MARINE MISCELLANEA. 245 
in diameter. It is noteworthy that this Sea-star, in common with the Asterine 
previously referred to, departs from the pentagonal structural formula. The majority 
of the specimens dredged were six-rayed or hexagons, while the one figured is 
heptagonal. It would seem that Sea as well as Society-stars at the Antipodes have 
decided to abate somewhat of the hard and fast lines of the Old World conven- 
tionalities. 
A perfect little gem—small, but of the first water—is portrayed by the diminutive, 
irreproachably pentagonal type bedight in crimson and scarlet situated near the top of 
the Plate. It also belongs to the genus Asterina, but of an as yet undetermined 
species, and was dredged by the writer in Western Port Bay, Victoria. An essentially 
characteristic Australian species concludes this series. It is represented by the two 
individuals respectively numbered 8 and 10, notable for their perfectly flat pentagonal 
shape and the tesselated pattern of their component structure and ornamentation. The 
species, Pentagonaster australis, is abundant in Tasmania and throughout the Australian 
sea-board. More usually the tint of these Sea-stars is a light ochreous yellow, a 
colour which, in conjunction with their flattened symmetrical shape, imparts to them 
a remarkable resemblance to some sort of fancy biscuit, for which, if exposed for 
sale in a confectioner’s window, they would undoubtedly pass muster. The two 
colour - variations figured in Chromo-Plate VIII. were obtained by the writer in 
Tasmania. 
The marine zoological organism that finds most favour in the public estimation 
at the close of the day’s “doings is that luscious bivalve, the Oyster. We 
have consequently reserved it by way of a _ valedictory bonne bouche to this 
present Chapter. The Common Oyster, Ostrwa edulis, flourishes, or, more correctly, 
used to flourish, in all of the Southern Australian Colonies. The demand, however, 
has overtaken and nearly annihilated the supply of this particular bivalve in both 
Victoria and Tasmania, its former headquarters, and the oyster eaten most extensively 
now throughout the length and breadth of Australia is the so-called Sydney Rock 
Oyster, Ostrwa glomerata. Although formerly obtained in the greatest abundance in 
New South Wales, over-exhaustion has greatly diminished the output from that colony, 
and the largest supplies are now derived, and exported to all of the other colonies, 
from Queensland. 
So much has been said regarding the Oysters and Oyster fisheries of Queensland 
in a chapter extensively devoted to this topic in the author’s recent work on the 
“Great Barrier Reef,” that it is not proposed to deal with this subject at any length on 
