CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE 



ISOPODA. 



By Harrikt Richardson, 



Collabondor, Division of Marine Invertebrates. 



PREFACE. 



The difficulties which meet the systematist are but little understood 

 or appreciated by those engaged in other fields of biological work. 

 The morphologist, the embryologist, the ph^-siologist give him but lit- 

 tle encouragement and sympathy. Prof. Charles C. Nutting very 

 adequately described the situation in his recent address before the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science and made an 

 urgent appeal for cooperation with and leniency toward the man who 

 toils over the "hard and often thankless task" of classification. 



Those who have studied special groups of animals or plants realize 

 the difficulties that have to be overcome and the problems that must be 

 faced. The path is not always eas}" nor the way clear. 



In the following pages the object has not been to give an exhaustive 

 treatment of the Isopod group. The attempt is made to bring together 

 ))y wa}' of introduction facts of general interest, describing briefly the 

 S3'stematic position, structure, habitat, distribution, mode of life, 

 development, and other points of interest in connection with the 

 group, and to present, in detail, descriptions and figures of a number 

 of new species and genera, which are the result of independent work 

 on material collected by several difl'erent parties. These collections 

 were made (1) bj^ theU. S. Fish Commission steamer AIbatros,s und l)y 

 the U. S. S. Palos in Japan; (2) by Messrs. Jordan and Snyder in 

 Japan; and (3) b}' Dr. C. H. Gill^ert at Panama and Mazatlan. Lastly-, 

 a large nvmiber of Bopyridge in the U. S. National Museum collection 

 have been worked up and also included. 



No bibliography is given with the general introduction. A bibliog- 

 raphy accompanies each section of the work. The publications which 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXVII— No. 1350. 

 Proc. N. ]VI. vol. xxvii— (>;'> 1 1 



