13 



stations ; and the mistake has been made by some authors by confound- 

 ing South and Southern Australia. 



Before entering upon the consideration of the chief subject matter 

 of this address, I must premise that my remarks do not refer to the 

 Northern Territory, unless specially so stated ; and that it will be 

 obvious to all that the Natural History of South Australia, thus restric- 

 ted, cannot be studied without reference to that of neighbouring colonies, 

 which together form one large natural province, capable, however, of 

 being subdivided into regions. These regions are not to be defined by 

 existing governmental boundaries, though the preliminary investigations 

 may not inconveniently be regulated by them. The definition of natural 

 regions must be the result of long and patient study ; and we have not 

 yet the data for formulating them. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Class Mammalia. — "That we know more of the fauna of Australia 

 than of other English colonies in different parts of the world is certain, 

 but no thanks are due from us for this knowledge, either to the Imperial 

 or to any of the Colonial Governments. The unassisted enterprise of a 

 private individual has produced the two splendid works upon the 

 Mammals and Birds of Australia, which we all turn to with pleasure 

 whenever reference is required to a member of these two classes of Aus- 

 tralian animals. Mr. Gould's ' Mammals of Australia' was completed in 

 1863. Since that period the little additional information received re- 

 specting the terrestrial mammals of Australia has been chiefly furnished 

 by Mr. Krefft, late of the Australian Museum, Sydney, and by his 

 successor, Mr. E. P. Ramsay, in various papers and memoirs. On the 

 marine mammals, however, which were scarcely touched upon by Mr. 

 Gould, we have a treatise by Mr. A. W. Scott, published at Sydney, in 

 1873, which contains a good deal of useful information concerning the 

 seals and whales of the Southern Hemisphere." — Dr. P. T. Sclater, 

 Opening Address, Biological Section, the British Association, 

 Septsmber, 1875. 



Mr. F. G. Waterhouse, the curator of the Institute Museum, 

 furnished a classified catalogue of the mammals and birds which are met 

 with in South Australia, to Mr. Harcus's (*f) " South Australia, 1876." 

 The list contains the names of sisty-four terrestrial and three marine 

 mammals, and is unaccompanied by reference to localities. This omission 

 is a great defect, as no judgment can be formed as to their distribution within 

 our province or to their relation to neighbouring ones; and creates doubt 



