M. FRANCOIS PERON. 23 



light was produced by a countless multitude of small 

 animals which appeared like sparks of fire. Many 

 of them were brought on board, and M. Peron 

 found, on examination, that they successively as- 

 sumed all the colours of the rainbow, at first 

 shining with great brilliancy, till their usual irrita- 

 bility being enfeebled, their colour faded, and en- 

 tirely disappeared. 



The impression which this phenomenon made on 

 Peron, and the peculiarities presented by the or- 

 ganization of these zoophites, determined him to in- 

 vestigate this class of animals ; and, during the 

 whole of his voyage, he* and his friend Lesueur were 

 ever watching at the ship's side, that they might 

 collect all they could procure. No new object in 

 Natural History can be accurately comprehended 

 without the aid of figures, and hence the great 

 importance of designing, to a Naturalist. Peron 

 was no great artist himself, but his friend Lesueur, who 

 was, moreover, an excellent observer, drew, under 

 his direction, those gelatinous animals whose forms 

 and colours changed every moment after they were 

 taken from the water. The two friends laboured in 

 concert ; the one painted, the other described ; in 

 their work they had but one soul, and neither 

 wished to exalt himself at the expense of the other. 

 After a voyage of five months they reached the 

 Isle of France. Here they completed their stores 

 for the Antarctic Seas ; and some of the Naturalists, 

 not receiving the necessaries they expected, and 

 discontented with the treatment they experienced, 



