rpoco .-tc^ 



C43 



FOREWORD 



In the work which is recorded in the following pages, I owe a deep 

 debt of gratitude to several scientific friends, notably Dr. H. N. 

 Dickson, of Oxford and Reading, and to Mr. E.. W. L. Holt (and 

 Mr. Byrne) and his associates of the Irish Fishery Board, and to 

 Professor Pettersson, of Stockholm, for their assistance in working 

 up some of the results of the observations made over a number 

 of years on my yachts. I fully recognize the fact that there is 

 much material brought home from these cruises, which it has been 

 impossible yet to overlook, in the midst of many occupations. I 

 am painfully aware of the fact, that if I wait any longer for the 

 completion of the study of these biological collections, I may have 

 to defer the publication of such results as have been arrived at 

 until a time too remote to contemplate. This would be unjust to 

 my friends who have assisted me, and I must therefore give these 

 observations to the world in a less complete form than I had originally 

 contemplated, and hope for the opportunity to extend them at a 

 future time. Many of them have been contributed to the meetings 

 of the Challenger Society, which, however, does not publish Trans- 

 actions. I can only trust that they may prove of interest to 

 others who, like myself, have been fascinated by the study of things 

 oceanographical. With all modesty I put this little volume out, 

 not without the hope that it may stimulate others to assist science, 

 as I have endeavoured to do, by observations at sea, seriously 

 undertaken, and accurately recorded. 



