FOREWORD 



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 irregular 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 W(X)ds 

 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. Instead 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 collabora- 

 tion with systematic specialists in the United States and abroad. Each manual will be based primari- 

 ly 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 introduction, illustrated 

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

 formed 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 the reference collections of major museums. 



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 consist of 

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

 Mollusca, or of groups of phyla. 



