I^fTllODUCTION. 
AV iTii the view of conveying information to the Australian public 
on the subject of Acclimatisation, which has lately been broached 
amongst us, the Provisional Committee of the Society have 
decided upon the publication here of a very interesting paper read 
in November last, by Dr. P. Bucklaud, before the Society of Arts 
in London. 
Inheriting a name long famous in the scientific world, Dr. 
Bucklaud is lending to it additional lustre, by his devotion to the 
cause of science. And in the most energetic and zealous spirit 
ho has lately addressed himself to the advocacy in England of the 
vast and inviting subject of Acclimatisation. Associated with a 
tew gentlemen of kindred tastes, a society has recently been formed 
in London, under very encouraging auspices; andpapers, magazines, 
&c,, now teem with notices upon the subject. 
Applying the arguments used by Dr. Buckland in favour 
of acclimatisation to the circumstances of Australia, it is conceived 
by the Provisional Committee that everytliing that can be said in 
favour of experiments in England, can be urged here with much 
more force. AVith an immensely wider area, a finer climate, a 
more varied range, and unknown resources gradually opening up in 
every direction, it is impossible to say what a vigorous prosecution 
of the Acclimatisation project might do for us within even a 
few years. The six colonics of Victoria, New South AVales, South 
Australia, Tasmania, Queeuslaiid, and New Zealand, contain 
about 1,010,607 square miles of country, or, 616,826,800 acres, a 
mere fraction of which is at present converted to any useful 
puiqiose. 
Meantime, the world abounds with valuable animals, capable 
of supporting themselves healthily upon that which at present 
goes to waste, or is for all present purposes absolutely use¬ 
less. Oil the immense arid plains of the interior, shut out from 
