es 
‘ 
made in the Coquille by M. Dupervey. 367 
worthy of the name would have so little delicacy as to publish 
anything before them, or without their consent. To the spe- 
cimens they have added detailed notes on the places and time 
of their collection, on their names in the idioms of various na- 
tions, on the uses made of them; they have placed in their 
journals many observations on the habits of the animals; in 
short, with a talent that Peron himself found only in the pro- 
fessional artists who were associated with him, they have made 
finished figures, coloured after the life, or immediately after 
death: this last attention is of immense advantage with regard 
to the fishes, mollusca, and zoophytes, the first of which soon 
lose their colours, and the others change even their form so 
much as to be altogether undistinguishable ; and indeed, it 
will be only from the time of Peron, that the mollusca and 
zoophytes of the torrid zone will have begun to be really 
known. The Russian naturalists of MM. Krusenstern and 
Kotzebue are even to the present time the only ones who 
share with our French naturalists the: honour of having en- 
larged this new domain of science. But we must not limit 
ourselves to this general view; and it is necessary, in order 
fully to do justice to our zoologists, to enter into the detail of 
the materials which they have procured for natural history. 
All which concerns vertebrated animals has been principally 
collected by MM. Lesson and Garnot; they also gave much 
attention to shells, the mollusca, and madrepores; but M. Dur- 
ville was principally engaged in attending to insects and other 
small articulated animals. 
The history of the human species occupied their first atten- 
tion: they procured the skulls of various races, as far as the 
duty of not wounding the respect of these people for the tombs 
of their fathers permitted them. Amongst others they have 
brought those of a people little known of the interior of New 
Guinea, named Al/fourous. 
The class of quadrupeds could not furnish them with many 
large species, since they did not stay long on extensive lands. 
They have brought but twelve; but in this number there is 
one, the black rabbit of the Malouine Islands, which appears 
new to science ; another, the great speckled Phalangista, which 
was not in the Museum of Natural History, and two or three 
which are found there only in bad condition. Two skulls of 
the species of dolphin @ scapulaire blanc, which Peron de- 
scribed, but brought no specimen of, are also an interesting 
acquisition for our anatomical collections. 
The birds are much more numerous. There are 254 species, 
and of several, four, six, or eight specimens. Of the 254 species, 
46 seem to be new to the science; that is to say, not yet de- 
scribed 
