NO. 2 DEICHMANN : HOLOTHURIOIDEA ; PART II, ASPIDOCHIROTA 279 



acteristic of the Panamic and West Indian region. A key is given to the 

 seven genera to explain the present arrangement. 



Key to the genera of the family Stichopodidae 



1. No tables in skin, only minute grains or rods 2 



1. Numerous to few tables in the skin 3 



2. Dorsal papillae united into complex leaflike structures. East 

 Indian reefs Thelenota Brandt 



2. Dorsal side with numerous small feet or papillae. West Indies. 

 (Position doubtful) .... Astichopus H. L. Clark 



3. Synallactidlike forms, cylindrical, with few large papillae on 

 the dorsal side and comparatively few feet in bands on the 

 ventrum. In colder waters or to a depth of several hundred 

 fathoms 4 



3. Flanks more or less thickened 5 



4. Tables, gradually becoming reduced, and delicate buttons with 

 two lateral and two terminal holes, often reduced to irregular 

 bodies. South African waters. . Neostichopus Deichmann 



4. Tables well developed; buttons absent or with several holes 

 along the sides and no terminal holes. North Atlantic, North 

 Pacific, and New Zealand waters. Parastichopus H. L. Clark 



5. Numerous small papillae along side of ventral sole. Tables with 

 large disk with several circles of holes. Atlantic Ocean, in 

 deeper water Eostichopus n. gen. 



5. Comparatively few large papillae along the side of ventral sole. 6 



6. Tables with four clusters of few spines on spire; disk mostly 

 with four central and four marginal holes. Often fragile ro- 

 settes and C-shaped bodies. Indo-West Pacific tropical shore 

 forms Stichopus Brandt 



6. Tables with wreath of small spines on spire; disk mostly with 

 circle of many small holes. No delicate rosettes, but C-shaped 

 bodies often present. Shores of the tropical region of the Ameri- 

 can waters Isostichopus n. gen. 



Isostichopus n. gen. 



Stichopus auctores (partim). 



Diagnosis: Large form with thickened flanks and (in the full- 

 grown animal, with a length of about 25 cm) up to 20 blunt lateral 



