176 THE ECHINODERMS OF TORRES STRAIT. 
my observations in Torres Strait. Semper says Cuvier’s organs are present, but neither 
Kent nor I havefound them. There is evidently some diversity in the color of the tentacles 
and pedicels, none of the specimens seen by me having them nearly so yellow as in Kent’s 
figure, or as would accord with Semper’s expression ‘‘hellgelb.”” At Mer, according to my 
notes, the color in life is black, with tentacles and pedicels whitish or yellowish; the con- 
trast between the light tentacles and black body is very striking, and is emphasized by the 
occurrence in the same habitat of H. atra, whose tentacles are always very dark. In adult 
specimens of coluber, 500 to 600 mm. long, the body-wall is firm and rather thick, and it is 
hard to understand why it should not make satisfactory béche-de-mer. 
Holothuria cumulus! sp. nov. 
(Plate 38, Figures 14 to 19a.) 
Length in life about 50 mm.; diameter about 10. Body more or less cylindrical, with 
a thin but rather firm body-wall. Tentacles 20. Pedicels relatively few, scattered all over 
both dorsal and ventral surfaces, with no indication of serial arrangement. Calcareous 
ring rather low; interradial pieces more than twice as wide as high, with a sharp median 
anterior projection; radial pieces very much stouter with a conspicuous, wide, rounded 
anterior projection. No polian vessel was found. Madreporic canal single, small, free. 
No indication of anal teeth or calcified papillae. No Cuvier’s organs. 
Calcareous particles, tables, and buttons. Tables (pl. 38, figs. 15-18) form a single 
close layer all over body-surface; disk about 0.080 mm. in diameter, with a quadripartite 
central hole and a peripheral circle of 8 to 11 large holes and often half a dozen smaller 
perforations outside of them; but there are not two well-defined circles even on the 
largest disks; spire not quite equal to disk-diameter, rather stout, of 4 rods and 2 (or 
rarely 3) cross-bars; top, about 0.020 mm. square, covered with numerous teeth. Buttons 
(pl. 38, figs. 19, 19a) 0.040 to 0.090 mm. long, the width one-third to one-half length, 
variable in form, number of perforations, and completeness of development; not scattered, 
but collected in very distinct heaps or rings, which are well distributed over the body 
but are not abundant; few buttons have the typical three pairs of perforations sym- 
metrically developed, and many, if not most, buttons have 4 to 6 pairs of holes; holes 
relatively small as compared with calcareous part of button. Pedicels with terminal plates, 
and not very numerous supporting rods; latter are curved, enlarged, and perforated at 
the ends. Tentacle-rods (pl. 38, fig. 14) straight or curved, pointed at ends, without 
perforations, and not thorny. Color in life whitish, with pedicels yellow; alcohol has made 
little change, save that the general tint is more gray and indistinct brown spots and blotches 
can be seen on the dorsal side. 
Holotype: M. C. Z. No. 1019; from under surface of a rock-fragment, on south- 
eastern reef-flat, Mer, Murray Islands, Torres Strait. 
This is probably a young individual, but the diversity and arrangement of the buttons 
are quite distinctive and I can not refer it to any species hitherto described. It is not 
impossible that it is a young pardalis, but the character of the tables makes that quite 
unlikely. It does not seem probable that the accumulation of the buttons in heaps is a 
youthful character, and it is therefore not likely that we are dealing with the young of 
some previously known species with scattered buttons. Certainly cwmulus does not 
resemble at all any other holothurian taken at Mer. But there is in the Museum of Com- 
parative Zodélogy collection a still smaller specimen, supposed to be from Hilo, Hawaii, in 
which the calcareous particles are suggestive of cumulus. This individual is not in very 
good condition and its identification is uncertain, but it indicates the possibility of cumulus 
being a widely distributed Pacific species. 
1 Cumulus =a little heap, in reference to the distribution of the buttons. 
