PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
In issuing the first volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, the Editor has to acknowledge the many imperfections of the work, both in the typography and in the general arrangement, inseparable from a first effort to publish in a combined form the Reports of Societies only recently organized.
It will be observed that the size of the volume has been very considerably increased by the insertion of matter which does not properly belong to the proceedings of the current year, such as communications of earlier date to the various Societies, and by the publication of eight essays which were written originally in connection with the New Zealand Exhibition, 1865. In future, therefore, the volume will be less bulky and expensive, and it is hoped free from the errors which, unavoidably, have crept into the present issue, from various causes.
The volume is divided into three parts—the first part consisting of the Proceedings of the various Societies which are now affiliated under the New Zealand Institute Act, derived principally from the newspaper reports of the meetings, corrected and forwarded by the Secretaries, with abstracts of the papers not printed in the Transactions.
In most instances the authors, at the request of the Board, furnished the abstracts of their several papers when required; but in some cases it was found impossible to communicate with the authors in time for publication, in which ease the Editor, on his own responsibility, made the necessary abstracts.
The second part of the work consists of the Transactions of the Institute, containing the papers read at the various meetings which were considered worthy of being printed in extenso. In making this selection, the Governors have dealt liberally with the various authors, in order to encourage future efforts.
Many of the papers are of a most important character, and all are valuable contributions to scientific literature, particularly those bearing on the natural history and resources of the colony.
The Governors regret that two very learned and important papers, both by Captain Hutton, viz. "On Sinking Funds," and "Plight of Birds,"
