[CEYLON PEARL OYSTER FISHERIES 1905 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORTS, No. XIX.] 



REPORT 



ON SOME 



ALCYONIID^l 



COLLECTED BY 



PROFESSOR HERDMAN, AT CEYLON, IN 1902. 



BY 

 EDITH M. PKATT, D.Sc. 



[WITH THREE PLATES.] 



THIS collection of Ceylon Alcyoniidse* is remarkably similar to one made by 

 Mr. STANLEY GARDINER some three or four years ago in the Maldive Islands 

 (PRATT, 1903).t The resemblance in many cases is so pronounced as to indicate a 

 very intimate relationship between the Alcyoniid fauna of these islands. The 

 genera Sarcvphytum, Lobophytum, Sclerophytum, and Alcyonium are common to both 

 localities. These genera are represented in the present collection by 17 species, and 

 of these 9 occur also in the Maldive collection, 5 are new, and 3 have only been 

 recorded hitherto from the Pacific. 

 The Ceylon collection includes : 



I. Five species of Sarcophytum : of these, three are new ; one, S. ehrenbergi, has 

 been recorded from the Maldives and lied Sea, and one, S. plicatum, has been 

 recorded only from the Pacific (Ternate and North Celebes). 



II. Two species of Lobophytum, : one, L. paucijiorum, appears to be widely 

 distributed in the tropical and southern sub-tropical waters of the Pacific and 

 Indian Oceans, having been recorded from Tonga, Moluccas, Funafuti, New Britain 



* See also the Report on the other Alcyonuria, by Professor J. ARTHUR THOMSON, which follows in this 

 volume. W. A. H. 



t See List of Literature on p. 265. 



