PREFACE 



DURING the Session 1880-81 we communicated to the Royal 

 Physical Society of Edinburgh a series of papers, in which 

 an attempt was made to catalogue the Invertebrata of the 

 Firth of Forth. While these were being printed for the 

 Society, it was suggested that the lists should appear in a 

 separate form, and the Council have sanctioned their publica- 

 tion before the appearance of the sixth volume of the Proceed- 

 ings, in which they will be printed. We have to thank the 

 Society for this permission, and we are especially indebted to 

 its accomplished secretary, Mr Eobert Gray, F.E.S.E., who 

 has, both in his official capacity and as our friend, in many 

 ways forwarded our wishes. 



When we began this work, it was intended that the lists 

 should comprise only the results of our own collecting and 

 dredging, but we soon found that if they were to be of general 

 use to the student they must include the results of previous 

 work, of which we have accordingly availed ourselves to 

 such an extent that the lists as they now stand are, to a very 

 large extent, a compilation from the literature of the subject. 

 Little apology is necessary for this assumption of the labour 

 of others, since, with the exception of the lists of Drs M'Bain 

 and Howden, the records of the Forth Fauna are fragmentary, 

 and are only to be found in works often inaccessible to the 

 general student. 



We have the pleasant task of acknowledging the valuable 

 assistance of many marine zoologists, whose names are men- 

 tioned in connection with their contributions in various parts 

 of this work. Any further help with which we may be favoured 

 in our endeavours to complete the record of the Fauna of the 

 Forth will be gratefully received. 



We have not followed the zoological order, the various 

 groups being arranged in the order in which it was found 

 most convenient to undertake them. If they prove useful, 

 we intend to re-issue the lists, when this and other imperfec- 

 tions of the present work will be corrected. 



