PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM Vol. 101 N -Washington : 1951 No. 3282 THE ACTINIAN FAUNA OF THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA By Oskar Carlgren Our knowledge of the actinian fauna of Baja California and the west coast of Mexico is very incomplete. Verrill (1869) mentioned with some doubt the occurrence of EpizomitJms elongatus; in 1893 McMurrich described Anemonia ? inequalis (probably a Gijrostoma McMurrich, 1904), Oulactis California, and Cerianthus vas; in 1902 Gravier described a pelagic cerianthid, Dactylactis henedeni; in 1940 I proposed three species, Alicia beebei, Neman-thus calif ornicus, and Actinotkoe calif ornica. Thus, up to this time only eight species of actinians were known from these districts. The present paper is the result of an examination of a collection made by E. F. Ricketts during a cruise in the Gulf of California in 1940. The collection is rather large, containing, according to my opinion, 28 species, 16 of which are Actiniaria (including 3 new genera and 8 new species) , 2 are Ceriantharia (one a new species) , and 10 are Zoantharia (of which 9 are new species) . Some species seem, to be identical with those described by Verrill in 1869 from the coast of Panama. Unfortunately, Verrill's descriptions of his species are very incomplete, inasmuch as he usually described only the exterior and the color. I think, however, that my identifications of his species of Actiniaria are correct as a whole, but I am not certain of the Zoantharia. Identification of Verrill's species of this group is very difficult. All the types and most of the specimens mentioned under col-lecting records are in the United States National Museum. 902694—51 415
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