NO. 1 TAYLOR : PACIFIC MARINE ALGAE 13 



Panama 

 IsLAs Secas, Chiriqui^^ 



In both 1934 and 1939 Hancock Expeditions parties landed in a 

 cove in one of the larger of these small islands. The quiet surges broke 

 very heavily and made the botanical collecting quite unsatisfactory, for 

 it was not possible to get down to the lower rocks on the cliff faces or the 

 broken rocks below. It is said to be a good station at low spring tides. 

 What collecting was possible was done partly in a few tide pools and 

 partly in gullies flushed by the surges. The rocks proved hard to break, 

 and this made collecting of crustose forms difficult. 



In the spray zone there was a quantity of Bostrychia. On the rocks 

 Isactis was the main Myxophycean and the chief vegetation near high tide 

 line. In the tide pools the rocks were discolored by Hildenbrandia and 

 there were some Lithothamnieae. Other things were very scarce. No 

 dredging was done in 1939, but a few Lithothamnieae were secured in 

 about 27 meters in 1934. 



Isla Jicarita, Veraguas^^ 



The little I. Jicarita lies south of the somewhat larger I. Jicaron, 

 which in turn is south of the large I. Coiba, on which there are reported 

 to be some residents, but the smaller island seemed entirely undisturbed 

 at the time of the Hancock Expedition visit in 1934. Behind the broad 

 rocky foreshore there was a smoother beach of rock fragments and shells 

 backed by woodland. This woodland was fringed by cocoanut palms, and 

 on their old trunks and on other trees epiphytes such as bromeliads, 

 orchids, and ferns were abundant, while a little farther in, some good 

 examples of strangling figs were seen. This station at first sight seemed 

 to have been favored with every advantage for a rich algal growth. The 

 rocks formed a very broad sloping shore between tidemarks, with splendid 

 tide pools. The surf was of a favorably heavy intensity, and there seemed 

 to be a strong current between the islands. However, the rock was of a 

 trap-rocklike character, and as on other occasions when such was met the 

 algae were few. In the pools there were rare clumps of Galaxaura and 

 patches of Codiiim Setchellii, while the rocks from the upper tide pools 

 downward showed a very thin growth of slippery Myxophyceae, Ralfsia, 

 and a few Lithothamnieae. In the lower tide pools there was also a thin 

 felt of small filamentous forms which were not satisfactorily identified. 



^^IhiJ., p. 162, pi. 81, fig. 173. 



16 Ibid., p. 163, pi. 83, figs. 176a, b. 



