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THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM i 



MAGAZINE 



Published by the Australian Museum 

 Editor: C. ANDERSON, M.A. D.Sc. 



College Street, Sydney 

 Annual Subscription, Post Free, 4/4 



VOL. I. NO. I. 



April, 1921 



THE OBJECTS OF THE AUSTRALIAN 

 MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



By THE EDITOR. 



THE publications issued by the Australian Museum in the past have 

 consisted of Reports, Alemoirs, Records, and Catalogues, intended 

 principally for scientific readers and specialists in various branches 

 of natural science. Such publications form valuable contributions 

 to knowledge, and are an essential feature in the life of an institu- 

 tion such as ours, but, since the Museum is supported by public 

 funds for the instruction and enjoyment of the whole people, the Trustees have 

 decided to make an increased effort to reach a wider public, so that every man 

 and woman in the State, and even the children of tender years, may feel that 

 the Museum has a message for them. It is with this object in view that the 

 Australian Museum Magazine has been established. 



As the Magazine is intended mainly for those who have no special know- 

 ledge of the technical details of natural history, the articles contained in it 

 will be written, so far as possible, in non-technical language, and deal with 

 subjects which are likely to be of interest to the average citizen. The haunts, 

 habits and life-histories of the common animals of our bush, ponds, and sea- 

 shore will be described ; nor will the denizens of the ocean depths be forgotten. 

 We shall endeavour to picture for our readers the everyday life of animals, 

 their inter-relations, their struggles for existence, and their place in the whole 

 scheme of nature. The form and structure of animals is an absorbing study, 

 but animal architecture alone is apt to become dry bones in the figurative, as 

 well as the literal sense, and surely an animal is more interesting when it is 

 presented, not as a mere dead thing, but as a living, breathing creature. Fossils, 

 too, which are merely animals and plants that have been dead a long time, have 

 a fascinating tale to tell, and even the minerals found in our quarries and mines 

 are more than the raw materials of industry and commerce. Like other primi- 

 tive races, our aborigines are fast disappearing before the inroads of civiliza- 

 tion, and we feel sure that every Australian will welcome popular articles on 

 our predecessors in this continent, their quaint customs and ceremonials. 



The collections in the Museum consist of animals, fossils, minerals and 

 ethnological objects gathered from all quarters of the globe, though mainly 



