﻿372 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 102 



The region covered by this report centers in the coastal waters of 

 CaUfornia and Baja CaHfornia but includes what little is known of 

 the fauna north to the Alaskan Peninsula. 



The material has been accumulating over a considerable period of 

 years and includes specimens dredged by the United States Fisheries 

 steamer Albatross in 1904. Unfortunately only about a third of the 

 Albatross collection was in a condition suitable for study when it 

 became available in 1946. The Harriman Alaska Expedition (1899), 

 through Dr. Wesley R. Coe and the late Dr. William E, Ritter, made 

 a small but important contribution. By far the largest collections 

 were contributed by Prof. G. E. MacGinitie, Dr. W. F. Thompson, 

 and the late Edward F. Ricketts. I am also indebted to the United 

 States National Museum and the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 for the loan of material, to Dr. J. H. Gerould for the loan of reprints, 

 and to Dr. Elisabeth Deichmann and Dr. Elise Wesenberg-Lund for 

 extracts from the important works of Leuckart and Diesing. 



For contributions of material thanks are due to the following 

 persons: Dr. M. W. de Laubenfels, Dr. D. F. Hoffmeister, Dr. C, L. 

 Hubbs, Prof. Trevor Kincaid, Dr. S. F. Light, W. H. MacGinitie, 

 E. B. and T. T. McCabe, R. J. Menzies, Dr. E. H. Myers, Ida S. 

 Oldroyd, D. L. Reish, Dr. N. W. Riser, Dr. Richard Synder, Dr. 

 Emery F. Swan, Dr. H. B. Torrey, W. J. Waidzonas, Patrick H. 

 Wells, Dr. D. L. Ray, and Dr. D. M. Wootton. 



As compared with Japan the sipunculid fauna of the west coast of 

 North America is meager. Phascolosoma agassizii is the dominant 

 intertidal species from Kodiak, Alaska, to Point Conception, Calif. 

 Its range extends to northern Baja California. Ph. puntarenae is its 

 equivalent from Cape San Lucas to Panama. Dendrostomum pyroides 

 occurs from Coos Bay, Oreg., to northern Baja California, whUe D. 

 dyscritum has been taken between Point Conception and the northern 

 boundary of California. D. zostericolum has been found from Point 

 Conception to Ensenada, Baja California. D. perimeces, a consistent 

 inhabitant of sandy mud, probably colonizes estuaries and sloughs from 

 an off-shore, shallow-water population. It has been taken between 

 Bodega Head and Venice, Calif. D. hexadactylum, which resembles 

 pyroides, has been found only in 10 to 20 fathoms, in Monterey Bay. 

 It was described from Japanese waters. The conspicuously large 

 Siphonosoma ingens is a southern California species, extending north 

 to Monterey Bay. Sipunculus nudus is an off-shore cosmopolite, 

 which finds its way into estuaries of southern California and into the 

 intertidal zone of Baja California and the Mexican coast. The genus 

 Oolfingia (formerly Phascolosoma) is a negligible element in the shore 



