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Show 1905.] CAPE VERDE MARINE FAUNA. 177 siciliensis (which is, however, well-known to be cosmopolitan), and Thalassema baronii. Species already recognised as belonging to the North Atlantic and Mediterannean are as follows:- P olycHjETA : Eunice torquata Qfg. (= E. fasciata Iiisso *), E. siciliensis Gr., Staurocephalus rubrovittatus, Hesione sicula, Nereis dumerilii, and Phyllodoce pancerina Clp. N emertines : Nemertes neesii. Of the O pisth o b r an ch M ol lu sca , Sir Charles Eliot gives the following provisional identifications :- Lophocercus olivacea. Mediterranean. Candiella lineata. British. Favorinus carneus. ,, Philine aperta. ,, He also remarks that " there are no big Dorids (or, rather, only one) and only one Chromodoris ; the common Indo-Pacific forms, Hexabranchus. Asteronotus, Bornella, Phyllidia, Dolabella, are all absent." Indeed, for the present, the difference is most strikingly shown by the absence from the Cape Verde fauna of groups conspicuously abundant in East Africa. Planarians, such as the highly-coloured Pseudoceridfe, so abundant in species and in individuals in the Indo-Pacific, are here practically absent. Is it merely a coincidence that the family of Opisthobranchs which is also characterised by gorgeousness of colouring, the Chromodoridse, are here also represented by but one species ? At low spring-tide level, almost everywhere in East Africa, Alcyonarians, especially Xeniidse and Clavulariidte, are astonishingly abundant, in places literally carpeting the rocks. Lobophytum, Sarcophytum, Tubipora, etc. may be equally abundant over certain areas, while in Wasin Harbour Telesio and other tree-like genera filled the dredge at every haul. Similarly for the Corals. Large areas of East-African coasts are totally devoid of coral-growths, but in other parts the quantity and the number of species found between the levels of low spiing-tides and five to fifteen fathoms are indescribable. Here, in the Cape Verdes, the littoral Alcyonaria are represented by but one fairly common species, a Cornularian, which is found under stones. A few species of Gorgonians are found, but rarely, in water of over 18 fathoms in depth. Of the five littoral species of Coral belonging to the genera Siderastrcea and Pontis, two form incrustations only, and the colonies do not exceed six or eight inches in diameter. The largest mass met with was about nine inches thick, and covered an area of two or three square feet. Contrast the Porites cylinders of the Zanzibar reefs or the composite masses covering * Elilers (Nacli. zu Gott. 1900) describes E. fasciata from a small collection from East Africa, but it does not occur in my own or in Stanley Gardiner's from the Maldives. |
