56 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
dant throughout the tropical Atlantic. For instance, we found 
scarcely any hydroids on the reefs and flats about Makuluva in 
habitats where they would be plentiful in the West Indies. But 
perhaps the most conspicuous forms about the coral reefs of the 
West Indies, the gorgonians or flexible corals that abound every- 
where we have worked in the Atlantic, are utterly lacking, so far 
as our collections show, on the Fiji reefs, where their place is 
taken by flabby, lobulated Aleyonacea that lack the axis cylinder 
characteristic of the Gorgonacea. While echinoderms were evi- 
dently plentiful, the number of species was few, particularly 
among the star-fishes, serpent-stars and sea-urchins. Such familiar 
genera as Oreaster, Asterias and Archaster were apparently absent 
about Makuluva. Of the ophiurian forms, we found no represen- 
tatives of Ophiura, for instance, and there seemed to be a com- 
plete absence of simple-armed basket-fish. Among the Echini 
proper, the genera Hipponée, Toxopneustes and Cidaris seemed to 
have no representatives on these reefs, and but one ecrinoid was 
found. The holothurians on the contrary were plentiful both in 
individuals and species, although here, too, most of them were of 
the same genera as found in the West Indies, such as Stichopus, 
Euapta, Holothuria, ete. 
Taking it all in all the Makuluva reef fauna was not as rich as 
that found around many of the West Indian islands, particularly 
the Bahamas, although the fact that we spent all of our time in 
one locality may account for not finding a good many things that 
are probably there. 
One thing that struck us as a decided difference between the 
general aspect of the two regions was the matter of color. Blue 
is a rather exceptional color, so far as the fauna of the tropical 
Atlantie is concerned, but is quite common on the Fiji flats. There 
are many intensely blue reef fishes; the commonest star-fish is a 
big blue Linckia, while some of delicately branching millepores 
are a very clear intense blue. The tips of the branchlets of sev- 
eral profusely branching species of Acropora are of a bright lav- 
ender ranging from a bluish pink to a pure blue tinged with pink. 
Some of the aleyonarians have a distinctly bluish-gray tinge. Of 
course, there are many other brilliant colors among the reef in- 
habitants and it cannot be said that blue predominates; but it is 
much more prominent than about the West Indian reefs. 
The most brilliantly colored animals that we saw were found 
