and chalk hills which exist in many parts of the world 

 today. In some ways, however, corals surpass the 

 foraminifera and are the most spectacular rock builders 

 of all. For this reason they are quite as interesting to 

 the geologist as to the marine biologist and oceano- 

 grapher. By their presence he is often able to deduce 

 the former history of the land and the rocks. 



In order to study the living coral it is first of all 

 necessary for the scientist to distinguish between the 

 bewildering number of different species. Unfortunately, 

 most of the authoritative publications in this field are 

 written by museum specialists from a purely specialized 

 taxonomic point of view. Little has been done to make 

 it easy for the physiologist or ecologist or the non- 

 scientific collector to identify his coral material. The 

 Western Atlantic corals have been the subject of many 

 publications, but the literature is scattered and almost 

 entirely out of print. For these reasons, scientists work- 

 ing in the West Indies generally and at the Marine 

 Laboratory of the University of Miami in particular 

 have long felt the need for a collected account of the 

 corals, with simple directions for their rapid identifica- 

 tion which would not involve the necessity for a con- 

 siderable preparatory study of the detailed character- 

 istics of the group. 



It is sincerely hoped that the requirements of both 

 types of reader will be met. Technical language has 

 been avoided and description has been kept to the 

 simplest terms possible. To meet the needs of students 

 interested in further study, however, a technical key 

 to genera and a carefully selected bibliography are 

 included. 



Grateful acknowledgement is made of the assistance 



i2 



