RISE AND PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. 6] 



with many new species from America ; and the co- 

 loured figures of Catesby had made known several 

 others, peculiar to the coasts and rivers of Carolina. 

 Miiller, likewise, had touched upon the species of 

 Denmark, and a few had been described by Forskal 

 from the Red Sea ; but these additions to ichthyo- 

 logy were very insignificant, when compared to those 

 which other branches of zoology had received ; while 

 the want of good figures, even of the species already 

 known, left the knowledge of these animals in a very 

 backward state. The appearance, therefore, of the 

 famous work of Bloch, who began the publication of 

 his great undertaking in 1785, must have been 

 hailed with pleasure. Bloch was a Jewish physician, 

 settled in Berlin; and his Ichthyology, in twelve 

 folio parts, containing no less than 452 coloured 

 plates, was such an undertaking as no one would 

 have courage to prosecute in these days, unless with 

 the determination of submitting to a large pecuniary 

 sacrifice. It is, without doubt, the most complete 

 work, in regard to figures, that has ever been pub- 

 lished : for although the subject was treated of sub- 

 sequently by La Cepede in greater detail, and with 

 a considerable addition of species, the figures in the 

 French work are small, uncoloured, and not alto- 

 gether remarkable for accuracy.* Bloch, although, 

 like Fabricius, the author of a system, followed the 

 systematic style of arrangement pursued by Linnaeus ; 

 and both his characters and his descriptions are ex- 

 cellent. One only regrets that a work so essential to 



* M. E. Bloch. Ichthyologie, ou Histoire Naturelle ge- 

 nerate et particuliere des Poissons. 12 parties, folio. Berlin, 

 1785—1796. 



