Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 73 



naturalists of the century, judging by the authority attributed to 

 him in later writings. He published two Latin works with excellent 

 figures {De Piscibus Marinis, Lugduni, 1554, and Universae Aqua- 

 tilium Historiae, Lugduni, 1555) , which were issued together in 

 French at Lyons in 1558 as L'Histoire Entiere des Poissons. As was 

 the custom of the time, many " testacea " and other invertebrates 

 were included. Luminous species were the " pulmon marine " (jelly- 

 fish) , the " pennache " (sea pen) , the " solen " and the " pholade." 

 The book contains the first published figures of luminous organisms. 

 There is an excellent woodcut of Pholas in rock, and reproductions 

 of the other luminous animals, reproduced as figure 2, but no ex- 

 tended discussion of light emission in any of these forms. He 

 also described the " luna " or " orthogoriscus," ^^ a fish that shines 

 brightly at night fiom certain parts of its body, probably an obser- 

 vation of luminous bacteria gl'o^ving on the fish. 



Rondelet's work was publicized by another writer, Franciscus 

 Boussvetus (Boussuet) (1520-1572) , in two books of poetry, pub- 

 lished at Ludguni (Lyons) in 1558, De Natura Aquatilium Carmen 

 in Universam Gulielmi Rondeletii, quam de piscibus marinis scripsit 

 historiam; cum vivis eorum imaginibus. The poems were non-scien- 

 tific epigrammatic Latin verses describing the " fish " of Rondelet, 

 illustrated with his figures. Luminescence of jellyfish, Pholas, Solen 

 and the sea pen was mentioned. Boussuet followed Rondelet, who 

 had incorrectly described Solen, the razor clam, as luminous, despite 

 the fact that Rondelet lived at Montpellier, not far from the sea. 

 The excellent illustration leaves no doubt of identification. In his 

 poem on De Solene Mare et Foemina Boussuet wrote: 



The male Solen moves the urine 



But they call the female sweeter (diilcior) than the male. 

 Strange, because at night, they shine with remote splendor, 



What, one asks, can be the cause of so much light. 



The other poems are similar in character, often stressing some 

 medical use or characteristic of the animal, and mentioning the light 

 production. 



Hippolyto Salviani (1514-1572) was a physician of Rome. His 

 book, Aquatilium Animalium Historia (1554-1558) , dealt only with 

 vertebrate fishes, squid and octopi, giving Latin, Greek, and vulgar 

 names of the animals, but no special information on luminescence. 



The last natural historian of the period, Ulysses Aldrovandi (1522- 

 1605 or 1607) , a physician of Bologna, was a great encyclopedist 



»^G. Rondelet. De piscibus, lib. XV, cap. 7, fol. 427. Perhaps the pig-fish or 

 Grthopristis. 



