198 THE ECHINODERMS OF TORRES STRAIT. 
out the fact that the echinoderms give no support to the theory of Neumayr that 
in Jurassic times and subsequently there existed a “Gulf of Queensland,” which, 
as Hedley (1909) has expressed it, “offered a refuge to old forms of life.’ Of 
course, the absence of evidence in a single group does not count heavily against 
positive evidence given by other groups, but it is certainly noteworthy that the 
echinoderm fauna of Queensland does not even suggest the former existence of a 
“Gulf of Queensland.” 
THE EASTERN AND WESTERN ELEMENTS. 
In contrast to this negative evidence regarding the ‘‘Gulf of Queensland,” 
there is positive evidence of a striking sort that the fauna of the eastern coast of 
Australia is made up from two distinct elements, and much light is thrown upon these 
and their relative importance by a critical study of the Torres Strait fauna. Exami- 
nation of the tabulated list given above shows that there is a considerable number 
of species which are of little or no value for such a study. First of all are the species 
which are known from only a single locality, often from only one or a few specimens. 
There are 44 of these, shown in list 1. 
List 1.—Species of very restricted range. 
Comanthus callipepla. Valvasterias spinifera. Ophiomastix corallicola. 
Heterometra delicata. Amphiura microsoma. janualis. 
Stephanometra callipecha. septemspinosa. Leptosynapta latipatina. 
stypacantha. Ophionephthys octacantha. Protankyra verrilli.* 
Oligometra anisa. Amphiodia brocki.* Trochodota maculata. 
Stellaster princeps.* Amphioplus parviclypeus. Thyone papuensis.* 
Habroporina pulchella. Ophiactis delicata. Pseudocucumis eurystichus. 
Fromia elegans. Ophiactis hemiteles. Pentacta trimorpha. 
Nardoa rosea. Ophiothrix belli.* Holothuria altimensis. 
Ferdina ocellata. dyscrita. axiologa. 
Bunaster uniserialis. liodisea. cumulus. 
Ophidiaster lioderma. rhabdota. subverta. 
Tamaria tuberifera.* Ophiomaza cataphracta.* Thelenota anax. 
Asterina anomala. Ophiophthirius actinometre.* Actinopyga lubrica.* 
nuda. Ophiocoma parva. 
The nine species indicated by an asterisk were taken by the Challenger, the 
Alert, Dr. Semon, or some other collector prior to 1913. The remainder are all 
known only from Mer, except Heterometra delicata, Ophionephthys octacantha, Amph- 
toplus parviclypeus, and Leptosynapta latipatina, which we collected only in the 
Thursday Island region. 
Another group which is of little use in the present study is made up of those 
species which have such a wide distribution that their occurrence is to be expected 
almost anywhere in the central part of the Indo-Pacific region. A few species have 
an even wider distribution and are tropicopolitan or even cosmopolitan. This 
group contains 38 species, which appear in list 2. 
In list 2, species occurring at the Murray Islands are indicated by an asterisk, 
while those which are not known from any part of the Torres Strait region 
or Australian coast are indicated by a dagger. It will be noted at once that every 
species on the list comes under one or the other head. In other words, not a 
single member of this group of widespread species occurs anywhere on the main- 
