260 TAYLOR 



algae by B6rgesen (1913-20), on those of Bermuda, the Bahamas, Ja- 

 maica, and Puerto Rico by Collins and by Howe have clarified many 

 features. Less detailed lists have come from several other careful ob- 

 servers, and the time appears ripe for a fresh look at the Caribbean flora. 



In the last 30 years thousands of specimens from almost all sections 

 of this region have passed through my hands. Hundreds of station records 

 have been established, bridging m.any long gaps between earlier records 

 and extending other ranges north and south bej^ond what had been known. 

 There remain hundreds of species which have been reported only once 

 or twice. Perhaps a third to a half of these are really rare or even 

 endemic species whose ranges we will at some distant date be able to 

 define with confidence. One-half to two-thirds are probably old. ill- 

 described species which will never be fully verified and accepted. How- 

 ever, in all these thousands of specimens very few indeed have seemed to 

 me to be any other than well defined and recognized plants. There is 

 very little encouragement for the anticipation of discoveries of many 

 new species, or rediscoveries of ill-described species (except among the 

 more minute forms) which would give them a place in the well-under- 

 stood flora. 



It is, nevertheless, clear that the Caribbean marine flora is an ex- 

 ceedingly rich one. It might be thought that elimination of early and ill- 

 described species names would cut the list down to a very modest size, 

 but this is not the case. After we set aside over 330 species too ill-known 

 to delimit precisely, we still have (exclusive of M^-xophyceae, diatoms, 

 flagellates, and the like) some 790 well defined species known in the 

 flora ; and numerous species in the smaller categories like Acrochaetium, 

 Streblonema, and the endophj'tic Chlorophyceae will be added in time to 

 this. Not all of the 790 species are common ones. Some are known from 

 but one or two reports, although these appear to be reliable. 



However, it is not these rarities which determine the facies of the 

 flora, but rather the more obvious species such as come in from general 

 correspondents. Eventually one will be able to tabulate the rarities as 

 well as the commoner things ; but as they stand now, to count them 

 equally with the others would unduly stress the vegetation of the few 

 places where expert phycologists have made detailed collections. If we 

 examine the distribution of species known from at least 5 major islands 

 or countries, we have some assurance that our sample is meaningful. Ad- 

 mittedly incompletely representing the flora, it does represent the vast 

 bulk and most distinctive parts of it. In discussing the Caribbean flora 

 and its ranges we will stress particularly these commoner species. One 

 must note here that the distributions of some species in latitude on the 



