ON THE SHETLAND CRUSTACEA^ MOLLUSCOIDA^ ETC. 437 



were dredged up near each other, there is probably a deposit of bones at the 

 spot whence they were obtained, similar to that of the east coast. Their dis- 

 covery is of very great interest, and I am only sorry that I can add so little to 

 their elucidation. " I am, my dear Sir, 



" J. Gwyn Jeffreys, Esq. Yours truly, 



25 Devonshire Place.'- " W. JBoyd Dawkins." 



P..S. I may add that, before I left Shetland, Dr. Saxby kindly undertook, at 

 my suggestion, to ascertain whether mammalian bones deposited in the sea 

 would be eroded, and by what means. 



Preliminary Report on the Crustacea, Molluscoicla, Echinodermata, 

 and Ccelenteraia, procured by the Shetland Dredging Committee in 

 1867. By the Rev. Alfred Merle Norman, M.A. 



The further investigation is carried on in the Shetland seas, the more deeply 

 interesting does the study of the fauna of that portion of our country become. 

 Dredging in the depths of those northern waters, in which there is almost 

 invariably a heavy sea, — at one time sweeping across the Atlantic, at another 

 rolling away from Greenland, at another (as was the case for many weeks 

 together during the present summer) running from Spitzbergcu and the ice- 

 floes of the Arctic Ocean, accompanied by a keen, cutting north-east wind, — 

 is not altogether pleasant work for the naturalist. Yet, trying and difficult 

 though the dredging may be, there is none to be compared with it in the 

 British Islands ; and every fresh summer your Dredging Committee have 

 spent in investigating the marine fauna of Shetland, they have returned 

 home only the more convinced of the greatness of the field of research which 

 remains to be explored. Every square mile of the sea seems to have trea- 

 sures to give up unknown to us before ; and the extent of the riches which 

 lie there, one, two, three, four hundred fathoms deep, Avill perhaps never be 

 known in our day. The extreme interest which attaches to the Shetland 

 sea is the circumstance that it is the trysting place of the northern and 

 southern faunas : the warm influence of the Gulf-stream impinging on the 

 western coast coaxes on many a species of sunnier climes to extend its naigra- 

 tion northwards, while the cold winds and waves which issue from the Pole 

 and come drifting round the IS^orth Cape and Loffoden Isles, account for the 

 many Arctic forms which, stunted in size and numerically scarce, are yet 

 able in the equable temperature of the abyss of the Shetland waters to hold 

 out against those southern influences so detrimental to tlulr constitutions. 

 The product of the dredging of the present year promises a rich harvest of 

 additions to the British fauna ; and in those classes of which I more espe- 

 cially undertake the examination I have ali-eady found most important 

 results ; at the same time the few notes which at this time are given must 

 be only regarded in the light of a preliminarj^ report. The passing of every 

 specimen under the microscope, as must be done in the determining of all 

 the smaller Crustacea, Hydrozoa, ikc, and the dissection and mounting of 

 every specimen of the former not at once recognized, is necessarily a work 

 of time ; and very much remains to be examined, especially among the 

 Copepoda, Ostracoda, &c. 



