SYNAPTA VIVIPARA. 55 



In 1891, students of the Johns Hopkins University found at Port Royal, Jamaica, a 

 viviparous Synapta, and, in 1893, another party from the same institution l^rought back a 

 large amount of preserved material of this species, which they found abundantly about 

 Port Royal. It was this material which came into my hands, and after examining it and 

 studying the living animal at Port Royal. I had no difficulty in satisfying myself that it, 

 as well as Ludwig's Abrolhos specimen, was indeed Orsted's Synaptula vivipara. A 

 brief description to establish its position in the genus Synapta, was published by Clark ('96), 

 and attention was there called to its similarity to 8. picta Theel ('96). This species was 

 described from a single specimen in the Challenger collection, from Bermudn, and the 

 agreement of all its characters with those of S. vivipara was very striking. Dr. Theel 

 writes me that he has specimens of a viviparous Synapta from Bermuda in his hands at 

 the present time, which agree with S. picta and S. vivipara so completely that he has no 

 doubt that all three are the same, species ; but the evidence is incomplete, owing to the 

 absence of the anchors and plates in his Bermuda specimens, caused by the killing agent 

 used. Although, as we shall see, Synapta vivipara differs in several important particulars 

 from all other Synaptas hitherto described, they are not sufficiently obvious to warrant its 

 separation, under the existing classification of the Synaptidae, as a distinct genus. Synap- 

 tula must therefore become a synonym of Synapta, and the synonomy of S. vivipara will 

 be as follows : — 



Synapta vivipara (Orst.) Ludw. Zool. Jahrbiicher. Bd. 2, p. 28. 1886. 

 Synaptula vivijxira Orsted. Vid. med. fra d. nat. For. i Kjobenhavn for 1849-50, p. vii. 

 Synapttcla vivipara Bronn. Klas. und Ord. d. Thier., Bd. 2, p. 403. 1860. 

 Synaptula vivipara Selenka. Zeit. f'tir wiss. Zool., Bd. 17, p. 365. 1867. 

 Synaj)tula vivipara Semper. Reis. in Arch. Phil., 2. Theil, 1. Bd., p. 24. 1868. 

 Chirodota rotifera (in part only) Lampert. Die Seewalzen. Wiesbaden. 1885. 

 Synaptula vivijjara Theel. Report on the Holothurioidea. "Challenger" Reports, 



Zool., Vol. 14, p. 32. 1886. 

 Synapta picta Theel., p. 10. Report on the Holothurioidea. "Challenger" Reports. 



Zool., Vol. 14, p. 32. 1886. 



3. Distribution and Habits. 



Orsted's specimens of Syiuq^ta vivipara, he tells us, were from the West Indies, 

 and all of the specimens I have seen, came from Jamaica. Ludwig's single specimen came 

 from the Abrolhos Reef off the coast of Brazil (18° S. lat.), while all of Theel's specimens 

 are from Bermuda (32° N. lat.). We may therefore conclude that the species is pretty 



