Miscellaneous. 409 



MISCELLAI^EOUS. 



Holothuria nigra, Gray, and its Si/nom/m)/. 

 By the Rev. Canon A. M. Norman, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S., &c. 



llie Name. 



This species has been commonly styled in Britain ^^ Holothuria 

 nigra. Couch." Prof. Jeffrey Bell (in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1884, p. 373) 

 says the first use he can find of the name "Cucumaria nigra. 

 Couch," is by Prof. Kinahau (Nat. Hist. E.ev. vol. vi., 1859, p. 3(59), 

 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 ni'/ra, auct. Curiously 

 enough the solution is to be found in a previous B. M. Catalogue of 

 Echinodermata. 



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., Eadialcd Animals, 18-48, 

 p. 8, where will be found this entry — 



"•HoloiJiuria nigra. 

 '^Nigger or Cotton Spinner, Couch, Ann. & Mag. N. 11. xv. 171. t. 14. 

 " Inhab. Cornwall." 



Mistalce 1. — Gray, by a lapsus pennce, 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." 



21ie tSyuonijmy. 



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 tliis 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 1 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 1 rely that it is also H. Forskahli, Delle 

 Cliiaje. The descriptions of the author of the species do not mate- 

 rially help me, and I have not Forskahl's work to refer to. 



