TEMPOEAEY PBEFACE 



When the author, as already explained in the Introduction to Part I, undertook the 

 task of placing the British Marine Annelids on a more satisfactory footing, he did not 

 foresee either the difficulties of isolated work in the country— apart from libraries and the 

 sea-shore — or the increasing strain of very responsible official duties. Again, when he 

 had at length secured the advantages pertaining to the sea and a university library, the 

 constant succession of fresh labours — connected respectively with the volume on the 

 Annelida of the ' Challenger,' the engrossing work accompanying the comparatively recent 

 development of the scientific aspects of the Fisheries, and the foundation and super- 

 intendence of the first Marine Laboratory in Britain — were inimical to rapid progress with 

 the subject. But this was not all; the revival of zoological science and zoological 

 teaching in a university so admirably situated for both, the reorganisation and develop- 

 ment of the University Museum, and the numerous official duties, requiring a large 

 amount of time, which devolved on him might have seemed to prove almost fatal to the 

 undertaking. But during this period he had unique opportunities of extending the 

 knowledge of the Annelids and their distribution, so that not even the absorption of time 

 in upholding science and medicine in the oldest Scottish university— at, perhaps, the most 

 critical period of its existence— for a moment caused doubt as to the ultimate progress of 

 the work. 



Such a brief explanation is necessary, for it is no less than a quarter of a century 

 since the first part was published. 



The great extent of the field necessitates but a brief reference to anatomy and 

 embryology, were it only for the cost of plates and text. These and the historical parts 

 can follow either in this or another channel. Publication has become the more clamant 

 since in this country no book of reference on the subject is up to date, and hence the 

 group has not received that care from zoologists which is desirable — for instance, in 

 extending the species and accurately defining their distribution. 



Amongst those who have largely aided the author by the collection of specimens the 

 late Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys holds a foremost place, since he took with him for several years 

 specially prepared bottles for the preservation of the Annelids, and thus forwarded them 

 in excellent condition, I desire to record my grateful remembrance of his constant care 

 in this respect. Exceeding even the foregoing in number and variety of specimens come the 

 collections made by several relatives in St. Andrews, one of whom for more than twenty 

 years enriched the museum of the author in a noteworthy manner. Few took deeper 



