Introduction. 
5 
of the town of Singgora, just inside the mouth, there is an anchorage of 4 fathoms, 
but its area is very hmited and the greater part of the mouth is more or less blocked 
by a sand-bar. Throughout the system the bottom is more or less muddy and the 
water is full of suspended silt. The climate is of course tropical. My visit took 
place at the end of the rainy and at the beginning of the dry season. 
The fauna of the inner lake, as might be expected, differs considerably from that 
of the outer parts of the system. It is somewhat scanty, at any rate as far as the 
invertebrates are concerned, and includes some distinctly marine types. That of the 
outer lake is mainly estuarine and includes very few characteristic freshwater forms. 
It appears to be greatly impoverished, probably owing to frequent and .sudden 
changes in physical conditions ; but possibly more species would be found in a 
living condition at the beginning than at the end of the rainy season. 
A short diary of my tour is given at the end of this introduction. It may be useful 
in settling any question that may arise as to the dates and provenance of specimens. 
In all the countries I visited I was greatly indebted to local naturalists and offi- 
cials. In Japan, Prof. H. Ishikawa, of the Medical School of the Imperial University 
of Kyoto, was. kind enough to place at my disposal all the resources of the Otsu 
Lake Laboratory (Otsu Rinko Zikkensho'), of which he is Director, while Dr T. 
Kawamura of the same school, the naturalist in charge of the laboratory, met me 
on my landing at Kobe and offered to act as my assistant during my stay in the 
country. He also accompanied me to China. I cannot express how much I owe to 
his assistance both scientific and personal. 
At Tokyo I gained much from intercourse with biologists attached to the Impe- 
rial University and other institutions, in particular with Prof. I. Ijima, Prof. Y. 
Kogani, and above all with Prof. A. Oka, who accompanied me, together with Mr. 
Icho of the local Fishery Department, on a most interesting day's trip on the lake 
Kasumi-ga-Ura on the Pacific coast. 
At Kyoto, in the fine Museum of Conchology founded by Mr. Y. Hirase, I 
received much help from him and from his assistant Mr. J . T. Kuroda in the identi- 
fications of Mollusca and in references to literature on that group. 
At Shanghai Dr. A. Stanley, Municipal Health Officer and Honorary Curator of 
the Museum of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, helped me in 
ways too numerous to be specified. 
1 The history of this laboratory is as follows : The idea of the erection of a laboratory of the kind was first mooted 
by Prof. H. Ishikawa and Dr. T. Kawamura of the Physiological School in the Medical Institute of the University at 
Kyoto. They approached the Prefect of the Shiga Prefecture and the Corporation of the city of Otsu The former was 
unable at the time to make a grant from prefectural funds, but the Corporation presented a site, a small peninsula in the 
lake that had been formed from the materials dug out in the excavatio.i of a tunnel connected with power stations at 
Kyoto. This site had been placed at the disposal of the Corporation by the company concerned in the excavations. The 
Corporation further undertook to erect a building 54 square fathoms in area, with out-buildings of 25 square fathoms, 
at a total cost of about 3,000 yen ( = Rs. 4.500). The Imperial University of Kyoto agreed to make a yearly grant of 
1,600 yen ( = Rs. 2,400); Prof. Ishikawa was appointed director and Dr. Kawamura biologist in charge. A second 
biologist was appointed temporarily and a scientific assistant and a laboratory attendant permanently. The laboratory 
was handed over to the University on September 25th, 1914. 
