403 
being actually found, alive, among the roots of such algæ (Macro- 
n'stis, Lessonia) found floating in the sea or cast ashore (Calva- 
sterias Siiteri, Ophiomyxa brevirima, Cucumaria leoninoides); it is 
quite probable that the leaves of these large algæ, when drifting in 
these exceedingly rough seas, will not stand a very long transport 
but be torn to pieces by the waves, as Ben ham suggests; but it 
is not on the leaves that the animals are living, but among or 
within the roots, and these are so tough and consistent that they 
will certainly stand a very long transport. The remarkable thing is 
not that various species of marine Invertebrates, which live among 
the algæ in the littoral region, are transported in this way from 
one island to another, but much more the faet that only so few 
species bear witness of having been transported in this way. 
After all we must say that the information about the Echino- 
derm fauna of Macquarie Island which has been gained till now is 
in very good accordance with the oceanographical researches carried 
out by Sir Douglas Mawson, which tend to show that Macquarie 
Island is separated from the New Zealand Plateau by a wide area 
of very deep water, and that the island has never, at least 
since Mesozoic times, form ed part of the New Zealand Con¬ 
tinental area. 
As regards the relation between Macquarie Island and the Magel- 
lanic region, as shown through the existence in both of Sporasterias 
antarctica and the genus Cycethra, a former direct connection is 
not necessarily proved thereby, as both forms may well have been 
transported on floating algæ, both being littoral and living among algæ. 
The Echinoderm fauna oftheChatham Islandsis very insuf- 
ficiently known. So far as 1 have been able to gather from litera- 
ture, only the following 8 species have been recorded form there: 
Ophionereis fasciata^) 
Pectinura cylindrica 
— maculata' 
Goniaster pulchellus 
Henricia compacta 
Allostichaster polyplax 
Cucumaria brevidentis 
Chiridota gigas 
Excepting Chiridota gigas, of which only one specimen has as 
yet been recorded from the New Zealand coast, all are common 
1) This species needs reexamination; it is recorded as Ophionereis Schayeri, 
but probably is O. fasciata. 
26 * 
