vm 



also brought home. The zoological collections (to which Martius contri- 

 buted also on his solitary voyage up the Hyapura) numbered 85 species of 

 Mammals, 130 of Amphibia/350 of Birds, 1 16 of Fishes, 2700 of Insects, 80 

 of Arachnoids, and 80 of Crustacea. The species, especially the plants, are 

 represented, many by numerous, and all by well-preserved specimens. 



On their return home, the king nominated the travellers Knights of the 

 Order for Civil Merit ; and Martius received the appointment of ordinary 

 member of the Academy of Sciences, and second conservator of the Botanic 

 Garden. 



In consequence of this expedition, the direction of Martius's future 

 scientific activity was decided. Brazil was thenceforward the country to 

 which he devoted the greater part of it. Before everything else his 

 energy was centred on the flora of Brazil. 



The first work made public relative to the Brazilian expedition was the 

 Narrative of the Journey. It appeared in 1823-31, in three quarto 

 volumes, accompanied by an atlas. The compilation of this work was 

 originally intrusted conjointly to both travellers by Maximilian Joseph I. ; 

 but Spix did not long survive the completion of the first volume, and so it 

 happened that by far the greater portion of the work proceeded from Mar- 

 tius's unaided pen. Of course in the ' Narrative of Travels ' natural products 

 are treated of more or less in detail ; but it could not be occupied with the 

 special discussion and elaboration of scientific matter. This was reserved 

 for a separate work, which appeared contemporaneously in a magnificent 

 series of volumes. In the first place Martius undertook only the botanical 

 section, and Spix the zoological ; but, on account of the death of the latter 

 in 1826, when he had only worked up the mammals, the birds, and a part 

 of the amphibia, the continuation of this part of the work also fell upon 

 Martius. He acquitted himself of the task in the most satisfactory manner, 

 having secured the assistance of Agassiz, Andreas Wagner, and Pertz, for 

 the actual work, whilst he acted as editor. The publication of the bota- 

 nical treasures took the form of a selection of the most interesting novelties. 

 The Phanerogamia, or flowering plants, were illustrated in the 1 Nova 

 Genera et Species PlantarumBrasiliensium' (3 vols.fol., Munich, 1823-32), 

 and the Cryptogamia in the ' Icones Selectae Plantarum Cryptogamicarum 

 Brasiliensium,' 1 vol., 1827). The first volume of the former work was 

 prepared by Martius's colleague, Zuccarini, the remainder entirely by 

 Martius, except the chapter in the ' Icones Selectae ' on the internal 

 structure of Tree-Fern stems, from the pen of Hugo von Mohl — a chapter 

 that served to enhance the value of the work in the highest degree. 

 In these publications not only were many new and highly remarkable plants 

 made known (more than 400 species and more than 70 genera), but they 

 were also so fully and lucidly described that botany received an essential 

 enrichment. A practised and quick sight for natural affinities, a happy 

 gift of combination — in short, an essentially "systematic tact," placed 

 Martius in the rank of the first botanists of his time. 



