PREFACE.

The story of the life of animals and plants in the sea is one with so many aspects, that it is difficult to choose the points that may be included, and those that may be omitted from a book intended for the general reader. To some the story of the food Fishes and the Whales is of the greatest interest; to others the beautiful shapes and colours of shells have a predominating fascination; and to those who have devoted themselves to geological study, the history of the animals that contribute to the formation of the reefs and the ocean-bed present features of special attraction. To many, then, the perusal of my book must lead to disappointment as no one of these aspects has been treated adequately; but if some new interest is awakened, some new train of thought quickened into life, one of the objects I had in view will have been gained.

The book is only intended to be a sketch of some of the most important lines of scientific researches which are now being pursued by zoologists in many parts of the world. Discoveries, which are of the deepest interest to all intelligent minds, are in many cases described in books and periodicals that do not come within the reach of the general public. I have tried, therefore, to collect some of them into a small compass and describe them in language which I trust will be intelligible to those who have not been trained in the alphabet of zoological technicalities. The use of some long words was unavoidable, but I have endeavoured to explain them adequately either in the text or in the index.

Some of the illustrations have been copied from the works of other Naturalists, and the sources from which they came are acknowledged in the list of illustrations; but the majority of them have been drawn, specially for this work, from specimens from the Manchester Museum or my own collections.

SYDNEY J. HICKSON.

November 1897.