HOLOTHURIA.NS OF NEW ZEALAND. 29 



" Pale brown. 



"Length 4-0; breadth -65." 



This description is preceded by the following diagnosis of the 

 genus Molpadia : — " Body attenuated posteriorly ; tentacula 

 simple, short, cylindrical." 



I found in the Wellington Museum a single specimen in a jar 

 labelled " 34. Molpadia coriacea," which is doubtless one of the 

 specimens examined by Hutton, though as it had not been cut 

 open it can hardly be the one from which the above description 

 was taken. The specimen was in a very bad state of preserva- 

 tion, having evidently been desiccated ; in fact it was nearly dry 

 when I first saw it. The spicules, however, were still present. 



I have also received from Captain Hutton a type-slide of the 

 spicules of this species, from "Wellington. 



I have also had for examination a fine specimen from Akaroa, 

 belonging to the Canterbury Museum ; three fresh specimens 

 cast up on the shore at Oamaru, from Captain Hutton; and 

 three spirit-preserved specimens from the same locality from 

 Professor Parker. I have also seen a specimen cast up on the 

 New Brighton beach ; so that the species would appear to be not 

 uncommon on the East coast of New Zealand. 



The original description was apparently based on a shrivelled 

 specimen, and will be seen to require considerable moditication. 

 The 'Challenger' specimens were fragmentary, and the speci- 

 mens described by Bell also seem to have been in a very unsatis- 

 factory state. Theel states that he saw tv^^o specimens presented 

 by Hutton to the State Museum of Stockholm, but he was 

 evidently unable to make a complete examination of them. 

 Under these circumstances the following particulars as to this 

 very remarkable-looking Holothurian may be of interest. 



The animal consists of an inflated, subcjlindrical or ovoid body, 

 broadly rounded in front and contracting suddenly behind to 

 form the stout cylindrical " tail," which tapers gradually to the 

 terminal anus. None of the specimens examined by me show 

 any definite anal papillse or teeth, as described by Theel for 

 the ' Challenger ' specimens. In the largest example which I 

 have seen, the body and tail are each somewhat over 3 inches 

 in length, the body about 1| inches in diameter in the middle,, 

 and the tail about \ inch in diameter in the middle. 



The tentacles are fifteen in number, short and stumpy, each 

 with four conical digits, two large and two small. Thev are 



