Constanttne Samuel Rafinesque. 77 



tinues Cuvier, &quot;very worthy of attention, on account of some 

 original ideas, and of the descriptions and figures of the fishes 

 themselves, which are to be found nowhere else. The author also 

 has paid attention to the Sicilian names of most of his species.&quot;* 



Of this work of Rafinesque on the fishes of Sicily, 

 perhaps no better judge could be found than Swainson 

 himself, the companion and friend of Rafinesque. He 

 was familiar both with the objects described, and the 

 conditions under which they came to the hand of their 

 nomenclator. Says Swainson, in a defense of the work 

 of Rafinesque: 



&quot;The year 1810 was remarkable in the annals of our science 

 for the appearance of two important works on the ichthyology of 

 the Mediterranean; one was by M. Rafinesque Schmaltz, f subse 

 quently Professor of Natural History in Lexington, U. S. ; the other, 

 relative chiefly to the fishes of Nice, was from the pen of M. Risso. 

 The first of these is of much importance ; and from particular 

 circumstances, will claim more of our attention than would at first 

 appear necessary. M. Rafinesque s Sicilian works are now become 

 so very scarce s (the greater part of the unsold copies having been 

 lost at sea), that few naturalists will have the power of consulting 

 them. His chief ichthyological work is a synopsis of New Genera 

 and Species of Animals and Plants found by the author in Sicily ; 



* Quoted by Swainson in L,ardner s Cabinet Cyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 60, 

 1838-1839. 



t Rafinesque says, in his &quot;Life of Travels&quot;, p. 34: &quot;Prudent considerations 

 had already induced me to add the name of Schmaltz, my mother s name, 

 to my own and to pass for an American.&quot; These considerations are, properly, 

 to be connected with the Sicilian and French wars of his time. 



