Vol. XXV, pp. 17-28 



PROCEEDINGS 



<>!•• THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



v 



w 



seventeen new east indian crinoids belong 

 [ng to the families (omasterid.e 

 and zygometrim:. 



BY AUSTIN II. CLARK. 



Professor Max Weber has done me the honor of entrusting to 

 me for study the very extensive collection of unstalked crinoids 

 brought together by the Sibnga during the course of her inves- 

 tigations in the Dutch East Indies. The great importance of 

 this collection may be appreciated when it is stated that it con- 

 sists of some 1320 specimens, representing approximately 170 

 species. 



The large number of new forms discovered naturally throws 

 an entirely new light upon the systematic interrelationships of 

 many species and genera, while the new geographic data pre- 

 sented will be of the greatest interest in its bearing on the study 

 of the geographical distribution of these and other animals. 



As it will take considerable time to digest all the new facts 

 and to complete a satisfactory report it has seemed advisable to 

 publish preliminary diagnoses of the new genera and species in 

 advance of the final memoir, in which they will be described 

 in greater detail and figured, and in which their relationships 

 with other forms will be discussed. 



Among the new forms there are comparatively few which show 

 any great departure from types already known. A large num- 

 ber of the new species are from the Lesser Sunda Islands and 

 represent in that region related species previously known from 

 Japan or from Hawaii. Many of the others are from the Java 

 Sea. and are essentially sudden local departures from well 

 known and widely ranging East Indian types. 



")-Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXV, 1912. (IT) 



