INTRODUCTION. 
The Author, impelled by a strong desire of adding to the knowledge 
of the Natural History of so remote and highly interesting a continent 
as that of Australia, and in the hope of bringing its Entomological 
treasures before the scientific public, has been induced to undertake 
the present Work. Although so long a British possession, scarcely 
one tenth part of its natural objects (so peculiarly its own, and there¬ 
fore so well worthy of attention,) have hitherto been made known; 
and amateurs and men of science are equally destitute of the means of 
naming the numerous collections of Insects which are now so frequently 
brought from that country. To obviate this difficulty, by affording 
facilities for the naming of such collections, is evidently a desirable 
object. 
Much of this difficulty originates in the circumstance that the de¬ 
scriptions and figures of such insects as have been made known, are 
scattered through various works, only to be acquired at great expense. 
A list of these may not be unacceptable here, as showing what has 
been previously published upon the subject. 
1792. It appears that Fabricius was the first author who noticed 
the insects of New Holland. In his “ Entomologici Systematica he 
