246 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 48. 



38. BENTHODYTES GOTOI, new species. 

 Plate 9, fig. 12. 



Station 5030. Four specimens. 

 Body rather long, 195 mm., with the uniform breadth of about 35 

 mm. throughout. Ventrum flat, dorsum strongly vaulted, probably 

 exaggerated by contraction. Mouth ventral, anus dorsal. Color of 

 the anterior region, tentacles, and pedicels dark violet, other parts 

 light violet-gray. Integument thin and soft, smooth to the touch. 

 Only the apices of dorsal papillae are very rough, spines of deposits, 

 perceptible with naked eye, protruding through epidermis. Tentacles 

 15, more or less retractile. Pedicels of the odd ambulacrum retractile 

 and minute, 50 or more in number, arranged in a zigzag row, none in 

 the anterior region. Those forming the lateral brim number more than 

 50 to a side. Papillae in a single row along each dorsal ambulacrum, 

 of two different sizes. In each row there are 5-8 large conical papillae 

 with rounded ends, up to 12 mm. long and 8 mm. across, and 1-5 filiform 

 ones, only 2 mm. long, confined to the anterior region. Some of these 

 filiform ones are very often situated on the wall of a larger papilla. The 

 total number of the papillae of these two sorts is usually 9 or 10, in one 

 case up to 14, to a side. Deposits in general perisome of dorsum are 

 spinose cruciform bodies with an anchor-shaped spire (pi. 9, fig. 12), 

 reminding one of the spicules of Ewphronides anchora Herouard. The 

 arms are arcuated and spinous, measuring together with its fellow of 

 the opposite side 200-3 60/z in length. The spire is lOO-130/i long, 

 with a pair of arched arms provided with 3-4 pairs of minute teeth 

 along their concave side, and a few more minute ones near the apex. 

 The span length of the anchor arms measures about 100/x. These 

 spicules are extremely scanty, only one or two in each 50 square mm. 

 of area, and even in the anterior brim, where they are more numerous, 

 only 10 spicules are found in the same extent of area. On tips of 

 large papillae are found gigantic spicules exactly of the same form as 

 those described by Sluiter in his B. Tiystrix. 1 In these the length of an 

 arm measures 0.3-0.8 mm., and may reach 1 mm.; central spire 250- 

 550// long usually bifurcated for one-half of its length. Some small 

 anchor-bearing spicules similar to those of perisome are also found at 

 tips of large papillae. The smaller papillae have small spinose, cruci- 

 form spicules or simple unbranched rods, all with spinose arms but 

 lacking a central spire . In ventrum are found very rarely, unbranched 

 spinose rods measuring 250-550^e in length. Supporting rods of ten- 

 tacles, up to 1 mm. long, with a few spines at both ends. Egg follicles 

 and genital duct with thinly scattered, delicate, cruciform spicules in 

 the walls, one of the pairs of arms being very often shorter than the 

 other; length of spicules 270-480/z. No deposits in walls of intestine. 



1 Siboga Holothurien, 1901, pi. 9, fig. 10a. 



