f THE ECHINODERMS OF TORRES STRAIT. 
the collections of but four workers, of whom only one was particularly interested in 
echinoderms. But the material gathered into these four collections reveals a fauna 
of wonderful richness, well worthy of more exhaustive investigations. It is particu- 
larly notable for the abundance of comatulids, whose beautiful colors and graceful 
movements make them the most striking feature of echinoderm life on the reefs. 
For the purpose of this study, the Torres Strait region is limited strictly to 
the district between 141° and 145° E. longitude and 9° and 11° S. latitude, an area 
of about 37,000 square miles, of which little more than 3,000 is land. Except out- 
side the Barrier Reef, which is approximately in longitude 144°, the 34,000 square 
miles of sea is very shallow, rarely exceeding 25 fathoms in depth, and usually not 
over 10 or 12. It is, moreover, crowded with reefs and sand bars, many of which 
144° 
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Scale 
10 60 10 20 30 40 50Miles 
——————— SS ae 
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Fic. 1.—Chart showing the Torres Strait region. 
rise into islands and islets of greater or less extent, but only a few feet above water. 
There are also volcanic islands like Erub and Mer, or sunken and eroded mountains 
like Badu and Moa, which are extensively bordered by reefs and reef flats. As a 
consequence of these physical conditions, the region teems with marine life, and 
where the combinations of tidal currents and surface conditions are particularly 
favorable the richness of the coral reefs in invertebrate life really passes description. 
At Mer, where the Carnegie Institution’s laboratory was maintained for five weeks, 
and where echinoderms were particularly sought for, additional species were dis- 
covered every day and a large proportion proved to be new to science. But the 
reefs were far from exhausted by our constant and intensive search, for on the last 
day of our stay four species were found which we had not previously seen. Nothing 
is known of the fauna in the deep water east of the Great Barrier reef. 
The first workers to collect echinoderms in Torres Strait were the naturalists 
of the Challenger, who made Somerset on Albany Pass, about 30 miles southeast 
