ANNOTATED LIST. 13 
Indies and Philippines. A single large specimen is recorded by Reichensperger (1914) 
from the Aru Islands. At Mer, nigra occurred only near the outer margin of the south- 
western reef-flat. The Museum of Comparative Zoélogy has a series of 33 specimens 
from Port Galera, Mindoro, Philippine Islands, most of which are accompanied by careful 
notes on the color in life. For these notes thanks are due to Dr. L. E. Griffin. They show 
that nigra ordinarily has the ground-color a deep wine-red or even blood-red, tending to 
become almost black; one specimen, however, was essentially light brown and one was 
distinctly olive-green; many specimens showed a stippling or spotting with olive-green or 
olive-yellow, and in most specimens the cirri were tipped with a light shade, usually recorded 
in the notes as “‘silver” or ‘‘glassy.”’ Preserved specimens are commonly a dull brown of 
some shade, often nearly black, but are sometimes quite bright brown. When dry, they 
give little indication of stippling or spotting with lighter shades. The species grows to a 
large size, 300 to 350 mm. across with usually from 40 to 70 arms. 
It seems to me by no means certain that nigra is specifically distinct from stelligera, 
which is exceedingly common at Mer. When taken, the specimens of nigra were supposed 
to be only old specimens of the common species, and [I still think that is a possible inter- 
pretation of their peculiarities, but in deference to Mr. A. H. Clark’s contrary opinion, 
based on more extensive material, I do not at present unite the two forms under a 
single name. 
Comatella stelligera. 
Actinometra stelligera P. H. Carpenter. 1888. Challenger Comat., p. 308, pl. lviii. 
Comatella stelligera A. H. Clark, 1908. Smithson. Misc. Coll., 42, p. 207.—1918. Siboga Comat., p. 5, pl. ii (colored). 
(Plate 2, Figure 2.) 
This is a very common comatulid at Mer and its diversities of color were very perplex- 
ing. The first one taken was ‘‘deep purple, with every joint or syzygy yellow-green,” 
except those on the calyx which were orange-yellow; the centrodorsal was purple with 
yellow spots; pinnules with purple segments and orange joints; cirri absent. But the same 
day at the same place, I took the brilliantly green individual shown on plate 2, and such 
green specimens were by no means rare. Other specimens had the calyx and basal part 
of arms purple, with the distal half of arms more or less green; the transition from purple 
to green is not abrupt. A small specimen with 35 arms, taken September 28, had disk 
and basal part of arms orally bright rose-purple; calyx and aboral side of arm bases light 
yellow brown, becoming dusky near middle of arms; distal part of arms bright yellow, 
with or without a transverse band of rose-purple; cirri rose-purple. One specimen is re- 
corded in my field notes as ‘‘uniformly black,’”’ but quite possibly this was a specimen of 
nigra, as the two species were not distinguished in the field. 
A specimen of stelligera in the Australian Museum is said to be from Port Jackson, 
but I think such a record needs confirmation, as the species was not taken by either the 
Thetis or the Endeavour, nor was it known to Whitelegge, perhaps the best-informed man 
in the world, early in the present century, on the marine fauna of Port Jackson. The Alert 
did not find stelligera anywhere on the coast of Queensland, not even in Torres Strait, nor 
did the Challenger nor Semon meet with it. Under the circumstances, I consider the sup- 
posed Port Jackson specimen the result of an erroneous label, though possibly an individual 
might have reached that harbor on a foul ship bottom. At any rate, the record may well 
be ignored in delimiting the range of the species, which extends from Ceylon on the west 
to Samoa on the east. Aside from Mer, the only place in the Torres Strait region where it 
has been taken is at the reef of Attagor, west of Erub; Jukes collected a specimen here 
which is now in the British Museum. No specimens have been taken in the Arafura Sea 
or among the islands in that immediate vicinity. 
