Distribution of Littoral Echinoderms of the West Indies. 65 
I]. LITTORAL ECHINODERM FAUNA OF WEST INDIAN 
ISLANDS AND ADJACENT REGIONS. 
In the table herewith published showing the littoral echinoderme 
known from each island, 116 species are listed. One has but to glancs 
at the table to see how few areas there are where the echinoderms 
are even superficially known. Almost nothing is known of the coast 
between New Orleans and Vera Cruz or of that much more extensive, 
varied, and important region between Vera Cruz and Colon. That 
which is known of the Vera Cruz fauna is merely tantalizing. Although 
there are many Brazilian records, at no point between Colon and Rio 
Janeiro has there been any attempt to make a collection of echino- 
derms. It is only fair to say, therefore, that we know almost nothing 
of the littoral echinoderm fauna of the eastern coast of tropical and 
subtropical America. When we turn to the islands themselves, con- 
ditions are somewhat better, but we know absolutely nothing of the 
Caymans’ marine fauna, nor of that of the many islands and islets in 
the western part of the Carribean Sea, except for half a dozen species 
from Swan Island, In the Bahamas no one place has been very com- 
pletely explored and many records donot designate the particularisland. 
It is, therefore, necessary to place all Bahaman records under a single 
head. Very little is known of the littoral echinoderms of Haiti and 
San Domingo except for Dr. Weinland’s collection of many years ago; 
of the Lesser Antilles, not a single one has been thoroughly explored. 
There are, however, half a dozen islands, besides the mainland 
coast of Florida, where more than one-third of the 116 species have 
been taken and to each of these areas a few remarks are due. 
FLORIDA. 
From the coast of Florida, 69 species are known, 2 larger number 
than from any island except the Tortugas. But it must be remembered 
that 3 species, Echinaster spinulosus, Ophiophragmus filograneus, Encope 
michelini, represent a distinctly Gulf Coast fauna, and the distribution 
of 5 other species is so local or so peculiar as to make their occurrence of 
special note. These are: Amphioplus coniortodes, A. thrombodes, Ophi- 
othrix lineata, Arbacia punctulata, and Plagiobrissus grandis. 
Of the 69 species, the following 13 are known from Florida and not 
from the Tortugas, but in many cases unfortunately we do not know 
from just what part of the Florida coast they come. 
Luidia senegalensis. Ophionereis olivacea. 
Stegnaster wesseli. Mellita quinquiesperforata. 
Hemipholis elongata. Moira atropos. 
Ophiophragmus filograneus. Thyone briareus. 
wurdemanii. Holothuria cubana. 
Amphioplus coniortodes. surinamensis. 
thrombodes. 
