viii PREFACE. 



the difficulty is to condense tlie leading ideas of the author into a brief 

 compass, so that any one who desires to know its scope, and to determine 

 whether it is desirable to refer to the original paper, can have before him 

 the necessary guidance. All this has been done by Mr. Bennett and 

 Prof. Bell, with an amount of skill and with a degree of regularity which 

 at the outset I should hardly have believed possible. What is still more 

 remarkable, is the punctuality which has been observed throughout. 

 In no single instance has the MS. been received after the appointed 

 time ; in most cases it has been in advance of time. A striking 

 testimony to what has thus been accomplished is to be found in the 

 view of an eminent biologist, who, in the earlier days of the Journal 

 expressed the opinion that the Summary must necessarily in a short 

 time " run thin " : the same biologist last year spontaneously declared 

 that "the Journal got better and better." I claim therefore for 

 Mr. Bennett and Prof. Bell that botanists and zoologists owe them a 

 large debt of gratitude for the good work they have done with so much 

 self-sacrificing perseverance. 



The Microscopical division of the Journal is in like manner greatly 

 indebted to Mr. J. Mayall, jun., for a large amount of assistance which for 

 the same length of time he has rendered in this department ; assistance 

 of such a character that without it it would have been impossible to 

 produce the varied assortment of matter which has kept microscopists so 

 fully informed as to all that is novel, interesting, or curious in the various 

 sections of the subject. 



I have left unnoticed the services of 3Ir. J. Arthur Thomson, who has 

 recently undertaken, with no little success, a part of the Zoology, and of 

 Dr. Hebb, who has practically had complete charge of the Technique 

 section, with what result the pa2:es of the last two volumes of the Journal 

 abundantly show. This omission arises from the fact that I have been 

 deahng not only with the quality of the services rendered by the 

 three senior Co-editors, but also with the remarkable length of time 

 over which those services have extended, and in which respect they at 

 present stand alone. 



It is to be hoped that the increased circulation of the Journal 

 outside the Society may allow of some adequate return in a substantial 

 form being made to the Co-editors, and, meantime, I tender to them not 

 merely my own thanks but those of the Fellows of the Society at large, 

 and I hope and believe those of a still wider circle of biologists and 

 microscopists also. 



Feank Crisp. 



