WORK OF THE FRENCH. a) 
the mosses and liverworts, which there grow in the richest profusion. 
Many of these are beautifully figured in Sir W. J. Hooker’s fine work, 
“* Musci Exotici,’’ which appeared in 1818-20. For twenty-seven years 
to have elapsed between the collecting and publishing of these plants 
speaks volumes for the leisurely methods pursued by scientific men a 
hundred years ago as contrasted with the haste of the present day. 
And now the French come into our story, for science is 
cosmopolitan. In 1824, Lieutenant Dumont D’Urville and René 
Primeverre Lesson, of the corvette ‘‘ Coquille,” collected plants at 
the Bay of Islands. With what enthusiasm Lesson set out on his 
adventurous voyage may be gathered from his words: “ Un voyage 
autour du monde!!! ces mots magiques ébranlent toutes mes idées : 
le voeu le plus ardent de mon cceur est donc accompli!’’* Three 
years later D’Urville, then captain of the same vessel, which had been 
renamed the “ Astrolabe,’ occupied himself on the shores of Cook 
Strait in making collections, again in company with René Prime- 
verre Lesson, the naturalist. The plants they gathered were described 
by Achille Richard in a sterling work bearing the title, “* Essar d’une 
Flore de la Nouvelle Zélande.”’ So well did Richard perform his 
task that the book is a necessary adjunct to the library of any New 
Zealand botanist at the present day, especially as it deals also with 
the Forster collection and so clears up certain points left in consider- 
able doubt by those workers. The names of D’Urville, Lesson, and 
Richard remain embalmed in the New Zealand flora in Rapanea 
Urvillei, Pseudopanax Lessonii, and Polystichum Richardi; while 
D’Urville Island, the French Pass, and Astrolabe Harbour tell of 
this important expedition. 
Allan Cunningham, His Majesty’s Botanist, of New South Wales, 
who must not be confused with his namesake the Scottish poet, 
visited New Zealand in 1826. The scene of his labours was the Bay 
of Islands and the district adjacent. Cunningham, accompanied by 
the Natives, spent some five months collecting plants while wander- 
ing through those virgin kauri forests, so soon to be destroyed. In 
1833 his ill-fated brother Richardt proceeded to New Zealand in 
* A voyage round the world!!! these magic words disturb all my thoughts: 
the most ardent wish of my heart is fulfilled! (Opening words of ‘“ Voyage 
autour du Monde,” 1839, by René Primeverre Lesson.) 
+ He was botanist to Mitchell's expedition to the interior of New South 
Wales in 1835, and, getting separated from the party, was killed by the Natives. 
