6 Calcutta Journal of Natural History. 



have been so long without a Journal of their own in India. 

 The consequence is, that neither the importance of those 

 pursuits, nor that of the persons devoted to them, is at all un- 

 derstood ; and naturalists at length find themselves without 

 any individual connected with the periodical press, or with 

 the learned Societies on this side of India, at all competent 

 to meet their wishes or their views, far less to promote the 

 object of their pursuits. Under these circumstances we have 

 reluctantly deviated from the less obtrusive occupation we 

 had prescribed to ourselves, and are prepared to use our 

 best endeavours to secure for Natural History the advantage 

 of a Journal hitherto much required in India. 



The next subject on which we have to offer our remarks, 

 is the means by which our publication is to be supported. 

 As to matter we shall have no scarcity, as we trust we 

 shall prove ourselves worthy of the confidence of most of 

 the naturalists in India. The only difficulty we now expe- 

 rience, is to fix the rate at which we are to tax the pockets 

 of our subscribers. We have no desire to profit by the 

 work — our great object therefore is that its price should 

 be as low as possible. On the whole, we consider that a 

 subscription of sixteen rupees per annum will not only 

 cover the expenses of the Journal but allow a certain 

 sum to stand over for the publication of Transactions of an 

 " Academy of Natural Science," as proposed in our first 

 article, should that or any similar plan for the formation of a 

 Society in India be eventually carried into effect. 



With regard to the latter object, little more need be said 

 than this — That if contributors of valuable articles will merely 

 state whether they wish them to appear also in the Actce of 



