284 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGED. 



Port Molle ; but it is not known from any locality further south. Port Molle is likewise 

 the southern limit of two other widely distributed species, (l) Antedon milberti, which 

 extends as far west as Mergui. (2) Actinometra parvicirra, which is still more widely 

 distributed in the Eastern Archipelago, and also occurs on the coast both of South 

 Africa and of Peru. Then again two members of the large Pa/mcrfa-group occur at 

 Port Molle, but the group is not represented further south. 



Thus then, not one of these common tropical species enters into the fauna of 

 Southern Australia ; and, on the other hand, the two Coruatulse which are especially 

 characteristic of this region do not extend into the tropics. Antedon macronema occurs 

 at King George's Sound, Port Jackson, and Port Stephens, while Actinometra 

 trichoptera has been found at King George's Sound, Port Philip, and Port Jackson ; but 

 neither of them reaches Port Curtis. 



These facts confirm in a very striking manner the views of Gimther and Bell 

 respecting the independence of the marine fauna of Southern Australia, as compared 

 with that of the north-eastern and northern shores of that continent. The following 

 statement which was made by Bell 1 as the result of his studies of the Asterids, Ophiurids, 

 and Urchins, is equally true of the Crinoids : — " The species found on the northern 

 and north-eastern shores of Australia have a wide range eastward and westward, but 

 gradually disappear as we pass southwards. In fine, an Australian Echinoderm-fauna, 

 as conterminous with the Australian shores, does not exist." 



The Crinoid fauna of Western Australia is still almost completely unknown ; but 

 from what little I have seen of it, I believe it to be essentially identical with that of the 

 Eastern Archipelago. 



1. Actinometra pectinate/,, Retzius, sp. (PI. LIU. figs. 15-22). 

 Specific formula — a. R.-g ■ — . 



1758. Asterias pectinata, Linnaeus (pars), Systema Naturae, 10th ed., Holmiae, 1758, t. ii. p. 663. 

 1783. Asterias pectinata, Eetzius (pars), K Svensk. Vetensk. Akad. Handl., Ar. 1783, t. iv. p. 241. 

 1788. Asterias pectinata, Linnaeus (pars), Systema Naturae, ed. 13, cura J. F. Gmelin, Lipsias, 



1788, t. i. pars vi. p. 3166. 

 1805. Asterias pectinata, Eetzius (pars), Dissertatio sistens Species Cognitas Asteriarum, Lundaa, 



1805, p. 43. 

 1843. Alecto purpurea, Miiller, Archiv f. Naturgesch., 1843, Jahrg. ix. Bd. i. p. 132. 

 1843. Asterias pectinata, Miiller, Ibid., p. 133. 

 1849. Comatula (Actinometra) Solaris, var. ? Miiller, Abhandl. d. k. Akad. d. Wiss. Berlin, 



Jahrg. 1847 [1849], p. 249. 

 1862. Comatula purpurea, Dujardin and Hupe, Hist Nat. des Zoophytes, Echinodermes, Paris, 



1862, p. 202. 

 1862. Actinometra pectinata, Dujardin and Hup6, Ibid., p. 210. 



i "Alert" Report, p. 175. 



