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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 506. 



least — and by them his species can readily 

 be recognized. 



The first species is clearly the one later 

 (1839) named Cryptacanthodes maculatus 

 by Storer; Peck's misidentifieation un- 

 doubtedly was very bad, but he manifested 

 a better appreciation of the relationship 

 of the species than did Storer. The Ophi- 

 dium imherbe of Linneeus was primarily 

 based on the common gunnell of Europe, 

 Pholis gunnellus. Apt as Peck's descrip- 

 tion was, however, Storer did not recognize 

 his fish. Dekay later (1842) equally failed 

 to recognize it, but, concluding that it could 

 not be the Ophidiuni iniberbe of Linnaeus, 

 referred it to the genus Fierasfer and called 

 it 'Fierasfer borealis?' The name was 

 new, and by the interrogation Dekay evi- 

 dently intended to question whether the 

 species belonged to the genus Fierasfer and 

 not whether it belonged to a species already 

 named Fierasfer borealis. The correct 

 identification of the species was not pub- 

 lished till 1863 {Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. 

 PMa., p. 332). 



Peck's second species is the one now 

 known as Stromateus triacanthus or Po- 

 ronotus triacanthus; his third species is 

 Zoarces anguillaris, and his Cyprinus ca- 

 tostomus is the Catostomus commersonii, 

 the common sucker of Massachusetts. 



III. 



In 1817 the United States was visited by 

 a Frenchman who is well entitled to be 

 considered as the first ichthyological artist 

 of his time— so far superior to all others, 

 indeed, that there was no close second. I 

 mean, of course, Charles Alexandre Les- 

 ueur, who was born in Havre on the New 

 Year's day of 1778. He became the com- 

 panion of Frangois Peron in the notable 

 expedition to southern lands which left 

 Havre in 1800, under the command of Bau- 

 din, and was so fruitful of novelties for 

 science. In 1815, he made arrangements 



with William Maclure by which he was 

 enabled to visit the United States. After 

 a prolonged voyage by way of the West 

 Indies with Maclure, Lesueur arrived. May 

 10, 1816, at New York and there became 

 acquainted with the statesman-ichthyologist 

 Samuel Latham Mitehill. In the fall of 

 the same year, he visited the coast and espe- 

 cially fishing towns of New England and 

 the fish market at Boston. His collections 

 afforded him a number of new species 

 which he subsequently described in various 

 articles in the Journal of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 



In 1817, he settled down in Philadelphia 

 and at once became an intimate associate 

 of the scientific men of that city, and his 

 was the first article contributed to the first 

 volume of the Journal of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences— that journal which has 

 since extended into so many. It is in that 

 series that were published a number of 

 articles, illustrated by his unrivaled pencil. 

 Thirteen specific names were framed for 

 fishes obtained in Massachusetts, but most 

 of them have not stood the test of time and 

 comparison with more material. Lesueur 

 remained at home in Philadelphia, more or 

 less, till 1825. He then accompanied his 

 old patron, Maclure, to New Harmony, 

 Indiana, where they hoped to live an ideal 

 life in a socialistic colony. It is almost 

 needless to say that they were disappointed. 

 While in New Harmony, Lesueur issued a 

 prospectus for a work to be published in 

 parts, by subscription, on the 'Fish of 

 North America with plates drawn and col- 

 oured from nature.' The demand for the 

 work was not sufficient to justify its piab- 

 lipatiOn and the project fell still-born. 

 After various adventures and much sick- 

 ness, he left, by way of New Orleans, for 

 France, and after an absence of twenty-two 

 years, was again at Havre in 1837. In 

 Paris and in Havre he passed most of the 

 remainder of his life and for the last two 



