6 BOURNS AND WORCESTER: PRELIMINARY NOTES. 



We originally planned to spend two years in the field. As the 

 time allowed us drew near its end, and it became evident that we 

 could not complete the work we desired to do before its expiration, 

 we asked for an extension of time which Mr. Menage readily granted. 

 At the end of two years we separated, Mr. Bourns going to Borneo 

 to collect the interesting mammals of that rfegion and Mr. Worcester 

 remaining in the Philippines to complete the work there. 

 When all the localities in which we had planned to make collections, 

 with the exception of North Luzon and the Babuyanes and Batanes 

 islands, had been visited a serious attack of illness brought Mr. 

 Worcester's work to an end and this promising field, from which we 

 had anticipated much, had to be left unexplored. 



During the stay of two years and five months the following islands 

 were visited: Luzon, Samar, Mindanao, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi Tawi, 

 Palawan Culion, Busuanga, Mindoro, Tablas, Romblon, Sibuyan, 

 Panay, Guimaras, Negros, Cebu, Siquijor. 



At the time of our visit Tawi Tawi, Tablas, Romblon and Sibiiyan 

 were new localities, and though we learned from the natives that the 

 French Naturalist, Marche, had visited the Calamianes Islands 

 (Culion and Busuanga) we have been unable to find any record of 

 his collections. 



We returned to this country in the early summer of 1893 expecting 

 immediately to begin work on our material, but the financial troubles 

 prevailing at that time had seriously embarrassed many friends of 

 the Academy, so that during the stagnation that followed the panic 

 of 1893 the work came to a standstill and could not be resumed un- 

 til the summer of the present year. 



Meanwhile Mr. A. Everett, the well known Philippine and 

 Bornean collector, had visited Sibutu and Bongao and sent his col- 

 lectors to Tawi Tawi, so that several of our most important discov- 

 eries in the latter island have been anticipated. 



The following preliminary, notes will be followed at a later date 

 by a more extended paper in which many results of our trip which 

 can not here be even mentioned will be brought out and their exact 

 bearing on the work of our predecessors made plain. 



We wish to express our very sincere gratitude to Dr; Thomas S. 

 Roberts, Professor Henry F. Nachtrieb, Professor Henry L. Osborn, 



