420 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



they ought to tend, is to assemble the greatest 

 possible number of species, taken at different 

 ages and in different places, in order to deter- 

 mine the essential characters which, being com- 

 mon to several species, unite them into genera ; 

 to afford, in short, the means of considering 

 beings under every relation they bear to each 

 other and to man ; and to enable us to write 

 their history. 



Considered in this point of view, the collec- 

 tion under our inspection is not only the most 

 considerable that ever existed in this class of 

 animals, but also the most complete of zoology 

 in general. It comprehends about five thou- 

 sand specimens, belonging to more than two 

 thousand two hundred species; that is to say, a 

 number nearly double that of the species dis- 

 tinctly described and figured by naturalists. It 

 offers the elements of the classification which 

 M. Cuvier has established in his Regne Minimal; 

 the type of the ichthyological memoirs which he 

 has inserted in our Annals; the far greater part 

 of the fishes w r hich M. de Lacepede has described 

 or figured in his great work, and almost all the 

 known genera. Of each species, it possesses ge- 

 nerally one preserved in spirits of wine, which 

 affords the facility of examining its interior or- 

 ganization in case of necessity. The greater 



