THE ANNALS 
AND 
MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
[THIRD SERIES. ] 
No. 51. MARCH 1862. 
XIX.—On an apparently new Form of Holothuria. 
By Joun Anprrson, M.D.* 
[Plate XI.] 
In the autumn of 1859 I dredged, from 5 fathoms of water in 
Bressay Sound, Shetland, the Holothuria which forms the sub- 
ject of this memoir (PI. XI. fig. 1). It was clingmg to 
the inside of a dead and half-open Modiola vulgaris. When 
captured, it was of a cream-colour slightly speckled with brown ; 
but since it has been in confinement, it has sensibly deepened 
in colour. During the first months of its imprisonment it was 
very lively, especially at night; during the day, when exposed 
to the light, it always contracted itself into a little ball, con- 
fining itself to one spot, and that the one exposed to sun-light. 
The tentacles were always exposed at night, but were imme- 
diately retracted whenever any attempt was made to examine them. 
About the beginning of the second month of its confinement it 
became more sluggish, and remained for days contracted, never 
displaying its tentacles even at night. The body contracted so 
firmly upon itself, that many of the feet by which it was attached 
gave way, and were left sticking to the sides of the glass vessel 
in which it was confined. After remaining in this condition for 
some time, the integument about the centre of the body at last 
ruptured, and through the opening a portion of the viscera were 
protruded, which ultimately sloughed away ; at the same time a 
considerable portion of the external skin desquamated, the ani- 
mal not appearing to suffer much from the process, for the 
opening healed shortly afterwards. The animal has been kept 
* Communicated by the Author, having been read before the Royal 
Physical Society of Edinburgh, Jan. 22, 1862. 
Ann. § Mag. N. Hist, Ser. 3. Vol. ix. 14 
