4 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN 



At depths of 100 to 1,000 fathoms, however, the starfishes are 

 very numerous, both in species and individuals. 



The most prolific zone for starfishes, as well as for most other 

 groups, is on the continental border in 100 to 500 fathoms. 



The Bahama Expedition dredged at a number of localities be- 

 tween 100 and 200 fathoms, especially at the famous crinoid 

 ground, oif Havana, which is a locality very favorable for marine 

 invertebrates of many kinds. Therefore, the collection obtained 

 includes an unusual number of species, considering the small 

 number of dredgings made, and the smallness of the equipment, 

 as compared with that of the ' ' Blake ' ' or the ' ' Albatross. ' ' 



A few of the more common West Indian and conspicuous 

 shallow water starfishes were mentioned by the early writers, 

 such as Marcgraft (1648) ; Sloane (1725) ; Linck (1733) ; Seba 

 (1761), and others. 



This was especially the case with the very large and conspic- 

 uous species, the "large warted starfish" of Brown, 1756, now 

 known as Oreaster reticulatus, which is very common in many 

 places in very shallow water, and therefore sure to attract the at- 

 tention of the most casual observers. 



Yet the number of species actually known to occur in the West 

 Indies was very small up to the period of Gray (1840) and of 

 MuUer and Troschel (1842). 



Linne referred only two or three of his species to the West 

 Indies and some of those doubtfully. Lamarck (1816) recog- 

 nized only two or three as West Indian. Thomas Say (1825) 

 recorded six species from the southern coast of the United States, 

 five of which he described as new. All of these, except two, are 

 also West Indian species. 



Gray, 1840, gave the West Indian region as the source of eight 

 of his species. Miiller and Troschel (1842) recorded but five as 

 West Indian, though they described others from this fauna 

 whose origin was unknown. 



The first attempt to give a critical synopsis of the West Indian 

 species was made by Prof. Christian Liitken,^ a most careful 



1 Dr. Christian Frederik Liitken, professor of the University of Copen- 

 hagen; lieutenant in the war of 1849-50; died February 6, 1901, aged 

 73 years. 



His works on the starfishes and ophiurans of northern Europe, Green- 



