ON SOME PLYMOUTH HOLOTHUEIANS. 227 



out giving a discussion, that C. lacazei Her. =C. lefevrei Barrois. It is 

 thus a curious fact that two pairs of men, one in England and one on 

 the Continent, should hold independently similar conflicting views on 

 what appears to be the same pair of species. 



A little later Koehler (10, 1893), discussing the synonymy of C. 

 montagui Fleming, gives as synonyms among others C. lacazei Her., 

 Holothuria montagui Fleming, and Cucumaria pentactes Bell, pointing 

 out, however, at the same time that C. montagui differs from C. lefevrei 

 in the shape and number of its genital tubes. He also figures spicules 

 of C. montagui which are identical with those of C. saxicola. Now 

 Koehler also received his specimens of C. montagui from Norman, who 

 admits, as we have seen, that those sent were identical with his specimens 

 B and C, i.e. with C. saxicola. 



About this time Bell (11) added his quota to the confusion by giving 

 as synonyms Holothuria montagui Fleming, Cucumaria pentactes Forbes, 

 C. elongata Diib. and Koren. In 1902 Perrier (12) obtained C. elongata 

 from the Gulf of Cadiz, and stated that this species is fundamentally 

 different from C. 7nontagui : he did not indicate, however, what were 

 the characters of his C. montagui. Kemp (13) in 1905 described C. 

 elongata Diib. and Kor. from Ireland and figured its spicules. Subse- 

 quently I obtained specimens of this species from various localities in 

 this neighbourhood (see description on p. 229) from which there 

 can be no doubt of the distinctness of this species. 



From the foregoing historical account it appears that the complex, 

 Holothuria 7nontagui, of the older naturalists has subsequently been 

 renamed as Cucumaria saxicola Brady and Robertson, C. lefevrei Barrois, 

 Colochirus lacazei Her., and C. normani Pace, as well as other names. 

 Of these four names one pair, C. saxicola and Colochirus lacazei, seem to 

 be undoubtedly synonymous ; from the apparent identity in the char- 

 acters of the spicules and genital tubes it is highly probable also that 

 the other pair are synonymous. It is important, however, that these 

 latter forms should be compared in actual specimens before making 

 further alterations of names ; hence until the whole of the European 

 Cucumarians are revised by a specialist, the name C. normani Pace may 

 be said to stand for that constituent of the old C. montagui whose char- 

 acters are summed up in the foregoing pages. 



NEW SERIES. — VOL. X. NO. 2. JUNE, 1914. 



