Scientific results of the trawling expedition of H.M.C.S. "Thetis" off the coast of New South Wales, in February and March, 1898, the Recent Crinoids of Australia
Abstract
The Trustees of the Australian Museum have done me the honour of entrusting to me for study their entire collection of Australian Crinoids. The Crinoid fauna of the Australian coasts is of the greatest interest, not alone from the abundance and variety of its component species, but from its similarity in certain ways to that of the Jurassic and later horizons of Europe. Previous to the receipt of this collection I had only been able to examine occasional specimens, representing, however, numerous species, from Australia, mostly from Sydney, together with the collection made by the German ship "Gazelle" at various points on the west and north-west coasts. It was there-fore with the greatest anticipation that I undertook the study of the collections of the Australian Museum, a study which has assisted in elucidating it number of hitherto obscure points and in giving me a much .clearer idea of the Crinoid fauna of Australia as a whole. Etc.