62 BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



ural history. One of his letters was published in the Philosophical 

 Transactions,* and his notes on the "hum-bird" are sometimes 

 referred to. 



Bullivant was not a naturalist ; he is less worthy of our con- 

 sideration than Harriott, although a century later. A fit com- 

 panion for Bullivant was John Josselyn. 



Josselyn's famous work entitled kt New England's Rarities Dis- 

 covered in Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Serpents, and Plants of that 

 Country," was printed in London in 1672 ; his " Account 

 of two voyages to New England " in 167^, ( kt Second Addition" ) . 

 No writer of his period is more frequently quoted than Josselyn, 

 whose quaint language and picturesque style are very attractive. 

 Although no more in sympathy with his Puritan associations than 

 the author of l,t New England's Prospect," he was evidently more 

 justly entitled to subscribe himself as k ' Gentleman," and his books 

 are not disfigured by personalities and political aspersions. 



Josselyn does not seem to me to be the peer, as a naturalist, of 

 many of those who precede'd him. He was a bright, though su- 

 perficial man, and a ready compiler. He evidently had some 

 botanical work in his possession, possibly as Tuckerman has sug- 

 gested, a recently published edition of Gerard's " Herbal," and 

 this he used with such skill as to give him a certain standing in 

 botanical literature. In his zoological chapters I find little which 

 had not been recorded before, while the author's fondness for 

 startling anecdotes greatly mars the semblance of accuracy in his 

 work. His catalogue of fishes is a strange olla-podrida of names 

 and scraps of information, compiled, collected and invented. 

 His method of arrangement is not more scientific than his spirit, 

 and it is questionable whether he is entitled to a place among 

 naturalists. 



Here is an example of his style : 



" The Basse," writes he, " is a salt-water fish too ; one writes 



*Phil. Trans., xx, p. 168. 



