VI. 



The objects of the Committee and of the workers at the 

 Biological Station were at first chiefly faunistic and 

 speciographic. The work must necessarily be so when 

 opening up a new district. Some of the workers have 

 published papers on morphological points, or on embry- 

 ology and observations on life-histories and habits ; but 

 the majority of the papers in the volumes on the " Fauna 

 and Flora of Liverpool Bay " have been, as was intended 

 from the first, occupied with the names and characteristics 

 and distribution of the many different kinds of marine 

 plants and animals in our district. And this faunistic 

 work will still go on. It is far from finished, and the 

 Committee hope in the future to add still further to the 

 records of the Fauna and Flora. But the papers in the 

 present series, started in 1899, are quite distinct from these 

 previous publications in name, in treatment, and in pur- 

 pose. They are called " L.M.B.C. Memoirs," each treats 

 of one type, and they are issued separately as they are 

 ready, and will be obtainable Memoir by Memoir as they 

 appear, or later bound up in convenient volumes. It is 

 hoped that such a series of special studies, written by 

 those who are thoroughly familiar with the forms of which 

 they treat, will be found of value by students of Biology 

 in laboratories and in Marine Stations, and will be 

 welcomed by many others working privately at Marine 

 Natural Histors^ 



The forms selected are, as far as possible, common 

 L.M.B.C. (Irish Sea) animals and plants of which nn 

 adequate account already exists in the text-books. 

 Probably most of the specialists who have taken part in 

 the L.M.B.C. work in the past will prepare accounts of one 

 or more representatives of their groups. The following 

 list shows those who have either performed or promised. 



