PREFACE. 



TN presenting this little volume to our readers we do not 

 -■- primarily lay claim to any special elucidation of new facts, 

 but it has rather been our intention that it should constitute a 

 popularised epitome of the results achieved by British and 

 foreign scientific workers at the St Andrews Marine Laboratory 

 and elsewhere. These results, hitherto, have been from their 

 strictly technical nature and method of publication inaccessible 

 to many to whom the facts themselves would be fraught with 

 interest. At the same time we may remark that, in dealing 

 with each species of fish we have in many cases been enabled 

 to add, by a careful examination of the type -collection and 

 the fresh forms at St Andrews, important links in their life- 

 histories which till now have escaped observation. We hope 

 that this may enhance the value of the publication, especially 

 to scientific workers in this field of research. 



As far as has been possible we have, by means of footnotes, 

 acknowledged the authorities from whom we have quoted or 

 have derived our information, and we have not hesitated, both 

 in the text and figures, to avail ourselves of the published 

 contributions of our fellow-workers at home and abroad. From 

 no work have we quoted more largely than from Mcintosh and 

 Prince's Researches, which may be said to have attempted for 

 Teleosteans what the lamented Frank Maitland Balfour did for 

 Elasmobranchs. 



