This manual includes an introduction on the external and internal morphology, development, life history, ecology and distribution, an illustrated key, an annotated systematic list, a selected bibliography, and an index to the 34 species of cumacean peracarid crustaceans occurring in waters shallower than 200 m from Nova Scotia to Chesapeake Bay.

The manual includes an introduction to general classification, an illustrated key, an annotated systematic list, a selected bibliography and a systematic index to the marine decapod crustaceans of the inshore and continental shelf waters of the northeastern United States.