VOL. XV PP. 53-58 MARCH 22, 1902 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



SOME RECENT CHANGES IN THE NOMENCLATURE 

 OF WEST INDIAN CORALS. 



BY T. WAYLAND VAUGHAN. 



The nomenclature of the West Indian stony corals has for 

 many years been what may best be called traditional. Between 

 the times of the publication of the last volume of Milne Ed 

 wards and Haime's great work "Histoire Naturelle des Coral- 

 Hares" in 1860, and Brook's Catalogue of the species of the 

 Genus Madrepora* there were only slight changes. Brook pro 

 posed one change of considerable moment in uniting the various 

 species of Madrepora (Lamarck) from the West Indies under 

 one specific name, muricata of Linnaeus. Gregory in his "Con 

 tribution to the Geology and Physical Geography of the West 

 Indies" f proposed other changes. 



When I took up the study of these corals, I soon saw that 

 the nomenclature was in great confusion, many names not being 

 supported by the simpler rules of nomenclature now universally 

 accepted. In two papers, "Some Fossil Corals from the Ele 

 vated Reefs of Curagao, Arube and Bonaire", J and "The Stony 



*Catalogue of Madreporarian Corals in the British Museum (Natural 

 History), Vol. I, Genus Madrepora, 1893. 



t Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. of Lond., LI, pp. 255-310, pi. xi, 1895. 



tSamml. Geologisch. Reichs-Museum, Leiden. Ser. II, Bd. II, Heft I, 

 pp. 1-91, June, 1901. 



11 BIOL. SOC. WASH. Voi,. XV, 1902 (53) 



