CORALS FROM MURRAY, COCOS-KEELING, AND FANNING ISLANDS. 55 



extending to 1,600 feet from shore, and from the Lithothamnion ridge, 

 1,725 to 1,775 f eet from shore. The specimens were packed in separate lots, 

 according to station, all those from one station being put together and a label 

 indicating the station, depth of water at low tide, and character of bottom was 

 included in the package with them. Besides these, there were specimens from 

 other localities, all properly labeled. The total number of specimens is about 

 300. In addition to Dr. Mayer's collection, there are in the U. S. National 

 Museum a few specimens from Torres Strait, purchased from dealers. 



As a result of correspondence referred to me by Dr. Mayer, Dr. F. 

 Wood Jones transmitted to me, and subsequently donated to the U. S. 

 National Museum, his collection of about ioo specimens from the Cocos- 

 Keeling Islands, which he used to illustrate his article entitled, "On the 

 growth-form and supposed species in corals," 1 and his book "Coral and 

 Atolls." 2 He also sent his note-book, which contains accounts of the ecologic 

 relations of each specimen collected while alive and is illustrated by many 

 excellent photographs. As he granted me permission to use both his notes 

 and photographs, I am publishing most of his notes, together with my remarks 

 on the species collected by him, and am using several of his photographs 

 as illustrations. His collection is now a highly valued part of the material 

 belonging to the U. S. National Museum. 



The third collection considered in this paper was made in 1914, by Mr. 

 Carl Elschner, at Fanning Island, and comprises about 28 specimens (repre- 

 senting 26 species). This is valuable as filling a gap existing between our 

 knowledge of the Hawaiian fauna and that of the islands south of the equator 

 in nearly the same longitude. The specimens, which were sent to me by 

 Professor W. A. Bryan with a request for their identification, are now the 

 property of the U. S. National Museum; but a duplicate set is in the Museum 

 of the College of Hawaii at Honolulu. Dr. Fred Baker had previously 

 collected two species of Acropora at Fanning Island, one of which was again 

 obtained by Mr. Elschner. 



The three collections here considered help to extend our knowledge of the 

 zoogeographic relations of the Indo-Pacific Madreporarian faunas. Previous 

 to this paper, there were only scattered notes on the corals at Cocos-Keeling; 

 there was no comprehensive account of the Australian fauna; and nothing 

 was known of that of Fanning Island. The areas are well situated for a zoo- 

 geographic study. Cocos-Keeling Islands are in the eastern Indian Ocean, 

 south of the west end of Sumatra, in latitude about 7 30' N.; Murray Island 

 is at the east end of Torres Strait; Fanning Island is due south of the Hawaiian 

 Islands, in latitude 3 51' 25" N. The close affinities of the coral faunas of 

 three areas are obvious in the table showinggeographic distribution (pp. 64-66) . 



The zoogeographic relations of the Indo-Pacific coral faunas and the 

 character of Atlantic coral faunas are considered in a manuscript which is 



l Proc. Zool. Soc. London for 1907, pp. 518-556, pis. 27-29, 1907. 'Lovell Reeve & Co., Ltd., London, 1910. 



