56 INTRODUCTION. 



neglected — that of Fossil Ichthyology. Pre- 

 vious to 1600, there are perhaps few records of 

 fossil fishes. Fabius Columna and Worm wrote 

 De Glossopetris ; in the following century, we 

 had Scheuchzer and Fischer ; and, towards its 

 conclusion, the Ittiolitologia Yeronese of Yolta, a 

 large folio containing seventy-six plates, which, 

 if not very faithful in execution, showed the 

 interest which was at this time excited; but it 

 was not until so late as 1818, that an enu- 

 meration of the fossil species, previously known, 

 was first attempted by De Blainville in Le 

 Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle. Since 

 then, the science has gradually advanced, from 

 its intense interest, and its connection with the 

 studies of the geologist ; and at the commence- 

 ment of the last year, it assumed a most import- 

 ant station from the researches of a naturalist 

 of Switzerland, and the appearance of the first 

 numbers of a work devoted to this department. 

 The Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles of Louis 

 Agassiz will undoubtedly mark the commence- 

 ment of a new era in this science ; for, inde- 

 pendent of the perspicuity and clearness with 

 which the department itself is illustrated, the 

 study of existing species being necessary for a 

 knowledge of those which are extinct, has in- 

 duced the author to give his views of the science 



