BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS. 59 



Kih-hih-san denotes a species prized equally with the last. It 

 is more plentiful and is found without diving. The word is 

 Chinese, and denotes anything poor, miserable, spiritless, or help- 

 less, possibly referring to the habits of the animal. It is from 

 half a foot to a foot long, black above, greyish on the crawling 

 surface, with the tube-feet as in the last variety. 



Talipan is a deep mahogany-red color, narrow, and sometimes 

 two feet long, found in two or three fathoms of water ; upper- 

 surface covered with large conical papillae. The name is a true 

 Philippine term for a kind of balate. 



Munang is a small kind, about eight inches long, quite black 

 and smooth, without tube-feet or tentacles, probably a Synapta. 

 The name is generally applied to a shell-fish. The above four 

 kinds are the best qualities of tripang. The inferior sorts are as 

 follows : — 



1. Zapatos china, or the Chinese shoe, a Spanish term applied 

 to an oval slug with a wrinkled surface found adhering to the coral. 



2. Lolowan, found on various parts of the reef, similar to the 

 last, but narrow. The term is Philippine-Malay, and the meaning 

 given to me is probably expressed by the Latin circumcisus. 



3. Balate-blanco is oval, white and orange, exuding the adhe- 

 sive cottony threads, burying itself in the sand and coming out at 

 night, whence they are generally gathered by moonlight. 



4. Matan differs only in color from the preceding : grey, white 

 and speckled. The name refers to some supposed peculiarity 

 about the eyes or vision. 



5. Hanganas. generally a foot long, grey or green, found on the 

 inner side of reefs ; the name is applied also to the noise made by 

 the surf on the edge of the reefs. Very inferior in quality. 



The method of curing the tripang varies slightly in different 

 countries. Sun-dried slugs fetch the most in the Chinese market, 

 but as this is a process which requires 20 days and more to com- 

 plete, while smoking only requires four or five days, the latter is 



