6 INTRODUCTION 



We are grateful to the Smithsonian Research Opportunities fund, admin- 

 istered by David Chalhnor, then Assistant Secretary for Research, and to the 

 Smithsonian's Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems program administered by 

 Klaus Riitzler of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, for the funding of 

 several fieldtrips to the Caribbean. The second author acknowledges a finan- 

 cial award from the Smithsonian's Women's Committee for a grant to facili- 

 tate fieldwork. 



Several individuals have provided encouragement, advice, suggestions, 

 critical comments, and missed references, all of which have vastly improved 

 this work. In this regard we are especially grateful to Thomas E. Bowman, C. 

 W. Hart, Jr., Horton H. Hobbs, Jr., and Molly K. Ryan, all of the Depart- 

 ment of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, 

 Smithsonian Institution; Dan Adkison, Bass Harbor, Maine (who provided 

 considerable assistance with the Epicaridea); Richard Heard of the Gulf 

 Coast Research Laboratory, Mississippi; and Paul Delaney of the Los An- 

 geles County Museum of Natural History. 



This is Contribution Number 248 of the Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems 

 (CCRE) program, Smithsonian Institution, supported in part by the Exxon 

 Corporation. 



