72 , BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



scribed the fauna, and Jakob Steendam's poem, " In Praise of 

 the Netherlands," catalogued many of the animals. 



The achievements of Prince Maurice of Nassau, [b. 1604, d. 

 1679], the conqueror of Brazil, during his residence in that 

 countiy from 1636 to 1644, were far more important than those 

 of any one man in the seventeenth century, and entitled the 

 Netherlands to a leading place in the early history of American 

 scientific explorations. The notes and figures which were col- 

 lected by him and his scientific assistants, Marcgrave, Piso, and 

 Cralitz, were published in part under the editorship of Golius, 

 and Laet, and have been frequently used by naturalists of the 

 present century. An atlas of colored drawings from the hand of 

 Prince Maurice is still preserved in the Royal Library in Berlin. 

 Here are depicted 34 species of mammals, 100 of birds, 55 of 

 reptiles, 69 of fishes, and 77 of insects, besides many of plants. 



Marcgrave's " Historia Rerum Naturalium Brasilia? " was 

 printed in Amsterdam in 1648, four years after his untimely death 

 while exploring the coast of Guinea. 



Piso's u Medicina Braziliensis," 1648, and his Natural History 

 and Medicine of both Indies, 16^8, were also results of Prince 

 Maurice's expedition. 



Among other contributions made by the Netherlands to the nat- 

 ural history of America were the " Relation du Voyage de Isle 

 Tobago," Paris, 1606, and the kt Histoire Naturelle et Morale 

 des Isles Antilles," Rotterdam, 1658,* written by N. Roche- 

 fort, a Protestant missionary to the West Indies, and Jan 

 Nieuhof's il See und Landreize benessens een bondege Besch- 

 reyving von gantsch Nederland Brazil so van Landschappen 

 Steden, Deren Gewafien," &c, printed in 1682. 



Jan Jacob Hartsinck, a Dutch traveller in Guiana, printed a 

 book of scientific travels at Amsterdam in ijjo. 



Philippe Fermin, a Dutch naturalist, resident for many years 



♦Firstedition without name of author; others, Paris, 1665 ; Lyons, 1667; 

 Amsterdam, 171 6. 



