$68 Report of the Voyage of Discovery 
scribed by any naturalist; some, although described, were 
wanting in the collections of the Royal cabinet: all are in- 
teresting .from their rarity and beauty; and according to the 
intentions of the Minister of Marine, those which are not 
wanted for the cabinet of the King will be sent to ornament 
those which are forming in the ports. 
We shall notice among-the most remarkable, a Barita 
with metallic lustre as brilliant as that of the Calibé of Buffon, 
and which sings better than the other species. Our zoologists 
have taken care to bring its trachea. One motive which led 
to the choice of New Guinea for one of the principal objects 
of the voyage, was to observe the Birds of Paradise in their 
native chmate and in their natural state. These gentlemen, 
indeed, killed some on the tops of the high trees which they 
inhabit, and have brought them back in a state of perfect pre- 
servation. They have amongst others, a female, of which but 
one incomplete specimen was yet known, in a cabinet in Hol- 
land. The Prionof M. de Lacepédeand the Vaginalis of Latham 
are also among the rare genera, of which we had very few 
specimens in Europe, and for a fine series of which we shall 
be indebted to this expedition. 
The number of species of reptiles is sixty-three, fifteen or 
twenty of which at least, will probably be new, and of which 
nearly a fourth was wanted in the Museum. Amongst others, 
there is a Python from New Holland, nearly seven feet long. 
But it is in the class of fishes, above all, that the collection 
of MM. Lesson and Garnot is abundant. They brought 
in spirits 288 species, almost all in number and in state of 
preservation very remarkable, although they did not take away 
their intestines, which makes them doubly valuable; more 
than eighty of the number are certainly new; and as they are 
studied, others will probably be found so. It will be allowed 
that it is not possible on a first sight to pronounce on a class 
where the nomenclature is so difficult. 
‘But that which M. Lesson has done of the greatest merit 
for ichthyology, is having drawn more than 70 of these fish 
in their natural colours: it is a service rendered to science, 
even with regard to known species, which for the most part 
have been described in Europe from specimens discoloured 
by drying, or by the spirituous liquors in which they were 
brought. Many of these figures have surprised us by the dif- 
ference which they show between the supposed colours and 
those of nature. In having them engraved in colours, like 
those of the artists of M. Freycinet’s expedition, the minister 
proceeds to furnish ichthyology, with a kind of materials of 
which it has been too much in want till now; for it is known 
that 
