PREFACE. 



THIS report was originally planned to include only the littoral and 

 shallow-water species of the starfishes of Alaska and adjacent waters 

 contained in the fine collections made on the Harriman Expedition by 

 Dr. (now Professor) W. R. Coe, together with the collections in the 

 Yale Museum, previously received from the same region, including 

 a number of my original types. The subsequent reception of numer- 

 ous other large collections from the same and adjacent regions soon 

 led to a great extension of the work, so as to include all the shallow- 

 water species from California to Bering Sea. The various collec- 

 tions sent to me by the Canadian Geological Survey through the late 

 Mr. J. F. Whiteaves, and later through Professor John Macoun have 

 been particularly large and valuable, containing many new forms. 

 My thanks are especially due to Professor Macoun and other mem- 

 bers of the Canadian Survey for these favors. 



A small but very important collection was sent to me from the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, through the kindness of the 

 Director, Mr. Samuel Henshaw, and of Dr. H. L. Clark; I also 

 enjoyed an opportunity to study there the entire collection of star- 

 fishes from the Northwest coast. 



A large collection was also received, through Dr. C. F. Newcombe, 

 from the Provincial Museum of British Columbia at Victoria. 

 Professor Trevor Kincaid, University of Washington, Seattle ; Pro- 

 fessor W. E. Ritter, University of California, Berkeley, and others 

 have also sent useful collections ; and to all these I wish to express 

 my obligations for assistance given. 



A small collection, mostly from Bering Sea, was sent to me by 

 the U. S. National Museum, and was very useful for the more Arctic 

 species. I am also indebted to the National Museum, through the 

 kindness of Dr. R. Rathbun and Miss M. J. Rathbun, for photo- 

 graphs of the type specimens of the several species early described by 

 Dr. Wm. Stimpson, which have been of great use and are now 

 reproduced on my plates. Several of these have not been previously 

 figured. 



The report was very nearly finished, mostly in its present form, 

 previous to 1904, and forty-three plates had been engraved and 

 printed at that time. 



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