentactes frondosa Stimpson, Invert. Grand Manaan, p. 16, 1853. 



Family: PSOLIDAE. 



Genus: PSOLUS Oken. 

 Psolus phantapus (Strussenfelt). 



Text figure 11. 



Type : The type was taken in the Sound between Landskrona and 

 Hwen, Sweden, in 18 to 20 fms. ; the depository is not given but it is 

 probably the Stockholm Museum. 



Distribution : In European waters this holothurian is known from 

 the White Sea and Spitzbergen southward to, and including the Brit- 

 ish Isles; it also occurs on the coasts of Greenland and the North 

 American Arctic coast at Walker Bay, Prince of Wales Strait, Vic- 

 toria Island, down to Nova Scotia and the coast of Maine. Bathy- 

 metrical occurrence: littoral to 380 meters. 



Material examined : One specimen, dredged in 40 fms., middle of 

 St. Georges' Bay, Newfoundland, September 2, 1926, by the "Ara." 



Color: In life this species is usually yellowish brown with the 

 orange tentacles; the very large specimens are frequently nearly 

 black. The larva is red, barrel-shaped. 



Habits: Young specimens of this species live attached by their 

 ventral sole, which forms a strong sucker or disk, to stones, shells, or 

 other hard objects. The older specimens live free in the sea-bottom, 

 usually with only the anterior and posterior ends protruded above the 

 surface. The breeding season is March in its more southern distribu- 

 tion, to midsummer in the more northern waters of its range. 



Technical description: This species is said to attain a length of 

 six to eight inches, but those recorded from American waters rarely 

 measure more than two to three inches. The body is high, vaulted, 

 with the anterior and posterior ends prominent, the posterior end 

 more so, being prolonged into a conical tail-like process. The mouth 

 and anus are terminal and subterminal. The ventral sole is sharply 

 defined, rather small, rectangular, narrower than the body. The body 



