NO. 1555. HAWAIIAN HOLOTHURIANS— FISHER. 685 



plates, the perforations of center being larg-est and the edge more or 

 less ragged from incomplete perforations. Sometimes there is a 

 large central hole. In the smaller plates the perforations are more 

 irregular as to size and shape, the trabecul^e often being uneven in 

 diameter. Diameter of plates range fi'om 0.13 to 0.28 mm. 



These specimens, if not actually 31. murrayi.^ represent an exceed- 

 ingl}" close relative. Some slight differences are discernible. For 

 instance, the tal)les of Hawaiian specimens usually have larger disks, 

 the framework of which is more delicate than in TheePs types, and 

 the form of the crown presents a few minor points of difference, as 

 can be appreciated bj- a comparison of figures. The deposits, how- 

 ever, are ver}" variable, and the robustness of the tables seems to be at 

 least partially correlated with the softness of the mud and sand upon 

 which the ci'eatures dwell, the more delicate tables being found in speci- 

 mens taken from ooze or soft mud. Disks such as h (Plate LX^I, 

 fig. 1) will be found in some parts of the perisome (usuallv near extremi- 

 ties of bod}') while 1 and la will be present in other parts. But some 

 examples present a great predominance of the "A" t3"pe (without 

 secondary perforations), while others will have the "1 " type in greatest 

 abundance. One or two specimens have the tables decidedly irregular, 

 but are otherwise normal. Hawaiian specimens apparentlv have more 

 dorsal pedicels than Theel's types, but this is a hazardous conclusion 

 to draw from the description, however good the latter mav be. Despite 

 these small differences, which may be of specific importance, I prefer 

 to range the specimens under murrayl and call attentioji to discrepan- 

 cies. When a critical comparison of specimens from widely separated 

 localities can be made, it may be desirable to recognize several nearlj^ 

 related species, which are now grouped under this name. Sluiter" has 

 recorded the species from -100 and 522 meters in the East Indies, while 

 TheePs types came from 1,375 fathoms, globigerina ooze, near Juan 

 Fernandez. He also mentions, with doubt, a specimen from off the 

 Straits of Gibraltar, but Herouard* records the species from near the 

 Azores, thus confirming the presence of the form in the Atlantic. 



As to the relationship of this with the following species a rather 

 knotty problem arises. A few notes will be found under M^.aotJnii'ia 

 paraa. 



« Die Holothurien der Siboga-Expedition, 1901, p. 24. 



^ HolothCiries provenant des Campagnes de la Princess-Alice, Resultats C'ainpag. 

 Sci. Prince Monaco, fasc. XXI, 1902, p. 23. 



