266 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. [CHAP. vi. 



of the existing Fauna and Flora of the British 

 Isles/' may be said to mark an era in the progress 

 of human thought. 



After enumerating various additions to our know- 

 ledge of the distribution of marine invertebrata 

 within the British area which were still to be de- 

 sired, Forbes concludes his report with the following 

 sentence: "And lastly, though I fear the consum- 

 mation, however devoutly wished for, is not likely 

 soon to be effected, a series of dredgings between 

 the Zetland and the Fseroe Isles, where the greatest 

 depth is under 700 fathoms, would throw more light 

 on the natural history of the North Atlantic and 

 on marine zoology generally than any investigation 

 that has yet been undertaken." 



To Forbes's general report succeeded many reports 

 from the different sections into which from year to 

 year the committee divided itself. Among these I 

 may mention particularly the very excellent work 

 done by the Belfast dredging committee, communi- 

 cated to several meetings of the Association by the 

 late Mr. George C. Hyndrnan; the reports of the 

 Dublin committee by the late Professor Kinahan 

 and Professor E. Perceval Wright; the important 

 lists of the fauna of the East Coast of England re- 

 ported on behalf of the Natural History Society of 

 Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

 and of the Tyne-side Naturalists' Field Club, by Mr. 

 Henry T. Mennell and Mr. G. S. Brady ; and lastly 

 the invaluable reports on the marine fauna of the 

 Hebrides and Shetland, compiled at an extraordinary 

 expense of labour, discomfort, and privation doubt- 

 less with an immediate guerdon of infinite enjoyment 



