593.65 100 [February 



II 



The Geographical Distribution of the Actiniaria 



of Jamaica 



AS bearing in some measure upon the question of a former 

 connection between the Pacilic and Atlantic Oceans across 

 Central America, referred to in the September and October numbers 

 of Natural Science, it may be of interest to give , the results already 

 obtained from a comparison of the Actiniaria occurring around the 

 island of Jamaica with those met with elsewhere. Collections made 

 at but a few localities, and from only shallow water, have yielded 

 at least thirty-four species. With the exception of Palythoa mam- 

 millosa (Ellis & Sol.), none'of these have been previously recorded 

 from the island. 



P. onammillosa is of peculiar local interest, in that it was obtained 

 so long ago as 1687 by Sir Hans Sloane, when, as physician in 

 the service of the Duke of Manchester, he visited Jamaica. It is 

 roughly represented in his " Voyage " ("07), with the imposing title of 

 Lapidis A stroitidis sive stcllaris primordia ; an excellent figure is 

 also given by Ellis and Solander. Sloane's specimens were deposited 

 in the British Museum, presumably along with his other collections, 

 which went to form the nucleus of that institution. 



The general Actinological features of the West Indies have long 

 been known from the researches of Messrs Duchassaing and Miche- 

 lotti ('60, '66). These authors, however, confined their attention 

 mostly to Guadaloupe, St Thomas, and two or three other islands of 

 the Lesser Antilles ; and it has now become necessary to re-examine 

 their types and determinations in order that they may be placed in 

 the more modern systems of classification, founded upon a combina- 

 tion of external and anatomical characters. Within the last few 

 years valuable researches of such a nature have been conducted by 

 Professor J. P. McMurrich upon the Anemones of the Bahamas and 

 the Bermudas ('89, '89a, '96). 



Coming, as Jamaica does, somewhat midway between the islands 

 studied by these workers, we are now in a position to compare the 

 Actinian fauna of practically the whole Caribbean area, and as far 

 north as the Bermudas. The result of such a comparison is to 

 demonstrate a striking similarity throughout. Of the ten Bermudan 

 species described by McMurrich, at least seven are found to be 



