PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Vll. 



Seven applications for Linnean Macleay Fellowships, 1922-23, were received 

 in response to the Council's invitation of 26th October, 1921. I have now the 

 pleasure of maJiing the first public announcement of the Council's re-appoint- 

 ment, for another year from 1st April, 1922, of Dr. J. M. Petrie, Miss V. Irwin- 

 Smith, Miss Marjorie I. Collins, and Miss Marguerite Henry to Fellowships in 

 Biochemistry, Zoology, Botany and Zoology respectively. On behalf of the 

 Society I have pleasure in wishing them a successful year's research. 



The Necess-ity for a Zoological Swrvey of Australia. 



Our fauna, as well as our flora, is a national asset and as such we should 

 have as complete a knowledge of it as possible. The subject of a co-ordinated 

 investigation of the fauna was discussed by Section D. of the Australasian As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science in Melbourne in 1921, and the 

 following resolution carried : — "That in order to carry out immediately a co- 

 ordinated Investigation into the Land and Freshwater Fauna and the Flora of Aus- 

 tralia and Tasmania, the Societies and Institutions in the various States ... be 

 requested to co-operate in the work and to take sucli steps as they may deem 

 most advisable for the cai-i-ying out of this work, more especially in securing in 

 each State the active assistance of specialists in different branches of Botany and 

 Zoology." A committee was appointed and the Scientific Societies throughout 

 Australia wei'e circularised, but so far no active steps have been taken to give 

 effect to the resolution, nor have suggestions been made as to how such a survey 

 might be eanied out. Professor Sir Baldwin Spencer published a short but 

 important paper on the subject in the Victorian Naturalist for February, 1921. 

 Mr. W. W. Froggatt also has urged the necessity for the establishment of a 

 bureau of biological survey in Australia (Aust. Zoologist, ii., Pt. 1, 1921, p. 2). 



Future generations of Australian scientists may reasonably expect to find 

 the best collections of the Australian fauna in their own Museums but in view 

 of the attention paid to the collection of Australian specimens by foreign in- 

 stitutions within the past few years it is doubtful whether their expectations 

 will be realised unless some active steps are taken to make our own collections 

 as complete and representative as they should be. The British Museum authori- 

 ties have also been considering the possibility of sending a collecting expedition 

 to Australia and in a letter to the High Commissioner for Australia which was 

 foi-warded to the Council of this Society for comment they mention the foreign 

 expeditions and add that "in view of the fact that with the advance of settlement 

 many of the unique animals are becoming rare, it is evident that unless steps 

 are taken and are taken soon, the finest collections of the Australian fauna will 

 be found in Museums outside the British Empire." 



In the case of Geology and Botany the State has recognised the need for 

 systematic surveys. Each of the Australian States has its Geological Survey 

 and there is no need for me to recall to you the many eminent scientists who 

 have been associated with these Departments nor the excellent work which has 

 been carried out. Each State also has its Botanic Gardens with an associated 

 Herbarium where specimens and information have been accumulated regarding 

 the plants and where a more or less complete survey of the Plants is available. 



Zoology on {he other hand has not been so provided for. There are, in 

 New South Wales, two public institutions which might have been expected to 

 assist in such a Zoological Survey — the Australian Museum and the Taronga 

 Zoological Park — but I fear that as the governing bodies of both these In- 

 stitutions are composed of men who, with a few well known exceptions, are not 

 zoologists, they fail to appreciate the necessity for such work. 



