PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 43. 



Wright and Stvider, in their report on the Alcyonaria of the CTial- 

 lenger expedition, described a number of species from Japanese 

 waters, and others have since been reported from that region. 



In view of these comprehensive monographs and other less pre- 

 tentious papers, it woukl seem that the alcyonarian fauna of the 

 Japanese region had been pretty thoroughly worked, and that further 

 mvestigations of the same region would not be very profitable, at 

 least so far as the discovery of new forms is concerned. On the 

 contrary, however, the collection secured by the Albatross is of ex- 

 ceptional interest, adding many species, most of which are new, to 

 the already extensive list from that region, as well as furnishing 

 numerous items of interest concerning the geographical distribution 

 of the group. 



As a whole the Japanese Alcyonaria are more circumscribed in 

 their distribution than one would consider likely, there being com- 

 paratively few species found both in Japanese waters and other 

 parts of the Western Pacific, as is well shown in comparing the lists 

 of species in the present work with those found in the monographic 

 reports on the alcyonarians of the Gulf of Manaar b}^ Thomson and 

 Henderson,^ and the two bulky works which constitute the reports 

 on the Alcyonaria secured by the Investigator in the Indian Ocean.^ 

 Such a comparison shows that the faunae of the Indian Ocean and of 

 Japan are by no means intimately related, reminding one of the same 

 condition of affairs found in the Caribbean Sea as compared with the 

 adjacent waters of the North Atlantic. 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS OF ALCYONARIANS COLLECTED BY THE U. S. 

 FISHERIES STEAMER "ALBATROSS" IN THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC 

 DURING 1906. 



[The asterisk (*) indicates a new genus or species.] 



Order ALCYONACEA. 

 Family Cornularid.*;. 

 Clavularia dispersa, C. sulcata* C. eburnea, C. japonica* 



Family Nephthyid.e. 

 Lithophytum roseum* 



Dendronephthya splendens, D. acaulis, D. viagnacantha* D. nigripes* D. oviformis.* 

 Paraspongodes striata. 



Family Alcyonid^. 



Alcyonium hukenthali* A. gracillimum. 

 Nidalia rubra, N. gracilis.* 

 Bellonella flava.* 

 Anthomastus japonicus.* 



1 Report on the Pearl Oyster Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar, The Alcyonaria, 1905. 



2 Thomson and Henderson, Report on the Alcyonarians collected by R. I. M. S. S. Investigator in the 

 Indian Ocean. 1 The Alcyonaria of the Deep Sea, 1906; 2. (Thomson and Simpson) The Alcyonaria of 

 the Littoral Zone, i909. 



