PREFACE. 
Tue first attempt to get the Collection of Stony Corals in the British Museum 
into systematic order was made in the year 1876, when the Trustees engaged 
Dr. Briiggemann to prepare a complete Catalogue. Unfortunately, the work of 
this able Zoologist was interrupted by his premature death in 1878, and for 
various reasons could not be resumed for many years. In the interval important 
additions were made to the collection, of which the specimens collected by the 
Naturalists of the ‘Transit of Venus,’ ‘ Alert,’ and ‘Challenger’ expeditions 
should be specially mentioned; then, in more recent years, when the question 
about the formation of Coral-reefs had been reopened, a considerable amount 
of material was received from several Naturalists who took special interest in 
this inquiry: especially from Dr. Guppy, who collected in the Solomon Islands ; 
from Mr. G. C. Bourne, who investigated the coral-reefs of Diego Garcia; from 
Mr. J. J. Lister, who passed some years in Polynesia; from Mr. Bassett-Smith, 
who, by the instructions of the Hydrographer of the Admiralty, thoroughly 
searched the Tizard and Macclesfield Banks during their survey by H.M.SS. 
‘Rambler’ and ‘Penguin’; and from Mr. Thurston, who paid several visits to 
the Ramesvaram reefs. The present work was near its completion when, finally, 
Mr. Saville-Kent transferred to the Museum the large collection which he had 
formed on the Great-Barrier Reet and in Torres Straits. 
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