352 Canon A. M. Norman on Cucumaria Montagu!. 



XXXIX. — On Cucumaria Montagui, Fleming. 

 By Canon A. M. Norman. 



[Plate XL] 



]n 1808 Montagu described fiom tlie coast of Devon a 

 Holotliurian which he named Cucumaria pentactes, var. 



In 1828 Fleming, in liis ' Hist. Brit. Anim./ named this 

 llolothiirian Cucumaria 3Io)itagui. 



In 1841 Forbes, in his ' Hist. Brit. Starfishes, &c./ made 

 Cucumaria Montagui a synonym of Cucumaria pentacies ; 

 and the left-hand figure of his woodcut possibly represents 

 the species of Fleming. In 181)2 this lead was followed by 

 Jeffrey Bell in his ' Cat. British Echinoderms in B.M/ 



In 1893 I published a paper " Cucumaria Montagui (Flem- 

 ing) and its Synonymy" (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 6, 

 vol. xii. p. 469). In that ])apcr I described what I believed 

 to be this species with great minuteness, especially as regards 

 the S])icula ; and inasmuch as I found considerable differences 

 between the spicula of the largest and the smaller examples, 

 those differences were j)ointed out. I presumed that the 

 smaller specimens were the young state of the larger, though 

 I purposely abstained from making the direct statement that 

 they were so, leaving it to future observers to clear up this 

 matter. 



Mr. S. Pace has recently written a paper entitled " Note 

 on two Species of Cucumaria from Plymouth, hitherto con- 

 fused as C. IJontagui, Fleming : C. Normnni, n. sp., and 

 C. saxicola,Biadj and Robertson" (Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc, 

 vol. vii. Dec. 1904, p. 305). 1 much regret the publication 

 of that paper, and did what I could to bring Mr. Pace to my 

 view as regards my specimen A (= C. Montagui) ; and when 

 he wrote to ask if he might name it after me, my reply was 

 ihat of course he could do so if he wished ; but I feared it 

 would necessitate my committing the act of " Felo de se." 

 That act I am about to be guilty of. I cannot call it " happy 

 despatch " ; for I unwillingly criticize Mr. Pace''s paper as I 

 am compelled to do. 



Mr. Pace writes : " Ilolothuria Montagui, Fleming, affords 

 a remarkable instance of how much confusion may gather 

 around a specific name; the species was itself founded on a 

 misconception, and almost every author who has since made 

 use of Fleming^s name, or who has attempted to unravel its 

 synonymy, has but made matters rather more involved." 



