xviii Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



all that ought to be said into ten minutes. The publication 

 of the Reports can only be compared with that of the 

 " Systema Naturte," or of the " Regne Animal," as a great 

 epoch-marking work in biological science. 



Considered merely in a mechanical and material way, the 

 Reports consist of some 34 thick quarto volumes. One single 

 volume contains 1800 pages. These are illustrated by about 

 2000 full-size lithographic plates, several of which are 

 coloured with precision. They record the results of critical 

 examination of the specimens preserved in 2270 large glass 

 jars, J 749 smaller bottles, 1860 glass tubes, 350 tin cases, 

 and 22 casks. The cost of publication has considerably 

 exceeded £50,000. 



Biologists owe much to the descriptions of the zoological 

 and botanical specimens collected in the course ot previous 

 vo3''ages, undertaken for scientific purposes. Systematists 

 have continually to refer to the accounts of the voyage of the 

 Erebus and Terror, the Astrolabe, the Novara, the Talisman, 

 of the Wilkes' United States Exploring Expedition ; of the 

 Beagle, the Samarang, and the Herald ; of the Lightning, 

 Porcupine, and Knigiit Errant, of tlie United States Survey 

 Expeditions, and of others ; but the Challenger Expedition is 

 to these as Leviathan amongst fishes. 



There is scarcely a group of animals which is not reported 

 on. There are memoirs relating; to Man, and memoirs on the 

 Foraminifera and the Radiolaria. Owing to the tardiness of 

 information from Europe, I cannot give the precise number of 

 the memoirs, but the number is something over sixty-four. 

 These are all contributed by men who are recognised as 

 prominent specialists in the particular group which they 

 have undertaken to describe. 



Professor Huxley, in a review of the first volume of the 

 Reports, did not profess to have read it through, and dis- 

 claimed the zoological omniscience which would justify him 

 in criticising its contents in detail. No one else, then, need 

 profess to have read all the volumes, or venture to give the 

 palm of merit to this or that memoir. At most, one can but 



