ILLUSTRATIONS. 97 



,s well known, that New-York is very seldom mentioned in the books of ichthy- 

 ology. 



That distinguished gentleman commenced his labors in November, 1813 ; and 

 he began at the very elements. Every sort of fish was procured, examined, and 

 described. The specimen and the description were next compared with those in 

 the best books ; he frequently dissected the individuals which he had described, 

 in order to make himself acquainted with the internal marks and characters, and 

 sometimes he satisfied himself experimentally on their qualities as food. 



He also availed himself of various ichthyological assistance, and more especial- 

 ly of the General Zoology of Shaw, the General History of Fishes by Bloch, and 

 the Museum Ichthyologicum of Gronovius. 



The classification has been attended, in several respects, with difficulty. He 

 has adopted the five orders of apodal, jugular, thoracic, abdominal, and cartila- 

 ginous ; but in some cases there were doubts about the genus, and in some in- 

 stances about the species. There is reason to suppose, that many of the spe 

 cies are non-descripts. The whole which the doctor has examined and described 

 amount to more than one hundred and fifty species and varieties. And in ad- 

 dition to this, he has made great progress in describing the cete, or whales ; the 

 testacea, and Crustacea, forming the shell fish ; and the mollusca, constituting 

 the soft, boneless, and gelatinous class of animals. Dr. Mitchill's account of 

 the codfishes of New-York may be seen in the Amer. Med. and Philos. RegH- 

 ter, vol. 4. 



If the whole world contains one thousand species of fish, as is said, it is not un- 

 reasonable to suppose, that the United States and their dependencies contain be- 

 tween three and four hundred. Our western lakes furnish a great number ; and 

 as our waters are discharged into every ocean that surrounds America, there 

 can be no hesitation in assenting to the reasonableness of this estimate. The 

 work of the doctor is now ready for publication. It ought to be accompanied by 

 engravings, taken from correct drawings ; and as the expense of such an under- 

 taking is enormous, the munificent patrons of science and geniu?, and our en- 

 lightened public bodies, ought to come forward and promote the publication of 

 a work so interesting, undertaken and executed by one who has done as much 

 for the honour of american science and literature as any man living. 



As connected generally with this subject I am happy to have it in my power 

 to furnish a literary curiosity. It is a poetical version, by dr. Mltchill, of the 

 third Piscatory Eclogue of Saunazarius, who is thus characterized by dr. Blair : 

 14 Sannazarius, a famous latin poet, in the age of Leo X. attempted a bold inno- 

 vation. He composed piscatory eclogue?, charging the scene from woods to the 

 sea, and from the life of shepherds to that of fishermen. But tfie innovation wa; 



so unhappy thnt he Ha? gnineri no followers. For th? life of fishermen is, obv!- 



X 



