REPORT OX THE HOLOTHIJRIOIDEA. 
67 
It is characteristic of these deposits that one of the arms is always more developed and 
more richly furnished with spines and holes ; and this arm is directed obliquely out- 
wards. I do not know any species of Cucumaria provided with deposits like those in 
this abyssal form. The specimens obtained at Station 156 differ by the absence of deposits 
in the body- wall itself. These specimens, however, seem to be macerated and their deposits 
dissolved by some impurity in the alcohol. Possibly they are more nearly related to 
the variety grandis. 
Cucumaria ahgssorian, var. grandis, nov. (PI. V. fig. 1). 
Habitat . — Station 298, November 17, 1875 ; lat. 34° 7' S., long. 73° 56' W. ; depth, 
2225 fathoms; bottom temperature, 35°'6 ; blue mud; two specimens. Station 299, 
December 14, 1875; lat. 33° 31' S., long. 74° 43' W. ; depth, 2160 fathoms; bottom 
temperature, 35°‘2 ; blue mud; eight individuals. Station 295, November 5, 1875; 
lat. 38° 7' S., long. 94° 4' W. ; depth, 1500 fathoms; bottom temperature, 35°‘3; 
Globigerina ooze ; a single specimen. 
Considering the more highly developed state of the internal and external organs of 
these animals, it may possibly be most conformable to the truth to consider them as 
types of the species itself, but judging, on the contrary, from the deposits, they may 
properly be regarded as transitional forms, uniting the species with its variety, hyalina. 
They attain a considerable size, as much as 100 mm. or more, and differ mainly in the 
scarcity of deposits, which in most of the specimens seem to be confined only to the 
pedicels and tentacles. Only in one smaller individual, about 45 mm. long, scattered 
deposits are present in the body-wall itself, but they do not seem to attain a very high 
degree of development, excepting in the caudal portion of the body, where they are 
well developed. A closer examination will show that some of the deposits (PI. V. fig. 1) 
resemble those known in Cucumaria ahyssorum, but that others, especially those in the 
caudal portion, are of the same shape as those characteristic of Cucumaria ahyssorum, 
var. hyalina; the more common forms, however, seem to be irregular x -shaped bodies 
with short ill-developed arms, and even simple rods with one end spinous and dhected 
outwards. Even transitional forms between the rods and four-armed bodies are not 
rare. As a rule, it may be observed that the arms of the deposits are shorter and 
the deposits themselves more irregular than is the case in Cucumaria ahyssorum 
and its variety hycdina. The deposits in the pedicels closely resemble those in the 
typical form itself. The rest of the individuals obtained from Station 299 are devoid 
of deposits in the body- wall ; only in the neighbourhood of the pedicels and in the 
pedicels themselves have I found deposits of the same characteristic shape as those in 
the smaller specimen above described. It may be kept in mind that the larger 
individuals are devoid of deposits, while the smaller have such, a peculiarity which 
