Victorian Holothuroldeu. 3 



This Holdtlnniiin is I'oininon in Port Phillip Bay. iuiJ at luuiiei- 

 'Ovis localitiL's on the coast. Yniiiij; specimuus inay frequently he 

 met with on rocks just l)elow low water mark, the older animal* 

 .prefer deeper water. 



Sticiiopus simulans Dendy and Hiudle. 



For synonymy see 



191.3. Erwe Willy (8). 



On several occasions I have made preparations of the skins of 

 Holothurians. which, before seeing,' Dendy and Hindle's paper, I 

 regarded as specimens of Sticliopiis mollis; they, however, ex- 

 liibited the peculiar dichotomoid ossicles described by Dendy (4), 

 (5), in addition to the ordinary spiculation, and must therefore 

 be regarded as belonging to the above-named species. 



GENUS CUCUMARIA. 



CUCUMARIA INCONSPICUA Bell (1). 



I have collected numerous specimens of this little holothurian at 

 Flinders; the form described by Bell is usually found between tide 

 marks, but it is also met w4th in water of from five to ten fathoms 

 in depth — these latter specimens do not quite accord with Bell's 

 account of the distribution of the podia in his type — in the strictly 

 littoral forms the pedicels may be described as ventrally confined 

 to the radii, and dorsally almost so; but in those collected in 

 ■deeper water, the arrangement in rows is quite lost dorsally, 

 but the ventral disposition remains the same; the result is an 

 animal whose external appearance is identical with Cucumaria 

 parva, Ludwig; the spiculation, however, is unaltered, and the de- 

 tails of the internal anatomy are the same as in the shore speci- 

 mens. In addition to the large cruciform bodies I found numerous 

 small rods branclied at the ends, and very numerous 

 minute (32 /<.) dichotomously foliaceous ossicles, which in some 

 individuals occui- in dense crust-like patches. This animal has 

 ■the curious brood-sheltering habit noticed by Ludwig (17) in 

 Cucumaria parva. I liave never seen the young actually adhering 

 to the parent, but on placing some living specimens in a narcotic 

 .solution, after removing the larger animals, a number of minute 

 individuals of from 1 to 3 mm. in length were found at the bottom 

 of the receptacle; these can only be assumed to have become de- 

 tached from the older specimens. The spiculation of the young 

 animals agreed with that of their parents. 



2a 



