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PREFACE. 



The present work has a twofold object. It is intended, in the first 

 place, to record the proceedings of a Collecting Party despatched 

 by order of the Trustees to Lord Howe Island in August-September, 

 1887, and to give descriptions of the specimens so obtained ; and 

 secondly, to give an epitome of the general Zoology of the Island, 

 so far as is at present known. From its geographical position, 

 and from the fact that it forms the farthest outlying portion of the 

 territory of New South Wales, a more detailed examination of its 

 fauna than had hitherto been made was deemed desirable. 



The determination and description of the collections has been 

 effected by the ]\Iuseum Staff, with the exception of the rock 

 specimens, which have been obligingly described for the Trustees 

 by Mr. T. AV. Edgeworth David, of the Geological Survey of New 

 South Wales. 



In 1882 Mr. Alexander Morton, then of this Museum, visited 

 Lord Howe Island for a brief period, and made sundry collections. 

 A description of these is included in the present work, with 

 previous gatherings, chiefly entomological, made by Mr. George 

 Masters, late of the Australian Museum, in 1869 ; and also that of 

 purchases made from Mr. E. H. Saunders, a collector who spent 

 some time on the Island since the return of the ]\Iuseum Party. 



From unavoidable causes the descriptive account of the Mollusca 

 is not yet ready for publication, although the plates are issued in 

 advance. The former will appear subsequently as a second part 

 of this Memoir. 



A description of the remains of the extinct Meiolania is also for 

 the present postponed. The Museum is gradually acquiring an 

 extensive series of its bones, and it is intended, at a future date, to 

 issue a separate Memoir dealing with this interesting Reptile. 



The work of general Editor has been performed by Mr. Etheridge, 

 ^ under my supervision. 



:t ED. P. RAMSAY, 



'li? Curator. 



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