﻿PREFACE, 
  

  

  The 
  zoological 
  collections 
  made 
  during 
  the 
  Surveying-voyage 
  of 
  

   H.M.S. 
  * 
  Alert 
  ' 
  in 
  the 
  years 
  1878-82, 
  under 
  the 
  command 
  of 
  

   Capt. 
  Sir 
  G. 
  Nares 
  and 
  his 
  successor 
  Capt. 
  J. 
  Maclear, 
  were 
  

   presented 
  by 
  the 
  Lords 
  Commissioners 
  of 
  the 
  Admiralty 
  to 
  the 
  

   Trustees 
  of 
  the 
  British 
  Museum. 
  

  

  A 
  narrative 
  of 
  the 
  voyage 
  has 
  been 
  given 
  by 
  Staff-Surgeon 
  

   R. 
  W. 
  Coppinger, 
  in 
  his 
  work 
  ' 
  Cruise 
  of 
  the 
  ' 
  Alert 
  ' 
  ' 
  (London, 
  

   1883, 
  8vo). 
  

   ^ 
  The 
  principal 
  parts 
  of 
  the 
  Survey, 
  and 
  consequently 
  the 
  

   Collections, 
  fall 
  into 
  three 
  distinct 
  sections, 
  viz. 
  : 
  — 
  1, 
  that 
  of 
  

   the 
  Southern 
  extremity 
  of 
  the 
  American 
  continent; 
  2, 
  that 
  of 
  

   the 
  coasts 
  of 
  i^orth-eastern 
  Australia 
  and 
  Torres 
  Straits 
  : 
  and 
  

   3, 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  groups 
  of 
  Oceanic 
  Islands 
  in 
  the 
  Western 
  Indian 
  

   Ocean, 
  situated 
  between 
  the 
  Seychelles 
  and 
  Madagascar. 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  of 
  these 
  collections 
  has 
  already 
  been 
  reported 
  upon 
  in 
  

   Proo. 
  Zool. 
  Soc. 
  1881 
  ; 
  but 
  the 
  two 
  others 
  surpass 
  it 
  so 
  much 
  

   in 
  extent 
  and 
  importance 
  as 
  to 
  be 
  quite 
  beyond 
  the 
  scope 
  of 
  a 
  

   periodical 
  publication, 
  and 
  therefore 
  the 
  Trustees 
  considered 
  it 
  

   best 
  that 
  a 
  full 
  account 
  of 
  them 
  should 
  be 
  prepared 
  in 
  the 
  form 
  

   of 
  a 
  separate 
  work. 
  With 
  the 
  exception 
  of 
  the 
  'Challenger' 
  

   Expedition, 
  none 
  of 
  the 
  recent 
  voyages 
  has 
  contributed 
  so 
  mixch 
  

   to 
  our 
  knowledge 
  of 
  the 
  Littoral 
  Invertebrate 
  Fauna 
  of 
  the 
  Indo- 
  

   Pacific 
  Ocean 
  as 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  ' 
  Alert.' 
  Irrespective 
  of 
  a 
  iramber 
  of 
  

   specimens 
  set 
  aside 
  as 
  duplicates, 
  not 
  less 
  than 
  3700, 
  referable 
  

   to 
  1300 
  species, 
  were 
  incorporated 
  in 
  the 
  National 
  Collection 
  ; 
  and 
  

  

  