STONY CORALS OF THE EASTERN PACIFIC 

 COLLECTED BY THE VELERO III 



AND 



VELERO IV 

 By J. Wyatt Durham and J. Laurens Barnard 



Introduction 



Since 1931 the motor cruisers Velero III and Velero IV of Captain 

 Allan Hancock have been employed in marine biological explorations of 

 the Eastern Pacific, dredging, taking bottom samples of various types, 

 and collecting by means of shore parties. As a result of this work, a 

 relatively large number of stony corals has been gathered together. In- 

 cluding those species previously recorded, a total of 98 species is now 

 known from the area. Of the above total, ?>?> are here recorded for the 

 first time, and of these, 25 are described as new and include one new 

 genus. The new distributional records greatly aid in the delimitation of 

 the geographical and bathymetric occurrence of many previously de- 

 scribed species. Nevertheless, examination of the results of the present 

 study indicates that there is much information yet to be obtained about 

 the composition and distribution of the Recent coral fauna of the East- 

 ern Pacific. 



The fragments of pavonid, leptoserid, and agaricid reef corals ob- 

 tained, the single specimens representing the genera, CeratotrochuSj 

 Dendrosmiliaj Lophelia, Lophosmilia, SolenastreCj and the new genus 

 Nomlandia, fragments of indeterminate genera and species, and the 

 records of a number of species and genera from single localities, all these 

 facts indicate the presence of numerous fertile fields for further investiga- 

 tion. Nevertheless, the new data presented in this study appear to indicate 

 fairly well the broad outlines of the composition, geographic distribution, 

 and bathymetric range of the fauna, particularly with respect to some of 

 the previously described species. The extensive collecting of the Velero 

 III in the Galapagos Islands has furnished what is apparently a fairly 

 comprehensive picture of the moderate depth fauna there, but it also 

 seems to indicate that there is still extensive collecting to be done in 

 waters of less than 20 fathoms depth with rocky botton. The results 

 obtained elsewhere also indicate the need of much more exploration in 

 this interval throughout the Eastern Pacific. 



The literature on the coral faunas of the Panamic, Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia, and North Pacific areas has been summarized by Durham (1947, 

 p. 2), who discussed extensively all the available data on the corals of 

 the Gulf of California and North Pacific areas. In addition to the papers 



[1] 



