PREFACE 



The purpose of this book is to summarize in a convenient form the present 

 knowledge about the Gulf of Mexico. Such a summary is needed in con- 

 nection with a large number of new investigations which are now being 

 conducted in the Gulf of Mexico by Federal and State organizations and 

 private institutions. It is hoped that the background information presented 

 here will be useful to the investigators engaged in the new research projects 

 and will save their time and effort. 



Scientific data concerning the Gulf of Mexico have been accumulating 

 since the first explorations in the sixteenth century. They are scattered in 

 thousands of technical publications, some of them rare and not readily avail- 

 able to persons in the Gulf States. 



The preparation of a digest of the existing knowledge about the Gulf was 

 suggested by a group of scientists attending, in November 1949, the meeting 

 of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute at Miami. The idea, proposed 

 independently by Dr. Lionel A. Walford of the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 and Dr. Waldo L. Schmitt, head curator, Department of Zoology, U. S. 

 National Museum, was unanimously approved, and Paul S. Galtsoff was 

 selected to carry out the project. The magnitude of the task has proved 

 much greater than had been expected. Only through the hearty cooperation 

 of the 55 contributors to this volume has it been possible to complete the work 

 in about 3 years. 



For the purpose of this book the Gulf of Mexico is defined as a partially 

 landlocked body of water indenting the southeastern periphery of the North 

 American Continent. Its eastern boundary was drawn from Cabo Catoche 

 at the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula to Key West at the southernmost tip of 

 Florida. This boundary does not constitute a natural barrier; it was arbi- 

 trarily determined because of the necessity of restricting the scope of the 

 project. Inland the area under consideration extends to the limits of tidal 

 waters. 



The book comprises a number of articles each written by a recognized 

 authority in his field; these are arranged, with minor exceptions, in a taxo- 

 nomic order following a list of phyla, classes, and orders prepared in 1936 

 for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and published 

 by Duke University Press. This plan was carried out with the following 

 exceptions: the sections on Rotatoria and Branchiopoda were omitted be- 

 cause of the inability to find anyone willing to review these two groups; and, 

 for the sake of convenience, the articles on parasitic worms were assembled 

 in a single chapter. 



A pertinent bibliography is given at the end of each section. A greater 

 number of bibliographical references, comprising more than 4,000 author and 

 subject cards, was prepared in cooperation with Mrs. Margaret M. Quat- 

 tromini of the Fish and Wildlife Service. The 12 sets of these files have been 

 assembled for distribution among the institutions engaged in research in the 

 Gulf of Mexico. No claim is made that these files are complete, and additional 

 items can be added as new references become available. 



