ACTINOrODOUS HOLOTHURIOIBEA. 273 



Anteriorly beyond the tail portion, calcareous deposits become 

 decidedly more scarce. Those existing there arc of about the 

 same character as the tables before mentioned. Clusters of spoon- 

 shaped bodies also make their appearance. There is also noticeable 

 a peculiarity in the tables. Many of these instead of appearing 

 clear and transparent, are surrounded by a peculiar yellowish- bi'own 

 substance, which seems to be deposited generally outside of the 

 calcareous lattice-work and is without question of the same sub- 

 stance as the wine-red corpuscles. The whole gives an impression 

 of calcareous deposits undergoing some chemical change and 

 degenerating into the wine-red substance. This remarkable trans- 

 formation has been noticed by every one who has worked on 

 Anhjrodcrma and Trochostoma — f. i., by Thkel ('86 p. 17), Ludwig 

 ('94 p. 16G), Lampert ('89 p. 843). In the middle of the body, 

 the disk of the tables is no longer lozenge- shaped, but mostly 

 circular, and generally provided with three lai'ge holes, while the 

 spire, consisting of three pillars, is generally more or less incom- 

 plete. The wine- red corpuscles are mostly ellipsoidal, and many 

 of them still retain the outline of a calcareous table. These 

 characters are maintained up to the margin of the mouth or the 

 base of the tentacles. In the anteriormost region, the wine-red 

 corpuscles are mostly ellipsoidal, i. e., the transformation is com- 

 plete, although transitional stages may be observed in all parts. 



Summing up, the rosettes are absent from the tail portion 

 but are scattered everywhere else. The wine-red corpuscles seem 

 to arise l)y transformation of calcai-eous tables. Their shape 

 conforms at first to that of the tables, but later seems to break 

 up into ellipses. The calcareous taljles are most numerous and 

 complete in the tail portion. Here their base is a lozenge-shaiwd 

 disk with three or more perforations and is surmounted by a 



