402 KCHINODERMATA. 



tentacula, and the intestines seem to "be analogous to those of the 

 Holothuriae. They have no anus that I can perceive. 



L. cuneus, Cuv. Blackish, and two inches in length. From 

 the seas of India, and the only species known. In 



SiPUNCULUS, Gm., 

 The body is cylindrical and elongated, the skin thick and wrinkled 

 in both directions. The mouth is provided with a sort of proboscis, 

 susceptible of retraction and protrusion by the action of large internal 

 muscles, and anus is more or less approximated to the base of that 

 organ. The intestine proceeds from the mouth to near the opposite 

 extremity, and then returns, twining spirally round itself. The only 

 matters found in it are sand and fragments of shells. Numerous 

 vessels appear to unite it with the external envelope, besides which, 

 a thread extends along one of its sides, which may possibly be nerv- 

 ous. Two long burspe, situated anteriorly, open exteriorly a little 

 below the anus, and near this last orifice, internally, we sometimes 

 find a bundle of ramous vessels, which may be organs of respiration. 

 These animals are found in the sands of the sea, like the Areni- 

 colse and Thalassemae, and like them are used as bait by the fisher- 

 men. 



S. edulis, Cuv.; Lumhricus edulis, Gm.; Pall., Spicil., Zool., 

 X, 1,7- This species is eaten by the Chinese inhabitants of 

 Java, who procure it from the sands by means of slender bam- 

 boos prepared for the purpose*. 



Other and rather small species — Sj). Icevis, Sip. verrucosus 

 Cuv. — perforate submarine rocks and live in their cavities. 



BoNELLiA, Rolando. 

 Here the body is oval and furnished with a proboscis formed of a 

 double lamina susceptible of great elongation and forked at the ex- 

 tremity. The anus is at the opposite extremity of the body. The 

 intestine is very long and frequently flexed, and near the anus we 

 observe two ramified organs, which may serve for respiration. The 

 ova are contained in an oblong sac opening near the base of the pro- 

 boscis. The Bonellias live at a considerable depth in sand, extending 

 their proboscis to the water, and even to the air above its surface, 

 when the tide is low. 



B. viridis, RoL, Acad, of Tur., XXVI, pi. xiv. It inhabits 

 the Mediterranean f. 



Thalassema, Cuv., 

 Where the body is oval or oblong and the proboscis in the form of a 

 doubled lamina or bowl of a spoon, but not forked. The intestinal 



* I cannot perceive where this species differs from the Vermis macrorhi/nchoieros, 

 Rondel, of the salt-ponds of Languedoc, which is the Sipwicuhis nudtis of Linnoeus. 



The Sipunculus saccafns appears to be a specimen divested of its epidermis. 



In one species the epidermis is pilose, in another the skin is entirely coriaceous ; 

 neither of them is mentioned by authors. 



The seas of India produce one that is nearly two feet in length. 



f In Rolando's description, the mouth is converted into the anus, and vice versa. 



