12 Transactio7is of the Society. 



mud-flats of Esnandes, and 111 species from the clean shore-sands 

 of Chatelaillon.^ We may, however, claim for him in this place 

 that already he had set before him the principle which he 

 enunciated in one of his latest works, where he says : " I have 

 never had any other aims in my work than the advancement of 

 science, to which I have consecrated my existence. In reflecting 

 upon the immense labours that this assemblage of facts have cost 

 me, I have only aimed at enabling the whole world to profit by 

 the advantages which I have so painfully conquered at the 

 expense of my vigils." ^ 



At La Eochelle the systematic collection of material began in 

 earnest. He corresponded with the leading naturalists of France, 

 and pressed into his service the commanders, doctors, and naturalists 

 of ships plying the oceans of the world in pursuit of commerce or 

 of science, and we find the names of these coadjutors perpetuated 

 in many of his generic and specific names. Thus, whilst still 

 workincc at La Eochelle we find that he received material, fossili- 

 ferous sands from Paris and England, from the Administrators of 

 the Museum Eoyal at Paris ; from Baron de Perussac,^ material 

 from the West Indies, the Indian Ocean, and the English coast, 

 and fossils from Bordeaux, Dax, Paris, Champagne and Maestricht ; 

 from Fleuriau de Bellevue, recent gatherings from Eimini, Mada- 

 gascar, and the Cape of Good Hope, fossil from Tours, besides 

 the Soldanian material from Sienna ; from Menard de la Groix, 

 recent material from the Adriatic, fossils from Sienna and other 

 parts of Italy ; from Quoy, Gaimard and Gaudichaud, the scientific 

 staff of Captain de Preycinet's voyage round the world,* material 



1 Chatelaillon is now a fashionable little watering-place 10 kil. south of La 

 Rochelle, and was the nearest shore-sand from which d'Orbigny could have 

 obtained material after 1820. It is adjacent to the submerged site of a town of 

 that name which was the ancient capital of I'Aunis, which was fortified from the 

 tenth to the fourteenth centuries. The ruins of the old town are still distinguish- 

 able at low tide. La Rochelle, which was called Rupella in the tenth century, 

 grew to be the capital of the district after the destruction of Chatelaillon, which 

 commenced in a revolt of its inhabitants against the Dukes of Aquitaine. There 

 is a mussel industry in all respects similar to that of Esnandes, and an oyster 

 fishery to the south of Chatelaillon. - XL, p. 10. 



' This is a name which we shall encounter frequently in this Memoir. Andre 

 Etienne Just Pascal Joseph FranQois d'Audebard, Baron de Ferussac, born 1786, 

 died 1836. He was the son of a weU-known botanist and conchologist, Jean 

 Baptiste Louis d'Audebard de Ferussac (born 1745, died 1815), and was what 

 would be called to-day primarily an amateur conchologist. He was a soldier, but 

 left the army after being wounded in the Peninsular War, and became under 

 Bonaparte Sous-prefet of Oleron. This position he lost at the Restoration, but 

 was appointed Sous-prefet of Compiegne during the Hundred Days, at the end of 

 which he resigned the post in favour of his predecessor. He was appointed 

 Lecturer on Geography to the Army Medical Staff in 1818, but shortly afterwards 

 resigned this post to devote the remainder of his life to Conchology. He founded 

 his " Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles et d'Industrie " in 1823. (See Appendix C.) 



* M. L. de Freycinet, " Voyage autour du Monde . . . execute sur I'Uranie 

 et la Physicienne pendant . . . 1817-20." Paris, 1824-30. Zoology by Quoy and 

 Gaimard ; Botany by Gaudichaud. (See Sherborn and Woodward, Art. cit., 

 p. 47, note 3.) 



