GEORGE 31 ARC GRAVE 265 



almost all of the plants and animals in his natural history of Brazil 

 were new to science, yet his figures and descriptions are so accurate 

 that the student of to-day can recognize them at a glance. The fol- 

 lowing incident will show the care with which he made his observa- 

 tions. In his descriptions of the spotted sting ray quoted above, he 

 gave the number of teeth as 14 for the upper jaw and 17 for the lower. 

 By an interesting coincidence the numbers were the same in the first 

 specimen of this ray ever taken by the present writer. 



That Piso took much part in editing the " Natural History of 

 Brazil" (1648) seems from various indications very doubtful, and in- 

 deed Lichtenstein declares that in Piso's absence De Laet attended to 

 the editing of the whole work. Whether he had any part in it or not, 

 Piso became very dissatisfied and accused De Laet of doing his work 

 hurriedly and superficially. Ten years later (1658) he published a 

 great folio under the title "De Indiae Utriusque Ee Naturale et 

 Medica " in the endeavor to improve on the previous work. The first part 

 of this folio, which he dedicated to the Elector of Brandenburg, bears 

 title as follows : " Historic Naturalis et Medicas Indiae Occidentalis " 

 and consists of Marcgrave's Natural History of Brazil and Piso's Me- 

 dicinal Plants of Brazil interwoven to form five books: I. on Climate; 

 II. on Diseases; III. on Animals; TV. on Plants, and V. on Poisons 

 and Antidotes. It covers 327 pages. Next comes Marcgrave's "Trac- 

 tatus Topographicus," etc., as previously noted, 39 pages in length. 

 Next he incorporates Jacob Bont's " Historiae Naturales et Medicae 

 Indiae Orientalis," 160 pages, and concludes with his own "Mantissa 

 Aromatica," 66 pages. 



Not only is this not an improvement on the preceding work, but in 

 many respects it is distinctly inferior. Marcgrave's work on the plants 

 of Brazil suffers abbreviation and loses its identity in becoming inter- 

 woven with Piso's data from the medical side. The animal section, 

 however, suffers most for Piso was even less a zoologist than a botanist. 

 It seems that he no longer had access to the original drawings (to be 

 described presently) from which the illustrations were prepared for the 

 first edition, so his figures were copied from the 1648 edition, or made 

 up from the descriptions, or wrongly placed in the text, or omitted 

 altogether (Lichtenstein). On the whole this edition adds little or 

 nothing to Piso's reputation. 



It is now necessary to speak of the fourth division of the scientific 

 memorabilia of the expedition of Count Maurice to Brazil. In 1786, 

 Schneider made known to the world the presence of these priceless 

 treasures in the following; words. 



'B 



I have so often heard of a collection of original paintings of Brazilian 

 animals, which Prince Johann Moritz of Nassau, formerly governor of the one 



the animals were kept, and fish ponds full both of salt and fresh water fishes. 

 (Nieuhoff.) 



