Miscellaneous. 409 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Holothuria nigra, Gray, and its Synonymy. 
By the Rev. Canon A. M, Norman, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S., &e. 
The Name. 
This species has been commonly styled in Britain “/olothuria 
migra, Couch.” Prof. Jeffrey Bell (in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1884, p. 373) 
says the first use he can find of the name “Cucwmaria nigra, 
Couch,” is by Prof. Kinahan (Nat. Hist. Rev. vol. vi., 1859, p. 369), 
and that he has sought in vain for the use of any such title by 
Couch himself, and, unable to fathom the mystery, in Cat. Echin. 
Brit. Mus. (1892) he gives it as Holothuria nigra, auct. Curiously 
enough the solution is to be found in a previous B, M. Catalogue of 
Kchinodermata. 
The use of “Holothuria nigra, Couch,” seems to have arisen out 
of two mistakes. The specific name originally appeared in J. E. 
Gray’s List Brit. Anim. in Coll. B. M., Radiated Animals, LGAs 
p. 8, where will be found this entry— 
“Holothuria nigra. 
“Nigger or Cotton Spinner, Couch, Ann. & Mag. N. H. xv. 171. t. 14. 
“ Tnhab. Cornwall.” 
Mistake 1.—Gray, by a lapsus penne, assigned to the authorship 
of Couch a paper which had been written by Peach. 
Mistake 2.—Authors reading the above entry supposed the specific 
* name to have been given by the writer of the paper referred to, and 
thus wrote “/Holothuria nigra, Couch,” instead of, as it should have 
been, “Holothuria nigra, Gray.” Peach had given no scientific 
title to his “ Nigger.” 
The Synonymy. 
Dr. von Marenzeller, in the paper translated in the ‘ Annals’ of 
this month, makes Holothuria nigra a synonym of H. catanensis, 
Grube, and the latter a synonym of H. Forskalii, Delle Chiaje. 
He states he arrived at this conclusion from the examination of 
Bell’s figures of H. nigra and of a mounting of the spicula of which 
he had received from myself. Years ago I arrived at a similar con- 
clusion by the comparison of two specimens of H. catanensis, which 
my friend Dr. von Marenzeller sent me, with our British species. 
On that point, then, we are perfectly agreed. On the high authority 
of Ludvig and Marenzeller I rely that it is also H. Forskahli, Delle 
Chiaje. The descriptions of the author of the species do not mate- 
rially help me, and I have not Forskahl’s work to refer to. 
