■20 O^ulletin of the fNatural History Society. 
group, if anywhere, that utilizable Echinoderms occur. In 
certain parts of the world, Holothurians are greatly esteemed 
as articles of food. A Mediterranean species is eaten in 
Naples; and the Chinese and Malays are exceedingly fond of 
it, so much so that it is among them a very important article 
of trade, the business employing hundreds of small vessels 
annually. They are generally known as Trepangs, and are 
prepared by being cleaned, dried and pressed. Our Holothur- 
ians belong to different genera, and may not be utilizable in 
this way to any extent. But the subject has not been left 
altogether uninvestigated, for I)r. Stimpson tells us that while 
in Nova Scotia he tried them with satisfactory gastronomic 
results. In the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 
History, Vol. IV., 1851, p. 100, we find this passage: “As to the 
value of the Holothuridae as articles of food, Mr. Stimpson said 
he had availed himself of the abundance by which he was 
surrounded at Nova Scotia, and had found them {i. e. the 
Holothurians) when boiled, quite as palatable as lobsters. 
The same was true of some of the Echini of that region.” 
He undoubtedly refers to the common Pentacta f random or 
“sea-pumpkin” which is so abundant upon our southern 
coast. Alexander Agassiz says of it: “ The Pentacta resembles 
the Trenang, so highly valued by the Chinese as an article of 
food, and forms a not unsavory dish, having somewhat the 
flavor of lobster.” Caudina arenata, a southern Holothur- 
ian, is found on the North Shore, but not in the Bay of Eundy. 
But we must glance for a moment at the general conclusions 
in regard to distribution and the like, to which we are led by 
the study of the Echinoderms in connection with other groups 
of Invertebrates. The writer has already had the honor to 
■lay before this Society a brief discussion of the relations of the 
faunse of the Acadian waters, so that a brief summary will be 
sufficient here. The extension of our knowledge of the sub- 
ject can be briefly stated. In 1852, James D. Dana (in tlie 
Crustacea of the United States Exploring Expedition) pointed 
out the existence for the Crustacea of a sub-fauna which 
extended, according to him, from the eastern point of New- 
foundland to Cape Cod, including the southern part of the 
