152 On the Date of Cuvier's Crustacean Plates. 



Références to this parti cular édition were foiind in the 

 third volume of Milne Edwards's Hist. Nat. Crust., pub- 

 lished in October 1840, but not in the second volume, 

 which appeared in July 1837. 



In the April (Heft IV.), 1837 issue of ' Isis ' (von Oken) 

 there is an announcement of the scope of the then recently 

 inaugurated Disciples édition with an enumeration of 

 the plates received up to that time, 18 in number. 

 Mention is made of one of a projected séries of 70 

 plates of crustacea. Actually, in the work, as completed, 

 there are 87 plates numbered 1-80, among which hâve 

 been inserted seven additional plates carrying " bis " 

 numbers (11 bis, 34 bis, 54 bis, 55 bis, 62 bis, 70 bis, and 

 71 bis). It is also stated in ' Isis ' that every fortnight 

 a " heft " with four plates was to appear. The plates 

 of the various animal groups, as they had been issued at 

 that time, were intermixed. 



In the Deshayes and Milne Edwards édition (the second) 

 of Lamarck's Hist. Nat. Animaux sans Vertèbres, vol. v. 

 Dec. 1837 (fide Sherborn : the title-page of the copy 

 before me, from the library of the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture, carries the date of 1838) 26 plates of the 

 Disciples édition of the ' Règne Animal,' numbered 

 between 8 and 50 inclusive, are referred to. Plates of 

 such species as niiglit pertinently hâve been referred to, 

 yet failed of citation hère, may hâve appeared too late 

 for inclusion in this work which, quite naturally, went 

 to press some reasonable time before the actual date of 

 publication shown on the title-page, as did also the Hist. 

 Nat. Crust. vol. ii. which appeared in July 1837, and in 

 which the Disciples plates were not referred to at ail. 



It seems, therefore, that one can safely assign the date 

 of 1837 to most, if not ail, of the plates and text, and that 

 publication must hâve begun some time prior to March 

 of that year and may weU hâve been completed before 

 its close. 



Professor Ch. Gravier, of the Muséum National d'Histoire 

 Naturelle, in Paris, most kindly made endeavours to 

 ascertain the dates of the crustacea plates of Cuvier's 

 ' Règne Animal ' (Disciples édition), but without success, 

 as did also the librarian of his institution, M. Bultingaire 

 who has written a memoir on Cuvier as an artist. 



