6 - Sphaeromatidae::“Cute As Buttons”

6 INTRODUCTION
We are grateful to the Smithsonian Research Opportunities fund, admin­
istered by David Challinor, then Assistant Secretary for Research, and to the
Smithsonian's Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems program administered by
Klaus Riitzler of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, for the funding of
several fieldtrips to the Caribbean. The second author acknowledges a finan­
cial award from the Smithsonian's Women's Committee for a grant to facili­
tate fieldwork.
Several individuals have provided encouragement, advice, suggestions,
critical comments, and missed references, all of which have vastly improved
this work. In this regard we are especially grateful to Thomas E. Bowman, C.
W. Hart, Jr., Horton H. Hobbs, Jr., and Molly K. Ryan, all of the Depart­
ment of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History,
Smithsonian Institution; Dan Adkison, Bass Harbor, Maine (who provided
considerable assistance with the Epicaridea); Richard Heard of the Gulf
Coast Research Laboratory, Mississippi; and Paul Delaney of the Los An­
geles County Museum of Natural History.
This is Contribution Number 248 of the Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems
(CCRE) program, Smithsonian Institution, supported in part by the Exxon
Corporation.