142 



oculata, are characterized in having degenerated anchor-plates in 

 the anterior end of the body, and the three other species in having 

 the anchor-plates from the anterior end of the body usually 

 normally shaped. This gives reason for regarding Sluiter's speci- 

 mens, which have all the anchors and plates malshaped, as a valid 

 species, as SI u iter furthermore writes: "Es scheint mir nicht 

 wahrscheinlich, dass hier eine theilweise Lösung der Kalkspicula 

 durch die Conservierungsflüssigkeit vorliegt". Therefore I shall 

 designate the species as P. sluiteri n. sp. 



The specimens described by Clark in "The Synaptinae", pag. 

 468 may without any doubt be divided into at least four different 

 species. The two of these are kefersteinii and oculata, and the two 

 others are represented by the specimens from Samoa and Tahiti. 

 According to the localities I shall name them Polyplectana samoae 

 n. sp. and Polyplectana tahitiensis n. sp. 



The specimens from Samoa differ from all the known species 

 except oculata, in having small rods in the tentacles. That it cannot 

 however be referred to oculata is evident from the figure of its 

 miliary granules cf. "The Synaptinae" pis. I fig. 11. The specimen 

 from Tahiti may be separated from the other species described in 

 "The Synaptinae" as "The miliary granules are bent, branched 

 and contorted rods, of rather unusual stoutness". This is further- 

 more a good character for distinguishing it from the other species 

 from Tahiti, galatheae, in which species miliary granules are quite 

 or nearly quite wanting. 



The genus Polyplectana is reported from all over the tropical 

 part of the Pacific- and Indo-Pacific Ocean, and for the present 

 we must distinguish between at least nine different species belonging 

 to it. As to the distribution of the species, hardly anything is 

 known as yet with certainty. The following list gives the known 

 species and their localities. 



oculata n. sp. Panama 

 galatheae n. sp. Tahiti 

 tahitiensis n. sp. • — 

 samoae n. sp. Samoa 

 kefersteinii Selenka. Hawaii 

 kallipeplos Sluiter. Batavia 



