180 FAUNA OF NEW ZEALAND. 



Three of the recent French voyages of discovery have 

 touched at New Zealand : M. Duperrey, in La Coquille, in 

 1824; M. Dumont D'Urville, in the Astrolabe, in 1827; 

 and M. La Place, in La Favorite, in 1831. 



In the year 1832, MM. Quoy and Gaimard, in their 

 accounts of the animals collected during M. Dtimont D'Ur- 

 ville's voyage round the world in the Astrolabe, described 

 several birds and fish, many shells and soft animals, which 

 they had observed and collected during their visit to New 

 Zealand ; but, unfortunately, several of the species described 

 by these naturalists are the same as those that had before 

 been described under other names by the naturalists who had 

 consulted and used the collections resulting from Cook's 

 Voyages, which is to be regretted, as causing a confusion in 

 the nomenclature. 



In 1835, on the return of the Rev. William Yate, he 

 brought with him twenty- nine species of marine shells, 

 among which were ten species which had not been before 

 observed by either the naturalists who accompanied Captain 

 Cook or M. D'Urville; and these were described by me in 

 the Appendix to Mr. Yate's account of New Zealand. Since 

 that period Mr. Busby has brought home two land helices, 

 which I described in the 'Annals of Natural History.' 



The French whalers who visit these islands are constantly 

 sending zoological specimens to Paris. Some of the birds 

 so collected have been described in Guerin's Revue de 1* Zoo- 

 logique, in the * Annales des Sciences Naturelles ;' Compt- 

 rendue in the Academic des Sciences of Paris ; and by M. 

 Dubois, in the * Bulletin des Sciences de Bruxelles.' 



Within the last two or three years several collections of 

 animals, especially birds, have been received in London ; 

 and from some brought by Dr. Dieffenbach, Mr. Gould has 

 described a few in his magnificent work on the Birds of 

 Australia. 



Generally speaking, many of the birds and most of the 

 fish known to inhabit New Zealand by the voyages of Cook 

 and D'Urville, are as yet known only by figures and descrip- 

 tions to the scientific collectors of England. Except an 

 Apteryx Australis from the Earl of Derby, sixteen species 



