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found in the Moluccan Sea. From a depth of ca. 60 Meters the 
dredge once came up nearly filled with the curious Actinian Sphe- 
nopus, which must doubtless sit with its wedgeshaped body buried 
in the sand, only with the tentacle crown above the ground. It 
was otherwise taken only now and then, a few specimens; but 
here then, evidently we had hit a spot, where it must have been 
almost covering the bottom. Mention should also be made of the 
curious Ophiurid Ophiopteron, (which I have taken also at the Kei 
Islands and at the Philipphines, during my Pacific-Expedition in 1914). 
It was suggested by Ludwig, who established the genus and described 
the first of its species, that it was a swimming Ophiurid, the curious 
skin fold connecting its armspines being thought to act like a swim¬ 
ming web. As I do not remember having seen that anybody has 
protested against this suggestion, I may here take the opportunity 
of stating that it is so very far from being a swimming form that 
it is one of the most sluggish Ophiurids I have seen. It is generally 
found in crevices in stones and the like, and hardly moves at all 
when removed from its hiding place. 
The innermost part of the bay, the “Inner Bay” proper, is al¬ 
most like a large pond, only through a narrow, but fairly deep 
channel connected with the outer part. The bottom is all over 
Soft mud, the depth being rather uniformly ca. 20—35 M. Dredg- 
ing here gave very poor results. A few Brissopsis luzonica, some 
small Astropecten, a pair of Synaptids and a few shells being nearly 
all that was found. 
Regarding now the question whether Amboina could be con- 
sidered a fit place for the planned biological station, I do not hesitate 
in declaring that, in spite of its undeniably very rich and varied 
marine fauna, it is not a very good place for such a station. In 
itself the bay of Ambon, which might rather be termed a fjord, is 
a somewhat small area as field of operation to a larger permanent 
laboratory, to which come the difficulties due to the more or less 
rocky character of the bottom. But a no less serious objection is 
the character of the water, which appears to be not very well fit 
for experimental work, owing — I can hardly doubt, though having 
made no direct investigations as to this point — to an unfavourable 
hydrogen ion concentration. This appears very evident from the exper- 
iments in rearing Echinoderm larvæ, which I undertook. Over and 
