A GENERAL NOTICE OF THE BIOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. ix 



On the whole the naturalists, with the possible exception of Sir Charles 

 Eliot, K.C.M.G., who have contributed to these reports, do not appear to have 

 been struck by any resemblance between the faunas of the North and South 

 Poles, and it was therefore with some astonishment that I received late last year 

 an important memoir, by Professor Theel, urging the evidences of " bipolarity " 

 manifested by the Priapulids and Sipunculids collected by the Swedish Antarctic 

 Expedition. To this, of course, I can here only draw attention. 



It may be remembered that one of the first objects of interest in the whole 

 collection was the ten-legged Pycnogonid or sea spider found by Mr. Hodgson ; 

 it was a curious illustration of the lacunar knowledge of zoologists that it was 

 some time before a person was found who knew that a ten-legged sea spider 

 had been discovered many years ago by Mr. Eights, and described by him under 

 the quite unintelligible name of Decolopoda. But, although the form from off 

 Victoria Land has ten legs, it differs in no other important point from the 

 common genus Nymphon, while Eights's genus, which had marked peculiarities, 

 was found by the Charcot Expedition in another part of the Antarctic. 



It may be observed that there are striking differences between the fauna of 

 the area explored by English and that examined by French, German, and Swedish 

 navigators, but the time for an explanation of these has hardly yet come. 



Most of the contributors to the biological volumes bear names well known 

 to zoologists or botanists ; it has been to me an especial privilege that I have 

 had the opportunity of introducing to zoological work and zoological workers 

 Mr. C. F. Jenkin, who is now Professor of Engineering in the University of Oxford. 



Common treatment has been followed in the nomenclature of both plants and 

 animals. 



F. JEFFREY BELL. 



BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY), 

 Department of Zoology. 



VOL. VI. 



