INTRODUCTION. 



I CANNOT allow these volumes to go before the 

 public, without expressing my thanks to the following 

 gentlemen for assistance, afforded to me in the course 

 of the composition of this work : — To Captain 

 Beaufort, 11. N., F.R.S., Hydrographer to the 

 Admiralty, for his kindness in furnishing me with 

 some of the accompanying charts ; to Sir John 

 Richardson, F.R.S ; J. E. Gray, Esq., F.R.S. ; E. 

 Doubleday,Esq., F.L.S.,andA.\Vhite, Esq.,M.E.S., 

 for their^valuablejcontributions on Natural History, 

 to be found in the Appendix ; to J. Gould, Esq., 

 F.R.S., for a list of birds collected during the voyage 

 of the Beagle ; to Lieutenants Gore and Fitzmaurice, 

 for many of the sketches which illustrate the work ; 

 and to B. Bynoe, Esq., F.R.C.S., for several inter- 

 esting papers which will be found dispersed in the 

 following pages. 



Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S., also merits 

 my warmest thanks, for the important addition to 

 the work of his visits to the Islands in the Arafura 

 Sea. 



1 have to explain, that when the name " Austral- 

 asia" is used in the-^ollowing pages, it is intended 



