9. DESCRIPTION OF THE WESTERN 

 ATLANTIC REEF CORALS 



THE FOLLOWING brief descriptions of the 

 corals found upon the reefs of the Western 

 Atlantic ocean are written primarily for 

 those who have no acquaintance with the 

 technicalities of coral taxonomy. A techni- 

 cal description is appended for the use of students, 

 however, and is printed in italics. 



Since the coral may have been referred to by other 

 names in previous descriptions the more important of 

 these are indicated together with the publication in which 

 they appeared. All references to publications are made 

 by placing the date of publication in brackets after the 

 author's name. The full title and source will be found 

 under this reference in the bibliography. No attempt has 

 been made to give the detailed synonymy of the corals 

 described, but the name adopted is, as far as can be 

 determined, that accepted by the most recent authors. 

 Following the synonym will be found a reference to 

 the best available published description. This is not 

 necessarily the most complete. In selecting it, the qual- 

 ity of illustrations and the availability of the literature 

 has been taken into account. Often the original des- 

 cription may be the most complete, but nearly as often 

 this is hidden away in journals that are to be found in 

 very few libraries. 

 1. Astrocoenla peciinala Pourtales. 

 Originally described by Pourtales (1879). No later 

 description available. ^^-r-^-r..^ 





