CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ISOPODA. By Harrikt Richardson, Collabondor, Division of Marine Invertebrates. PREFACE. The difficulties which meet the systematist are but little understood or appreciated by those engaged in other fields of biological work. The morphologist, the embryologist, the ph^-siologist give him but lit-tle encouragement and sympathy. Prof. Charles C. Nutting very adequately described the situation in his recent address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science and made an urgent appeal for cooperation with and leniency toward the man who toils over the "hard and often thankless task" of classification. Those who have studied special groups of animals or plants realize the difficulties that have to be overcome and the problems that must be faced. The path is not always eas}" nor the way clear. In the following pages the object has not been to give an exhaustive treatment of the Isopod group. The attempt is made to bring together ))y wa}' of introduction facts of general interest, describing briefly the S3'stematic position, structure, habitat, distribution, mode of life, development, and other points of interest in connection with the group, and to present, in detail, descriptions and figures of a number of new species and genera, which are the result of independent work on material collected by several difl'erent parties. These collections were made (1) bj^ theU. S. Fish Commission steamer AIbatros,s und l)y the U. S. S. Palos in Japan; (2) by Messrs. Jordan and Snyder in Japan; and (3) b}' Dr. C. H. Gill^ert at Panama and Mazatlan. Lastly-, a large nvmiber of Bopyridge in the U. S. National Museum collection have been worked up and also included. No bibliography is given with the general introduction. A bibliog-raphy accompanies each section of the work. The publications which Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXVII— No. 1350. Proc. N. ]VI. vol. xxvii— (>;'> 1 1
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