PEEFACE. 



IN making another contribution to the rapidly 

 accumulating literature of Marine Zoology, the 

 author's object has been to present a Manual of 

 the Science at once simple, comprehensive, and 

 cheap. It may not, perhaps, be considered out 

 of place in him to observe, that among the many 

 admirable works with which he is acquainted, he 

 has not met with any that seems to combine these 

 advantages. Passing over such works as, from 

 their purely scientific character, are obviously 

 exceptional, the majority of treatises intended 

 for general readers are either too expensive, or, 

 if low priced, mere compilations. 



To his Edinburgh readers, the author believes 

 it will be a recommendation of his little work, 

 the fact of his having been the first to illustrate, 

 in a popular manner, Marine Zoology on the 

 prolific shores of the Frith of Forth. 



EDINBURGH, March 1858. 



