78 PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS.— SECTION D. 
No complementary “Outlines” of the progress of zoological 
discovery in Australia, to match the historical sketches of Sir 
Joseph Hooker and Mr. Bentham, has ever been published. 
As far as my knowledge goes, there is not even a published list 
of the early zoological collectors available. I have therefore 
tried to compile a provisional list, probably with only indifferent 
success. The task is by no means an easy or satisfactory one 
to undertake at this distance from Europe. Moreover, I have 
been unable to consult any of the British Museum Annual 
Reports presented to Parliament. These must contain much in- 
formation relating to the history of Australian types and type- 
collections. So far as I can ascertain, these publications are 
not to be found in Australian libraries. 
In attempting to estimate the nature and the amount of the 
British contribution to the all-important work of getting the 
fauna mustered—of obtaining representative collections of Aus- 
tralian animals for the study of the zoologists—one is at once 
beset with difficulties. 
The fundamental trouble is that there was no organising 
head ; and in his absence there were no official, expert British 
collectors comparable with, and responsible for their collections 
like Caley, Robert Brown, the two Cunninghams, and Fraser. 
As there was no one at the head of affairs to take the lead, so 
there was no one to secure and properly conserve such collec- 
tions as were made; no one to fill the rdle of sponsor or wet- 
nurse successively filled in botanical matters by Sir Joseph 
Banks and Sir William Hooker. At one time it appeared likely 
that the Linnean Society would fill the gap with some measure 
of success. 
Finally, the splendid opportunities for collecting afforded by 
the establishment of new settlements and new colonies, and by 
coast survey and inland exploring expeditions, when the country 
was unstocked and the fauna was undisturbed, were lost in so 
far as the realisation of these depended on properly equipped, 
expert, responsible collectors. King, Sturt, and Mitchell quite 
nobly added to the onerous and responsible administrative duties 
of commander or leader the self-imposed task of trying person- 
ally or by proxy to collect a few zoological specimens. The 
character of the men, and the circumstances under which they 
tried to collect redeem the results of their efforts from being 
considered paltry. But this was not the kind of collecting that 
was wanted. If zoological collectors ever again had the oppor- 
tunity of collecting over some of the country then accessible, 
they have not declared themselves. 
In the absence of expert official collectors the collecting was left 
to private, non-responsible collectors and dealers—to anybody 
who chose to do it. The collecting was consequently haphazard 
and miscellaneous in character, not exhaustive and representative. 
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