PREFACE 
DurineG the Session 1880-81 we communicated to the Royal 
Physical Society of Edinburgh a series of papers, in which 
an attempt was made to catalogue the Invertebrata of the 
Firth of Forth. While these were being printed for the 
Society, it was suggested that the lists should appear in a 
separate form, and the Council have sanctioned their publica- 
tion before the appearance of the sixth volume of the Proceed- 
ings, in which they will be printed. We have to thank the 
Society for this permission, and we are especially indebted to 
its accomplished secretary, Mr Robert Gray, F.R.S.E., who 
has, both in his official capacity and as our friend, in many 
ways forwarded our wishes. 
When we began this work, it was intended that the lists 
should comprise only the results of our own collecting and 
dredging, but we soon found that if they were to be of general 
use to the student they must include the results of previous 
work, of which we have. accordingly availed ourselves to 
such an extent that the lists as they now stand are, to a very 
large extent, a compilation from the literature of the subject. 
Little apology is necessary for this assumption of the labour 
of others, since, with the exception of the lists of Drs M‘Bain 
and Howden, the records of the Forth Fauna are fragmentary, 
and are only to be found in works often inaccessible to the 
general student. 
We have the pleasant task of acknowledging the valuable 
assistance of many marine zoologists, whose names are men- 
tioned in connection with their contributions in various parts 
of this work. Any further help with which we may be favoured 
in our endeavours to complete the record of the Fauna of the 
Forth will be gratefully received. 
We have not followed the zoological order, the various 
groups being arranged in the order in which it was found 
most convenient to undertake them. If they prove useful, 
we intend to re-issue the lists, when this and other imperfec- 
tions of the present work will be corrected. 
