PREFACE. 



THE object of this Catalogue is to (1) give a list of the Ecliin 

 in the Museum Collection ; (2) to record correct habitats of the 

 Australian species and the localities of such as have been met 

 with by our Collectors, thereby showing the distribution of 

 fauna ; and lastly (3) to point out our deficiencies, in the hope 

 that our friends in other countries may feel inclined to fill up 

 some of the numerous gaps by donations or offers of exchange. 



I take the present opportunity, on behalf of the Trustees 

 of the Australian Museum, to offer our best thanks to 

 CAPTAIN HTXSON, R.N., President of the Marine Board of 

 New South Wales, for the interest he has shown in our work, 

 in so liberally placing at our disposal a steam launch for 

 dredging purposes, by which means the museum has been lately 

 so greatly enriched in the Marine Fauna of Port Jackson, not 

 only in the Crustacea, Echinodermata, and Cselenterata, but 

 also in many orders and families of Marine Vertebrates and 

 Invertebrates ; also to DR. JULIUS VON HAAST, PROFESSORS 

 PARKER and HUTTON, of New Zealand, and other friends of the 

 Institution, who have from time to time presented specimens. 



The nomenclature, synonymy, and arrangement has been 

 compiled chiefly from two of A. AGASSTZ'S great works, the 

 " Revision of the Echini," and the " Eeport of the Voyage of 

 the Challenger," with occasional reference to the " Catalogue 

 Raisonne des Eclnnides" of Louis AGASSIZ and DESOR, in the 

 Annales des Sciences Naturelles, and to PROFESSOR F. JEFFREY 

 BELL'S account of the Echinodermata collected by DR. COPPINGER 

 during the Voyage of H. M. S. " Alert." These works are 

 here quoted respectively as the " Revision of the Echini " 

 (Rev. Ecli.J ; the "Voyage of the Challenger " (Voy. Cliall.) ; 

 " Voyage of the Alert" (Voy. Alert) ; and " Catalogue Raisonne 

 des Echinides ; " " C. R. Ech. Ann. Sc. Nat." Occasional 

 reference is also made to DR. G-RAT'S " Catalogue of the 

 Echinodermata in the British Museum," and to PROFESSOR 

 DUNCAN'S and PROFESSOR BELL'S papers in the " Proceedings 

 and Journal of the Zoological and Liunean Societies of London." 

 All the above-mentioned being in the Museum Library, are 

 of easy access to any one desirous of studying the subject, or 

 for reference. 



