43 



study of fishes in a living or recent state is, with obvious aptitude, called Ichthy- 

 ology : for that of fossil fishes, we, at present, possess none but a circuitous and 

 consequently inconvenient form of expression. Ichthyolithology,* a term alike con- 

 cise and destitute of ambiguity or objection, is so obviously and peculiarly ap- 

 posite, that our only wonder is it should have been left for us to indicate or propose. 



The whole work of Professor Agassiz will consist of five volumes, in quarto ; 

 and two hundred and fifty folio engravings. One part or number, composed of 

 from ten to fifteen sheets of letter-press, and a fasciculus, of about twenty plates, 

 is published every four months. The price of these is, in France, twenty-four 

 francs. 



The First Number contains three sheets of letter-press of the first volume ; 

 six sheets of the second ; two, of the fourth ; and one, of the fifth : the first 

 Fasciculus of Engravings, — seven belonging to the first volume ; ten, belonging 

 to the second ; and three each, to the fourth and fifth ; — in all, twelve sheets of 

 text, and twenty-three engravings. From this unusual and apparently irregular 

 method of publication, the ostensible object of which is a pleasing " variety," no 

 inconvenience, the Professor asserts, will result : as all his materials have been, 

 beforehand, systematically arranged. 



A Preface, and two Chapters, constitute the subject-matter of the first three 

 sheets of the First Volume. To an analysis or description of these, our present 

 article will be exclusively devoted. The work is dedicated in a style of simple, 

 fervid, and affecting eulogy, to the Cuvier of his country, the illustrious Hum- 

 boldt. 



Preface. The importance of the study of Ichthyolithology is very great : 

 since fossil fishes, which occupy so elevated a rank in the series of organized 

 beings, are found without interruption, and sometimes in great abundance, in all 

 the terrains de sediment, from the oldest to the most recent formation : and their 

 state of preservation is generally such as to allow an examination of all those parts 

 which are requisite to decide their classification, and to impart a correct know- 

 ledge of their structure. With little trouble, the entire skeleton, and all its fins, 

 may be restored : and the scales are, in general, so well preserved as to supply the 

 most valuable and unerring characters. 



In the sciences of Zoology, Comparative Anatomy, and Geology, it is highly 

 advantageous to* be able to follow, in the Class of Fishes, the changes of organiza- 

 tion which have been effected throughout all the revolutions suffered by the globe. 

 Of all animals, fishes are those most intimately connected with the accidents of 

 water : and, highly elevated, moreover, in the scale of organization, they are far 

 better calculated, than any other Class, to furnish clear ideas respecting the revo- 

 lutions which have taken place in the vast oceans by which the earth was formerly 



• 'ixfivh a fish ; x'rfot , a stone ; xiyat, a discourse. 

 g2 



