1 898] GEOGRATHIVAL JJIHTIUB UTION OF A C TIN I ARIA \ 1 



represented in the West Indian area, " sufficient to show tliat the 

 Actinian fauna of the Bermudas has been derived from that of the 

 West Indies" ('89a, p. 125). With two or three exceptions, all 

 of the eighteen representatives which the same author describes 

 from the Bahamas have now been found in Jamaica ; while of the 

 thirty-four species from the latter island, only nine — and of these 

 one or two are doubtful — are not mentioned by Duchassaing and 

 Michelotti from the southern extremity of the area under con- 

 sideration. 



Without any further detail, this brief summary is amply suffi- 

 cient to show that a common origin must be assigned to the assem- 

 blage of Actiniae in the whole Caribbean region, including in this 

 the Bahamas and the Bermudas. This is, however, what might 

 certainly be expected considering the chain-like continuity of the 

 islands, and the fact that practically the same currents pass along 

 them all. 



Turning now to comparisons with localities more distant some 

 interesting results are obtained ; though, owing to the lack of 

 much information from even large areas, they are necessarily very 

 incomplete. Most northern species are well known. In addition 

 to these Professor Verrill ('96) has described a number of forms 

 from the Pacific border of Central and South America : Ehrenbers 

 ('34) and Klunzinger ('77) have made known those of the Pted 

 Sea; while Professor Haddon ('93 and '96) and Mr W. Saville- 

 Kent ('93) have made us acquainted with abundant Australian and 

 Papuan representatives. 



In the sub-tribe Actininae most of the genera of the large 

 families Sagartidae and Bunodidae appear world-wide in their 

 distribution, though Aiptasia and Bunocles, so common in the North 

 Atlantic, are rarely mentioned from the Southern seas. The 

 Antheadae and Dendromelidae are more restricted to warmer 

 parts, Condylactis and Actinioid.es ^ occurring in the Caribbean and 

 Australian regions, as is also the case with the genus Lcbrunca.^ 



The Aliciidae ('97), likewise limited to more tropical seas, 

 appear in some ways to connect the Mediterranean with the Carib- 

 bean, Pacific, and Australian areas. Its genus Bimodcopsis is at 

 present known only from Naples and Jamaica, but Alicia has 

 specific representatives in the Mediterranean, at Madeira, Panama, 

 Peru, Fiji, and Torres Straits. 



Taking the sub-tribe Stichodactylinae, the genus Corynactis is 



1 The West Indian Anfhoplewa 2MlU(la, D. and M., will, I find, have to be trans- 

 ferred to the genus Actinioides. 



2 Haddon states that his Viatrix cinda is allied to Hoploplioria coralJigens, H. V. 

 Wilson. This latter I have lately been able to demonstrate is certainlj'^ a Lcbrunea, 

 and it is likely the Torres Straits specimen will turn out to be the same. The other 

 West Indian species is the remarkable L. neglcda, D. and M. 



