10 THE ECHINODERMS OF TORRES STRAIT. 
additional color varieties. Three of the color varieties and 41 of the species were 
previously unknown to science, or at least unnamed. 
On comparing the list of echinoderms taken by the Carnegie expedition with 
those of the earlier collectors, some interesting facts are brought out which throw 
a little light on questions of distribution. Only 5 names (Comatula pectinata, 
Nepanthia brevis, Ophiomaza cacaotica, Peronella orbicularis, and Breynia austra- 
lasie) occur in all four lists, 21 occur in three lists, and 56 in two lists. Of the 
Challenger’s 42 species we met with only 16; of the 57 forms taken by Dr. Coppinger, 
we found but 22; while of Dr. Semon’s 50 we collected only 17. Of the 100 echino- 
derms known from Torres Strait, we met with only 36, no doubt because we did 
so little dredging and so little collecting in the vicinity of Cape York and Thursday 
Island. On the other hand, by going to Mer and collecting the echinoderms of 
that single spot as completely as time permitted, we added 146 forms to the Torres 
Strait list, bringing it up to a grand total of 246 species and varieties. No region 
of similar extent anywhere in the world is as yet known to harbor an echinoderm 
fauna of such variety, but it is quite possible that favorable areas in the southern 
Philippines or in the Dutch East Indies will, when intensively examined, reveal a 
similar wealth of forms. 
