486 THE VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF HOUTMAN S ABROLHOS. 



him, as in the case of the Holothuridse, as inhabitants of Torres Straits and 

 the Queensland Great Barrier region. Such species, again, as Platax 

 orbicularis and Mesoprion Johni, the Golden Schnapper of Thursday Island, 

 Torres Straits, may be mentioned among the essentially tropical forms that 

 were found frequenting the Abrolhos reefs." 



We may, perhaps, suggest that the "innumerable varieties of Parrot-fishes" 

 were chiefly forms oi-Coris auricularis, which, as already mentioned, is the 

 commonest fish and is very variable in colour ; the record of Platax orbicu- 

 laris may refer to P. teira, which has been found on the west coast as far 

 south as Fremantle, whilst Lutianus chrysotamia may have been mistaken by 

 Saville Kent for L. [Mesopriori) johni. Otherwise, it would be strange if the 

 few species mentioned by him in support of his statement had none of them 

 been obtained by anyone else. 



To the writer it would seem more remarkable that the fish-fauna of the 

 Houtinan's Abrolhos coral-reefs should consist mainly of species characteristic 

 of the southern coast of Australia, than that a few of the tropical species 

 associated with coral-reefs further north should be found there. 



Literature cited. 



(1) Heeres. The Part borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia, 



1606-1765. Leiden, 1899. 



(2) Stokes. Discoveries in Australia by H.M.S. 'Beagle,' 1837-1843. 



London, 1846. 



(3) Campbell. Proc. Austral. Assoc. Adv. Science, 1890, p. 492. 



(4) Helms. Jotirn. Dep. Agric. W.A. vol. v. p. 33. Perth, 1902. 



(5) Hall. Ibis, 8th series, vol. ii. 1902, pp. 121-143 and 180-206. 



(6) Gibson. Emu, vol. viii. 1908. 



(7) Oldfield Thomas. Cat. Marsupials and Monotremes in Brit. Mns. 



London, 1888. 



(8) Mathews. List of the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zool. xviii. 1911. 



(9) Mathews. List of the Birds of Australia. London, 1913. 



(10) Campbell. Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds. Sheffield, 1900. 



(11) Richardson. Contributions to the Ichthyology of .Australia : Ann. & 



Mag. Nat; Hist. ii. (1843). 



(12) Richardson. Ichythology of the Voyage of H.M.S. 'Erebus' and 



'Terror.' London, 1848. 



(13) Ogilby. Contribution to Australian Ichthyology. Proc. Linn. Soc. 



N.S. Wales, xxiv. 1899. 



(14) Saville Kent. The Naturalist in Australia. London, 1897. 



