174 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



fishes mounted by Poey himself in the earlier days 

 of his professorship. The number of these is not 

 great, nor have many additions been made during 

 the last twenty years. Most of the types of the 

 new species described by Professor Poey have 

 been, after being fully studied by him and repre- 

 sented in life-size drawings, sent to the United 

 States National Museum, to the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, or to the Museum at Madrid. 

 Duplicates have been rarely retained in Havana, 

 the cost of keeping up a permanent collection be- 

 ing too great. As a result, Professor Poey's work 

 has suffered from lack of means of comparing 

 specimens taken at different times. There is no 

 zoological laboratory in Cuba except the private 

 study of Professor Poey; and here, for want of 

 room and for other reasons, drawings have, to a 

 great extent, taken the place of specimens. 



The publication of the observations of Professor 

 Poey on the animals of Cuba was begun in 1851, 

 in a series of papers entitled " Memorias sobre la 

 Historia Natural de la Isla de Cuba." These 

 papers were issued at intervals from 1851 to 1860, 

 and together form two octavo volumes of about 

 45 pages each. The first volume contains chiefly 

 descriptions of mollusks and insects. The second 

 volume is devoted mainly to the fishes. As is natu- 

 ral in the exploration of a new field, these volumes 

 are largely occupied with the description of new 

 species. They give evidence of the disadvantages 

 arising from solitary work, without the aid of the 

 association and criticism of others, and without the 

 broader knowledge of the relations of groups which 



