1921] Schnitt: The Marine Decapod Crustacea of California 9 
I. INTRODUCTION 
The United States fisheries steamer ‘‘ Albatross’? was commissioned 
in October, 1911, by the Bureau of Fisheries, to make a biological 
survey of San Francisco Bay. The operations were directed by a 
board consisting of Dr. F. B. Sumner, naturalist, Professor C. A. 
Kofoid, of the University of California, and Commander G. H. Bur- 
rage, U.S.N., succeeded by Lieutenant-Commander H. B. Soule. 
U.S.N. The field work began on January 30, 1912, and continued 
until April 7, 1913, when the last dredge haul was made. 
That portion of the results of this survey dealing with the physical 
conditions within San Francisco Bay has been published in a joint 
paper by Dr. F. B. Sumner, Dr. G. D. Louderback, Mr. W. L. Schmitt, 
and Mr. E. C. Johnston (1914). Discussions and detailed data are 
given regarding the temperature, salinity, depth of the water, and 
the character of the bottom for the various stations occupied by the 
‘* Albatross.’’ These data serve as the basis for ecological studies now 
being made of the different groups of marine organisms obtained 
during the survey. 
The fact that much of the literature dealing with the California 
decapods is to be found only in older publications, now out of print 
and in a large measure inaccessible to the average student, and that 
the more recent and very excellent works covering the region under 
discussion are either limited in circulation and consequently difficult 
to obtain or are very restricted in scope, prompted the expansion of 
this report upon the decapod Crustacea collected by the ‘‘ Albatross’’ 
in the course of this survey of San Francisco Bay into a handbook of 
the marine decapod Crustacea of California. 
In all 220 (+1, Sergestes sp. ?) valid species are known or 
reported from California waters. The vast majority belong to the 
so-called littoral, or continental shelf fauna; only thirty-six (+ 1 ?) 
are strictly deep sea, or abyssal forms, known only from depths exceed- 
ing 100 fathoms. The minimum depth from which the latter are 
known is indicated in all specific keys, thus distinguishing them from 
the forms with littoral records for which the California range limits 
are given. Eleven species appear to be new, not heretofore described : 
Gennadas pectinatus, Palaemonetes hilton, Spirontocaris lagunae, 
