LEODICIDAE OF THE WEST INDIAN REGION. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Species of the West Indian Leodicidae have been described by Baird (1870), 

 Schmarda (1861), Grube (1856 and 1857), Pourtales (1863-1869), Webster (1884), 

 Mcintosh (1885), Ehlers (1887), Augener (1906), Verrill (1900), and Treadwell 

 (1901, 1911, 1917). Grube and Verrill pubHshed no figures, and while the papers 

 by Ehlers and Augener are well illustrated, it is evident that much of their material 

 was not well preserved. Moreover (with the exception of Verrill, who gave no 

 figures), dealing as they did solely with preserved material, they were unable 

 to record the character of the living coloration, often so brilUant in this family. 

 It was, therefore, with especial pleasure that I availed myself of the opportunity 

 offered by the Director of the Department of Marine Biology of the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington to undertake a systematic study of the family, basing 

 my account on living specimens. With the aid of artists generously provided by 

 the Department I am able to give water-color drawings of the living animals in 

 practically all of the species described, though in a few cases, owing to the too rapid 

 accumulation of material or for other reasons, it was not possible to do this. With 

 the exception of two species (see pages 76 and 125), the descriptions are based on 

 my own collections. I have also studied the collections of the American Museum 

 of Natural History in New York City, of the Museum of Yale University, the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, and the United States 

 National Museum in Washington. My own collections were made at the Dry 

 Tortugas and Key West region of Florida, and in Bermuda, Porto Rico, Montego 

 Bay, Jamaica, and Tobago. The locations of the stations where collecting was 

 done are shown by the map on the opposite page. 



I am indebted to Dr. Paul Bartsch for the opportunity of studying the col- 

 lections at the United States National Museum; to Director Samuel Henshaw 

 for access to Ehlers's types at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and to Dr. 

 R. V. Chamberlin for assistance in their study; to Director E. L. Mark for the 

 privileges of the Bermuda Biological Station during the season of 1916, and to 

 Dr. W. J. Crozier, resident naturalist at the station, for many courtesies; to 

 Professor A. E. Verrill for the loan of his Bermuda collections, containing a number 

 of types, and to the Library of the American Museum of Natural History (through 

 its Librarian, Dr. R. W. Tower) for literature. Especial acknowledgment is 

 made to Dr. Alfred Goldsborough Mayor, Director of the Department of Marine 

 Biology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, for putting at my disposal 

 the material resources of his laboratory. 



Following a method devised by Dr. Mayor, the animals were first narcotized 

 in a solution of MgSOj, 154 grams to the liter, and killed in 5 per cent, formalin. 

 As soon as dead they were transferred to 90 per cent, alcohol until hardened, 

 and then run down to 70 per cent., to be subsequently returned to 90 per cent. 



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