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General Introduction
The Keys to Marine Invertebrates of the Woods Hole Region grew out of the Systematics-Ecology Program, which operated at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) during the 1960s. Melbourne R. Carriker, who directed this program, noted that illustrated, referenced, and indexed check lists and keys to the common organisms of the region were urgently needed by non-systematists in the scientific communities in and around Woods Hole. The geographic region was defined to include collecting sites on both sides of Cape Cod, the islands of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands, and the deeper waters of Cape Cod Bay, Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound, and Buzzards Bay - essentially all of southeastern New England
The response was a collection of loose leaf keys produced by the staff of the Invertebrate Zoology course at the MBL. These documents were added to, or rewritten, by a group of contributing experts, then compiled and edited by the late Ralph I. Smith, and published by the MBL in 1964. But the handbook that Smith produced was not intended to be an exhaustive survey to the rich and varied fauna of the Woods Hole Region; rather it was meant to provide the keys, illustrations, and glossaries that would facilitate a routine identification of those organisms commonly used in research and in classroom activities. The Keys quickly became an important resource and have remained so.
But the 1964 edition of the Keys was intended to be only the first of several editions. Smith knew that the coverage was uneven; that some taxa, especially microscopic or planktonic ones, were excluded; and that some groups were represented only at higher taxonomic levels. Inaccuracies and lacunae were therefore expected, and revisions were invited. But no revisions were ever made, and from the standpoint of taxonomy, this manual is now hopelessly out of date.
However, the need for the Keys remains undiminished, and, in fact, they are still used. These considerations led the editors of The Biological Bulletin to first republish the original edition of the Keys online, making them readily and widely accessible, and then, in April of 1999, to undertake the first complete revision in 35 years. The first revised section, on Cnidaria: Scyphozoa, has been posted on the web site, replacing the original section.
Because few of the original contributors to the Keys are available to update their chapters, the search has begun for qualified scientists who are interested in revising existing chapters or preparing new ones for taxa not included in the 1964 edition. This search is proving to be a difficult one. Nevertheless, we hope to have the Keys substantially updated by the end of the year 2000, a fitting tribute to Ralph Smith and his contributing authors.
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