EDITOirS PREFACE. 



Tjie Livi'ipool Marine HioloQ-y ( 'onunittee was const itiitcd 

 in 1(S(S5, with tli(> ohj(M't of investigating' the Eaiina and 

 Flora of the Irish Sea. 



'I'lie diedging, trawling, and other collecting expeditions 

 orji-anised bv the Coniniittee have heen carried on inter- 

 niittently since that time, and a considerable amonnt 

 of material, both pnblisli(Ml and unpublished, has been 

 accumulated. Fourteen Annual Reports of the Committee 

 and Kve volumes dealing vrith the "Fauna and Flora" 

 have been issued. At an early stage of the investigations 

 it became evident that a Biological Station or Laboiatory 

 on the sea-shore nearer the \isual collecting grounds than 

 Liverpool would be a material assistance in the work. 

 ('onse(piently the Committee, in ISST, established the 

 Puffin Island liiological Station on the North Coast of 

 Anfflesev, and later on, in 1S!)'J, moved to the more 

 commodious and convenient v^tation at Port I'irin in thr 

 centre of the ricdi collecting grounds of the south end of 

 the Isle of Man. 



In these thirteen yeais" e\[)erience of a biological 

 Station (five years at Puitin island and eiglit at Port J'jiin), 

 where College students and young amateurs formed a large 

 proportion of the workers, the want has been constantly 

 felt of a series of detailed descriptions of the structure 

 of certain common typical animals and plants, choscMi 

 as representatives of their groups, and dealt with l)v 

 specialists. The same want has probably been felt in other 

 similar institutions and in many College laboratories. 



The objects of the Committee and of the workers at the 

 Piological Station have hitherto been chiefly faunistic and 

 speciograi)hic. The work must necessarily be so at hrst 



