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Show 58 PROF. F. J. BELL ON N E W [Feb. 20, the Strix, and perhaps by Monarcha nitidus being present (as in the Aroo Islands) instead of M. chalybeocephalus. That the Tenimber group would possess a certain number of peculiar endemic forms was also to be expected, from their isolated situation and the deep channel around them. Altogether these are 17 in number, namely the 15 species above described as new, and two Parrots (Eos reticulata and Eclectus riedeli) previously known. To these must be added probably a " White Cockatoo " spoken of by Mr. Forbes in his report, but of which no specimen is in the collection. This species is in all probability Cacatua citrinocristata, well known as a cage-bird, but of which the true " habitat" has never been positively ascertained, though it has always been suspected to be from the Tenimber Islands1. 2. Studies in the Holothuroidea.-II. Descriptions of new Species. By F. JEFFREY B E L L , M.A., Sec. R.M.S., F.Z.S., Professor of Comparative Anatomy in King's College. [Eeceived February 19, 1883.] (Plate XV.) A survey of tbe British-Museum collection of Holothuroidea reveals the presence of a number of forms which have never yet been subjected to systematic examination or description. It m a y be convenient, now that they are about to find a new home, to provide them, or some of them, with definite names, wherewith to enter the "Spirit-room" at South Kensington. CAUDINA MERIDIONALIS. (Plate XV. fig. 1.) It is interesting to find a third species of this curious genus so soon after the description by Marenzeller of C. ransonnetti from the Yellow Sea. " B o d y " tending to be square ; " tail" quite as long as or longer than the body. W h e n the tentacles are retracted, the anterior end is blunter and squarer than in C. arenata. No sign of any genital papilla; but this m a y be due to the extreme corrugation of both the examples. The aboral prolongations of the radial pieces of the buccal skeleton are longer and narrower than in either of the already described species, and the intermediate cleft is consequently of considerable extent. The sides of the radial pieces are not deeply excavated as in C. ransonnetti. Connected with the ring are a number of long free ampullse ; it was not possible to make out the characters either of the Polian vesicles or of the tentacles. The calcareous bodies in the integument are very different to those of C. arenata, the surface view presenting us with a kind of 1 Cf. Wallace, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 280. |