PREFACE. 
=A HE endeavour is made in this volume to present to the English 
reading public a few glimpses of the Faunal and Floral 
products of that magnificent component of our Empire—the 
Island-Continent of Australia. 
No attempt is made here to produce a_ systematic 
monograph or anything beyond a general compendium of 
any particular group or groups, the purpose being more 
in the direction of recording data concerning the life phenomena or peculiarities 
of biological types that specially attracted the author’s attention during the 
period of close upon twelve years in which he acted as Commissioner of Fisheries, 
or specially engaged Fisheries expert to the greater number of the Australian 
colonies, and in the fulfilment of which professional engagements he extended his 
travels throughout the entire Australian coast-line. 
The material here selected for description and illustration will, it is trusted, 
assist towards the promotion of a wider interest in the natural history wealth in 
sea and on shore possessed by the Australian peoples, and conduce towards its 
more intimate investigation both by dwellers on the land and by systematic 
explorers. Concerning many of the subjects here dealt with, as for example the 
form, habits, and architectural fabrications of the Termites and the varieties, 
distribution, and bizarre manners of many members of the Bird and Lizard races, 
a wide field is open both for original investigation and for inexhaustible recreation 
to every intelligent observer. 
