PREFACE. 



vious ; students generally confine their attention 

 to one or more divisions, each thereby becomes 

 more thoroughly investigated and the whole 

 better understood. Some departments, however, 

 either from their brilliancy or easiness of access, 

 have always been greater favourites and have 

 had more cultivators than others. In this 

 country, Birds and Insects have had, with the 

 exception of Botany, more followers than all 

 the others together, while the Zoophytes have 

 suffered a very general neglect. In the fol- 

 lowing pages an attempt is made to rescue 

 them from this obscurity, or such of them as 

 are found upon the Cornish coast ; they are, it 

 is true, very unobtrusive, and compared with 

 similar productions from warmer seas, insigni- 

 ficant ; yet they are interesting, as being our 

 representatives of creatures which have acted 

 and are still acting, an important part in the 

 mutations of the earth's surface. 



The species here described are ascertained 

 to be Cornish from personal inspection and 

 researches both in deep water and near the 

 shores. The list will be found very exten- 

 sive, and to embrace nearly all that have 

 hitherto been recognized as British, beside many 

 others quite new and described here for the 

 first time. 



In these researches I have been greatly as- 

 sisted by my indefatigable friend Mr. Peach of 

 Goran, who has spared neither time nor trouble 



