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even from the faunistic and speciographic standpoint. Of course, 

 many of the foreign species appeal very strongly to the imagination 

 as, for instance, in the family Cymothoidae, Glossobius, which 

 spends its life attached to the tongue of the Flying-fish and sEga 

 spongiophila, which inhabits the beautiful glass-sponge Euplec- 

 tella, popularly known as Venus' s Flower Basket. Then there are 

 the species found in caves and in wells or parasitic on fish inhabit- 

 ing mountain streams far away from the sea ; the strange deep-sea 

 forms such as the gigantic Bathynomus which reaches nearly 

 eleven inches in length by five in breadth, or the extraordinary 

 spider-like creatures', belonging to the sub-order Asellota ; the 

 Australian Eisothistos, which not only lives in the tube of a sea- 

 worm, but accurately mimics the original occupant; and the primi- 

 tive Phreatoicidae, which are relics of an otherwise long extinct 

 group. But in spite of these attractive types, the Isopoda found 

 in the British Isles are as representative and extensive a collection 

 of forms as are found in any country in the world, with the possible 

 exception of the Scandinavian Peninsula. They include not only 

 representatives of almost every known family of the Isopoda, but 

 examples of almost all the peculiar forms such as those found 

 amongst the parasitic Epicaridea, etc. In all there must be well 

 over a hundred terrestrial and littoral species found in and around 

 these islands, and this number is being added to every year, while 

 there is a vast amount of work yet to be done on the anatomy and 

 habits of our native species. As I have mentioned before, many 

 of the species are of considerable economic importance and their 

 study is consequently of practical service, while for the zoologist 

 a more interesting group of animals could not be found. Many of 

 the species may be obtained by shore collecting or by scraping 

 piers, though a fair number require the use of the dredge and 

 provide one with those most pleasant of all excursions — dredging 

 expeditions. I have given up recommending the use of the townet 

 since I found myself a prisoner in the guard room of Freshwater 

 Fort as the result of practising this form of collecting in the Bay. 

 Whether I was suspected of taking soundings I cannot say, but 

 I was finally dismissed " without a stain on my character," though 

 a sadder and a wiser man. A good plan is to interest local fisher- 

 men in the subject and to offer them a small amount for any 

 specimens of Isopoda which they secure : in this way I have 

 obtained excellent specimens of such types as Bopyrus, which 

 although fairly common are somewhat troublesome to procure in 

 the ordinary course of events. 



As regards books on the subject the three which give the 

 fullest account of the British species are Bate and Westwood's 

 " British Sessile-eyed Crustacea," Stebbings* " Crustacea," in the 

 International Science Series, and Sars' " Crustacea of Norway," 

 volume 2. Dr. Caiman's volume on the Crustacea in Ray 

 Lankester's Treatise on Zoology " is the standard work on the 

 general classification and anatomy of the group. Practically all 

 the other work on our native Isopoda is recorded in scattered 



