170 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 12 



Gorallinaceae 



Plants with a thin basal layer from which may be developed a thick 

 crust, a system of rigid branches, or an articulated branch system; struc- 

 turally multiaxial, calcified except where flexibly jointed; reproductive 

 organs in conceptacles sunken in the crust, sunken in or protruding from 

 the calcified segments, or terminal on enlarged branchlets; tetrasporangia 

 zonate. 



It is impossible at this time to give a comprehensive account of the 

 crustose species collected on the 1934 and 1939 Expeditions. Only a few 

 of the most striking and perhaps the most easily identified are, therefore, 

 included. About three-score collections, often including more than one 

 species, have been put aside for future consideration, and there are also 

 many records to be obtained from among the smaller corallines epiphytic 

 on larger algae. 



Even in the species given below, the identifications are offered with 

 distinct misgivings. This group of plants has long needed monographic 

 treatment, which has never been attempted for the articulated genera and 

 which, when attempted for the crustose types by Foslie, failed because of 

 his death, leaving only the excellent plates and fragments of text edited 

 by Printz. Since in the crustose genera precise identification generally 

 requires reproducing material of full growth studied in decalcified micro- 

 tome sections, it is obviously an especially hard group to report upon from 

 the small, often fragmentary collections brought in by pioneering explora- 

 tory parties from the field. In most instances, before completely satis- 

 factory determinations can be made, a large bulk of material from each 

 station will have to be studied by comprehensive laboratory methods, and 

 this vi^ill have to await leisurely collecting. Further, comparison with type 

 or at least authentic material must be made, and this is impossible in the 

 present disturbed state of the world. 



In the crustose genera the keys have been based on the published 

 descriptions of the plants concerned, and only in the case of Lithophylluni 

 Farlowii, where the writer's collections are probably the finest in exist- 

 ence, has an attempt been made to amplify these descriptions. 



In reporting the articulated genera the writer has particular reason 

 to acknowledge the kindness of the University of California, for the 

 Curator of the Herbarium, Prof. H. L. Mason, has loaned extensive 

 series of these plants for comparison, and without this help little confi- 

 dence could have been felt in the determinations made. 



