ANNOTATED LIST. hs, 
one was yellowish olive, yellowish brown, or gray. Sometimes there were white stripes 
on the arms and pinnules, and the joints of the pinnules were white, but as a rule specimens 
were unicolor. The colors are very fugitive by any method of preservation, but are best 
retained by killing in an aqueous solution of mercuric chloride and then drying. 
Adults of purpurea are readily distinguishable from specimens of pectinata of the same 
size by the characteristic number and arrangement of the cirri. I have seen no specimen 
which could not be promptly assigned to one species or the other by this test alone, but I 
have failed to find any other difference between the two species and I do not feel certain 
that they are really distinct. The fact that specimens of pectinata, large and small, were 
found at Mer associated with purpurea and distinguishable only by their more numerous 
and more continuously arranged cirri, makes me somewhat sceptical. Some of the largest 
specimens of purpurea lack cirri altogether, but the sockets, usually paired, sometimes 
single, at the five corners only of the centrodorsal are unmistakable. 
Comatula rotalaria. 
Lamarck. 1816. Anim. s. Vert., 2, p. 534.—P. H. Carpenter. 1888. Challenger Comat., pl. liv (as Actino- 
metra paucicirra). 
Although this species was taken by the Challenger, the Alert, and Dr. Semon, we did 
not meet with it. Known only from northern Australia and the Aru Islands. 
Comatula solaris. 
Lamarck. 1816. Anim. s. Vert., 2, p. 533.—Herklots. 1869. Bijd. Dierk., 9, p. 10, pl. ix (colored). 
Another well-known species, ranging from Port Curtis, Queensland, to Singapore and 
Hong Kong, with which we did not meet, although the Challenger, Alert, and Dr. Semon 
took specimens in Torres Strait. 
Comaster belli. 
Actinometra belli P. H. Carpenter. 1888. Challenger Comat., p. 334, pl. lxiv, figs. 1, 2. 
Comaster belli A. H. Clark. 1908. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 33, p. 686. 
Known from various stations on the coast of northern Australia including one or more 
in Torres Strait, but we did not meet with it. 
Comaster multifida. 
Alecto multifida J. Miller. 1841. Arch. f. Naturg., 1, pt. 1, pp. 144, 147. 
Comaster multifida A. H. Clark. 1909. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 22, p. 87. 
Owing to the fact that in each of three of his most important papers (1911, 1913, 1918) 
Mr. A. H. Clark has used a different nomenclature for the Comasters of Torres Strait, it 
is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine which of the various records belong to any 
one of the species. There seems to be no doubt that Mr. Clark believes there are three 
species in the Torres Strait region, but as we did not meet with even one, I can throw no 
light on the subject. 
Comaster noveeguinee. 
Alecto noveguinee J. Miller. 1841. Arch. f. Naturg., 7, pt. 1, p. 146. 
Comaster noveguinee A. H. Clark. 1908. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 33, p. 686.—See P. H. Carpenter. 1888. Chal- 
lenger Comat., pl. lvii, fig. 1 (as Actinometra typica). 
Known from several stations in Torres Strait, but not met with by us, this species 
has a far wider range than the preceding two, reaching Fiji on the east and Singapore and 
the Philippines on the north. The notes on our Philippine specimens from Dr. L. E. 
Griffin’s collection show that in life this comatulid is usually brown of some shade, ranging 
from dark chocolate to burnt orange; one specimen, however, was chiefly olive with the 
cirri and pinnules “blue.” 
