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IV. Holothurioidea. 
The history of the New Zealand Holothurians is not so intricate 
as that of the sea-stars and the sea-urchins; the Holothurians be- 
ing no fancy objects of collectors, as are the latter, unduly labelled 
specimens from old collections are, as a rule, not met with. On 
the other hånd trouble arises from the faet that careful descriptions 
and exact, detailed figures of the calcareous deposits in their body 
Wall are absolutely necessary conditions for making the diagnoses 
sufficient for recognizing the species. The older descriptions do not 
as a rule fulfil these requirements, and therefore we remain in un- 
certainty about several of the old species. This applies in a high 
degree to the descriptions given by Hutton, the first author to 
describe Holothurians from New Zealand. 
In his “Catalogue of the Echinodermata of New Zealand” 1872 
Hutton describes the following 8 species, all new to science: 
Holothnria mollis, Thyone longidentis, Thyone brevidentis, Th. caudata, 
Synapta uncinata, S. inæqualis, Chirodota{?) alba and Molpadia coriacea, 
In the paper “Notes on some New Zealand Echinodermata” (Trans. 
N. Z. Inst. XI. 1878) he adds three more new species: Cueumaria 
thomsoni, Labidodesmus turbinatus and Holothuria robsoni, while a new 
genus, Pentadaetyla, is established for Thyone longidentis. Chiridota (?) 
alba is transferred to Echinocucumis, Holothuria mollis is stated 
to approach Stichopus, and Molpadia coriacea to be, probably, a 
Caudina. — With the exception of the two Synaptas, not a word 
is said about the calcareous deposits of the skin of any of these 
species, and not a figure is given. 
In 1881 T. Jeffrey Parker publishes a short description, 
without figures, of a new Chiridota, Ch. dunedinensis. In the “Chal- 
lenger” Holothurioidea, IL, 1886, Théel describes two new species 
from New Zealand: Siichopus sordidus and Thyonidium rugosum, 
while a third species, Chiridota australiana Stimpson, is recorded 
as being doubtfully from New Zealand (Port William. (New Zealand, 
Falkland Island?)). 
The real foundation of our knowledge of New Zealand Ho- 
lothurian fauna was, however, laid by Den dy in his fundamental 
paper “Observations on the Holothurians of New Zealand” (Journ. 
Linn. Soc. London Zool. XXVI. 1897). He had the opportunity of 
of reexamining the types of all Hutton’s species, with the except- 
