141 



much more reliable. The miliary granules in Synaptula, when 



present, are either rosettes or small circles of minute granules, 



whereas in Polyplectana they are always more or less branched 



and curved rods. By this character it would be easy to separate 



the two genera, if there were not an exception, viz. the specimens 



described as Synapta nigra by Semper and as Synaptula nigra by 



Clark. These specimens have 15 tentacles and their miliary 



granules are said to be branched rods, not rosettes. After the 



number of tentacles there would be some reason for referring them 



to Synaptula, but after their miliary granules they may quite as 



well be referred to Polyplectana. The large collection of Synaptula 



and Polyplectana at hand seems to show that the shape of the 



miliary granules is the more important character, and that "nigra <c 



for this reason must be separated from Synaptula. On the other 



hand, the large number of specimens recorded as nigra is contrary 



to the suggestion that they may be regarded as abnormal specimens 



of Polyplectana. From the descriptions at hand it is impossible to 



see which is the case, and we must await future examinations of 



good specimens. If such examinations show that nigra is a valid 



species, different from Polyplectana, it without any doubt represents 



a separate genus, Tiedemannia Forskâl. 



In the collection at hand there are 80 specimens of Polyplectana, 



and though all the 69 specimens from Taboga represent but one 



species, oculata n. sp., the collection includes the following five 



different species. , ...««, 



kefersteinii Selenka 



zamboangae n. sp. 



longogranula n. sp. 



galatheae n. sp. 



oculata n. sp. 



From the study of these species it appears that not only "Sy- 

 napta" kallipeplos Sluiter must be regarded as an independent 

 species, and not as a synonym of kefersteinii, as assumed by Clark, 

 but that many of the specimens referred to kefersteinii by Sluiter 

 and Clark, may represent distinct species. The specimens from 

 Amboina described by Sluiter in Semon's "Reisen" differ 

 from all the hitherto known species in having degenerated anchors 

 and anchor-plates. Two of the species at hand, kefersteinii and 



