The Echinoderm Fauna of South Africa. 225 



South Africa possesses, but this will be more evident if we first 

 see what the relation is between the Mozambique fauna and that of 

 the Cape. Of the 216 species here listed, 59 occur at Mozambique; 

 of these, 32 or 5i" are not known from south of that district and 

 5 others are not known south of Delagoa Bay, and 12 others either 

 are not known west of Durban or the records for them on the Cape 

 Colony coast are dubious. There are then only 10 species common 

 to the South African coast and to that of the Mozambique region. 

 On the other hand, of the 59 species occurring at Mozambique, 50 

 occur at Zanzibar or further northward and 5 others are known from 

 some other part of the Indo-Pasific region. Examination of the list 

 of ten species common to Cape Colony and Mozambique shows that 

 one (Tropiometra carinata] ranges from Zanzibar, around the Cape of 

 Good Hope to Brazil and the West Indies, and another (Parechinus 

 angulosus) is one of the endemic species of the Cape, which apparently 

 has extended its range northward along the coast far enough just 

 to reach the Mozambique region. Still another (Asterina exigua] is 

 very common in southeastern Australia and may possibly have reached 

 Mozambique via Cape Colony. The records of the remaining seven 

 species, like Oreaster mammilla! us and Ophiocnemis marmorata are 

 based on single specimens or single instances or on old unreliable 

 Museum specimens, so that there are not more than two <>r three 

 species of echinoderms which can really be called common to both 

 Cape 'Colony and Mozambique. As already pointed out 55 of the 59 

 species listed from Mozambique are characteristic Indo-Pacific species 

 so that there can be no question in what zoogeographical region the 

 Portugese colony belongs. 



If we subtract from the 210 species included in this report, the 

 32 species not known from south of Mozambique, we shall be able 

 to emphazize better the peculiarities of the South African fauna. 

 Of the 184 species of echinoderms known from south of Mozambique, 

 no fewer than 100 or 54 4 are endemic, certainly a very large number. 

 Not quite half (86) of the species are littoral and 45 of these are 

 endemic, while only 7 seem to belong to some other than the Indo- 

 Pacific fauna. Even the 45 endemic forms as a rule show their 

 affinity to some Indo-Pacific species. The littoral echinoderms of 

 South Africa then seem to have come from the east but with the 

 passage of time have become very largely specifically differentiated. 

 The additions from the west have been so exceptional (Ophiothrix 

 fragilis for example) as to be conspicuous. 



When we examine the continental and abyssal faunas however we 

 find a striking difference. There are 98 species in this combined 



