PREFACE, 



When I accepted the position of Naturalist of the 

 Erighton Aquarium, after the death of my valued friend 

 John Keast Lord, it became my pleasant duty to watch 

 and record events and circumstances connected with the 

 habits and development of the denizens of the tanks. 



My notes of observations have, from time to time, 

 appeared in the Natural History columns of Land and 

 Water, and have been honoured by frequent quotation 

 in the Times and other newspapers. Grateful for the 

 kind reception accorded to them in their original form, 

 I re-publish them with considerable additions. They have, 

 in fact, been almost entirely re-written. I venture to hope 

 that they may be interesting to the public, and of some 

 little value to science. 



I have always endeavoured to observe carefully, to 

 •describe faithfully, to record facts rather than to propound 

 theories, and to relate what I have seen and learned in 

 language comprehensible by all. 



