NO. 1 DURHAM, BARNARD: EASTERN PACIFIC STONY CORALS 5 



Despite the known abundance of the genus Pontes in the Gulf of 

 California and Panamic areas, it has been reported previously from the 

 Galapagos only by Pourtales (1875), and is represented in the present 

 collections by only a single beachworn specimen. As noted above, hovi^- 

 ever, the Velero HI material is notably poor in material representing 

 this genus, and as a result its rarity here is probably not significant. 



Among the more notable discoveries in the Velero III and Velero 

 IV collections is the occurrence of the genus Dendrosmilia in the 

 Channel Islands, ofif the coast of California. Previously the genus has 

 been known only by a single species from the Eocene-Oligocene of the 

 Paris basin (Vaughan and Wells, 1943, p. 218). The Channel Islands 

 specimen has been examined by Dr. John W. Wells who reports (in 

 litt. ) that it agrees in all its characters with the genotype which he has 

 also examined. In 1917, Nomland (p. 186) described the fossil coral 

 Astrangia boreas from the Pleistocene near Juneau, Alaska. Comparison 

 of Nomland's types with the specimen from the Channel Islands indicates 

 that they are congeneric. Thus there is a third species of the genus 

 Dendrosmilia. It is unfortunate that the living species is as yet known 

 only from a single specimen. 



Another notable record is the occurrence of the genus Heterocyathus 

 in the Eastern Pacific region. Vaughan and Wells (1943, pp. 89-90, 

 207) cite this genus as one characteristic of shallower water in the 

 Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean. Similarly the genus 

 Kionotrochus has previously been recorded in the Recent fauna only from 

 Japan and New Zealand. The rare genus Lophosmilia has been known 

 in the living fauna only from the Mediterranean and the Hawaiian 

 Islands. The genus Thecopsammia has been recorded previously (Vau- 

 ghan and Wells, 1943, p. 240) only from the Caribbean and the 

 Atlantic. 



Table 2 shows the relationship of the Eastern Pacific genera with 

 those of other areas. Seventeen of these are cosmopolitan, 15 are pre- 

 ponderantly Indo-Pacific, 4 are found only in the Atlantic and Carib- 

 bean, and 2 are limited to the Eastern Pacific. It is seen from these 

 figures that the affinities of the Eastern Pacific coral fauna are pre- 

 dominantly with the Indo-Pacific area; the presence of 4 species identical 

 with Hawaiian Island material and 2 other species whose affinities are 

 closely tied to the Indo-Pacific further substantiates this conclusion. 



However, 21 genera of Eastern Pacific corals may also be found in 

 the Caribbean and 2 species are common to both sides of the Isthmus 

 {Cladocora debilis and Madracis asperula (?)). One genus, Agari- 

 cia, previously recorded only in the West Indies, is now represented in 

 the Eastern Pacific by a worn fragment in the bottom sample material. 



