VI THE HISTORY OF THIS WORK. 



It now became necessary to consider what steps 

 should be taken to carry out the publication of Alder's 

 work ; and he naturally consulted his old friend and 

 colleague Mr. Albany Hancock. It was then agreed 

 between them that a more elaborate monograph should 

 be undertaken, in the carrying out of which Hancock 

 should join him and work out the Anatomy and 

 Physiology of the Class in a similar manner as he had 

 done in the joint great work on the ' Nudibranchiate 

 Mollusca,' and that the monograph should be offered 

 to the Ray Society. That Society was only too glad 

 to have the opportunity of procuring another work 

 from such authorities. Hancock, many years before, 

 had paid some attention to the subject, and in Alder's 

 " Catalogue of the Mollusca of Northumberland and 

 Durham ' the portion relating to the Tunicata was 

 under the names of Alder and Hancock.* 



Hancock immediately put aside the investigations 

 he at that time was engaged in on the Anatomy of 

 the Cephalopoda, and devoted the rest of his life, so 

 far as health would permit, to unceasing labour on the 

 elucidation of the structure of the Tunicata. The 

 following extracts from the Minute Book of the Rav 



o / 



Society, printed by permission of the Council, will 

 show how matters progressed, and how the extent of 

 the labour involved became increasingly evident. 



luii/ Society Council Meetings. 



1863, Oct. 2. Bead a letter from Mr. Alder offering a work 

 hy himself in conjunction with Mr. Albany Hancock on 

 the British Tunicata. Resolved to accept this offer. 



1863, Nov. 6. Bead a letter from Mr. Alder stating that for 

 the proposed work on the British Tunicata about twenty 



* Joshua Alder, " A Catalogue of the Mollusca of Northumberland and 

 Durham " (1848), ' Trans. Tyneside Nat. Field Club,' vol. i, pp. 97-207. 



