A Monograph of the British Annelids

Abstract

WHEN Huxley was appointed professor in the Jermyn Street School of Mines, his first great scheme was the publication by Government of a zoological coast survey of Great Britain, and one of the first groups to be selected was this one of the Annelids. Unfortunately for biology, that scheme was never Carried out, and the opportunity that presented itself some fifty years ago of obtaining State assistance for what was truly a State work has not recurred. Not only has the publication of systematic coastal work been left to isolated ventures, but many groups, Jind the Annelids among them, have been so little; studied on our own coasts that the work of naming any of the most common littoral species (except perhaps the lugworm) is out of all proportion to the value of its determination. Yet these Annelids are not only of great interest to the zoologist, but, as forming one of the chief foods for fish, they are among the most important factors in the welfare of our fisheries. The Ray Society and the Carnegie Trust are therefore to be congratulated on the issue of another section of this great monograph, which they have subsidised. Prof. Mclntosh is known and read of all students of biology, and his unwearied devotion to this work, his wide knowledge, and long experience of these Annelids constitute him a master. He, perhaps of all men, was the only one who could write this work, and the completion of his monograph begun so many years ago is indeed a consummation devoutly to be wished. May he have the health and assistance necessary to that end.