NO. 1 TAYLOR: PACIFIC MARINE ALGAE 15 



group. Nearer to Balboa and Panama are several small islands, of which 

 I. Taboga is one. The Hancock party landed from the Velero III on the 

 shore of an open bay, from which the land rises sharply. The shore is 

 rocky but lacking in tide pools, and from but little below the water line 

 the bottom appears muddy, there being no evidence of persistent surf 

 action. The rocks were quite abundantly covered with the minute Gelidi- 

 um pusillum and tufts of Spyridia filamentosa, but otherwise, except for 

 a Lithothamnium on broken corals and for minor items, the shore line 

 seemed remarkably barren. 



BalboaI^ 



As is generally found to be the case when entering a large port, the 

 mooring places for the Velero III in 1934 and 1939 were too foul with 

 oil and other refuse to permit the growth of larger marine algae on the 

 wharves or stone piers. Nowhere near the piers was anything at all 

 promising. However poor in quality, the quantity of slimy algal growth 

 was considerable on the piling and fenders about Pier 15 in 1939 and no 

 doubt on the others as well. It consisted of Enteromorpha, Lyngbya, and 

 Synedra tabulata v. parva (Kiitz.) Grun.,-^ sometimes in more or less 

 independent colonies. 



San Francisco 



About the modern city of Panama there did not seem to be any col- 

 lecting station that promised well for algal studies. The shores were 

 mostly very dirty. One excursion was made in 1939 to the outlying section 

 called San Francisco. Here there were exposed at low tide very wide, flat, 

 slightly shelving rocky stretches with abundant large pools. However, 

 these were liable to heat badly in the sun from the complete absence of 

 shade, and also the rocks and pools had a generally muddy sediment over 

 them. These factors greatly limited their productiveness. Quite an assort- 

 ment of samples was secured, but there were few which were identifiable. 

 Most noticeable were Wurdemannia, an ill-developed Dictyota, Bryopsis, 

 fragmentary Ulva and Enteromorpha, a crustaceous coralline, Hilden- 

 hrandia and, in the numerous dead sea shells, Mastigocoleus. There were 

 no conspicuous species at all. 



Barro Colorado Island^i 



Although the collections made on Barro Colorado Island do not enter 

 into the present report, it seems worth while to record the botanical visit 



^9 Ibid., p. 164, pi. 84, fig. 179. 



20 Determined by Dr. Ruth Patrick. 



2^ For description and illustrations see Fraser 1943b, p. 164, pi. 85. 



