ECHINDDEKMATA. 175 



by the ' Challenger,' Mr. Alexander Agassiz should have devoted one 

 to the species of ""West, South, and North-East Australia — New 

 Zealand ; " nor can we wonder when we find one who, ten years 

 ago (Eev. Eoh. p. 230), spoke of the Australian as the "most 

 typical of all the districts," saying in 1881 that the " whole of the 

 Australian field seems to be cut out of the Indo-Paciflc realm." It 

 is clear that these statements oppose each other, and that a more 

 accurate representation of the facts would be made in terms like 

 the following : — The species found on the northern and north- 

 eastern shores of Australia have a wide range eastward and west- 

 ward, but gradually disappear as we pass southwards. 



In fine, an Australian Echinoderm-fauna, as conterminous with 

 the Australian shores, does not exist. 



It may be convenient for the student if I sum up the points in 

 which Dr. Coppinger's collections have most advan'ced our knowledge. 

 Asteroidea. — Two faunal lists of the Australian Asteroidea have 

 been published during the last few years; one by our great authority 

 on this subject, Professor Perrier*, of the Jardin des Plantes, the 

 other, which, as I imagine, was partly based on it, by the E,ev. 

 J. E. Tenison-Woods f. It has been difiieult so to marshal the 

 facts contained in these essays as to be able to render easily 

 intelligible the advances now made in our knowledge ; this is 

 chiefly due to the fact that while M. Perrier (justified, no doubt, by 

 the evidence in his hands) distinguished between the fauna of the 

 northern and of the other coasts of Australia, Mr. Woods was pre- 

 paring a list which should be of use to the Australian student 

 generally. Further than this, the present collection is from the 

 northern and the eastern coasts of Australia. 



It is not necessary to give all the steps by which I have worked 

 out the question of how far our knowledge of the distribution of 

 the Asteroidea is increased by the present collection. Put shortly, 

 we find that while Mr. Woods's compilation was of value as giving 

 us certain information as to the localities of Tosia ornata, which was 

 described by Miiller and Troschel from an unknown habitat, and of 

 the Patiria oeellifera of Gray, the locality of which could only be 

 guessed at from the fact of its having been described in the Appendix 

 to the Voyage of the ' Ely,' Mr. Coppinger's collection enables us 

 to fix one locality at least for Anthenea flaveseens and Nepanthia 

 helcheri, extends the range of Lmekia marmorata from. Mauritius to 

 Australia, gives more southern stations for Arohastef typicus and 

 Stellaster helcheri, extends St. incei westward from Cape York to the 

 Arafura Sea, and puts in Port Denison as intermediate between. 

 ' Cape York and South Australia. 



It may be, perhaps, useful if I point out that definite information 



is still wanting as to the exact habitats of Asterias fungifera, 



Anthenea aouta, Nectria oeellifera, Oreaster australis, 0. franhlini, 



0. nodulosusXj Tosia astrologorum, and T. aurata.- It is hardly 



* NouT.Aroh. du Mus. (2) i. 



t PWlos. Soe. Adelaide, 1878-9, p. 89. 



i Since this was written the Trustees have purchased two specimens of 0. 

 nodulosus from N.W. Australia. 



