O 
INTRODUCTION. 
scientific societies and institutions of that country. 
Thus throughout the East we find these scientific out¬ 
posts, — in japan, in the Philippines, the Malay Penin¬ 
sula, Java, in India and Ceylon — , each carrying on the 
work of inquiry into the wonderful problems of Nature 
as presented by their own particular areas ; and by 
reason of this work we find each institution, each 
society becoming more and more valuable for reference 
to the man of research and the seats of learning at home. 
Neither, of course, is the East alone in this class of 
work ; for similar institutions are to be found in distant 
corners of America, Africa and Australia, many of 
whose names have long been famous in connection 
with scientific discoveries of the first magnitude. 
Thus the object of the Sarawak Museum is to take 
up its station worthily with the select band of far 
distant Field-Museums, to add its humble quota of 
votive offerings on the altar of Science, and by 
means of the Sarawak Museum Journal to facilitate 
and encourage the study of the “Natives and Natural 
History of the Island of Borneo". 
In many ways Borneo is singularly well provided 
with material and facilities for research of every kind. 
And, as is well-known the natural history riches of the 
Malayan region are practically unsurpassed, nor is 
Borneo in any way inferior to other islands of the 
Archipelago in this respect; nay rather, owing to the 
size of the country and its little-known interior, it 
possesses more attractions for the explorer and natural 
history collector than many of the other islands. 
Although probably but little remains to be discovered 
in the way of new species among the mammals, birds 
and reptiles, yet the life-histories, habits and accurate 
distribution of the majority are practically unknown. 
With the Flora of Borneo it is the same : for a glance 
at current scientific literature shows that new species, 
and new genera even, are discovered and described 
every year; thus still more perhaps are researches 
needed in the Botany of this country than among the 
higher Orders of the Animal Kingdom. We must 
remember too, that, as we descend the scale, — through 
the Arthropoda, Mollusca, Echinodermata, Coelen- 
terata down to Protozoa-—, our knowledge of these 
