CORAL BEEFS OF TORRES STRAITS 



227 



bottoms of which are covered with corals, should, state that an upward 

 growth of at least one inch per annum may be expected. 



But other studies apart from those upon coral reefs were conducted 

 at the Murray Islands. Dr. Hubert Lyman Clark, of Harvard, found 

 many species of the delicate feathery "sea lilies" or crinoids, which live 

 among the coral heads below low tide. These crinoids were, by some, 

 supposed to be sedentary animals but Dr. Clark found that at least cer- 

 tain forms can swim actively through the water using their long graceful 

 arms as oars. In cretaceous times crinoids were abundant along our own 

 shores but are now common only in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean and 

 in the shallow water of the western tropical Pacific and Malayan region 

 northward to Japan. 



There were also great numbers of slender serpent stars, rapidly mov- 

 ing forms which usually live in crevices among the rocks and scuttle off 



Goveknob Murray's Servants. Natives of Port Moresby. Papua. Types of the na- 

 tives of the S.E. coast of New Guinea. 



