INTRODUCTORY. IX 



Fujiyama and the Sagami Bay, will certainly not lessen ita attrac- 

 tions ; and an additional charm to those who are interested in the 

 heroic achievements of the past may be found in the associations 

 with which the spot abounds, as the ancient stronghold of a 

 mighty warrior chieftain who was killed here in a desperate battle, 

 after sustaining a long siege, and whose spirit is believed by the 

 populace still to haunt the scene of his former greatness. A 

 proposed railway, passing near the new site, will bring the station 

 within two or three hours of Tokyo. A number of teachers 

 scattered over different parts of the country are acting somewhat 

 as sentinels at the outposts of our science, and doing good service 

 in collecting animals from different localities. Our field of activity 

 has also lately been suddenly widened by the addition of Formosa 

 to the territory of Japan, and the work of a collecter now on 

 that island will, it is hoped, be but the forerunner of many similar 

 undertakings. Hardly a week now passes without something new 

 turning up in the line of our study, and that something is often 

 of great interest. 



Under these circumstances, it has seemed to us very desirable 

 that there should be opened some channel for communicating the 

 progress of our science in Japan to fellow- workers in other coun- 

 tries ; — some channel less formal than the Journal of the Science 

 College, and one through which even little things may be made 

 known. A beginning was made in this direction about two years 

 ago, when a department written in European languages was added 

 to the Zoological Magazine, which has perhaps become known, 

 through this feature, to some who read these lines. We now 

 feel justified in taking another step forward. Arrangements are 



