MEMOIR OF C. F. P. VON MARTIUS. 175 



died iji 1820, the assistance of Agassiz, Perty, and Andreas Wagner 

 was required to continue the zooU)gical hibors, which resulted in the 

 publication of several folios with beau tifully executed plates. We men- 

 tion the following : 



!N"ew species of Brazilian monkeys and bats, by Spix.* New spe- 

 cies of lizards, snakes, turtles, and frogs, by Spix.t New si^ecies of 

 birds, by Spix4 Fluviatile testaceans, by J. A. Wagner.§ Fishes, by 

 Agassiz.ll Insects, by Perty.*]] 



In treating of the Brazilian flora,** Martins first confined himself to a, 

 selection of the plants collected by him, which he described in two 

 works, entitled JVoi'« Genera ct Species I lantarum Brasilicnsiumjj and 

 Icones Selects Plantarum Cri/ptogamicarum Br((silicv.Xt In tlie ])repara- 

 tion of the first volume of the first-named work, which describes the 

 phanerogamous plants, he was assisted by his too-early-deceased col- 

 league Zuccarini. The object of the Icones Selectw, ttc, is indicated in 

 the title. To the latter work Hugo von Mold contributed an excellent 

 treatise on the structure of the stems of tree-ferns. Both works are 

 highly esteemed. They contain full and precise descriptions of single 

 plants as well as of whole series and groups of kindred species ; and it 

 is particularly worthy of notice that many of these monographic trea- 

 tises have laid the foundation of a thorough knowledge of the plants 

 to which they i-elate. The drawings of whole plants and their anatom- 

 ical details are executed with a degree of faithfulness and art surpass- 

 ing almost anything of a similar character that had previously appeared 

 in the literature of botany. 



As early as 1823 Martius began the publication of his " Natural His- 

 tory of Palms,"§§ a work which is considered his most important contri- 

 bution to botany, and that by which he has most conspicuously' linked 

 his name for future times with that science. At the first sight of these 

 majestic trees, which Linnaeus already had designated as the " princes 

 of the vegetable kingdom," he conceived the plan of making them the 

 object of his special observation and scientific treatment. He, there- 

 fore, studied with attention the many species of j^alms he saw during 

 his travels in Brazil, and collected after his return from that country 

 with the utmost diligence all the material concerning the palms of other 

 parts of the world, which was required to render his work complete. 

 He thus succeeded, after the labor of manj' years, in producing a mono- 

 graph unique in its kind, which caused Alexander von Humboldt to 

 exclaim, " As long as palms are known and mentioned, the name of 



* Simiarum ct FespertiUonum Brasilicnfiium SxKcies Novco. Ed. J. B. dc Sj)ix. Monacliii, 

 1823. Large folio, with 38 coloi'cd pltites. 



t Animalia Nova, s. Species Novw Lacertarum, Scrpcntum, Tcstudmum, Banarnm, qnas in 

 Itinere per BrasUiam a. 1817-'20 suscepto, colleyit ct dcscripsit J. B. dc Spix. Monacliii, 

 1824-'3y. Folio, with 95 colored plates. 



X Avium Species Xovw qnas in Itinere per Brasiliam a. 1817-'20 suscepto coUegit et dcscrip- 

 sit J. B. dc Spix. Monacliii, 1824-25. Two volumes folio, with 115 aud 118 colored 

 plates. 



§ Testac^a Fluviatilia qua; colle(jit J. B. dc Spix, dcscripsit J. A. Wagner, cdd. F. 



a Paula dc Schranlc et C. F. P. de Marlins. Monacliii, 1827. Folio, witli 29 colored plates. 



II Selecta Genera et Species Fiscium quos collegit et pingcndoa curavit J. B. de 



Sjyix, digessit L. Agassis, ed. Martins. Monacliii, 1829. Folio, with plates. 



H Delectus Animalinm Articnlatorum quw collegcrunt Spix et Martius, d('scri2)sit 



Max. Fertg, ed. Martius. Monacliii, 1830-34. Folio, with 40 colored plates. 



** Not being a botanist himself, aud consequently tmacquaiuted with most of the 

 works mentioned hereafter, the writer keeps closely to the statements given by Pro- 

 fessor Meissner in his Denksclirift. 



tt Monacliii, 1823-30. Three volumes folio, with 300 colored plates. 



tt Monacliii, 1826-'31. Small folio, with 76 colored plates. 



^'^S Ilistoria Naturalis Pahnarum. Monacliii, 1823-50. Three volumes imperial folio, 

 with 245 plates, partly colored. 



