288 



ENTEROPNEUSTA PROM THE SOUTH PACIFIC, 



WEST INDIAN ENTEROPNEUSTA. 

 {Pt. himiniensis n. sp. and Pt. jamaicensis n. sp.) 



Only one species of Enteropneusta from the West Indian Islands is described by 

 Spengel, namely, Pt. bahamensis. 



Being anxious to ascertain the identity of the species at Bimini which at one 

 time engaged the interests of Professors T. H. Morgan and E. A. Andrews, I wrote 

 to both these gentlemen for information on the subject, and received valuable replies 

 from them which I gratefully acknowledge. Furthermore, Prof Morgan sent me the 

 collection of adults which still remained to him. The material was, on the whole, 

 in good condition and has been of great use in elucidating the mystery of the 

 proboscis-pore about which I was greatly concerned. Unfortunately the hepatic region 

 was lacking from all the specimens and the diagnostic characters afforded by the 

 genito-hepatic transition are therefore not available. Nevertheless I feel justified in 

 naming two species, although the diagnoses must be imperfect for the present. 



The material comprised portions of three species from as many localities, namely, 

 (1) Pt. aurantiaca (Girard) from Beaufort N. C. ; (2) Pt. himiniensis'^ n. sp. from 

 Bimini ; (3) Pt. jamaicensis n. sp. from Jamaica. They are all Ptychoderidae (this being 

 the information I was at first most anxious to obtain) belonging to the subgenus Tauro- 

 glossus ; Pt. bahamensis Spengel was not included in the collection. 



I am informed by Professor Morgan that the specimens which he generously 

 placed at my disposal were collected by members of the Johns Hopkins Marine 

 Laboratory. 



Although the specimens w^ere fragmentary it will be easy to differentiate the 

 two new species from any other known species as well as from each other. If, for 

 convenience, we divide the Enteropneusta into small, large and giant species, then 

 Pt. biminiensis belongs to the category of large forms, while Pt. jamaicensis is a giant 

 species. 



Before proceeding to cut this valuable material into sections I experienced great 

 difficulty in finding external differences between the fragments of Pt. biminiensis and 

 those of Pt. aurantiaca, and I accordingly wrote to Prof. Morgan asking whether, in con- 

 sideration of his personal acquaintance with the living animals, his impression was 

 that the Bimini species was distinct from the Beaufort species. His reply was that 

 he considered the species from the two localities named to be quite distinct, adding 

 the following important point of difference: — "The smell from the Beaufort form is 



1 This is presumably the species whose Tornaria development was described by Morgan (Jouni. Morph. ix. 

 1894, p. 1). 



