4 PAPERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. 



Finally, but by no means least in our appreciation, we may mention 

 the kindness of Messrs. J. B. Arthur and R. A. C. Hockings of Thursday 

 Island, who granted the use of their power-schooner Kestrel to transport five 

 members of our expedition from Thursday Island to Darnley Island. Mr. 

 Clark, manager of Hodel's Limited at Thursday Island, was also most kind 

 upon many occasions. 



Illness having prevented Dr. Thomas Wayland Vaughan from accom- 

 panying the expedition to Australia, it fell to the lot of the present writer 

 to conduct these ecological studies. It is a pleasure to state that the notable 

 work which Dr. Vaughan has already achieved in Florida inspired the author 

 at every turn, but it would be unfair to hold Dr. Vaughan in any sense 

 responsible for errors which may be detected in the present paper or for any 

 opinions which may be expressed. Dr. Vaughan has kindly made a study 

 of the specimens of corals collected at the Murray Islands and sent to him 

 at Washington and has furnished the names of the set of numbered corals 

 illustrated by plates 12 to 19, and has listed the preserved specimens on 

 which experiments were made. He has read the proof of this paper and 

 verified the names used, and made many valuable suggestions. An exten- 

 sive systematic paper by him follows the present one in this volume. 



It is with pleasure that the author acknowledges his indebtedness to 

 Doctors T. Wayland Vaughan, John Johnston, and H. E. Merwin for im- 

 portant corrections and additions. 



MAER ISLAND AND ITS REEFS. 



The Murray Islands lie in 144° 2' E. Long., 9° 55' S. Lat., thus being at 

 the inner end of the Flinders Entrance and about 6 miles west of the seaward 

 edge and near the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef of Queensland. 

 Their nearest neighbors are Darnley Island, 25 miles, and Daru, New 

 Guinea, about 70 miles to the northwest. Three volcanic islets, Maer, 



Fig. I. — The Murray Islands from north by wesr, 3 miles at sea. 



Dowar, and Wyer, compose this group. The largest is Maer Island, which 

 is oval in outline, 9,400 feet long and 5,600 feet wide, the long axis extending 

 northeast by southwest. Our account of the reefs will refer more particu- 

 larly to those of this island. Its southwestern half consists of a crater rim of 

 volcanic ash, which contains fragments of indurated, dolomitized limestone, 

 indicating that it burst through ancient calcareous deposits. On the south- 



