The Merizo Limestone has been traced around most of the shore line of Guam, ranging up to 1.8 m above sea level. Radiocarbon ages of the formation range between 2880 years and 5115 years, with an average of about 3600 years. The Merizo Limestone is a coral deposit requiring a rise of sea level of about 3 m. Subsequently Guam has been uplifted about 2m due to a combination of tectonic events and possibly postglacial rebound and elastic deformation. Deposits of sand and gravel extending up to 5.3 m at Ylig Bay resemble the Waimanalo shoreline (~120,000 years old) on Oahu, but the Guamanian deposit is only 900 years old and seems to be a storm deposit.

Despite multiple phases of colonial heritage, the suruhanos have managed to pass down a relatively unique body of knowledge in the unwritten method of apprenticeship learning. A belief in Catholicism is the major crosscultural influence. The suruhanos have an extensive knowledge of the natural environment, as evidenced by the lists of medicinal plant remedies compiled in this report. Interaction with the physicalbiotic environment involves a rapport with the taotaomona or spirits of the island's ancient inhabitants. The suruhano concept of disease is characterized by a belief that illness results from either spirit causes or natural causes. In either case, an integrated system of curing is typical of most suruhanos. Through a comparison of the techniques of several main informants, it was found that, despite individual preferences, the suruhano method of curing involves medicinal plants, mystical body lotions, dietary advice, massage and a curing power. Patients believe the power of the suruhano to be the only method of dealing with many illnesses and currently find it still adaptive to maintain a choice of utilizing the services of either a traditional curer or Western physician. A competitive nature and isolationist personality lends an air of mystique to their presence and they are highly respected members of the community. They instill confidence in their patients as a naming process identifies illness, relieves patient anxiety, and enables patients to generate their own healing resources. The suruhanos possess natural psychotherapeutic abilities in addition to the indeterminate functional effects of the plant medicines and massage technique.

This paper presents three geographic systems from Fais, an isolated, raised coral island in the Yap District of Micronesia. One is a system of bounded, named parcels of land which entirely map the island area. The second is a system of offshore mapping, by intersecting radial and concentric axes. This third is a series of known coral heads and fishing sites. These three systems operate interdependently to accurately specify land and marine locations. Two maps illustrate these systems; a Glossary gives 320 native place-names and their meanings.

A new species of Stylasterina from the slope off Laysan, Hawaiian Islands is described, representing the first documented record of Stylasterina for the Hawaiian islands. A new subgenus of Distichopora is described to contain this distinctively branched species.

Elysia arena, E. bayeri, E. bennettae, E. gracilis, E. grandifolia, E. halimedae, E. livida, E. marginata, E. mercieri, E. obtusa, E. ratna, E. vatae and E. yaeyamana are reported from Guam.

The previously little-known holothurian Thelenota anax was found in relative abundance at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands, and additional reports of its occurrence were obtained from Australia, the Society Islands, the Caroline and Marshall Islands and Guam. Specimens were found primarily on sand and rubble at depths of 5-30 m, and ranged in size from 300 X 70 x 70 mm to 550 x 100 x 100 mm. Tentacles numbered 19-20, gonads were paired and equal, and a color pattern of reddish black lines was observed in the integument. Associates included the crab Lissocarcinus orbicularis, the parasitic snail Balcis acicula, and the pearl fish Encheliophis (Jordanicus) gracilis. Gut contents consisted of sand and organic matter, and a caterpillar-like mode of locomotion was observed.

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To the people of Anuta Island, a Polynesian outlier in the eastern Solomon Islands, 'knowing' is a process or activity rather than a substantive object. A person comes 'to know' by channelling sense data, particularly visual and auditory, to the 'mind' where they are processed and made ready for use. Someone thought 'to know' a great deal is said to be an 'expert' and respected for his expertise. Intelligence and expertise are expressed in terms of 'light' in contrast with stupidity and ignorance, which the Anutans associate with 'darkness'. The Anutans' view of 'knowing', which they hold in common with other Polynesian peoples, is opposed to that held commonly by Melanesians who see 'knowledge' as an object which may be possessed, exchanged, created or destroyed, lost and found, or bought and sold. This distinction, I suggest, reflects the fact that rank in Melanesia is achieved through distribution of large quantities of objects, and possession of certain types of knowledge, both ritual and technical, facilitates the acquisition of sufficient goods for distribution, while in Polynesia 'knowing' only validates or modifies a status one already occupies by virtue of his genealogical position.

Bwang is a traditional martial art of the Caroline Islands that has not been ethnographically analyzed for the important cultural form that it is. Relying on a number of scattered sources and original field research, this ethnographic account reviews the available historical materials, places the art within its proper social and cultural context, systematically details the technological operation of the art and illustrates its dynamic qualities.

The bwang techniques were dynamic in the sense that practitioners appreciated the importance of movement and body control to maximize power efficiency with the minimum of energy expenditure. The whole body was used as a generator of power in each technique; the appendages were not just utilized as an extension of the body. Attack and defense used gliding, slipping, or evading body motions which added momentum and power to each strike, jab. or thrust executed. "Soft parts" of the body- the nose, throat, eyes, diaphragm and groin areaswere particularly focused on as targets. The martial arts of bwang were not analogous or comparable to judo or karate because bwang was widely adaptive to various contexts such as aboard canoes, on the beach, from kneeling, standing, or prone positions, with or without weapons, and particularly because bwang techniques were for real, no quarter given, personal combat. Bwang evolutionarily predates judo or karate which are designed for the spiritual selfperfection and self-protection of the individual.

A compilation of 254 Gilbertese and 153 Ellice Island~r fish names is given which includes names for species from sixty families of fishes. The Gilbertese names (25) and Ellice Islander names ( 17) are also given for anatomical parts of fishes. Gilbertese names for lizards (3), marine invertebrates (95) and algae (2) are listed. The names were compiled from the literature and from interviews with Gilbertese and Ellice Islander fisherman living on Fanning Island in the Line Islands.

Recent collections add 43 species to the benthic marine algal flora of Fiji, bringing the total reported for the island to 167.

Three species of nonmarine neritid snails in Hawaii range from 4 to 5 +em in maximum shell size and occur in distinctive habitats. Neritina granosa is a diadromous fluviatile species harvested for food, and is now common only in a few, remote, steep-gradient streams. Theodoxus cariosus and T. vespertinus are euryhaline, occurring in estuaries and brackish coastal ponds. All three snails show considerable intraspecific variation in shell morphology. Shape and surface roughness of N. granosa shells varies with altitude. Egg capsules may be attached to shells, apparently when spawning substrata are limited. Shell character of these species does not support earlier hypotheses that roughness has adaptive advantage for life in fast-flowing waters.

A total of 103 species of alpheid and one ogyridid shrimp a relisted as coming from Philippine national waters, of which 55 are new records reported for this paper. From the South China Sea, primarily in the Hong Kong area, a total of 48 species of alpheids are listed, of which 41 are new records, including one new species of the genus Athanas. As 35 of the listed species are shared between the two areas, the total number of species is 116.

Surveys were undertaken in 1975 as part of a continued monitoring program of the distribution and abundance of Acanthaster planci and of the extent of coral damage on reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. Two extensive areas were chosen for which little or no information was previously available. A spot check technique was used which enabled us to survey vast tracts of reefs quickly and inexpensively, and which provided an index of starfish abundance. In July 1975, a 10 day survey was made of 85 of the approximately 340 charted reefs in the Swain Reefs Complex near the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. One minute observations were made at 1205 spot checks or stations. Each observation was made from the surface on the reef perimeter, of a section of reef slope to a maximum depth of 20m. No starfish were observed on 59 reefs (69.4%) at 858 stations (71.2%). A total of 526 starfish were observed at 84 of the 347 stations on the remaining 26 reefs. Numbers of starfish observed per reef ranged from 1 to 104 with a maximum of 54 individuals counted at one station. The majority of starfish ( 489) and the greatest coral damage attributable to Acanthaster were observed on 28 reefs surveyed in the northeast sector of the Swain Reefs (between 21°00'S, 152°10'E and 21°16'S, 152°38'E). Nineteen reefs in this sector were assessed as being extensively damaged. In November 1975, an 11 day survey was made of 68 of the approximately 350 charted reefs near the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef between 12°36'S and 10°30'S. Observations were made at 1195 stations. Only 5 Acanthaster were observed. Eight reefs were assessed as being extensively damaged and all were located along the outer barrier between 10°46'S and 10°33'S. This damage, while not recent, we consider attributable to Acanthaster. To account for starfish infestations in the Swain Reefs Complex an hypothesis involving larval transport from infested reefs north of 20°S is suggested. Future developments of the infestations to the north of the Pompey Complex and in the Swain Reefs Complex are considered.

A review of the ophiuroid genus Ophiomastix based upon comparisons of conventional and newly proposed morphological criteria is presented. The relationship of the genus within the subfamily Ophiocominae is discussed , providing evidence for the close connection of Ophiomastix to the Scolopendrina group of Ophiocoma. Material is drawn from previous descriptions as well as from specimens in various institutions around the world and including many previously undescribed or erroneously described specimens. One new species is included, increasing the number recognized in the genus to fifteen from various locations throughout the Indo-West Pacific region (East Africa to the Tuamotu Archipelago). A key to the identification of the species and illustrations of important taxonomic features are provided.

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