NEARLY thirty years have elapsed since the publication of Prof. 1~. c. Williamson's memoir on the ' Recent Foraminifera of Great Britain '-a work in which the scattered threads of earlier investigation were collected into an orderly skein, and interwoven with the results of a large amo11nt of independent research. Whatever be its imperfections-and, considering the circumstances of the time, they are fewer and less important than might reasonably have been anticipated-that memoir represents

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... and adequately the state of knowledge with respect to the organisms of which it treats up to the date of its publication, and practically marks the commencement of the recognition of the recent Foraminifera of the British Islands as a distinct branch of study. The material to which Prof. Williamson had access consisted chiefly of shore-sands from various parts of the coast, together with a few drtdgings obtained by the late Mr. Barlee and the late Mr. Jeffrey from the Shetland Seas, the western shores of Scotland, and one or two points on the south-west coast of England-all from comparatively shallow water. Of recent years, thanks partly to the periodical moneygrants of the British Association, partly to the organization of local field-clubs, and most of all to the enthusiasm of amateur naturalists, the area of research has been vastly widened, and at the present time there are few promising portions of our coast that have not been explored more or less by means of the dredge; and our knowledge of every section of the marine invertebrate fauna has been correspondingly enriched. So far aB the Foraminifera are concerned, the additions to the British list have been so numerous as to be bewildering, notwithstanding the efforts that have been made from time to time by means of catalogues, printed privately or otherwise, to keep pace mitli the record of fresh occurrences. The latest catalogue of this sort, that d r a m up by ?Ah. Siddall in 1879, though complete or approximately so when issued, even now requires an amount of revision that much diminishes its practical value. The recent dredging operations on the south-west of Ireland have added to our list a number of the deep-\rater species that venture within the limits assigned to the British area; and we seem to have arrived at a point from which we may profitably review our position. Whether the time has yet come for a fresh attempt to treat the subject fully and exhaustively, as was done by Prof. Williamson, may be open to question ; but if SO, the present paper can in no way prejudice such an effort-indeed it has been intended in some measure as a preliminary step in that direction, the aim having been to collect and sift existillg material, and to draw attention to some of the numerous points concerning which our knowledge is defective. The employment of modern dredging appliances, and the prosecution of researches in deeper water and further from land than was customary a few years ago, have opened a new qiiestion, ni~~ely,-wIiat is to be unclerstoocl by the term " British," as appliccl to thc iiiarinc fmna d (lltnd 9th AToueinber, 1837.)