HOLOTHURIOIDEA OF THE INDIAN OCEAN, 187 



one or two small yellow patches on the dorsal surface. The 

 pedicels were light yellow in colour and were scattered all over 

 the trivium, though much more numerous in the radii. So far 

 as I can ascertain A. maiiritiana is solely confined to the Indo- 

 Pacific, while A. agassizi has been found in the Atlantic, but 

 never in the Pacific. There are, however, many instances of 

 Pacific forms being found in the Caribbean Sea, Argiodia 

 purvula being a case in point. Actinopyga mauritiana is very 

 constant with regard to its spicules, and I have never examined 

 a specimen in which the dorsal spicules resembled those of 

 A. agassizi figured by Selenka. The single specimen of 

 A . agassizi examined by me agrees with Selenka's description 

 in this respect. There would appear to be a constant difference 

 in the spicules of the two forms. It will be more convenient 

 and reasonable to regard them as distinct, though undoubtedly 

 closely related. 



General Distribution. — Indo -Pacific . 



Literature. 



1. Bedford, F. P.— 1898, " Holothurians collected by Mr. J. 



Stanley Gardiner at Funafuti and Rotu- 

 ma." Proc. Zool. Soc, 1898. 



2. 1899, Holothurians in Willey's Results, 



Part II. 



3. 1887, " The Echinoderm fauna of the 



Island of Ceylon." Sci. Trans. Royal 

 DubHn Soc, Vol. III. (ser. 2). 



4. Brandt, J. F. — 1835," Podromus descriptions animalium 



ab. H. Mertensio observatorium." Fasc. 

 I. PetropoH, 1835. 



5. Fisher, W. iC.— 1907, " The Holothurians of the 



Hawaian Is." Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 Vol. XXXII. 



6. Haacke, W. — 1880, Holothurien, in Beitrage zur Meeres- 



faima der Inseln Mauritius und der 

 Seychellen, &c. 



