PREFACE. 



GlOVANNI Antonio Scopoli was born, as he himself has told us in the work* from which 

 the following extracts are reprinted, in 1723, at Cavallese in the Tyiol, and in 1743 graduated as 

 Doctor of Medicine at the University of Innsbruck. After studying Botany at Venice, he repaired 

 to Vienna and there obtained leave to practise medicine throughout the Austrian dominions. He 

 was then appointed physician at the quicksilver-mines of Idria in Carniola, which office he held 

 for more than ten years, when he was named Councillor in the mining department and Professor 

 of Mineralogy at Schemnitz in Hungary. In 1776 he was transferred to Pavia, as Professor of 

 Chemistry and Botany, and died there 8th of May, 1788 — his last days, it is said, embittered if not 

 shortened by the misconduct of SPALLANZANl.f 



As a botanist and entomologist Scopoli is known all over the world, but English ornitho- 

 logists are best acquainted with his name from his 'Annus I. Historico-Naturalis' having been 

 several times mentioned by Gilbert White, who on its appearance was much struck with it ; 

 and it gave rise to the aphorism, so often quoted since, "every kingdom, every province, should 

 have it's own monographer."X That book, which was published at Leipzig in 1769, is not very 

 rare ; but Scopoli'S later ornithological writings are by no means so accessible, being contained 

 in a large folio volume entitled 'Deliciae Florae et Faunae Insubricae' published at Pavia in three 

 parts, the first two bearing date 1786 and the third 1788 — the year of his death. These ornithological 

 papers, four in number, are accordingly here reproduced, but the most interesting of them is the 

 third, the ' Specimen Zoologicum', wherein he refers to Linnasan genera most of the animals described 

 by Sonnerat in his ' Voyage a la Nouvelle GuineV (Paris: 1776) and in the second volume of his 

 'Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine' (Paris : 1782), giving to nearly each species a scientific 

 name on the Linriaean method. It follows that the names thus bestowed, being in most cases the 

 earliest applied to the species in question, are of considerable importance, and latterly they have 

 been very generally adopted by ornithologists. SCOPOLI however was not always right in his 

 determination of Sonnerat'S birds : thus, to mention only a few instances, Nos. 33 and 34, 

 both being Quails, are referred to Oriolus, as is also No. 35, which is a Turnix ; while No. 74, 

 a Duck, is placed under Stertia, and No. 79, a Sand-Grouse, under Tringa. Averse as he was to 

 founding new genera, a fact shewn by his abstention from doing so in the case of the " Bec-ouvert 

 des Indes" (see between Nos. 32 and 33), Scopoli can hardly be held to blame for referring No. 83 

 to the genus Otis. But it would be out of place here to criticize the work, or to rectify all the 

 ordinary misprints which, as will be seen, are very numerous. § It will however be useful to point 

 out some shortcomings arising from another cause. 



ScoPOLl'S original intention was only to name the new animals described by Sonnerat in his 

 ' Voyage a la Nouvelle Guinee', as is clearly shewn by the "Praefatio" to part II. which states : — 



OBSERVATIONES in hac parte allatae continent 



I. Novas Animalium species a celeberrimo Sonnerat in primo suo itinere numeratas, ad 

 Genera propria relatas, &° characteribus specificis, nominibusque trivialibus insignitas, ut a labore 



* Pars iii. pp. 79—87 'Vitae meae vices'. Other particulars of his life are to be found in the 'Dictionnaire 

 des Sciences medicales. Biographie medicale' vii. pp. 181, 182, by A. J. L. Jourdan (Paris : 1825); Tipaldo's 

 ' Biografia degli Italiani illustri' x. pp. 252 — 256 (Venezia : 1844) by G. Chiappa; the 'Biographie universelle 

 ancienne et moderne % Nouv. Ed. xxxviii. p. 546 (P-aris: 1863) by Angelis, and Hoefer's 'Nouvelle 

 biographie generale' xliii. p. 635 (Paris : 1864). The i3th of June is given as his birthday. 



t See Sir J. E. Smith's remarks in ' Plantarum Icones hactenus ineditse ' (fasc. 2, text to no. xxxiv.), 

 and in Rees's ' Cyclopaedia ' (xxxi. article ' Scopolia '). 



X 'Natural History of Selborne' Letter vii. to Barrington. See also Letters vi. and viii. to the same, 

 and Letters xxx. — xxxiii. to Pennant. 



§ To his failing sight or to the carelessness of his printer must be ascribed such errors as "infeiiore" for 

 "superiore" in the description of No. 13; and of "minor" for "major" in that of No. 21. The various 

 modes of spelling "Quinea", "Guinn.", "Guiana" and "Guinea" shew great laxity on the part of the press. 

 "Guenbyensis" (No. 28) is also an error, Sonnerat's name being " Lori de Gueby", as vvell as " mada- 

 garensis" (No. 88) for the " Grande Caille de Madagascar", and "Parvus" for " Parus " (No. 114). 



JVI3£4095 



