53 



red suckers protruded, it must exhibit an appearance far from 

 inelegant. 



The suckers, which are quite large, are almost entirely desti- 

 tute of calcareous support, having only a terminal plate perfo- 

 rated as usual, and a very few minute pieces on the sides. The 

 three strongly marked rows of suckers seem to indicate a ventral 

 side, though there is nothing in the form of the body to denote 

 it; between these rows are no scattering suckers. The other 

 two rows are less marked though plainly discernible, and around 

 them are many suckers scattered without order. The suckers 

 are enlarged at the apex, as in the Echini, though to a less 

 degree. 



The tentacula are arranged around a disk of nearly two 

 inches diameter. They are short and broad, supported on thick 

 short stems, bearing each a cluster of branches nearly globose. 

 The stem is divided into two or three main branches, these again 

 into others, and on these are placed the small sessile tufts which 

 give the tentacle its botryoidal appearance. The calcareous 

 supports are few ; they are in the form of slender, perforated, 

 crested spiculse, similar to those found in Thijonc and Thyoni- 

 dium. 



The digestive organs are very remarkably developed ; the 

 length of the intestinal tube in a specimen of six inches being 

 more than eight feet, the stomach quite large and muscular. 



The respiratory trees also of great size, extending more than 

 twice the entire length of the body. The threads joining the 

 anal cloaca to the walls of the body are very numerous and 

 large. 



The genital tubes are long and undivided ; they present the 

 appearance of a large mass of red, coarse threads, nearly co- 

 vering the other organs ; they open by a single duct near the 

 base of the tentacula. 



The species is in fact characterized by the striking develop- 

 ment of the digestive, respiratory, and genital organs. 



The genus Botryodactyla is allied to Cucumaria in the 

 arrangement of the suckers, but not at all in the tentacula or the 

 oral circle. Another species of the same genus has been 

 brought from George's Bank by the fishermen, though the speci- 

 men is so imperfect that description is delayed for the present. 



