SEA LILIES, STARFISHES, ETC. — CLARK. 



REPORT ON THE SEA-LILIES, STARFISHES, 

 BRITTLE-STARS AND SEA-URCHINS. 



I. — Introduction. 



The collections dealt with in this report consist of the 

 Echinoderms, excepting the Holothurians or Sea-cucumbers 

 {beche-de-mer), or in technical terms the " Actinogonidiate 

 Echinoderms," obtained by the Federal Fisheries Investigation 

 Ship " Endeavour " along the Australian coast south of Lat. 

 24°S. at depths of less than three hundred fathoms, during 

 the years 1909-1914 inclusive. The Holothurians were by 

 mutual agreement sent elsewhere for study. 



The collections were sent to me in five instalments and have 

 included altogether one thousand and sixty-one specimens 

 representing one hundred and fifteen species, of which thirty- 

 nine seem to be new to science and fifteen others are now 

 recorded from Australia for the first time. Others, previously 

 known from northern Australia are now listed from stations 

 south of the tropics, and the extension of ranges in this way 

 is oftentimes very great. Up to the present time (1 July, 

 1915), the list of Actinogonidiate Echinoderms known from 

 Australia was about three hundred and twenty, but owing to 

 numerous cases of incorrect identifications and of inaccurate 

 locality labels, it is impossible to give exact figures. There 

 is no doubt, however, that including the large additions made 

 by the " Endeavour," the known Echinoderm fauna of 

 Austraha includes more than three hundred and fifty valid 

 species, aside from the Holothurians. 



The geographical distribution of these species is very inter- 

 esting. At least two hundred are endemic, or at least have not 

 yet been reported from elsewhere, while most of the remainder 

 are East Indian species, ranging southward along the eastern 

 coast of the continent to southern Queensland or even to 

 Port Jackson, New South Wales. In his very interesting and 

 useful paper on the " Recent Crinoids of Australia, "i Mr. 

 Austin H. Clark has recognised the existence of a North 

 Australian and a South Australian subregion. Port Jackson on 

 the east coast and Shark Bay on the west serving as the 

 approximate boundary between the two. Study of the 

 Echinoderms as a whole (including the Holothurians), however, 



1. A. H. Clark— Mem. Austr. Mus., iv., 15, 1911. 



