18 MEMOIR OP 



sider how much it bears upon the daily business and 

 pleasures of mankind, we cannot wonder that it 

 soon attracted a band of warm admirers and zealous 

 votaries, who excited the curiosity, and gratified the 

 taste, of their own and succeeding times. 



We have been struck with some rather remark- 

 able points of similarity in the history of the more 

 illustrious naturalists, who, in the 16th century, de- 

 voted themselves to the revival and prosecution of 

 this delightful science. Five of these have been 

 distinguished as pre-eminent, viz. Rondelet, Salviani, 

 Belon, Gesner, and last, though not least, Aidrovan- 

 di. All of these distinguished men appeared at the 

 earlier part of the century, and entered upon the 

 stage of life within a very few years of each other ; 

 the first four, indeed, within a period of ten years. 

 Again, these same four individuals bade adieu to 

 this fleeting state of being within eight years of 

 each other, and that in the vigour of matured life, 

 ere any of them reached the age of threescore years. 

 Nor can we regard it otherwise than singular, that 

 the obscure and difficult department of Ichthyology 

 should have taken the lead in the infancy of the 

 science, and should have procured from nearly the 

 whole of these naturalists a most marked and pe- 

 culiar preference. This is especially true of the two 

 earliest authors, Rondelet and Salviani, who treated 

 solely of Fishes. Belongs first productions were on 

 the same subject, though he subsequently dis- 

 tinguished himself in Botany and other departments. 

 The remaining two took a wider range; though 



