LINNEAN SOCIETY OP LONDON. l^ 



the time intervening between the publication of Artedi's * Ichthyo- 

 logia ' (1738) and the tenth edition of the ' Systema JSTatura ' (1758), 

 as it proved by his annotations which accompany the specimens, 

 but there is no evidence to show that he used them in preparing 

 the specific diagnoses. For this work he relied chiefly on previous 

 publications (his own and those of others), and it is a matter of 

 rare occurrence that the actual fin-formula of the specimen in his 

 collection agrees exactly with that given in the ' Systema.' 

 Therefore these Scandinavian specimens cannot be claimed as types 

 in the modern sense of the word, the less so as the species are such 

 common forms that Linne must have had many other specimens of 

 the same kinds at his disposal. 



Also the second series, that of the German fishes, may be passed 

 over in a few words. It comprises 32 specimens referable to 22 

 species. The specimens are neatly mounted in a uniform fashion ; 

 the cardboards have a black line round the edges, and the name of 

 each fish is surrounded by an ornamental scroll. I have not been 

 able to discover the name of the correspondent from whom Linne 

 received these fishes. It would appear from the faunistic character 

 of the collection that it was made somewhere near the Korthern 

 coast of Germany. It was sent to Linne after the publication 

 of the twelfth edition, the sender having attempted to name the 

 fishes according to the Linnean system — an endeavour in which he 

 was only partially successful. And Linne himself, in revising his 

 correspondent's identifications, fell into some curious errors, showing 

 that the discrimination of the species of Cijprinus was to him in 

 after years as much a matter of perplexity as when he wrote the 

 Fishes for the 12th edition. 



All the remaining specimens belong to species which are found 

 on the coast and in the freshwaters of South Carolina. And 

 although of some of them every mark indicating their origin has 

 been lost or obliterated, there is satisfactory circumstantial evidence 

 that all (or almost all) were collected for Linne by Dr. Alexander 

 Garden, a Scotch x)hysician, who resided in Charlestown for nearly 

 30 years, and with whose name Botany is even more familiar than 

 Zoology. From Sir James E. Smith's ' Selection of the Correspond- 

 ence of Linnaeus' (vol. i. 1821) we can gather much information 

 as to the friendly intercourse between Garden and Linne ; but 

 unfortunately, as far as Garden's collection of fishes is concerned, 

 this information is very fragmentary. Smith published only a 

 selection from Garden's letters ; and, moreover, the full lists, notes, 

 and descriptions which Garden had sent to Linne with the specimens 

 were not reproduced. It is a singular circumstance, and one 

 which, I believe, has not been noticed before, that none of Garden's 

 letters, not even the originals of those which must have been in 

 Smith's possession when he published them, seem to have been 

 transferred to the Society ; and I have not been able to ascertain 

 what has become of them. 



LINN. SOC. PEOCEEDINGS. — SESSION 1898-99. C 



