IV 
explore the Australasian regions at the time of their discovery by Captain Cookj was certainly 
by no means neglected^ as the Banksian cabinet, richly stored with the entomological acqui- 
sitions collected in those parts at that period, most clearly evinces. To this cabinet the author 
owes many obligations in the course of the present undertaking ; and it is truly with some share 
of pride, attempered with a becoming sense of gratitude to the liberality of Sir Joseph Banks, 
Bart, the author has it in his power to add, that the Epitome of Australasian Entomology, 
stands, if possible, more peculiarly indebted to that cabinet than either of the preceding 
volumes. The assemblage of New Holland insects it comprises are inestimable, and from 
the unreserved access to that cabinet with which he has been uniformly indulged, he has 
not failed to enrich his selection for this Work, with drawings and descriptions of every 
species, that could materially tend to improve and enhance its value.* 
Independent of the above advantages the author may be allowed to mention the collection 
in his own possession, that containing many of the insects noticed in the present Work. 
Besides a number of those species found in the vicinity of our settlement in New South 
W ales, he has been long possessed of a select number of scarce insects collected by Mr. 
Bailey, the astronomer, who sailed in one of the expeditions with Captain Cook, and since 
the death of the late Mr. Drury, he has further enriched his cabinet with many others discovered 
in New Holland, and adjacent islands, at the time they were visited by Sir Joseph Banks. 
The author has also farther to acknowledge the benefit he has derived from inspecting 
two other cabinets of celebrity in this country, without the assistance of which the present 
illustration would have been far less copious and interesting, than it is at this time: these 
are the cabinet of Mr. Francillon, and that of A. Macleay, Esq. to both of whom he begs 
leave to express his warmest thanks for this testimony of their friendship. 
In the descriptive part of this Work the author has been anticipated by Fabricius, but 
that only to a small extent; for, as it will be observed in the progress of this Work, the far 
greater portion of those insects have not been hitherto described by any author. To Linnaeus, 
it is almost superfluous to say, that not a single insect in the whole volume could have been 
known. Fabricius, when in England, was allowed to describe those in the Banksian cabinet, 
the descriptions of which have since appeared in the Entomologia Systematica. Some of the 
coleopterous insects of New Holland, described by Fabricius, are figured by Oliver, but the 
lepidoptera, and all the other tribes, remain untouched by the artist. It was therefore an 
important point, in the idea of the author, to delineate the more conspicuous, or otherwise 
interesting subjects of the Fabrician species that had never undergone such an elucidation; 
and it will be found that an extensive selection of these are given in the present volume in 
addition to those more recently discovered kinds that have neither been figured nor described 
by any Entomologist. 
* The Banksian cabinet was lately presented by Sir Joseph Banks to the Linnsean Society of London. 
