ANNOTATED LIST. aL 
gracilis in which R=105 mm., and that they are ‘‘completely different.” This can be 
accounted for in only one of three ways: either the specimens in the Museum of Compara- 
tive Zoédlogy are not gracilis, or Koehler’s specimen is not gracilis, or my honored French 
colleague has failed to make due allowance for individual diversity. He lays some stress 
on the fact that gracilis is “‘triplacanthid” while rouzi is ‘‘diplacanthid,” but this is quite 
worthless as a distinction, for gracilis is at first diplacanthid, becomes triplacanthid with 
growth, and ultimately becomes, when fully grown, ‘‘tetracanthid.’”’ In the genus Oreaster, 
only secondary importance can be attached to the details of the adambulacral armature. 
Through a slip of the pen Koehler, on page 275 of his paper, writes ‘‘P. mertoni”’ where he 
obviously means P. rout. 
The large specimens at hand from Warrior Reef answer so well to Sladen’s description 
of P. callimorphus, which the Challenger took near Booby Island, that there can be little 
doubt of their identity. On the other hand, there is no room to doubt that they are iden- 
tical with our smaller specimen labeled gracilis. It seems to be fairly certain, therefore, 
that O. gracilis is an Australian Oreaster, specially characteristic of the north coast, whose 
full-grown adult form has been described as callimorphus and whose youthful condition 
(one-third grown) has been described as rowxi. It is one of the largest species of the genus, 
reaching a diameter of half a meter when fully grown. The only record I have found for 
it outside the Australian region is that of Bell (1909) who records it without comment 
from Saya de Malha, in the western Indian Ocean, in 45 to 55 fathoms. Such a record 
requires confirmation, but of course is not impossible. Bell, in the Alert Report (1884), 
records this species from Port Denison, and Port Molle, but his notes indicate that these 
specimens may have been australis. 
Oreaster nodosus. 
Asterias nodosa Linné. 1758. Sys. Nat., ed x, p. 661. 
Oreaster nodosus Bell. 1884. Proc. Zodél. Soc. Lond., p. 70. 
(Plate 24, Figure 1; Plate 25, Figures 1 and 2.) 
Although so long known and so widely distributed, this species does not seem to have 
been figured hitherto, except by Fisher (1919), so I give figures of two New Guinea 
specimens, showing a little of the individual diversity characteristic of the species. Under 
the pre-Linnean name Pentaceros turritus, Sladen records a Challenger specimen from 
near Booby Island; Déderlein (1896) records one from Thursday Island in Semon’s collec- 
tion, and Koehler (1910) lists it from the Aru Islands. The Alert took nodosus at Port 
Denison, Queensland, which is the southernmost point from which it has been recorded. 
Bell (1899) lists it from New Britain on the east and (1909) from Saya de Malha on the 
west. The Herdmans (1904) record it from Ceylon and Goto (1914) from the Linschoten 
Islands. It is well known from Ambonia, the Moluccas, and New Guinea. 
We met with this species both at Erub and at Mer, but did not see it near Thursday 
Island. At Mer it was rare and only two specimens were seen, but at Erub, on the shallow 
sandy area off the southeastern coast, it was common and conspicuous for its brilliant 
colors. The ground-color is red and the tubercles and tips of the rays blue, but the exact 
shades and the distribution of the colors show very great diversity. There is considerable 
diversity, too, in the number and size of the tubercles, but none of the specimens seen by me 
shows any approach to O. lincki, with which species nodosus was thought by Dr. Willey 
to intergrade at Blanche Bay, New Britain. Nor, on the other hand, is there any approach 
towards australis or gracilis, the other Australian Oreasters. One of the specimens taken 
at Erub has but 4 rays. The largest specimen I have seen has R=192 mm. It is a dry 
specimen in the Museum of Comparative Zoélogy and was collected at Warrior Reef, 
Torres Strait, in 1896. 
