VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN HANDS. 949

anatomy and phyfiology, and change the afpeft of feveral other portions of naturalhiftory.

Moreover, the greater part of thefe animals are either difperfed over the ffiores of theocean, or in its bofom ; are far more difficult to preferve than to defcribe; and, finally,good works were wanting to direCt the obferver in this difficult ftudy.

Fortunately I found myfelf placed in circumftances far more favourable than anypreceding traveller to profecute this ftudy. The idea of its ufeleffnefs had given placeto its being regarded with intereft, which confequently acted as an incentive to inquiry;and having ft udied four years under M. Cuvier, I had not only his method and elementsfor my guide, but in addition, manufcript inftru&ions with which he had the kindnefsto furniffi me.

What I applied myfelf to defcribing with much minutenefs was, at the fame timedrawn or painted by my colleague and friend M. Lefueur with^that {kill and precifionwhich have earned him fuch deferved applaufe, and all our remarks and {ketches weremade from living fubjefts.

And finally my refearches receive additional value from the immenfe field in whichduring four years they were made. Twice did we traverfe the whole length of theAtlantic, twice double the Cape of Good Hope ; as often did we make the tour ofDiemen’s Land and double the moft fouthern cape of this payt of the world; five orfix times we failed through Bafs’s Strait; at two different dates we coafted a part ofthe eaftern ffiores of New Holland and the fouth-weftern ffiores, even more intereftingthan thofe; twice did we vifit the archipelagos of St. Peter and St. Francis; twicerange the feas which beat on Nuyt’s Land; twice we doubled Cape Leuwin, and asmany times explored the coafts of Edels, De Witts, and Endraght’s Land; our navi-gation extended as far as to the Arrow Iflands, nor did we arrive in Europe before wehad four or five times croffed the Indian Ocean , and feven times paffed the tropic ofCapricorn in different longitudes, having thus failed through more than ioo° of latitudeand 190° of longitude.

Let the reader figure to himfelf that throughout fo many different regions one of mymoft conftant and cheriffied employments was collecting and making remarks on theanimals in queftion, and that, alternately fufpended from the fide of our veffel,M. Lefueur and myfelf fuffered, as I may fay, not one to efcape us, and he will beenabled to compute the importance of our obfervations on thefe animals. Nor do weffirink from repeating the public declaration of the profeffors of the mufeum of naturalhiftory, and the commiffaries of the inftitute, that no previous difcoveries in thisbranch have been either fo important or complete. Not only did we double, or eventriple the number of fpecies of all the genera before known, we likewife furniffiedmany fpecimens which cannot be claffed under any of thefe genera, and which con-fequently muft form new heads.

Firft among thefe new genera ftands the one which forms the fubjeCt of the prefentmemoir, and which was noticed with admiration on the waves of the Atlantic ocean ,during our voyage from Europe to India , by all on board both our {hips. Its trulyprodigious phofphoric property, renders it one of the moft beautiful zoophytes known,,and its organization ranks it with the moft extraordinary.

PYROSOMA.