IV PRKFACE. 



ultimate decision. In every speculation one fact is more than 

 equal to many suggestions. 



Ornithology is again to the front in ' The Zoologist,' and 

 British Birds still present an inexhaustible subject to field natura- 

 lists. A recent paper by Mr. Brock on the "Willow-Wrens of 

 a Lothian Wood " is an example of patient work, and one to be 

 continued in other localities. Mr. Stubbs has found several 

 original topics of the greatest interest, while in " Notes and 

 Queries " alone are published records and observations which 

 cannot escape reference in any future standard work on the 

 birds of these islands. 



We again rejoice in the wider field of zoology that this 

 Journal represents. Prof. Mcintosh's memoir on the " Bed 

 or Precious Coral" is a definite example; Col. Shepherd and 

 Mr. A. H. Patterson have continued to show the interest apper- 

 taining to fishes from both the anatomical and observational 

 methods, the latter writer persistently adding to the list of 

 fishes found along our eastern coast. 



The present monthly number of ' The Zoologist ' is eight 

 hundred and thirty-four. During all those many months a 

 steady record of zoological observations has been continued. 

 Our Journal has thus had a past ; it is for our contributors 

 to give it a future. 



