4 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



fessors Doderlein and Vanhoffen, sent me the antarctic collections brought together 

 by the Gauss; Prof. F. Doflein, through Prof. Doderlein, sent me his east Asiatic 

 material, and, through the courtesy of Professors Kcehler, Max Weber and Vaney, 

 the Siboga collection of unstalked crinoids was also assigned to me for study . More 

 recently, thanks to the kindness of Prof. Bernard H. Woodward and Mr. Wilfrid B. 

 Alexander, of the Western Australian Museum and Art Gallery, at Perth, I have 

 been enabled to examine the crinoids collected off the coast of southwestern 

 Australia by the Australian steamer Endeavour. 



Thus in the preparation of this report I have met with the most cordial coop- 

 eration from all sides. Thanks to the great generosity of all my colleagues I have 

 been enabled to assemble in one place and to compare directly one with another 

 many thousands of specimens of recent crinoids, far more than ever were previously 

 reviewed by any one individual, including examples of practically every known 

 species and a large proportion of the existing types. This material has in many 

 cases been ample for the determination of such questions as the scope of individual 

 and of specific variation, and for the accurate delimitation of species, factors of 

 the greatest importance in the study of all animal groups, but impossible satisfac- 

 torily to determine except under the most favorable conditions. 



While the present work is a complete monograph of the crinoids living at the 

 present day, based upon the material preserved in practically all of the more impor- 

 tant museums of the world, it is equally a catalogue of the crinoids of the United 

 States National Museum, for my colleagues have been so kind as to permit me to 

 retain duplicates from the collections under their care which I have examined, so 

 that the collection of the United States National Museum now includes, in addition 

 to the very rich material gathered by the vessels of the Bureau of Fisheries, particu- 

 larly by the Albatross and Fish, Hawk, and received from other governmental 

 sources, a very large number of specimens, representing numerous species, received 

 as donations from other similar institutions. 



GENERAL METHOD OP TREATMENT. 



The general method of treatment herein adopted differs in certain important 

 respects from that employed by my distinguished predecessor and by all the other 

 students of this group. 



The study of the crinoids heretofore has invariably been approached from the 

 palseoiitological viewpoint, the recent crinoids being considered as the impoverished 

 and decadent remnants of a once numerous and powerful class, the last forlorn and 

 pitiful exponents of a dwindling phylogenetic strain. 



During the 1906 cruise of the Albatross I handled tens of thousands of speci- 

 mens; several tunes I saw the forward deck of the steamer literally buried under 

 several tons of individuals belonging to a species exceeding any fossil form in size; 

 everywhere we went we found crinoids; we dredged them at all depths. My ideas 

 of the comparative importance of the recent forms underwent a total change; 

 surely a group so abundant, even though very local and very unevenly distributed 

 over the sea floor, can not be considered as decadent or degenerate. From my 



