20 THE ECHINODERMS OF TORRES STRAIT. 
Comanthus schlegelii. 
Actinometra schlegelii P. H. Carpenter. 1881. Notes Leyden Mus., 3, p. 210. 
Comanthus schlegelii A. H. Clark. 1911. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 39, p. 536.—See P. H. Carpenter. 1888. Chal- 
lenger Comat., pls. lxiv, fig. 3 (as A. duplex), lxv (as A. nobilis), and Ixviii (as A. regalis). 
Only three specimens of this species were collected at Mer, two from the deeper water 
(18 fathoms) outside the northwestern reef and one from the Great Barrier Reef itself, 
but there is a fine series of a dozen specimens from Port Galera, Mindoro, Philippine 
Islands, in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy collection, and with 10 of these, thanks 
to Dr. Griffin, we have notes on the color in life. These notes reveal as a fact what was 
suspected from the two Murray Island specimens, that schlegelii shows great diversity in 
coloring, nearly all specimens being more or less variegated or marked with white or yellow. 
One of the individuals collected at Mer was ‘‘black, passing into olive at tips of arms; distal 
half of each pinnule chrome-yellow passing through brown into the dull olive or black of 
basal half; cirri lemon-yellow.’’ The other was strikingly different as it was ‘‘bewilderingly 
variegated with shades of yellow, green, brown, blackish, and white; general impression 
bright yellow with black markings; cirri yellow with two dusky dark bands.” 
This species is said to range from the Maldives to the Caroline Islands and New 
Britain, and south to Percy Island, Queensland, about lat. 21° 30’ S., where the Alert took 
a specimen with 63 arms and only 1 cirrus. Merton took a superb specimen with 151 arms, 
140 mm. long, and no cirri, in Dobo Strait, Aru Islands, in about 9 fathoms. The speci- 
mens from Murray Islands are notable for having the cirri xx-xxi, 15-17, the maximum 
development of cirri in the species. They have 60, 70, and 76 arms respectively, but only 
in the last does every ray have the iii Br series typically arranged; in the specimen with 
70 arms, only two rays show the typical arrangement, each of the other rays having an 
inner iii Br series 2 instead of 4; in the specimen with 60 arms, four rays are typical but 
the fifth has the arrangement reversed, the inner iii Br series being 2 and the outer 4(3+-4). 
The iv Br series occurs 77 times in the three specimens, and in only 10 is it 2. The v Br 
series occurs 9 times and only once is it 2. 
ZYGOMETRID£E. 
Zygometra elegans. 
Antedon elegans Bell. 1884. Alert Rep., p. 162, pl. xiii, figs. B, Ba. 
Zygometra elegans A. H. Clark. 1907. Smithson. Mise. Coll., 50, p. 348. 
We found no specimens of this characteristic north Australian species. It was taken 
by the Alert at Port Molle and in Torres Strait, and by Semon at Thursday Island, and 
the Challenger took specimens at her station 190 in the Arafura Sea. It is also known from 
the coasts of northwestern Australia; and on the eastern coast it ranges as far south as 
Sandon Bluffs, New South Wales, where the Endeavour took it in 35 to 40 fathoms. 
Zygometra microdisca. 
Antedon microdiscus Bell. 1884. Alert Rep., p. 163, pl. xv. 
Zygometra microdiscus A. H. Clark. 1907. Smithson. Misc. Coll., 50, p. 348. 
This species, with a range very similar to that of the preceding, also escaped our 
notice. Yet it was taken by the Challenger at several points in Torres Strait, and Semon 
found it at Thursday Island. The Endeavour took a single small specimen near the Capri- 
corn Islands, off Port Curtis, Queensland, in 70 to 74 fathoms. 
It is a little odd that we found no Zygometras at the Murray Islands and there is a 
possibility that the genus does not extend to the group. This is so improbable, however, 
that it is more likely local or seasonal conditions prevented our finding specimens. 
