THE MARINE ALGAE ОЕ РЕКС“ 
(WITH 66 PLATES AND 44 TEXT FIGURES) 
INTRODUCTORY 
The marine algae on which the following paper is chiefly based 
were secured by Dr. Robert Е. Coker, now of Ше U. S. Bureau of 
Fisheries, while acting as fisheries expert to the Government of 
Peru in the years 1906, 1907, and 1908. Though the collecting of 
seaweeds was incidental to his study of the fishery resources of 
Peru, Dr. Coker’s careful and discriminating attention to the 
marine plant life resulted in his bringing back to the United States 
one of the most comprehensive and instructive collections of 
algae ever made in South America. Те specimens were all pre- 
served with the aid of formaldehyde and were in excellent condi- 
tion for showing the natural habit of the plants and their more 
important anatomical and morphological characters. This mode 
' of preservation, however, often modifies or destroys the natural 
color of marine algae, especially of the Rhodophyceae, so that in 
the descriptions that follow it has sometimes been necessary to 
omit all reference «о color. 
Inasmuch as the coast on which Dr. Coker made his collections 
lies wholly within the tropics (approximately from 312? S. to 17? S.), 
one might very naturally expect that his specimens would be 
found to belong to genera or possibly to species that are commonly 
thought of as peculiar to tropical and subtropical waters, but such 
is the case іп a surprisingly small degree. It appears that the only 
part of the coast of Peru along which a conventionally “tropical” 
fauna aad flora is found is a strip about 32 kilometers long at 
- the extreme north near the mouth of the Río Tumbes оп the Gulf 
of Guayaquil. For the remaining 2250 kilometers the water of 
* Prepared at the request of the Ministerio de Fomento of the Peruvian Govern- 
ment as a contribution to the knowledge of the aquatic resources of Peru. | 
Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club, Volume 15. 
(1) 
