Part of the west and north-western coast, examined by Captain King, having been previously visited by the French voyagers, under Captain Baudin, I was desirous of obtaining such information as could be derived from the specimens collected during that expedition, and now remaining at Paris; although I was aware that the premature death of the principal mineralogist, and other unfavourable circumstances, had probably diminished their value:* But the collection from New Holland, at the school of Mines, with a list of which I have been favoured through the kindness of Mr.Brochant de Villiers, relates principally to Van Diemen's Land; and that of the Jardin du Roi, which Mr.Constant Prevost has obliged me with an account of, does not afford the information I had hoped for.

I have availed myself of the notices relating to Physical Geography and Geology, which are dispersed through the published accounts of Captain Flinders',** and Baudin's Voyages;*** and these, with the collections above alluded to, form, I believe, the only sources of information at present existing in Europe, respecting the geological structure and productions of the north and western coasts of Australia.
(*Footnote.

M.Depuch, the mineralogist, died during the progress of the voyage, in 1803; and, unfortunately, none of his manuscripts were preserved.

M.Peron, the zoologist, after publishing, in 1807, the first volume of the account of the expedition, died in 1810, before the appearance of the second volume.

Voyage etc.