406 EIGHTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS 



A distribution pattern emerges Irom a study of Table III. The 

 circumtropical group ol species comprises a small element (0%— 6%) 

 scattered fairly evenly throughout all areas. A group of Indian species 

 centered in the Bay of Bengal is well marked. This Indian element 

 comprises only 2% of the Malayan fauna and a small percentage 

 (0% - 6%) of the other areas to the west. The Malayan element is 

 small comprising 9% of the species of the Malay Archipelago, again 

 with scattered representatives to the west and south. An important 

 Indo-Malayan element has its centre in the Malay Archipelago where 

 it comprises 26% of the. fauna. As one moves away from this centre 

 the Indo-Malayan element becomes progressively less important, ranging 

 from 7% for the Philippines to 0% for Polynesia. 



There is a large group of wide ranging Indo-Pacific species. This 

 element comprises 27% of the fauna of Micronesia-Melanesia and 10% 

 to 26% of the fauna of all areas except Japan and Hawaii where it 

 makes up 6% of the fauna. A well-defined Australasian group of species 

 can also be recognized. An Antarctic element is important in the New 

 Zealand fauna where it comprises over 20% and is also well represented 

 in the southern parts of Australia. 



The endemic element in Ceylon (1%) and the Indian Ocean (6%) 

 is very weak. This is conjunction with the very similar percentage com- 

 position of the faunal elements of areas 2, 3, 4 and 23 would indicate 

 that these areas form an Indian region with a fairly uniform fauna. 

 The Arabian Sea could perhaps form a separate region with the Indo- 

 Malayan element not as well represented as in other jjarts of the Indian 

 region. 



The Malay Archipelago appears to form a separate region with an 

 endemic element of 37 species (16%). This endemic element is cer- 

 tainly considerably larger than this as the information for this region 

 is incomjolete. A Malayan element with scattered representatives to the 

 south and west comprises 9% of the fauna. This region is also charac- 

 terized particularly by the large number of Indo-Malayan species, 59 

 forming 26% of the fauna. 



The Philippines also forms a distinct region with a large endemic 

 element of 71 species (36%). Other species components are Circum- 

 tropical, 4 (2%), Indian 13 (7%,), Malayan 8 (4%), Indo-Malayan 

 14 (7%). Japanese 5 (2%,), Indo-Pacific 32 (16%) and Tropical Paci- 

 fic 8 (4%). The Indo-Malayan element is small when compared with 

 the adjacent Malay Archipelago. The species composition of the South 

 China Sea area is essentially the same as the Philippines, although the 

 Japanese element is larger, 9% compared to 2%. Of the 102 non- 



