110 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
worthy of public patronage, he resolved to devote his time, mind, 
and resources. 
No sooner was the determination made than it was executed. 
Accompanied by Mrs. Gould, whose pencil was to be employed 
to illustrate his work, and also by an able assistant, in the 
person of John Gilbert, who afterwards, unfortunately, lost his 
life at the hands of the treacherous natives of the west coast 
during Leichardt’s Expedition, he left England in May, 1838 ; 
and in September of that year arrived at Van Diemen’s Land. 
Here he spent ten months in exploring that island and the 
islands in Bass’s Straits. By way of interlude, however, he paid 
a short visit to New South Wales. 
This hasty trip, which he extended to the Liverpool range, 
prepared Mr. Gould for his great expedition, and enabled him to 
procure both specimens and skins of the Lyre bird, Menura 
superba, the former of which he transmitted to Professor 
Owen for dissection. While in Van Diemen’s Land, he was 
most cordially received by the Governor, Sir John Franklin, 
whose Polar Expedition all are familiar with, and who, being 
himself a man of science, and consequently capable of appreciating 
the value of Mr. Gould’s undertaking, afforded him every 
assistance. While making Van Diemen’s Land and Bass’s 
Straits the theatre of his operations, Mr. Gould took the oppor- 
tunity of visiting Flinder’s Island, interesting from its inter- 
mediate situation between the Australian Continent and Van 
Diemen’s Land. Some of its productions, as might be antici- 
pated, are common to both; its general fauna, however, is that 
of the latter. 
While in Van Diemen’s Land, Mr. Gould separated from his 
principal assistant, John Gilbert, whom he sent to the western 
coast of the Australian Continent, while he himself proceeded to 
the south coast, making Adelaide his rendezvous. Here he was 
liberally supported in the prosecution of his enterprise by the 
Governor, Colonel Gawler, and Captain Sturt. By these gentle- 
men he was furnished with the requisites for a campaign, and 
with trusty attendants. According to the advice of Captain 
Sturt, Mr. Gould proceeded to explore the Bush, or ‘“ Great 
Scrub,” which, for the extent of a hundred miles, borders the 
Murray; and he advanced nearly to the west bend of that noble 
river. The Scrub which Mr. Gould penetrated stretches over a 
