FOREWARD 



This issue of the "Circulars" is part of a subseries entitled "Marine Flora and Fauna of the 

 Northeastern United States." This subseries will consist of original, illustrated, modern 

 manuals on the identification, classification, and general biology of the estuarine and coastal 

 marine plants and animals of the northeastern United States. Manuals will be published at ir- 

 regular intervals on as many taxa of the region as there are specialists available to collaborate in 

 their preparation. 



The manuals are an outgrowth of the widely used "Keys to Marine Invertebrates of the 

 Woods Hole Region," edited by R. I. Smith, published in 1964, and produced under the auspices 

 of the Systematics-Ecology Program, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass. In- 

 stead of revising the "Woods Hole Keys," the staff of the Systematics-Ecology Program decided 

 to expand the geographic coverage and bathymetric range and produce the keys in an entirely- 

 new set of expanded publications. 



The "Marine Flora and Fauna of the Northeastern United States" is being prepared in 

 collaboration with systematic specialists in the United States and abroad. Each manual will be 

 based primarily on recent and ongoing revisionary systematic research and a fresh examination 

 of the plants and animals. Each major taxon, treated in a separate manual, will include an in- 

 troduction, illustrated glossary, uniform originally illustrated keys, annotated check list with in- 

 formation when available on distribution, habitat, life history, and related biology, references to 

 the major literature of the group, and a systematic index. 



These manuals are intended for use by biology students, biologists, biological 

 oceanographers, informed laymen, and others wishing to identify coastal organisms for this 

 region. In many instances the manuals will serve as a guide to additional information about the 

 species or the group. 



Geographic coverage of the "Marine Flora and Fauna of the Northeastern United States" is 

 planned to include organisms from the headwaters of estuaries seaward to approximately the 

 200-m depth on the continental shelf from Maine to Virginia, but may vary somewhat with each 

 major taxon and the interests of collaborators. Whenever possible representative specimens 

 dealt with in the manuals will be deposited in reference collections of the major museums in the 

 region. 



After a sufficient number of manuals of related taxonomic groups have been published, the 

 manuals will be revised, grouped, and issued as special volumes. These volumes will thus con- 

 sist of compilations of individual manuals within phyla such as the Coelenterata, Arthropoda. 

 and Mollusca, or of groups of phyla. 



