142 THE ECHINODERMS OF TORRES STRAIT. 
reached. In 1909, I believed the species a highly variable one and concluded that the names 
marmorata Lyman, ramsay? Bell, stearnsii Ives, and venusta de Loriol were all synonyms of 
gorgonia. But further study of the material, after my visit to Torres Strait in 1913, led 
me to restore (1915) marmorata and ramsayi to the ranks of valid species, and here the 
matter must be left for the present. Unfortunately, the geographical range of the green- 
and-white form, occurring at Mer and at Amboina, can not be determined from data at 
hand. Specimens believed to be true gorgonia are known from the east coast of Africa to 
Fiji and Samoa, and from Queensland to Japan. At Mer the specimens were all rather small 
and the disk-granulation is coarse. They occurred all around the island under stones on 
sandy bottom, even up to near high-water mark. We found no specimens near Thursday 
Island, and it is noteworthy that none of the earlier expeditions to Torres Strait found 
any. Yet I found at Green Island, near Cairns, Queensland, two specimens identical with 
those afterward taken at Mer. 
Ophiarachnella infernalis. 
Ophiarachna infernalis Miiller and Troschel. 1842. Sys. Ast., p. 105. 
Pectinura infernalis Koehler. 1905. Siboga Oph. Litt., p. 7, pl. i, figs. 1-3. 
Ophiarachnella infernalis H. L. Clark. 1909. Bull. M. C. Z., 62, p. 124. 
This species ranges from Zanzibar to the Pelew Islands and from Torres Strait to 
southern Japan. Dr. Coppinger, of the Alert, took it at Port Molle, Thursday Island, 
Prince of Wales Channel, and Port Darwin. We found it common at Erub and at Mer, 
under stones on sandy bottoms. The rather dingy coloration is unattractive, and there is 
nothing else about the species that calls for special comment. Dr. Koehler writes me that 
he is confident I am wrong in considering his species similis identical with infernalis. As 
I have no indubitable specimens of similis, I refrain from further discussion of the question 
at present. 
Ophiarachnella septemspinosa. 
Ophiarachna septemspinosa Miiller and Troschel. 1842. Sys. Ast., p. 105. 
Pectinura septemspinosa Déderlein. 1889. Zool. Jahrb., Syst., 3, pl. xxxii, figs. 4a—4c. 
Ophiarachnella septemspinosa H. L. Clark. 1909. Bull. M. C. Z., 52, p. 126. 
(Plate 12, Figure 7.) 
This fine species, adults of which may be as much as 36 mm. across the disk, is known 
from Zanzibar to the Fiji Islands, but it is not yet reported from the Philippines, nor was 
it hitherto known from Australia. We found it rather uncommon at the Murray Islands, 
the first specimen being taken from under a rock-fragment on the reef-flat on the south 
side of Weier. It is a large, active brittle-star, appearing much like one of the West Indian 
Ophiodermas. The colors in life (pl. 12, fig. 7) are very handsome, but the green is fugacious 
and disappears in preserved specimens. 
OPHIOLEPIDID£E. 
Ophiura kinbergi. 
Ophiura (vel Ophioglypha) kinbergi Ljungman. 1866. Ofv. Kongl. Vet.-Akad. Férh., 23, p. 166. 
Ophiura kinbergi H. L. Clark. 1911. Bull. 75 U. S. Nat. Mus., p. 37, fig. 9. 
(Plate 12, Figure 3.) 
This pretty little species has a notable and interesting north-and-south range, occur- 
ring as it does at Port Philip, Victoria, and in the Sea of Japan at latitude 38° 16’ N. Its 
east-and-west range is rather narrow, for while it reaches Calcutta and Ceylon on the 
west, it has not yet been recorded from further east than the Philippines and the eastern 
coast of Australia. At Mer we found only two specimens and these were both small. 
They were taken with the tangle, in 4 to 5 fathoms, off the northwestern reef, in company 
with Ophiacantha discoidea. The colors in life (pl. 12, fig. 3) are very delicate and fugacious; 
so preserved specimens do not show them clearly, if at all. 
