FOREWORD 



"Freshwater Polychaetes (Annelida) of North America" is the 

 fourth of a series of identification manuals for selected 

 taxa of invertebrates occurring in freshwater systems. These 

 documents prepared by the Oceanography and Limnology Program, 

 Smithsonian Institution for the Environmental Protection Agency 

 will contribute toward improving the quality of the data upon 

 which environmental decisions are based. 



Additional manuals will include, but not necessarily be lim- 

 ited to, freshwater representatives of the following groups: 

 amphipod crustaceans (Gammaridae) , branchiuran crustaceans 

 (Argulus) , isopod crustaceans (Asellidae) , decapod crayfish 

 crustaceans (Astacidae) , leeches (Hirudinea) , freshwater 

 planarians (Turbellaria) , aquatic dryopoid beetles (Dryopoidea) 

 and freshwater clams (Sphaeriacea) . 



Ill 



