explore the Australasian regions at the time o f their discovery by Captain Coolc, was certainly
by no means neglected, as the Banksian cabinet, richly stored with the entomological acquisitions
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
o f pride, attempered with a becoming sense o f 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 arc 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 o f every
species, that could materially tend to improve and enhance its value.*
Independent o f 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 o f our settlement in New South
Wales, he has been long possessed o f a select number o f 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 M r. Drury, he has further enriched his cabinet with many others discovered
m 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 o f celebrity in this country, without the assistance o f 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 th a t of A. Macleay, Esq. to both of whom he begs
leave to express his warmest thanks for this testimony o f their friendship.
In the descriptive part of this Work the author has been anticipated by Fabricius, but
th a t only to a small extent; for, as it will be observed in the progress of this Work, the fat-
greater portion of those insects have not been hitherto described by any author. To Linnmus,
it is almost superfluous to say, th a t 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 o f New Holland, described by Fabricius, are figured by Oliver, but the
lepidoptera, and all the other tribes, remain untouched by the artist. I t was therefore an
important point, in the idea o f the author, to delineate the more conspicuous, or otherwise
interesting subjects o f the Fabrician species that had never undergone such an elucidation;
and It will be found that an extensive selection o f 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.
* T h e Banksian c ab in e t was la tely p resented b y Sir Jo sep h Banks to th e L in n a a n Society o f L o ndon.