Chapter XXI: and XXII. Some important additions have been made to these

chapters owing to more accurate information as to the depth of the sea around New Zealand, and to the discovery of abundant remains of fossil plants of the tertiary and cretaceous periods both in New Zealand and Australia.

In the body of the work I have in each case acknowledged the valuable information given me by naturalists of eminence in their various departments, and I return my best thanks to all who have so kindly assisted me. I am however indebted in a special manner to one gentleman--Mr. Theo. D. A. Cockerell, now Curator of the Museum of the Jamaica Institute--who supplied me with a large amount of information by searching the most recent works in the scientific libraries, by personal inquiries among naturalists, and also by giving me the benefit of his own copious notes and observations. Without his assistance it would have been difficult for me to have made the present edition so full and complete as I hope it now is. In a work of such wide range, and dealing with so large a body of facts some errors will doubtless be detected, though, I trust few of importance.

PARKSTONE, DORSET, _December, 1891_.

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