174 



COLLECTIOHS FKOM MELANESIA. 



Table V. — List of Ophiuroidea collected by the ' Alert.' 



j3 a>-g 

 p -.J o 



to .a si 



a S S 



o S <^ 



l-s 



^mO 



Peotinura go'rgonia 



infemalis 



megaloplax 



steUata 



Ophiopeza eonjungens,.. 

 Ophiolepis annuloBa . . 

 Ophioplocus imbricatus 



Ophiactis saTignii 



Ophionereis dubia 



Ophiocoma brevipes . . 



scolopendrina 



erinaceuB 



pica 



Ophiarthrum elegans . . 

 Ophiaraohna incra^sata 

 Ophiothrix trilineata .. 



propinqua 



longipeda 



csespitoaa 



martensi 



Btriolata 



galateee 



ciliaria 



rotata 



fumaria '. 



punctolimbata 



mieroplax 



darwini 



melanogramma . 



Ophiomaza cacaotica . 

 Euryale aspera 



# (var.) 



The collections of the 'Alert' afford us, then, another justification for 

 the view of the existence in the Indo-Pacific of a widely distributed 

 common fauna. i 



It must, however, be carefully borne in mind that the greater part 

 of this common fauna is restricted to the inter-tropical zone ; what 

 little we know of the fauna of the Southern Japanese seas leads us 

 to think that the common forms are to be found there also. 



The majority of extra^Australian naturalists have as yet failed a 

 little in recognizing the lesson which these collections bring so 

 prominently forward — a lesson already being learnt by those who 

 have the best opportunities of examining the characters of the 

 Australian fauna ; the term Australian, without definition or 

 limitation, affords no exact, informationt. It is greatly to be 

 regretted that in his tables of the distribution of the species collected 



t As is well known, Dr. GWnther has long since recognized this as regards. 

 Ksbes, and has instituted a South-Australian District (Introd Study of 

 Pishes, p. 283). 



