The Insect Fauna of Tan Liemen's Land. 299 



known, of advancing science, and of enlarging the collec- 

 tions in his native town, has not left the natural productions 

 of his temporary residence unnoticed, but has enriched the 

 different Museums at home by important additions and 

 collections. The Entomological Cabinet has already received 

 three assortments of carefully collected insects, which are 

 very valuable, few specimens of the New Holland Fauna 

 having hitherto been received ; besides, these collections are 

 not confined to the larger and more remarkable varieties, 

 but they embrace also the most insignificant : in this 

 respect they throw great light on the subject of the New 

 Holland Fauna, for they show the relationship of its peculiar 

 forms to those of more extensive circulation. I have ex- 

 amined systematically all the insects which Mr. Schayer 

 sent to this collection, and I believe that an accurate 

 description of them, with reference to their geographical 

 distribution, would be extremely interesting. The English 

 have many favourable opportunities of introducing the 

 natural productions of New Holland into their Museums, 

 £llid, consequently, these latter afford rich materials for the 

 compilation of a Fauna : we can, therefore, only regret that 

 we have hitherto been able to obtain biit small portions, and 

 not the whole of this valuable matter. This brochure will be 

 so far interesting, in that it indicates the peculiar locality 

 of each distinct species, for it is only by an accurate descrip- 

 tion of localities, that the geographical distribution of 

 distinct species can be ascertained ; the first step in geo- 

 graphy, as connected with Natural History, is to ascertain 

 the extent and boundaries of these localities. In this 

 respect, how much further advanced is botany than ento- 

 mology, for in this latter we have hitherto been satisfied 

 with only the general term New Holland, or even Australia. 

 In a Natural-History point of view, Australasia must 



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