i;6 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



views of the relations of forms, and of the connec- 

 tion of the Cuban fauna with that of other regions. 

 On the other hand, he was led to adopt, against 

 his own judgment in many instances, that minute 

 subdivision of genera which has been a fashion in 

 American ichthyology, and which has been in 

 some quarters a reproach to American science. 



In 1868 the results of the revision of his classi- 

 fication were embodied in a second catalogue of 

 the Cuban fishes, entitled " Synopsis Piscium Cu- 

 bensium." This forms the concluding chapter of 

 a series of papers, entitled " Repertorio Fi'sico- 

 natural de la Isla de Cuba," which embody the 

 results of a general scientific survey of the island. 

 Of this survey Professor Poey was director. In 

 1875 the entire list of species was again revised, 

 and the third and best catalogue of Cuban fishes 

 was published under the title of " Enumeratio Pis- 

 cium Cubensium." Besides these larger works, 

 many shorter papers by Poey occur in the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences " of 

 Philadelphia, the ''Annals of the New York Ly- 

 ceum," and the " Anales de la Sociedad de Historia 

 Natural de Madrid." He is also the author of a 

 Geography of Cuba, and of a treatise on Mineral- 

 ogy, used in the Havana schools. A number of 

 poems from his pen have likewise been published, 

 but these I have not seen. 



The great work of Poey's life is the still unpub- 

 lished " Ictiologia Cubana." This is to contain 

 a detailed account of each of the fishes of Cuba. 

 It is to be composed, according to a published 

 statement of Poey, which I here translate, 



