116 G Canadian Arctic /!,>/>"/''"'", 11)13-1918 



The longer inner tentacles are large and long and usually swollen toward 

 the base, tapering to the obtuse tip. They are soft and lubricous, with fine 

 longitudinal striations, due to muscular fibers; at the base they have a strong 

 circular muscle capable of detaching them by contraction. 



They are in about three or four submarginal rows. The inner are much 

 larger than the outer ones. 



The colour of the disk is deep orange-red, finely radiated with darker lines, 

 which are often indistinct, but sometimes very conspicuous. Margin of mouth 

 is thickened and has numerous folds, usually brighter red than the disk, often 

 rose or red-lead colour, but sometimes the same as the disk. At each end there 

 is a large siphonoglyph formed by two conspicuous thick folds with a deep sulcus 

 between them. These are usually bright red or rose-colour, varying to purple, 

 and brighter than the lips, both within the stomoda3um, and at the edges. 

 Tentacles usually about the same colour as the disk, but marked longitudinally 

 with lines, which are alternately highly coloured and more or less translucent , 

 but without any transverse bands. The outer ones are smaller and often paler 

 and the tips are usually pale and have a terminal pore. 



The column is usually unicoloured and of the same colour as the disk, 

 but mostly paler; most frequently deep salmon, orange, or orange-red, generally 

 smooth, and usually having a faintly vermiculate appearance due to contrac- 

 tion. One specimen had the disk and tentacles bright rose-red, with bright 

 blood-red lips, the siphonoglyph purplish red, the body deep salmon, becoming 

 orange toward the base and rosy toward the summit. In this the body in 

 partial contraction was broad urn-shaped; transversely and longitudinally 

 wrinkled, with a conspicuous fold below the tentacles, on which as well as below, 

 the surface was raised between the intersecting grooves. 



Some specimens had the body yellowish white or pale salmon and the outer 

 tentacles the same colour, or even translucent white with opaque white lines, 

 but the inner tentacles and disk deep rose-red in one and orange-red in another ; 

 in the former the border of the mouth was dark brown, the siphonoglyphs salmon; 

 in the other the border was pale lemon-yellow with rosy angles. Another 

 specimen had a bright orange body and outer tentacles, but the inner tentacles 

 and disk dark brown; the border of the mouth bright orange-red. 



When detached, which often happens, the tentacles retain their plumpness 

 and fusiform shape, and are capable of contracting and expanding, so as to 

 change their forms for some time, so that they resemble entire living worms 

 or holothurians. 



These detached tentacles have powerful nematocysts and are capable of 

 stinging the human. hands painfully, especially when the skin is softened by 

 overhauling the wet contents of the dredges. They were often very plentiful 

 in the deep water dredged materials and gave some of us much trouble by their 

 stinging. They are often about as long and as large as a man's smaller fingers 

 and usually light red or pink in colour, with paler striations and a soft lubricous 

 surface. They have a basal circular muscle that closes the aperture where 

 they break off, but the opening in the disk remains open for some time. It 

 is not uncommon to find dredged specimens from which all or part of the ten- 

 tacles have broken away, leaving open pores in the disk. We often dredged 

 large numbers of loose tentacles with no corresponding bodies. 



Hertwig's genus Liponema (Voy. Challenger, VI, p. 158) was based on a 

 Bolocera from which all the tentacles had broken off, according to McMurrich, 

 who has examined the type. (See Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVI, p. 209, 1894). 



This species is abundant and widely distributed off the U. S. Coast, especi- 

 ally on more or less muddy bottoms in rather deep water. Its known range is 

 from the fishing Banks off Nova Scotia to deep water off Cape Fear, N.C. In 

 depth it ranges from 37 to 1,106 fathoms, but it is not common in less than 

 100 fathoms. 



Carlgren records it from off the Scandinavian coasts in 40 to 80 fathoms. 



