2 Calcutta Journal of Natural History. 



Without however having any serious design on the pock- 

 ets of the public, we are disposed to put its taste to the test ; 

 and although the task could hardly have devolved on worse 

 hands, we are determined to devote our pages solely to seve- 

 ral departments of science, which at present only meet with 

 a casual place in the Journals of this Presidency. 



Although our Journal will be devoted exclusively to sci- 

 entific objects, and particularly to the various branches of 

 Natural History, it is hoped that if the multitudinous applica- 

 tions of these to useful purposes, mental as well as commer- 

 cial, be taken into account, there are few whose tastes and 

 interests will not be sufficiently concerned to give it their 

 support. 



The great object of the publication will be less to afford 

 amusement than instruction ; and above all, it will be our 

 ambition to make known the Researches of Naturalists in sub- 

 jects connected with Indian productions. With this view we 

 shall bring together such facts as may be collected from 

 time to time, and endeavour to keep before the public the 

 exact state of the several subjects of inquiry, and the claims 

 of those who are employed in them Having ourselves 

 experienced the disadvantages of many who labour in the 

 cause of science in the recesses of an Indian jungle, we shall 

 therefore be the better able, both as naturalists and men, 

 to appreciate results attained under disadvantages which 

 can only be understood by those who have been exposed 

 to them. 



To answer all the above purposes to the full extent of 

 our wishes, it would be necessary that the Botanical, 

 Zoological, and Geological departments of our duties should 



