S'94 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



-"'" A few species have been found by shore collectors in New Caledonia, Lord 

 Howe Island, Fiji, Samoa, the Marshall, Gilbert, Pelew, Caroline, Society, and 

 Hawaiian Islands, but throughout Oceania they appear to be relatively rare. 



None are Imown from the Japanese coasts north of Toltyo Bay, from the 

 Asiatic coasts north of Fokien, from the northern or eastern shores of the Pacific, 

 or from New Zealand. 



In the Atlantic basin littoral crinoids occur from Scandinavia and Great 

 Britain to the Gulf of Guinea, including the islands off the European and African 

 coasts and the Mediterranean area (but not the Black Sea), and in the west from 

 Florida to southern Brazil. But on the western shores, except for Tropiometra 

 picta, they are extraordinarily rare, there being but six records — one from Ber- 

 muda ; one from the Tortugas, Florida : one from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands ; one 

 from Dominica; and two from Brazil. 



Of all the comatulids the preeminently littoral genus is Tropiometra, and 

 wherever this genus occurs, from South Africa to Australia, Oceania, and southern 

 Japan, and from the southern Caribbean to south Brazil and St. Helena, it is com- 

 monly found along the shore, often in great abundance. In the western Atlantic, 

 from Tobago, Trinidad, and Venezuela to southern Brazil, it is the only really 

 common littoral form. 



A close second to Tropiometra is found in the genus A7itedon, ranging from 

 Scandinavia and Great Britain to the Gulf of Guinea, including the offshore islands 

 and the entire Mediterranean basin, and also found from St. Thomas to Brazil, 

 all the species of which occur along the shores, where they are often locally abun- 

 dant. Only two specimens of the American species are known— one from shore 

 collections at Rio de Janeiro, the other from shore collections at St. Thomas. 



In order to emphasize the importance of the comatulids as inhabitants of the 

 present-day littoral the following list is given of the species which have actually 

 been taken by shore collectors. A comparison between this list and a similar list 

 containing the names of the species from any one geological horizon is very 

 instructive. 



COMASTERID^ : 



Capillasterin^ — 



CoDiatella nigra, C. sieUigera, C. maculata. 



Capillaster tiiacroirachius, C. scntosa, C. marim, C. clarki, C. multiradiata, C. cocco- 



distoma. 

 Nemaster ioicensis, N. irregularis, N. lineata. 

 Leptonemaster venustus. 

 Comissia pecttnifer, C. littoralis, C. ehadwicki, G. hartmeyeri, C. ignota. 



COMACTINIINiE — 



ComatuleUa hracJiiolata. 



Comatula rotalaria, C. cratera, C. Solaris, C. pectinata, C. purpurea. 



COMASTEBtN^: 



Comaster l)e}U, C. novaguinew. C. gracilis, G. multifida, G. multibrachiata. C. 



schonoiH. 

 Comantheria alternans, C. hriareus, C. magniflca, C. rotula, C. grandicalyx. 

 Gomanthina schlegelii. 

 Comanthus henneiti, C. pinguis, C. japnnica, C. solaster, G. trichoptera, G. samoana, 



C. wahlbergii, C. annulata, C. parvicirra. 



