HISTOEY. 13 



examination and study of the fauna of their native countries, 

 others proceeded on voyages of discovery to foreign and 

 distant countries. Of these latter the following may be 

 specially mentioned : — 0. Fabricms worked out the Fauna of 

 Greenland, Kalm collected in North America, Hasselquist in 

 Egypt and Palestine, Brunroich in the Mediterranean, Osheck 

 in Java and China, Thunherg in Japan ; Forshal examined and 

 described the fishes of the Eed Sea; StelUr, Pallas, S. T. Gmelin, 

 and Gilldcnstcdt traversed nearly the whole of the Russian 

 Empire in Europe and Asia. Others attached themselves as 

 naturalists to the celebrated circumnavigators of the last cen- 

 tury, like the two Forsters (father and son), and Solander, who 

 accompanied Cook ; Coinmerson, who travelled with Bougain- 

 ville ; and Sonnerat. Numerous new and startling forms were 

 discovered by those men, and the foundation was laid of the 

 knowledge of the geographical distribution of animals. 



Of those who studied the fishes of their native country the 

 most celebrated are Pennant (Great Britain), 0. F. Milller 

 (Denmark), Duhamel (France), Meidinger (Austria), Cornide 

 (Spain), Parra (Cuba). 



The materials brought together by those and other zoolo- 

 gists were so numerous that, not long after the death of 

 Linnaeus, the necessity was felt of collecting them in a com- 

 pendious form. Several compilators undertook this task ; 

 they embodied the recent discoveries in new editions of 

 Artedi's and Linn^'s classical works, but not possessing either 

 a knowledge of the subject or any critical discernment, they 

 only succeeded in covering those noble monuments under a 

 mass of confused rubbish. For Ichthyology it was fortunate 

 that two men at least, Bloch and Lacep^de, made it a subject 

 of long and oricjinal research. 



Mark Eliezer Bloch, born in the year 1723 at Anspach M. E. 

 in Germany, practised as a physician in Berlin ; he had reached 



