Preface. 



PREFACE. 



This little book is intended to serve as a manual for 

 the use of the amateur naturalist at the seaside, and 

 the authors have aimed at brevity in their accounts of 

 the varioas groups, in view of the class of readers for 

 whom they are intended. Far from attempting anything 

 in the way of an exhaustive or strictly scientific manual, 

 they have only tried to provide those untrained in zoology 

 with a means of identifying the principal of the innumerable 

 forms of animal life which are likely to attract their attention 

 when on the beach, or, better, on the rocks and beds of weeds 

 uncovered by the great ebb tides which afford such grand 

 opportunities in the western parts of the English Channel ; 

 and also of acquiring some notions concerning the often puzzling 

 organs displayed by these creatures, their functions, as well 

 as some of the most salient facts of their life-histories. 



There are a number of popular works dealing with the 

 curiosities of the seaside, foremost among them the charm- 

 ing little book of Philip Gosse, " A Year at the Shore," now 

 somewhat antiquated, but few that are well illastrated and at 

 the same time deal briefly with the whole Animal Kingdom, 

 enumerating and explaining the principal forms occurring on 

 or close to our shores. A strictly systematic treatment has been 

 avoided, the classification adopted being intended to meet the 

 requirements of the non-scientific reader, who is introduced 

 to the subject in the simplest manner compatible with accuracy. 

 The book is divided into the following chapters : 



I. — Fishes. 



II. — AsciDiANS (Tunicates or Sea-sqairts). 

 III. — Molluscs (Cuttlefish, Shell-fish, Slugs, etc.). 

 IV. — Crustaceans and Other Arthropods (Prawns, 

 Crabs, Insects, etc.). 

 V. — Worms. 



VI. — EcHiNODERMS (Star-fishes, Sea-urchins, etc.). 

 VII. — Polyps, Jelly-fishes and Sponges. 



These chapters were originally written to appear as a 

 series of articles in Country Life. 



