BERMUDA ECHINODERMS. IIO" 



from color between the specimen from Bermuda, and typical 

 clatlirata. The other starfish in the collection is the small 

 pentagonal {oi'vn. Asterina foliiun (Ltk.) which has been reported 

 from the Bermudas twice before. Mr. Brush, however, says 

 that this specimen was collected " in the channel connecting the 

 two small lagoons in Coney Island. This is the first time we 

 have found this species in any place but the spit in Castle Har- 

 bor to the east of Waterloo." 



The collection is rich in holothurians, with more than fifty 

 specimens representing, almost beyond doubt, every species 

 hitherto collected in Bermuda and adding several others to the 

 list. The most prominent of these animals, because of their 

 large size, are seven specimens of Stichopiis, two representing 

 the black form named diaboli by Professor Heilprin ^ and the rest 

 the spotted form which he called xanthomela. The comparison 

 of these specimens with each other and with specimens of 

 Sticliopiis from Jamaica has confirmed the opinion expressed last 

 year,^ that xantJiomela is a synonym of inobii Semp. and has 

 made me very doubtful of the standing oi diaboli as a good species. 

 While the question can only be settled by a careful study of 

 the animals in life, there are several reasons for thinking that 

 inobii will prove to be immature individuals of diaboli. Professor 

 Heilprin separated the two forms for four reasons (to judge from 

 his descriptions) : (i) the difference in color ; (2) the size of the 

 dorsal papillae ; (3) the fineness of the filaments in the genital 

 bundles; (4) the number of tentacles. Regarding the difference 

 in color neither Professor Heilprili's account nor Mr. Carpenter's- 

 field notes, nor the specimens before me from Bermuda, give 

 any hint of intergradation. But in a large series of Sticliopiis 

 collected and studied in Jamaica almost every possible grada- 

 tion from reddish yellow without a spot, to jet black without a 

 light mark anywhere, was found. Moreover, as a rule the dark 

 forms were larger and, generally, the larger the specimen the 

 more uniformly dark it would be. In the matter of the dorsal 

 papillae, in the alcoholic specimens from Bermuda, there is no 

 real distinction between the condition in the black and that in 

 the spotted form. In Jamaica there was considerable variety 



