Natural History,"' which renders the stiuly cf his papers, 

 and the production of such a list as the ])resent, a lar easier 

 task tiian it would otherwise have l)een. 



It is mnch to be regretted, however, that Mr. Carter has 

 never heen able to collect his numerous observations and 

 bring them together in a more cohei-ent form. As it is, they 

 remain scattered about in a state of almost hopeless 

 confusion through the 125 papeis above mentioned, and 

 without the assistance of some such list as the present, it is 

 difficult to gain a correct idea of his work. 



The greater portion by far of Mr. Carter's work is purely 

 systematic, and consists in the description of new species ; 

 but he has also written on the Anatomy and Embiy'ology 

 of the group. He commenced, as we have seen, in 1847, 

 with the study of the Freshwater Sponges, and in the series of 

 papers which he [)uhlished on this subject, there are some 

 extremely important observations which have haidly 

 atti acted as much attention as they deserve. This miglit be 

 said of a good niany of Mr. Carter's observations, and it is 

 possibly due to the fact that they are mostly more or less buried 

 in a mass of purely systematic descri[>tioii, whicli none but a 

 specialist would ever tliink of reacling. Mr. Carter is a 

 wonderfully careful and accurate observer, and coTisidering 

 the early date at which his observiitions on SjiougUhi were 

 made, when the study of sjtonges was pi'actically virgin soil, 

 his results are most remarkable. 



Between the years 1849 and 18G8 only two pajiers 

 appeared in his name, but from 1868 onwards, until the 

 middle of 1887, not a year has passed in which he has not 

 published something about sponges. The year 1874 was 

 marked b}' special activity, for in this year he connnenced 

 the publication of his " Descriptions and Figures of Deep 

 Sea Sponges and their Spicules from the Atlantic Ocean, 

 dredged up on board H.M.S. ForcajnneJ'*' and in the same 

 year he published two imj^ortant })apers on the Develop- 

 ment of Marine Sjionges.-j" The PorcvpUie I'eports are 

 decidedh' the most valuable of Mr. Carter's systematic 

 papers, and the papers on the Development of Marine 

 Sponges are undoubtedly the most important of his more 

 pui'ely biological works. 



The progress of the work on the Porvu pine sponges wti/S 

 interrupted b}^ the publication, in 1875, of the " Notes 



* A. M. N. H. Ser. 4. Vol. xiv, p. 207, et seq. 

 t A. M. N. H. Ser. 1. Vol. xiv, pp. 321, 38y. 



