38 Richmond, Ornithological Writings of Rafinesque. [jan 



ally, so, instead of beginning with his first contribution, published 

 in 1803, I shall have to let the bird portion of his 'Analyse' suffice 

 for this number. 



The 'Analyse' was issued some time between April 1 and July, 

 1815, and in all probability very few copies were sent out to promi- 

 nent naturalists and correspondents before he sailed for America 

 on the 21st of July. The remainder of the ed'tion, together with 

 all of his collections, books, and personal belongings, were lost in 

 the wreck of the vessel on which he had taken passage. In his 

 ' Circular Address on Botany and Zoology,' 2 published in the 

 following year, he says it was "published in Palermo in the early 

 part of 1815." In the same 'Circular,' explanatory of the scope 

 of the 'Analyse,' he writes: "This work is the outline of a larger 

 one on the plan of the Systema Naturae of Linneus, which will be 

 gradually undertaken at a future period. I have endeavoured to 

 trace in it a new general and natural method, for the study of 

 nature, animals and plants. In dividing these in ten classes each, 

 I have introduced a peculiar and complete nomenclature for the 

 classes, orders and families of organised bodies, giving each a 

 substantive Latin name : a great number of new genera are likewise 

 proposed. A second edition of this work will probably be pub- 

 lished within a few years in English." Had his plans been fully 

 carried out, Rafinesque's names would be much better known 

 than they are at the present day, and our nomenclature would 

 bristle with Rafinesquian genera, since he showed a discrimination 

 of generic groups far in advance of his time. The fact remains, 

 however, that in the present work he merely indicated these new 

 generic names (with a few exceptions) as nomina nuda, and never 

 afterwards referred to them. 



The 'Analyse' was originally issued in brown paper covers, as is 

 shown by the copy formerly in the library of the Rev. Manasseh 

 Cutler, one of Rafinesque's American correspondents, and now in 

 the Library of Congress. The copy from which the present re- 

 print is made is in my possession, and has the name "G. Cuvier" 

 stamped upon its title page. 



1 It is my impression that I have seen somewhere in Rafinesque's writings a state- 

 ment that the manuscript of the 'Analyse' was completed in April, but I cannot 

 now verify it. 



2 Reprinted in Oken's Isis, 1819, in ' Litterarischer Anzeiger Nos. XV and XVI. 

 following Heft 8. 



