Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean ...

170 COLLECTIONS FROM MELANESIA.The first four or five bracliials have the sides pretty even, thesucceeding are very distinctly wedge-shaped, and the. distal edgebecomes faintly denticulated. Further out the wedge becomes wider,and the denticulation disappears.Syzygies 3, 10, 14 ; then about three joints between each. Thepinnules generally are delicate and short, the first rather thelongest.Arms not very long, thin ; cirri about 10 mm. long; disk as muchas 30 mm. in diameter, Ovving to the extensive development of theinterradial plating which extends to the distichal axillaries.Colour yellowish green with darker spots, patches, or lines ; theends of the arms and the lower surface darker, or the upper surfacemay be of a pale flesh-colour.Thursday Island.28. Actinometra, sp. juv.It is very possible that a young specimen from Dundas Strait belongsto a species, A. piirjmrea, of which a single example is aloneknown ; and that, as llr. Carpenter informs me, is in rather badcondition. It is to be hoped that further exploration will resultin the discovery of more representatives of this incompletely knownform.General Remarks on Distribtttion.After concluding the survey of the Echinoderms collected in theAustralian seas by Dr. Coppinger, I arrived at certain results, whichit is unnecessary now to state ; for mj views have since been profoundlymodified by what I have since learnt from a closer study ofthe marine fauna of Port Jackson than was possible with the comparativelyscanty material that was in mjr hands two years ago, whenthe body of this <strong>Report</strong> was being framed.I have learnt since, thanks to the opportunities afforded me byarrangements made with Mr. E. P. Eamsay, the Curator of theAustralian Museum, Sydney, what are the characters of the Port-Jackson fauna, and what is the extent of its resemblance to thatof Port Molle and Torres Straits.I have, in the first place, learnt that no view can be more erroneousthan one which speaks of an Australian (marine) fauna withoutsome sort of qualification ; Cape York and Port MoDe are as muchpart of Australia as Port Jackson, but between the two faunae theresemblance is as slight as is in the nature of things possible.This statement is abundantly proved by the first two tables ofdistribution which I now give, and which are based on the 27 Echinidsand 16 Ophiurids from the collection of the Sydney Museum.