1715). Large collections appear to have been made by Peron and 
le Sueur in 1803, and later still by Quoy and Gaimard. One of our 
members, Mr. Alexander, is doing excellent work in collecting the 
information published by many of the old collectors along our shores. 
King George Sound, Albany, was quite frequently visited; other 
collections were made at Sharks Bay. The specimens collected by 
Quoy and Gaimard were all sent back to the Museum of the Jardin 
du Roi in Paris, and thus many West Australian marine animals 
were described for the first time by Lamarck himself. It was Lam- 
arck who suggested in 1790 that the name of the Jardin du Roi should 
be changed to the more familiar Jardin des Plantes, when during 
the French revolution, everything suggestive of royalty became 
obnoxious to the people. 
Large numbers of mulluscs, corals, anemones, and ascidia were 
collected by Quoy and Gaimard. 
No doubt numerous odd specimens have been collected and sent 
from various parts of West Australia to the museums of Europe, 
and it is becoming increasingly important to trace these, especially 
such as they have been described and figured as new species. 
Unfortunately, many of the early specimens must have been 
sent with no more information about the locality from which they 
came than the word Australia. The coastline of Australia is, how- 
ever, not only of considerable length, but is washed by currents of 
very different origin, and extends across many parallels of latitude 
and meridians of longitude. 
The most detailed investigation of the marine fauna of our 
coast was undoubtedly that of the Hamburg Expedition of 1905, 
under the leadership of Michaelsen and Hartmeyer. These two men 
received every possible help and encouragement — free railway passes, 
hospitality, and complete remission of duty from their absolute 
alcohol. They removed from our shores 49 cases of specimens — - 
all of which were carried free to Hamburg by the German Shipping 
Lines. The history of modern scientific investigation in our colonies 
very frequently indicates this kind of thing. We have not only re- 
fused such help to our own scientific workers, but have deliberately 
helped a country which is not exactly contented with its present 
position in the world, to investigate our own grounds. 
The Hamburg Expedition only visited the region between 
Sharks Bay and Albany, yet notwithstanding their 49 cases of 
specimens, there are probably hundreds of species on the grounds 
they explored which remain unrecorded. My own few investiga- 
tions have already given new records for Western Australia, some 
of which are of very great interest. There is no doubt that workers 
on the spot can always do more in the way of collecting than those 
