BECHE-DE-MER or TREPANG (Malay, tripang), dried holothurians used in the gelatinous soups considered a luxury by the Chinese and other Eastern peoples. The name was not originally a French word, but is gallicized from Portuguese Bicho da mar, sea-worm. Holothurians are a class of Echino derma (q.v.) popularly called "sea-cucumbers" from their shape. Those used for trepang mostly belong to the genus Holothuria, e.g., H. edulis. These live on coral reefs, from the Eastern Archi pelago down to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, also on the Californian coast, where there is a large trade in them. The body is from 6 to I Sin. long, and the skin may bear spicules or prickles of lime, fewer in the better kinds. On the Pacific coasts the finest is the "brown with teats," i.e., tube-feet ; followed in order by the large black, the small black, the red-bellied, and the white. They are prepared for use by being boiled for about 20 minutes, and then dried first in the sun and afterwards over a fire.