PREFACE. 



HE endeavour is made in this volume to present to the English 

 reading public a few glimpses of the Faunal and Floral 

 products of that magnificent component of our Empire the 

 Island-Continent of Australia. 



No attempt is made here to produce a systematic 

 monograph or anything beyond a general compendium of 

 any particular group or groups, the purpose being more 

 in the direction of recording data concerning the life phenomena or peculiarities 

 of biological types that specially attracted the author's attention during the 

 period of close upon twelve years in which he acted as Commissioner of Fisheries, 

 or specially engaged Fisheries expert to the greater number of the Australian 

 colonies, and in the fulfilment of which professional engagements he extended his 

 travels throughout the entire Australian coast-line. 



The material here selected for description and illustration will, it is trusted, 

 assist towards the promotion of a wider interest in the natural history wealth in 

 sea and on shore possessed by the Australian peoples, and conduce towards its 

 more intimate investigation both by dwellers on the land and by systematic 

 explorers. Concerning many of the subjects here dealt with, as for example the 

 form, habits, and architectural fabrications of the Termites and the varieties, 

 distribution, and bizarre manners of many members of the Bird and Lizard races, 

 a wide field is open both for original investigation and for inexhaustible recreation 

 to every intelligent observer. 



