i 



6 NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN 



rier in several articles from 1880 to 1894, but most were brought 

 together in his memoir of 1884. 



Dredging operations of great extent were carried on by the 

 U. S. Fish Comm. steamer ' ' Albatross, ' ' in the West Indian re- 

 gion during the winters of 1884, 1885, and 1886.* Many species 

 of starfishes were then obtained, including a considerable num- 

 ber of new species. But those collections have not yet been sys- 

 tematically reported upon, though the writer described and fig- 

 ured a number of the species in 1899. 



According to Mr. A. Agassiz (1888, p. 4), the Blake took 54 

 species of starfishes, of which 46 were considered new species by 

 Perrier. The actual number has since proved to be slightly 

 larger. 



The Bahama Expedition, from the University of Iowa, dredged 

 mostly in Waters less than 200 fathoms deep. The most interest- 

 ing were off Havana, on the crinoid grounds, where a number of 

 additions to the starfish fauna were taken. Others of interest 

 were from off E. Florida, on the "Pourtales Plateau." The 

 total number of species taken was about thirty. 



In consequence of these more modern dredging expeditions the 

 number of species of West Indian shallow-water starfishes, living 

 in less than 150 fathoms, has been very much increased, while the 

 deep-water species have become even more numerous. 



I have had opportunity to examine most of the types of the 

 ''Blake Expedition" starfishes, described by Perrier, and also 

 many of those taken in the West Indies by the Albatross. But I 

 have not had opportunities to make any thorough studies of the 

 latter as a whole, and, therefore, can not give any useful state- 

 ment as to the number of additions to the fauna contained in 

 them. Some of the species from the Albatross explorations were 

 revised, and a number of new species were described and figured 

 by me in 1899. (Revision of Genera and Species of Starfishes, 

 see Bibliography.) 



At present about 125 species are known to me from that gen- 

 eral f aunal region, or from Florida to Brazil. Of these about 42 



4 Lists of all the dredging stations occupied by the Albatross, Blake, 

 and other U. S. vessels up to 1887, with physical data, were published by 

 Sanderson Smith, in the Annual Report of the U. S. Fish Commission, for 

 1886, pp. 873-1014. 



