HISTORY OF OPIIIOLOGY. 113 



first place, Scheuchzer, who has given, in a voluminous 

 and heterogeneous work, a considerable number of un- 

 coloured figures of serpents, the most of which, though not 

 above mediocrity, are sufficiently recognisable. Seba, who 

 has surpassed all iconographists by the great number of 

 the figures which we owe to his care, has represented in 

 the first two volumes of his work, the snakes which made 

 a part of his own museum, one of the richest of that age : 

 many of his figures are very faithfully rendered, others 

 are passable, some very bad ; but the greatest number are so 

 oddly coloured, that it is difficult to recognise the animal 

 which has served as the model. This author does not ap- 

 pear to have had in view any other object, than to exhibit 

 in his work the whole of that innumerable series of speci- 

 mens which adorned his cabinet — the figures are there accu- 

 mulated without selection or judgment ; the same serpent 

 is there often represented ten or more times ; and these 

 different portraits of the same animal sometimes offer very 

 little resemblance, because the artist has disfigured each of 

 them. The text, which accompanies these plates, abounds 

 with errors and false information respecting the native 

 country of the anunals and the names of places ; it is very 

 evident that Seba has done little but reported the stories 

 of sailors, whose avidity invented lies to profit by his cre- 

 dulity. Instead of tracing in a few words the essential 

 characters of the animals figured, this author often 

 dwells on the description of a trifling point, of a spot, or 

 of some other insignificant mark — a circumstance which 

 renders the explanatory text absolutely useless. How- 

 ever, this immense collection has furnished materials to 

 many naturalists ; it has been, even to our times, a rich 

 mine, which is incessantly dug, and from which many phi- 

 losophers have extracted information, of which they have 

 afterw^ards availed themselves in the composition of their 

 works. 



The Natural History of Florida by Catesby, published 

 about the same period, is still more useful for a knowledge 

 of the productions of that country, which has not since been 

 explored by any traveller, with the same view. The figures 



K 



