16 



FISHES. 



Anato- 

 mists. 



Faunists. 



multiplied ; and the figures with which the work is illustrated 

 are far inferior to those of Bloch. Thus the influence of 

 LacepMe on the progress of Ichthyology was infinitely less 

 than that of his fellow-labourer; and the labour caused to 

 his successors by correcting the numerous errors into which 

 he has fallen, probably outweighs the assistance which they 

 derived from his work. 



The work of the principal cultivators of Ichthyology in 

 the period between Eay and Lac^pede was chiefly systematic 

 and descriptive, but also the internal organisation of fishes 

 received attention from more than one great anatomist. 

 Hallcr, Camper, and Hunter, examined the nervous system 

 and organs of sense ; and more especially Alexander Monro 

 (the son) published a classical work, " The Structure and 

 Physiology of Fishes explained and compared with those of 

 Man and other Animals" (Edinb. 1785, fol.) The electric 

 organs of fishes {Torpedo and Gymnotus) were examined by 

 Miaumur, Allamand, Bancroft, Walsh, and still more exactly 

 by J. Hunter. The mystery of the propagation of the Eel 

 called forth a large number of essays, and even tlie artificial 

 propagation of Salmonidse w^as known and practised by 

 Gleditsch (1764). 



Bloch and Lacepede's works were almost immediately suc- 

 ceeded by the labours of Cuvier, but his early publications 

 were of necessity tentative, preliminary, and fragmentary, so 

 that a short period elapsed before the spirit infused by this 

 great anatomist into Ichthyology could exercise its influence 

 on all workers in this field. Several of such antecuvierian 

 works must be mentioned on account of their importance to 

 our knowledge of certain Faunas : the " Descriptions and 

 Figures of Two Hundred Fishes collected at Vizagapatam on 

 the coast of Coromandel" (Lond. 1803; 2 vols, in fol.), by 

 Patrick Russel ; and " An Account of the Fishes found in the 

 Eiver Ganges and its branches" (Edinb. 1822; 2 vols, in 



