Preface to Second Edition
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Preface to Second Edition At the time of Professor Light's death, the first edition of this manual was practically out of print, and only a small amount of the work of revision had been carried out by the author. Since that date the work of revision has proceeded, more slowly than we would have wished, along the lines indicated by present and anticipated needs for a faunal manual of this sort. Recognizing that this manual will rarely, if ever, again be used as the principal text in any course in invertebrate zoology, but rather as an adjunct to standard texts or to an instructor's own syllabus, we have generalized much of the introductory material in the various sections and have omitted specific instructions for laboratory procedure in studying particular groups of animals. The section, Field Studies, has been modi- fied to retain the material of general interest, including examples of the problems upon which Dr. Light engaged his classes,, but material and schedules pertaining wholly to Dr. Light's conduct of classes at the University of California have been deleted. Some of the keys to fresh- water and terrestrial forms, which are better covered in other works, have also been dropped, and the main emphasis given to the intertidal inverte- brate fauna. In most instances, keys and discussions have been com- pletely rewritten rather than simply emended. In an over-all sense, we have edited freely in the effort to achieve a satisfactory and balanced text, reinforced in our efforts by the knowledge of Dr. Light's dissatis- faction with the first edition. Despite these efforts, we may echo Dr. Light's characterization of the work in his preface to the first edition, and state that the second is still "incomplete . and continually in pro- cess of revision . ." If we bring this revision to publication without achieving satisfaction in its completeness, we have, at least, adhered to the tradition of the first. Especially difficult in the revision of keys has been the problem of where to stop. In attempting to achieve a coverage of intertidal animals adequate for the advanced student of general invertebrate zoology and marine ecology, we have necessarily stopped short of the treatment vii Preface to viii Second Edition required for the specialist. At the same time we have gone beyond the needs of the beginning student. Although we have tried not to sacrifice technical exactness, we have frequently resorted to nontechnical des- criptions to make the keys usable by persons new to the field. Since these keys cannot include all the animals which maybe encountered in the area covered (the central California coast, roughly from Carmel to Bodega Bay), the student may often be unable to identify his capture by the aid of this book. While making the keys reasonably inclusive of the common forms, we have tried to make them exclusive of rarer forms, and it is our hope that the student who has in hand a species not included in this manual will recognize that it is not treated here, and betake himself to more specialized works, or send the specimen to a competent authority for identification. Since the publication of the first edition of this manual, certain groups of animals badly in need of revision have received extensive study by persons whose contributions to the second edition are especially note- worthy. Many, although not all, of these contributors are former students of Dr. Light. Cadet Hand has revised the intertidal sea anemones; Donald Abbott has made a noteworthy contribution toward a clear picture of that difficult group, the tunicates; Joel Hedgpeth has contributeda new section on pycnogonids, as well as much general advice; Olga Hartman, a fresh treatment of the polychaetes; Libbie Hyman, an original key to polyclads; Robert Menzies and Milton Miller have furnished a wholly new treatment of isopods; and J. Laurens Barnard has similarly redone the gammarid amphipods. Others who have contributed keys and discussions include Willard Hartman on the sponges; Frank Gwilliam on hydromedusans; Ellsworth C. Dougherty, caprellids; Joan Rattenbury, bryozoans and phoronids; Frances Weesner, asteroids and ophiuroids; Robert L. Usinger, intertidal insects; Irwin M. Newell, marine mites; Joan Steinberg, opistho- branchs and caprellids. Rolf Bolin, of Hopkins Marine Station, has con- tributed keys to ctenophores and intertidally encountered fishes. Isabella Abbott (Mrs. D. P. Abbott) has provided a key to marine algae. Whenever appropriate, we have given credit in the text where it is due; where authorship of keys and discussions is not indicated, the work is that of the editors, or is carried over from the original manual, or is drawn from so many contributors that specific authorship cannot be decided. It should be emphasized that we have received a vast amount of unacknowledged help. It is impossible to list these contributors without omitting many, but a few at least must be mentioned. We are grateful to Rudolf Stohler for advice on many points, especially on the molluscs; to M. W. de Laubenfels for advice about sponges; to Wesley R. Coe for advice on nemerteans; to Walter K. Fisher for help with sipunculids; to Clarence R. Shoemaker for checking identifications of amphipods; to A. Myra Keen and Allyn Smith for advice on molluscs; to Raymond C. Osburn Preface to ix Second Edition for advice on and identification of bryozoans; to Leonie K. Piternick for studies of annelids; to John and Betty Davis for studies of isopods and limpets respectively; to Charles G. Sibley for studies on brachyurans and anomurans; to Harry K. Fritchman for revision of the limpet section in the gastropod key; to Nyven Marchette for work upon the amphipods; to William Newman for studies upon cirripedes and other groups; to Thomas E. Bowman for studies upon which the revision of the hydroid key was based; to Paul L. Illg for advice on copepods; to Frank Filice, upon whose work the revised holothurian key is based; and to James Cannan for contributions to the holothurian key. This list might be greatly ex- tended. Much of the work of revising has been done at Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, to whose director, Dr. Blinks, and staff we are grateful for many kindnesses. For permission to reproduce figures we are indebted to the following: Gilbert M. Smith of Stanford University and the Stanford University Press have kindly given us permission to reproduce figures 129 to 133 of this manual from the original plates of Dr. Smith's Marine Algae of the Mon- terey Peninsula. The University of Chicago Press has permitted us to reproduce our figures 5 and 6 from Ralph Buchsbaum, Animals without Backbones, and the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company has permitted us to reproduce our figure 1 from L. H. Hyman, The Invertebrates: Protozoa through Ctenophora (1940). Figures previously published in scientific papers by other authors are acknowledged in the text. The actual work of revision and editing has been made possible only by the efforts of several people with whom it has been a pleasure to work: Frank A. Pitelka bore the main burden of the early stages of re- vision; Donald P. Abbott has revised the section on Field Studies, and has been instrumental in the over-all organization of the completed revision; Frances M. Weesner has borne the major share of the task of reillustrating and has spent untold effort in checking the various keys. And a special word should be reserved for Theodore H. Bullock, whose faith in the work, advice, and tireless prodding has been invaluable to us all. Department of Zoology, Ralph I. Smith University of California, Berkeley .