. TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 113 



lliose wlio have supported and promoted his undertaking. Few, indeed, are the 

 Colonies that can boast of a simdar piece of work ! 



In 1842 the late Sir John Eichardsou presented to this Association a special re- 

 port on the Ichthyology of New Zealand (3) ; but much advance has, of course, 

 been made since that period. 



The Lizards of New Zealand have been recently enumerated along with those of 

 Australia in Dr. Giinther's memoir above referred to. 



2. Polynesia. 



Great additions have recently been made to our knowledge of the natural pro- 

 ductions of the Polynesian Islands by the travellers and naturalists employed by the 

 brothers Godeflroy of Hamburg. These gentlemen not only have extensive col- 

 lections made, but also trouble themselves to get them properly worked out The 

 excellent volume on the Ornithology of the Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga Islands pub- 

 lished in 1867 by Drs. Finch and Hartlaub (4), is based entirely upon materials thus 

 obtained, as are likewise the many capital memoirs which fill the parts of the Illus- 

 trated quarto ' Jom-nal des Museum Godeffi'oy ' (5) — a journal replete with informa- 

 tion upon the geography, ethnogi-aphy and natural history of Polynesia. Amongst 

 these memoirs I must call special attention to Dr. Giinther's 'Fische der Stidsee' 

 (6), foimded upon Mr. Andi-ew Garrett's splendid collection of fishes and of draw- 

 ings of them coloured after life, of which three parts are already issued. We have 

 now for the first time almost, in this country, the opportunity of becoming acquainted 

 with the exceeding beauty of the tropical fishes in life ! 



The late Mr. Julius Brenchley's account of his cruise in H.M.S. ' Cm'a9oa ' among 

 the South-sea Islands (7), pulilished in 1873, contains an appendix of " Natural- 

 History Notices," illustrated by figures of remarkable specimens obtained on the 

 occasion. Of these the part relating to the Birds is by the late Mr. G. R. Gray, and 

 those concerning the Reptiles and Fishes by Dr. Gunther. 



3. The Sandwich Islands. 



The Sandwich Islands stand apart zoologically as geographically from the rest of 

 Polynesia, and merit more special attention than has yet been bestowed upon them. 

 Of their Birds, which form the most prominent part of their Vertebrate fauna, Mr. 

 Dole has given a " Synopsis " in the ' Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History ' (8). In noticing this paper in ' The Ibis ' for 1871, I have introduced 

 some supplementary remai'ks (9) upon the general aspect of the Avifauna. 



In concluding this Addi-ess, which has extended, I regret to say, to a much 

 greater length than I anticipated when I selected the subject of it, I wish to endea- 

 vour to impress upon natiu'alists the paramount importance of locality. 



In the study of distribution more probably than in any other direction, if perhaps 

 we except embryology, wiU be ultimately fovmd the key to the now much vexed 

 question of the Origin of Species. The past generation of naturalists coidd not 

 understand the value of locality. A Museum was regarded as a collection of ciu'i- 

 osities; and so long as the objects were there it little mattered in their eyes whence 

 they came. The consequence is that all oiu- older collections, and even, I regret to 

 say, our National Museum itself, are filled with specimens utterly without a 

 history attached to them, unless it be that they were purchased of a certain dealer 

 in a certain year. Even in the present generation it is only the more advanced and 

 enlightened thinkers that really imderstand the importance of locality. It is with 

 the hope of impressing the value of locality and distribution more firmly upon you 

 that I have devoted this address not to the general progi-ess of biology, but to the 

 present state of our knowledge of the Geographical Distribution of the Vertehrata. 



