26 
No reports, however, on West Australian species are yet to 
hand. Out of 183 species given by Herdman as occurring on the 
coast, of Australia, only six are definitely recorded for the West 
although, of course, very many more must be common to both East 
and West coasts. The Hamburg Expedition has, so far, only published 
records on the few pelagic forms captured — the genera Doliolum, 
Oikopleura and Ffitillaria being all that were thus represented 
in their catches. Simple and compound forms abound everywhere 
and immense quantities of a Ciona sp. may be dredged at times in 
the Swan River estuary (Freslnvater Bay). Our Abrolhos collections 
are now in the hands of Professor Herdman for examination. 
Enteropneusta. — Perhaps the most interesting animal collected 
from the Abrolhos Islands is a new enteropneust which I have 
named Ptychodera pelsarti, after Pelsart, whose ship, the “Batavia,” 
was Avrecked on one of the islets in 1629. This is the first enterop- 
neust to be recorded from the West coast of Australia. None have 
been recorded from the Southern coast, but two species are known 
from the East. They belong, however, to different genera, so that 
this is the first record of the genus Ptychodera from Australian 
Avaters. 
The species resembles most closely the type generally regarded 
as Ptychodera fiava , “varieties” of which are knoAvn from the Lac- 
cadive and Maidive Islands in the Indian Ocean, and from certain 
islands in the Southern Pacific. 
The animals occur in the shelly ground in rockpools along the 
extreme southern part of the Pelsart Island reef, quite close to the 
southern extremity of Pelsart Island itself. They possess the 
characteristic features of the group iioav restricted as the 
Ptychoderidae (Spengel). The species differs from previously 
knoAvn forms in respect chiefly to the Nuchal Skeleton and other 
anatomical features. A paper describing the species in detail is 
uoav in the Press, and should be published shortly in the Trans. Linn. 
Soc., London. 
I am afraid that my Anniversary address has been something 
of the nature of a “patchwork quilt” ! I can only say, by Avay of 
excuse, that our knoAvledge of the marine fauna of West Australia 
is very patchy. Members of the Royal Society can do a great deal 
to remedy this state of affairs, for there are many people in the 
State who are resident on the shores of the Indian Ocean, and inter- 
esting objects are frequently Avashed up in the living condition after 
storms. Residents in the North-West might obtain many valuable 
specimens from the pearl fishers — valuable to the scientist, and of 
no possible use to the fishermen. These specimens should be pre- 
served in spirits or formalin and forAvarded to the University. We 
intend, of course, to build up gradually a small teaching collection. 
