ABSTRACTS. 



]. "Notes on some Australian and Indo-Pacific Echinoderms," bv II. 

 Lyman Clark. (Bull. Mus. Conip. and Zool. Harvard, vol. lii. 11109.) 



In this article there are references to two common sj>ecies of New Zea,land Ophi- 

 iirids. The autlior points out that the differences between the genera Pectinura and 

 Ophiopezo are so inconstant that the two must be regarded as congeneric. He wTites : 

 " I liave before me two excellent specimens of Pectinura mctculata. Verrill, in one of 

 which the supplementary oral plates [on the presence or absence of which chiefly the two 

 genera have been separated. — W. B. B.] are well developed, while in the other they are 

 entirely wanting. The specimens of Ophiopeza cylindricu. Hntton, which are accessible 

 are all Pectinvm in this ])p»rticidar, for one has 1, one has 4. and one has 5 supplementary 

 oral plates. Moreover, in several of the dee])-sea species of Pectinura these plates are 

 quite rudimentary." 



He has a few remarks to make on '^ach of these species, which are here reproduced, 

 with synonymy and references. 



(P. 117.) " PeCTINUR.A. CYLINDBICA. 



" Ophiura cylindrica, Hutton, 1872. Cat. N.Z Echin., p. 3. — Ophiopeza cylindrica, 

 Farquhar. 1895. Trans. N.Z. Inst., xxvii, p. 193. 



" New Zealand. Littoral. 



" Of three specimens in the Mus. Comp. Zool. collection, one has 5 supple- 

 mentaiy oral plates, one has 4, one has 1. According to Farquhar (I.e.), there are none. 

 Except between the first and second under-arm plates on one arm of one specimen, 

 there are no arm-pores in the M.C'.Z. specimens. 



(P. 118.) " PeCTINUKA MACULAT.\. 



" OphiaracJmn maculate. Verrill, 1869. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., xii, p. 388 

 (reprinted in Trans. N.Z. Inst., xii. 1880, p. 2^2).— Pectinura mactdata, Verrill, 

 1869. Amer. Journ. Sci. (2). xiv, p. 431 (footnote). 



" New Zealand. Littoral. 



" Of three specimens in the Mus. Comp. Zool. collection, one (disc -diameter 41mm.) 

 has 5 small but distinct supplementary oral plates, a second (disc-diameter 30 mm.) 

 shows 1 very narrow supjilementary oral plate, but the lower surface of the disc is so 

 badly damaged it is impossible to decide ]>ositively whether this was the only one pre- 

 sent or not; the third (disc-diameter 17mm.) has not the slightest trace of such 

 supplementary oral plates. Pores seem to be constantly present between the first and 

 second under-arm jilates. but in the smallest they can scarcely be seen on two of the 

 arms." 



The aeiumulation of s|)ecimens of all kinds of native invertebrates at the Otago 

 University ^luseum will afford the opportunity for similar observations on variation 

 in our fauna, for, as I have noted in a report on the Echinodenns collected by the " Nora 

 Niven." there is considerable variation of the sort dealt with above. I hope that some 

 day students will be able to avail themselves of my material. 



W. B. B. 



2. " New Zealand Petrels. 



Siiuc 1907 a monograph by F. du Cane Godman, the President of the British 

 Ornithologists" Union, has been in course of publication. Four parts have now reached 

 Wellington. In the last part a notice has been inserted that considerable delay has 

 taken place owing to the illness of the author, but the ]Hiblishers hope that the work 

 will be com]ileted shortly. 



As the four ])arts issued contain much that is of interest to New Zealand natural- 

 ists on the very difficult subject of the nomenclature and identification of the New Zealand 

 petrels, I think it might be of use to state what is at present available. 



