PRESIDENTS ADDRESS—SECTION D. 103 
Helms have paid some attention to the fauna of Houtman’s 
Abrolhos. What is now wanted is a systematic organised in- 
vestigation of the whole series of islands. Is not this an oppor- 
tunity slipping away under our very eyes; and cannot some- 
thing be attempted before it is quite too late? So important 
is this matter that I should lke to see this Section give up the 
whole time available at one meeting of this Association to its 
consideration. 
If it is impossible for any one at present to declare precisely 
how we stand with regard to a knowledge of the fauna as a 
whole or the amount of the depletion and disturbance which the 
land fauna has already suffered, need this preclude all effort to 
deal with these questions by making a beginning with classes, 
orders or families? Is not something possible in these direc- 
tions ? 
Cognate questions will readily suggest themselves, as, for 
example, what are the prospects of a “ Fauna Australiensis” 
complementary to the ‘‘ Flora?” Its delayed production would 
seem to have been in some measure due to the course of events 
in the Pre-Victorian Era. 
If this Section would resolutely close with some of these ques- 
tions, by calling for reports to be drawn up with the express 
object of preparing the way for discussion, I venture to express 
the opinion that it would not only add to the interest of our 
biennial gatherings, but also make for progress in some very 
desirable directions. Could this section signalise the advent of 
a new century in any more efficacious way than by an organised 
and co-operative endeavour to ascertain how we stand in rela- 
tion to faunistic matters generally, with the special object of 
obtaining a fresh set of bearings for future guidance! 
In conclusion, I must admit that so far I have merely touched 
upon the fringe of the subject of my discourse. Having arrived 
at this stage, I propose to abandon any further attempt to deal 
with it directly per medium of the Pre-Victorian collectors, col- 
lections, and zoologists. The zoological collecting was so dif- 
ferent in character from, and so much less satisfactory than the 
botanical collecting ; and the history of many of the types and 
collections is so obscure, and in many cases their dispersal so 
extraordinary, that it becomes a hopelessly bewildering task 
to try to follow the example of Sir Joseph Hooker and Mr. 
Bentham at any length. 
Happily there is another avenue of approach to the subject. 
Thanks in some measure to the good example set by Captain 
Cook and Sir Joseph Banks, we are the fortunate possessors of a 
splendid series of Narratives, Journals, Reports or other publica- 
tions written by early explorers, officials, visiting naturalists or 
other travellers, and colonists. These are a store-house of facts re- 
lating to observational zoology accumulated by observant men 
