diff --git a/src/foreign/foreign.c b/src/foreign/foreign.c
index 52cab9f480..b5c486d98d 100644
--- a/src/foreign/foreign.c
+++ b/src/foreign/foreign.c
@@ -2689,6 +2689,10 @@ void ctype_printer(Scheme_Object *ctype, int dis, Scheme_Print_Params *pp)
 /*****************************************************************************/
 /* Initialization */
 
+/* types need to be initialized before places can spawn
+ * types become entries in the GC mark and fixup tables
+ * this function should initialize read-only globals that can be
+ * shared without locking */
 void scheme_init_foreign_globals()
 {
   ffi_lib_tag = scheme_make_type("<ffi-lib>");
diff --git a/src/foreign/foreign.ssc b/src/foreign/foreign.ssc
index 108a83ab66..2fd161b63c 100755
--- a/src/foreign/foreign.ssc
+++ b/src/foreign/foreign.ssc
@@ -2083,6 +2083,10 @@ void ctype_printer(Scheme_Object *ctype, int dis, Scheme_Print_Params *pp)
 /*****************************************************************************/
 /* Initialization */
 
+/* types need to be initialized before places can spawn
+ * types become entries in the GC mark and fixup tables
+ * this function should initialize read-only globals that can be 
+ * shared without locking */
 void scheme_init_foreign_globals()
 {
   @(maplines (lambda (x)