made in the Coquille by M. Duperrey. 371 
of naturalists, to obtain from Government the means of pub- 
lishing their discoveries with promptitude and in a manner wor- 
thy of the nation for the honour of which they have laboured *. 
Botany. 
In the division which the officers belonging to the expedi- 
tion of M. Duperrey made among themselves of the various 
subjects of inquiry in which they were to be engaged, M. Du- 
mont-Durville of course undertook botany. The rich collec- 
tions of plants and insects which he brought, in 1820, from 
the Greek archipelago and the Black Sea, showed what might 
be expected from his zeal and experience. Although M. 
Durville, ir. quality of second-in-command of the corvette, was 
‘ obliged to pay attention, in port, to all the minute details re- 
specting provisions; although the care of the fittings-out, &c. 
formed also an anxious part of his duties, this officer, —thanks 
to the good order which constantly reigned in the Coquille,— 
was able, without the service suffering, to reconcile the duties of 
his rank with scientific inquiries. ‘The moist regions of the 
Malouines; the burning Silla of Payta; the islands of Otaheite 
and Borabora, the plains of Bathurst on the other side of the 
Blue-Mountains; the archipelago of the Carolines, were suc-: 
cessively the object of his exploration. The herbal which he 
has brought back is composed of nearly 3000 species ; of this 
number, there are thought to be about 400 new. Several 
others, although already-known, are rare, and are not to be 
found in the collections of the Museum of Natural History. 
Moreover, M. Durville was not satisfied with collecting the 
plants which presented themselves to his sight ; he has analy- 
sed and described them with care. ‘Those whose too deli- 
cate organs could not be preserved, were drawn on the spot 
with great success by M. Lesson. ‘The particular flowers of 
the different countries where the Coquille stopped will show 
in what numerical relations the families, the genera, and the 
species are distributed. For example, we see, not without sur- 
prise, that, in an extent of more than 4000 leagues, in the whole 
intertropical zone, from the Isle of France as far as Ota- 
heite and much further, on the islands as well as on the con- 
tinents, the vegetable kingdom presents a great number of. 
identical species; whilst the islands of Saint Helena and As- 
cension, also situated under this zone in the Atlantic Ocean, 
produce species which are peculiar to them, and which are 
not found either in Brazil or in Africa, in the same latitudes. 
M. Durville having an intention to observe as much as pos- 
* Here ends the article by M, Cuvier. ; 
3A2 sible 
