THE INVEETEBEATE FAUNA 



OF THE 



FIRTH OF FORTH. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE following is intended to be the first of a series of 

 papers, in which a list of the Invertebrata found in the Firth 

 of Forth shall be given. We have been led to undertake this 

 work on the suggestion of Sir Wyville Thomson and others, 

 who think it is desirable that a fairly complete record of the 

 marine fauna of the estuary should be easily attainable by 

 those studying the zoology of the eastern coast. The special 

 necessity for a list of the fauna of the Forth will be admitted, 

 when it is considered that the estuary has always been the 

 favourite and most accessible collecting ground with the 

 numerous students of natural history attending the University 

 of Edinburgh, and special facilities for its completion exist, 

 as many able zoologists have during the last two centuries 

 published the results of their work on the same subject. In 

 recent years, however, since zoological classification has as- 

 sumed its present form, nothing aiming to be a complete revi- 

 sion of the Invertebrata of the Forth has been produced, and 

 the varying nomenclature of species renders the older partial 

 lists of comparatively little use to the student of the present 

 day. We are fully conscious that we will not be able to 

 catalogue the entire invertebrate fauna in these papers, and 

 that even some forms which have been found and chronicled 

 may have escaped our notice ; but this is the less to be 

 regretted, as we hope in subsequent papers to add to our 

 lists, or otherwise amend them. 



A good description of the physical geography of the estuary 

 may be found in the introduction to Parnell's " Fishes of the 

 Firth of Forth " * and elsewhere, so that we shall here note 

 only some of its more salient features. 



* Trans. Wern. Soc., vol. vii., p. 162. 

 A 



