Massy — The tlolothurioidea of the Coasts of Ireland. 47 



too young to show this character, the brown form may be distinguished from 

 the young of C. Normani by the more slender body, and by the campanulate 

 spicula having more holes, and being in want of a true rim (Theel, I880, 

 p. 102), also by the absence of the 3-legged spicula common in C. Normani. 



Our smallest specimen of C. lactea, with gonad developed, measures 

 11 mm., and has 6 tubes of about 2 mm. in length. 



Specimens of I8-00 mm. have 9-20 short thick tubes. It was observed 

 that the smaller of the specimens examined had 1 polian vessel, and the 

 larger 2 vessels. 



This species seems to come next to C. sa.ricola in being one of the 

 commonest of the Cucumarians on our coast. Two-thirds of the older 

 specimens from our gatherings were shore-collected. 



Distribution. — British seas and west Norway, 0-50 fms. 



Cucumaria hispida (Barrett), 1857. 



Echinocumis typica, M. Sars, 1858. 



S.E. 497— Trawl, 775-795 fms. One. 



S.E. 752— Trawl, 52.3-595 fms. Eight. 



S.E. 851— Trawl, ca. 900 fms. (?) One. 



S.E. 18-±4— Mosquito-net tow-net on trawl, 417-565 fms. Four. 



Previous Irish records— 54° V N., 12° 14' W., 422 fms. ; 50° 1' N., 12° 

 26' W., 1207 fms. {Pormpine Exp., 1869). 



The above measure 6-20 mm. in lengtli. The example to which a query 

 is affixed was unfortunately preserved in formalin, and the spicula have in 

 consequence dissolved away. 



The other specimens resemble those figured by Bell (1892a, pi. 4, fig. 1), 

 except that the plates usually have a marginal row of much smaller perfora- 

 tions. Nothing approaching to the var. abyssalis (Koehler, 1896, p. 119, pi. 2, 

 fig. 22) was observed. Portions of skin from a specimen from station 

 S.E. 752 have plates measuring about 556;u by 657;u, and containing about 

 83 smooth-edged holes, of which the central group are much the largest. 

 The spires measure about 267 to 333/^ by 55/^ at the widest part. They are 

 slightly spinous, and have oblong perforations. 



Distribution. — Arctic Sea to Bay of Biscay, 40-550 fms. (Bell, 1892 a). 



Cucumaria Normaui, Pace, 1904. 

 Pace (1904-7) and, subsequently, Orton (1914) have definitely cleared away 

 all mystery from the characters of this and the next species, and have shown 

 . that it is better to drop altogether the names of Holothuria Montagui, Flem., 



