GALAXY REDSHIFTS IN AN EQUATORIAL FIELD IN VIRGO AND THE SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF LOCAL LYMAN ALPHA-CLOUDS

New redshifts are presented for 51 galaxies which lie in a narrow strip along the celestial equator in the range 11h 15m less-than-or-equal-to R.A. less-than-or-equal-to 14h 15m. The redshifts are derived from a mixture of optical and H I spectra; for the latter subset (37 galaxies) we also present H I fluxes and line widths. The spatial distribution of the galaxies in this field is compared with the locations of the large H I cloud discovered by Giovanelli and Haynes and the nearby Ly alpha-clouds recently found toward 3C 273. One of the two Ly alpha-clouds in the Local Supercluster appears to be associated with a spiral galaxy, although the angular and physical separations (42 arcmin and 180 kpc) are large. The other nearby Ly alpha-cloud and the large H I cloud appear to be more isolated. None of the nine Ly alpha-clouds with velocities between 5000-20000 km s-1 are associated with any specific galaxies, but most appear to fall within or near the large-scale structures defined by the galaxies.