92 THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY 



Descriptions of new genera and species of New Zealand Cole- 

 optera. By Francis P. Pascoe, F.L.S., <fcc. 



Further contributions to the Ornithology of Australia. By 

 John Gould, F.R.S., &c. 



Descriptions of new species of New Zealand Fish. By F. M. 

 Hutton, Curator of the Otago Museum. 



On some New and Undescribed Species of Crustacea, from the 

 Samoan Islands. By Edward J. Miers, Zoological Department, 

 British Museum. 



Descriptions of a new species of Trichoglossus, from Fiji. By 

 E. L. Layard, F.Z.S., Consul for Fiji and Tonga. 



I am aware that the list I have now given of the papers read 

 and books written during the year, bearing chiefly on the natural 

 history of Australia is a most imperfect one, even as regards the 

 publications in the colonies themselves, as well as in the mother 

 country. 



But to give a full and correct list is quite beyond my power- 

 To do so would necessitate the examination of a series of foreign 

 scientific periodicals, too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say 

 that the student who wishes to keep himself informed as to all the 

 literary productions on the natural history of Australia must 

 gather his information from a multiplicity of sources, and in a 

 variety of languages. That this is so, I can myself testify, but is 

 it either right or necessary that it should be so 1 



As we know, the study of natural history is, as a rule, more 

 general in France and Germany than it has ever been in England, 

 and it is to the great naturalists of these countries the scientific 

 world is indebted for the most prized and valuable works. I 

 admit, therefore, that any one aspiring to what may be called the 

 higher branches of natural science must be a good linguist. He 

 must be acquainted with Greek, Latin, French, and German, and 

 would find the benefit of knowing also the Dutch, Italian, Russian, 

 and Norwegian languages. But there may be, and indeed are 

 here, many ardent students of nature, who are not polyglottists, 

 and who, even if they were, have not the means of accumulating 

 the mass of literature necessary to enable them to investigate a 

 single group of a strictly Australian family. 



