PREFACE. 
The circumstances attending the publication of this volume are 
fortunately unprecedented in the history of the work. The sudden 
death on the Niger of Mr. W. A. Forbes, the late Recorder of 
Mammalia , was soon followed by the loss of the help of Mr. Howard 
Saunders in the arduous Record of Aves (a loss necessitated by his 
undertaking at short notice the vacant editorship of Yarrell’s 
“ British Birds ”). These serious gaps have, however, been supplied 
by Mr. Oldfield Thomas and Mr. R. B. Sharpe (a former Recorder) ; 
and the best thanks of working Zoologists are due to these gentle- 
men, who have undertaken an unexpected and difficult task. Mr. 
Boulenger has been compelled to seek the assistance of Mr. W. R. 
Ogilvie-Grant (an officer of the Natural History Department, 
British Museum) in the Record of Pisces ; and Mr. Ridley, whose 
leisure is occupied with the Sponges of the ‘ Challenger ’ Expe- 
dition, has resigned the Protozoa to Mr. W. Saville-Kent, a well- 
known specialist. A special student of the Myriopoda has also been 
secured dn Mr. T. D. Gibson- Carmichael. So many changes could 
not fail to be at first mechanically detrimental ; but a more serious 
delay has arisen from the removal to South Kensington of the 
Natural History Department of the British Museum, in which nine 
of the Recorders (who do nearly two-thirds of the Record) are 
officially engaged. The continuous extra work thrown upon these 
gentlemen has prevented them from rigidly adhering to the dates 
fixed for delivering the different portions of the Record ; hence the 
slight delay, which it is confidently expected will not again occur. 
I have again the pleasure of acknowledging grants of £100 from 
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and of 
£150 from the Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society, 
in aid of this undertaking. My thanks are also, as before, due to the 
Recorders, without whose aid under discouraging circumstances 
the delay in publication would have been still greater. 
EDWARD CALDWELL RYE. 
Royal Geographical Society, 
1 , Savile Row, Burlington Gardens, London, 
January , 1884. 
