? flee 4 Part IV. of Volume 1. will be published on | January 15, 1903. The Fauna and Geography . | of the , Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes Being the Account of the Work carried on and of the Collections made by an Expedition { during the years 1899 and 1900 Edited by J. STANLEY GARDINER, M.A. Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and late Balfour Student of the University of Cambridge. VOLUME |. PART III. ‘ With Plates XIV—XVII and Text-Illustrations 41—75 CAMBRIDGE : at the University Press. Lonpon: C. J. Cray AND Sons, Cambridge University Press Warehouse, Ave Maria Lane. Price Fifteen Shillings net. We sl j pe. 3 7 ied ) ae HAC iinigy 10HM/ Tay The Fauna and Geography of the Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes VOLUME |. PART Ill. Dondon: C. J. CLAY anp SONS, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE MARIA LANE, AND H. K. LEWIS, 136, GOWER STREET, W.C. Glasgow: 50, WELLINGTON STREET. Leipsig: F. A. BROCKHAUS. Mew Pork: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., Lrp. [All Rights reserved.] Z Cy ‘ VV? vA ”) The Fauna and Geography -: / of the Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes Being the Account of the Work carried on and of the Collections made by an Expedition during the years 1899 and 1900 Edited by J. STANLEY GARDINER, M.A. Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and late Balfour Student of the University of Cambridge. VOLUME |. PART Ill. With Plates XIV—XVII and Text-Illustrations 41—75 SaBilba, [SOAS f / . ~“\ oF CAMBRIDGE: t= | ~FRap r} >} at the University Press. \ Eee i 1902 . CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY J. AND ©. F. CLAY, yj), ; AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. \ 5 tod A 9M, | . | ‘te MeO nie “a iC? CONTENTS OF VOL tr Akyia ial: Reports. 1. The Actinogonidiate Echinoderms of the Maldive and Lacecadive Islands , ; By Prof. F. Jerrrey Brent, M.A. 2. Orthoptera : By Matcotm Burr, F.Z.S., etc. 3. Marine Crustaceans. III. The Xanthidae and some other Crabs. With Text-Figs. 41—60 . ‘ ; : By L. A. BorraparuE, M.A. 4, On the Fishes from the Maldive Islands. I. Dredged. II. Fresh- water : : F , 5 5 F 5 ‘ By C. Tats Reean, B.A. 5. The Marine Turbellaria, with an Account of the Anatomy of some of the Species. With Plates XIV and XV and Text-Figs. 61—73 é 5 : By Frank Forrescur Larpiaw, B.A. 6. The Maldive and Laccadive Groups, with Notes on other Coral Formations in the Indian Ocean (continued). With Plates XVI and XVII and Text-Figs. 74 and 75 By J. STANLEY GARDINER, M.A. PAGE 237 272 282 313 THE ACTINOGONIDIATE ECHINODERMS OF THE MALDIVE AND LACCADIVE ISLANDS. By F. Jerrrey Brevi, M.A., Emeritus Professor and Fellow of King’s College, London. By the kindness of Mr Stanley Gardiner I have had the opportunity of examining the Echinoderms collected by him in the Maldive and Laccadive Islands. The collection is of the ordinary coral-reef type, and consists, as did that from the Macclesfield Bank (see Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1894, p. 392), very largely of young forms; these are, of course, of very great value and interest, more, I think, than any number of “new species,” but they make no show in a systematic report. When a study is made of the changes that occur during post-larval growth these specimens will be seen at their full value. There are a large number of Ophiwroids, and some would probably, if determined, require describing as “new species”; since 1888, however, we have known of 132 (or 120) species of Ophiuroids from the Indo-Pacific area (see Brock, Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool. xlvii. p. 538); since then I and others have helped to swell the list, but, so far as I know, no one has done anything to codify or set in order the numerous so-called species, based, many of them, on one or a few specimens, and often so described as to be quite misleading. I have not thought it my duty on this occasion to swell the list. On the other hand, just as in the Bassett Smith collection; I was able to detect the rare and interesting Ophiopteron elegans, so in the Stanley Gardiner collection I have found the very rare Ophiaethiops unicolor described by Brock in the journal just cited. As I have also found 0. elegans in some quantity Iam able to point out that Brock’s statement as to the poverty of the western forms of the Indo-Pacific, as compared with the eastern, requires some modification. Lastly, there is a point which is of far wider interest than the discovery of new species in these variable forms; again and again on working through the Ophiuroids I have observed that the upper surface of the disc has disappeared. I can only again urge on those who are for a time staying near a reef to investigate the problem which I raised in 1888, and which, to his regret (see Tijds. Nederl. Dierk. Ver. v. (1898), p. 306) was not known to Dr Sluiter till ten years later. It is clear that, if the gonads of an Ophiuroid be set free by the separation of the disc, and if a new disc be formed and new gonads developed, the question of germ- plasm may be considered settled. I have endeavoured as on some previous occasions (see especially P.Z.S. 1887, p. 523) to avoid the treatment at inordinate length which appears to be a real joy to many naturalists ; G. 29 224 F. JEFFREY BELL. I have given a systematic list of the species with references sufficient to make clear what is meant, and aid in any further research that it may be desirable to make; the nature of the bottom is stated, and in many cases the frequency or rarity of the species is mentioned. CRINOIDEA. I. Genus Antedon. Immature forms—not identifiable—were dredged on 10 occasions, sometimes in considerable numbers, between 19 and 37 f. (fathoms), and a few were also secured by diving off the west reef of Hulule. They seem to especially frequent the inner ends of the passages, where they embouch into the lagoons; in all cases the bottom is recorded as having rubble or coral, with perhaps sand or weed. 1. Antedon laevissima. Comatula laevissima Grube, J.B. Schles. Ges. Lut. (1875), p. 74. Antedon laevissima, P. H. Carpenter, Chall. Rep. Comat. (1888), p. 197. I still hope to be able to obtain the late Dr P. H. Carpenter's notes on Grube’s ‘type.’ Dredged eight times in seven atolls between 20 and 37 f, usually from a hard sand or shell bottom with some weed. In one dredging, 37 7, in the middle but just within the N. passage of Suvadiva, some adults and thousands of the immature forms of this species of Crinoid—and no other—were obtained. 2. Antedon milberte. Comatula (Alecto) milberti, Miiller, MB. Akad. Berl. 1846, p. 178. Antedon milberti, P. H. Carp. Chall. Rep. Comat. (1888), p. 194. Suvadiva, 43 f, sand, strewn with dead oyster shells. 3. Antedon palmata. Comatula (Alecto) palmata, Miiller, Physik. Abhandl. Akad. Berlin, 1847 (1849), p. 261. Antedon palmata, P. H. Carp. Chall, Rep. (1888), p. 226. 5 Kolumadulu, 38 f£, mud and weed, and Mulaku, 40 f,, weed, fine sand and rubble. 4. Antedon indica. Comatula indica, E. A. Smith, Ann. Mag. xvu. (1876), p. 406; Phil. Trans. 168 (1879), p. 564, Antedon indica, P. H. Carp. Chall. Rep. (1888), p. 225. From the west reef of Hulule, Male Atoll, among corals. 5. Antedon varwpinna. Antedon variipinna, P. H. Carp. J. Linn. Soc. Lond. xvi. (1882), p. 506; id. Chall. Rep. (1888), p. 256, ibique citata. S. Nilandu, 19 f, at the seaward end of a passage, living corals. ACTINOGONIDIATE ECHINODERMS. 225 II. Genus Actinometra. Young forms were obtained off the coral masses of the west reef of Hulule. It is noticeable that neither this genus nor Antedon was found in the lagoon nor on the reefs of Minikoi. 6. Actinometra typica. Phanogenia typica, Lovén, Ofo. Vet. Akad. Forh. 1866, p. 231. Actinometra typica, P. H. Carp. op. cit. p. 296. Suvadiva, 42 7, hard sand. 7.