''^"''■•I Spencer. Land and Fresh-Water Fauna. ■l2'i 



this will ever be with us, and we can investigate it at our 

 leisure ; Init the land and fresh-water fauna is disappearing 

 rapidly, and unless we now muke an organized effort it \v\\\ 

 be too late to study it effectually, and future generations will 

 wonder what manner of people we were not to leave behind 

 us some adequate record of the marvellously interesting forms 

 of animal Hfe which we had succeeded in exterminating. 



It is, however, right to mention that there is one group of 

 animals^the birds — whose fascinating interest has resulted in 

 attracting the attention of many naturalists from the time of 

 Lewin and Gould down to the present, dviring which we have 

 gained, thanks to the work of Mr. H. L. \\'hite. Captain S. A. 

 White, .Messrs. A. J. North, A. J. Campbell, and others, a fairly 

 complete knowledge of the avifauna of xAustralia. To the 

 generosity of Mr. H. L. White the Melbourne Museum is 

 indebted for the gift of his great collection. 



There are two or three records dealing with the land fauna 

 that may be referred to as affording examples of the class of 

 work required to be done, apart from simple collecting. Mr. 

 Krefft published an account of the vertebrate animals that he 

 had met with on the Murray River. He not only enumerates 

 the different species, but gives us some account of their manner 

 of life. In this journal, the Virtorian Naturalisi — the leading 

 one of its kind in Austraha^ — there are to be found admirable 

 examples of the class of work needed. To mention only a few 

 typical ones, we have Mr. Gerald Hill's paper on the Ufe-history 

 and habits of the case-moth, Mr. J. A. Kershaw's account of 

 the burrow and " nesting " of Platypus, the late Mr. J. 

 Booth's account of the habits of Petaurus in captivity, and the 

 papers of Messrs. J. Shephard and J. Searle on the fresh-water 

 fauna. PcThaps, however, the best example is the delightful 

 work by the late Mr. Geoffrey Smith, entitled " A Naturalist 

 in Tasmania." 



Most unfortunately, a great part of failnistic work in Aus- 

 tralia has been done by foreigners, owing to the enlightened 

 generosity of patrons of science in Germany, Denmark, Norway, 

 and Sweden. In early days Sir William Macleay was most 

 generous in the endowment of natural history investigations : 

 but, apart from him and Mr. W. A. Horn, who equipped his 

 expedition to Central Australia, wealthy .\ustralians have done 

 but little to further the study of our fauna and flora. 



The careful investigation of the fauna, whilst it requires a 

 certain amount of endowment, is dependent still more upon 

 the work of those who, in their own localities, are able and 

 willing to devote their time to such work. To take one example 

 only. It should be; possible to organize in Tasmania a number 

 of workers, each, or in groups, responsible foi- tli<' ^tud\- of one 



