80 THE AUSTRAL AVIAN RECORD [Vol. Ill 



in the " Astrolabe." This was due to a shipwreck on the 

 former voyage, when their Australian birds were mostly lost 

 as well as much other material. As one consequence only a 

 scrappy account of the first voyage was published. They note 

 with pride, that in Shark's Bay they met with new birds, 

 two especially, the Merion natte and the Merion leucoptere. 

 They published these two new species and gave figures in 

 the Atlas though only some half-dozen birds were so treated. 

 Before proceeding further I will give the data in connection 

 with the publication of the work as it now proves important. 



In the Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Ser. 7, Vol. VII, April, 1901, 

 p. 392, Sherborn and Woodward published the facts in con- 

 nection with this work and from their figures, which I have 

 verified, I get the following : The text was published in 

 livraisons, 40-48 pages and 6 pis. in each livraison, and at 

 intervals (for it is the first half-dozen parts only which concern 

 us) of about a month. These were noted in the Bibliographie 

 Fran^aise and contents given in Ferussac's Bulletin. From 

 the latter (Bull. Sci. Nat. Vol. III., p. 220, 1824) : "The 

 following species will be figured in the next No., the descriptions 

 occurring in this." This is a rough idea of what was written 

 regarding Livraison III. and in this connection was mentioned 

 Malurus textilis. In the next volume, p. 85, 1825, about the 

 fourth livraison, Desm(ar)est wrote : " Cette livraison renferme 

 les figures de sept oiseaux, dont les descriptions font partie 

 de la precedente. Ce sont . . . Malurus textilis, Malurus 

 leucoyterus." The third livraison was received, according to' 

 the former authority, on August 28, 1824, and the fourth 

 on September 18, 1824. 



Previous to these dates the birds had been fully described 

 as in the XXXth Volume of the Diet. Sci. Nat. (Levrault), 

 which was received at the same place before May 29, 1824, 

 Dumont published a good account of the same birds under 

 the same names given by Quoy and Gaimard. The article 

 " Merion " was there given and as Dumont was very friendly 

 with the above-named workers they furnished him with full 

 particulars. Thus on p. 117, Dumont named Malurus textilis, 



