RISE AND PROGRESS OP ZOOLOGY. XXVII 



arrangement is dependent on the approximation 

 of external forms, and is of course, in many 

 points, very faulty. Belon was the author who 

 at that time made the closest approach to any- 

 thing like systematic classification. He has 

 arranged fishes into different groups, some of 

 which, considering the state of knowledge on 

 the subject, are tolerably good. His Natural 

 History of Birds is a very remarkable work 

 indeed, for the period in which it was composed. 

 It contains very just and original views on the 

 analogy of structure between birds and mam- 

 malia, and especially in the comparison of their 

 respective skeletons. 



During the same period, Conrad Gesner, a 

 physician of Zurich, proceeded with great suc- 

 cess in the illustration of Zoology in general. 

 His History of Animals is arranged in alphabe- 

 tical order, and is an excellent compilation of all 

 that antiquity has left us on the subject, with 

 many useful original observations, and nume- 

 rous wood-cuts, for the most part, respectably 

 executed. His knowledge was immense ; and he 

 cultivated every part of Natural History. His 

 Treatise on the Nomenclature of Fishes, is par- 

 ticularly good. He names more than seven 

 hundred species in Greek, Latin, Italian, Spa- 

 nish, French, German, and sometimes English. 



