168 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
and in one or two instances the labels were scarcely legible, 
but otherwise the collection was in fairly good preservation. 
Greater attention appears to have been given to the collection 
and preservation of the larger invertebrates rather than to 
the more minute kinds; nevertheless, by carefully over- 
hauling the larger forms,—washing off and collecting the 
mud and sand adhering to them—and by a careful examina- 
tion of the finer matter in the bottom of some of the bottles, 
a considerable number of micro-Invertebrata have also 
been obtained, as will be seen by referring to the Table of 
Distribution. 
The Vertebrata, which are represented by the fishes, are 
few in number. The Invertebrata consist chiefly of Mollusca, 
Crustacea, Echinodermata, and Foraminifera; a few other 
eroups, as the Tunicata, Annelida, and Polyzoa, are also 
represented, but only by a small number of species. About 
344 species in all have been more or less satisfactorily 
determined, but as a considerable number of them are 
moderately common and generally distributed, I have 
not considered it necessary to refer to these common 
forms in the body of the report, but have included 
them in the Classified List and Table of Distribution 
at the end, so that only the rarer species will be specially 
noticed. i 
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION. 
In proceeding to describe more particularly the various 
eroups of organisms represented in the collection, as well as 
the rarer and more interesting species, it will be better to do 
so according to some recognised method. I propose, there- 
fore, in the general arrangement of the various groups, to 
adopt the classification used by Professor Nicholson in 
his “Manual of Zoology,’ but beginning with the higher 
forms first. Then as to the classification of each of the 
eroups, and especially of those that are more numer- 
ously represented in the collection, I have endeavoured, 
