74 History of Luminescence 



like Gesner and a collector whose museum went to his native city. 

 His Opera were issued in thirteen large volumes between 1599 and 

 1668, at Bologna, mostly by students and friends. Aldrovandi con- 

 sidered true fishes in a special volume De Piscibus libri V et De 

 Cetus liber unns (1613). In his De Reliquis Animalibus Exan- 

 guibus. De Mollibus, Crustaceis, Testaceis et Zoophytis (1606), 

 dealing with invertebrates, there are many excellent woodcut figures, 

 mostly taken from Rondelet. " De Pholade " (pp. 525-526) , " De 

 Solene " (p. 527-529) , " De Pulmone Marina " (pp. 575-578) , and 

 " De Penna Marina " (p. 591) are separate chapters, describing the 

 morphology and giving synonyms and uses as food or for other pur- 

 poses of pliolads, solens (razor clams) , jellyfish, and sea pens. His 

 figure of a jellyfish is reproduced as figure 3. 



Aldrovandi was much influenced by both Pliny and Rondelet. 

 Pliny's account of the luminous appearance of the mouths of those 

 eating dactyli (Pholas) is described in the chapter " De Solene," the 

 razor clam, and the story of walking sticks made luminous from 

 juice of jellyfish is also recounted. Regarding the sea pen, Aldro- 

 vandi wrote: " It shines greatly at night like a star on account of its 

 whiteness and smoothness." Aristotle's opinion can be recognized in 

 the idea that smooth things shine. 



In his book on insects, De Animalibus Insectis (Bologna, 1602), 

 which will be discussed in the next section, Aldrovandi hinted that 

 he had a real interest in luminescence. After describing the views 

 of various authors concerning the light of fireflies, he wrote: " We, 

 too, have drafted a book on things that shine at night, and will 

 publish it if we live long enough, for we must first finish the ones 

 that are more necessary." Unfortunately he died about 1606 and 

 the material, if it exists, has never been published. 



Sixteenth-Century Entomology 



ULYSSES ALDROVANDI AND OTHERS 



Insects have always been a gTOup of animals set apart from others 

 by special features, one of which is their wide geographical distribu- 

 tio and a second their enormous variety. More species of insects 

 have been described than all other animal species taken together. 

 Perhaps the vast array of small and lowly creatures delayed their 

 study, as compared with larger and more noticeable animals. Ron- 

 delet did not consider them; neither did Gesner, although he asked 

 Thomas Penny to complete a history of insects begun by Edward 

 Wotton (1492-1555) . Penny died before completion, and the book 



