vided the reptiles into two classes, Monopnoa and 

 Dipnoa. the latter including the amphibians (Dipnoa, 

 double breathers) with the exception of the 

 Gymnophiona, in which gill openings were not discov- 

 ered until 1833 and by Fitzinger himself. This work, in 

 which he erected nearly 20 valid specific names, drew a 

 great deal of criticism from his colleagues. His vigorous 

 reply to this criticism contains some interesting infor- 

 mation regarding the original wording of the book. By 

 the way. it should be mentioned that many of the inno- 

 vations in the "Neue Classification" were not Fitzinger's, 

 but belonged to his friend F. W. Hemprich (1796-1825) 

 who had died at Massaua while still young and who had 

 willed his literary estate to Fitzinger for "collective pub- 

 lication" (Mertens, 1969). 



In the foUowing years, Fitzinger published, aside from 

 some critical reviews, mostly short papers in the field of 

 herpetology; as for example that on sea snakes (1827), 

 on the cultural significance of crocodiles in Egypt and 

 the first paper describing a male copulatory organ in the 

 caecilians (1834). He also published an essay on the ver- 

 tebrates of the Vienna region and a more extensive work 

 on turtle systematics (1836, published 1835 [here re- 

 printed]), in which some new genera were described. In 

 this period, as well, he published a contribution on 

 "Elaphe Parreysü" (according to present nomenclature, 

 Elaphe quatuorUneata sauromates) in J. G. Wagler's ex- 

 tensively illustrated book (1833). 



He also assisted the author of the famous "Iconografia 

 della Fauna Italica" (1832-1841), Charles Lucien Bo- 

 naparte, and aided the well-known traveler to Brazil, 

 Johann Natterer, with the production of his treatise on 

 the caimans (1839). In the classic work of A. M. C. 

 Dumeril and Gabriel Bibron ( 1 844: 60) Fitzinger's "Con- 

 spectus Systematis Ophidiorum" appeared. That 

 Fitzinger was also interested in paleontology is shown 

 in his paper on "Palaeosaurus" (1839), a name which 

 has since been shown to be twice preoccupied. 



Fitzinger's most important herpetological work, how- 

 ever, was his "Systema Reptilium," first published in 

 1 843 and available in reprint by the Society for the Study 

 of Amphibians and Reptiles (1973). Unfortunately, this 

 work remained incomplete because he published only 

 the first part of it. This treats only the "Amblyglossae" 

 group of lizards, which Fitzinger di vided into three parts, 

 the Dendrobatae (according to present Classification, the 

 families Chamaeleonidae, Agamidae [part.], Iguanidae 

 [part.]), Humivagae (Iguanidae [part.] and Agamidae 

 [part.]), and Ascalabotae (Gekkonidae). Of course, these 

 lizards, though extensively treated, are only a small por- 

 tion of all reptiles and amphibians, but Fitzinger gives 

 in his introductory "Schema Systematis" a 21-page over- 

 view of his interpretations of the taxonomic structure of 



the entire Class Reptilia, which he divides into five par- 

 allel groups or "Serien." 



In this respect it is remarkable that he also groups the 

 fishes, birds, and mammals in the same way, dividing 

 them first into five "Serien," each of which he then di- 

 vides into three "Ordnungen." This stubbom clinging to 

 the numbers five and three, respectively, probably dates 

 back to the influence of some of his contemporaries who 

 were adherents of "Naturphilosophie," an unusual philo- 

 sophical view of nature. For example, J. J. Kaup of 

 Darmstadt, whose System of mammals and birds is a 

 peculiar flight of fancy, developed a Classification in 

 which the foundation is always the number five, corre- 

 sponding to the five human senses. To Fitzinger, Kaup 's 

 opinions were ingenious, yet he has given priority to the 

 number three in his own Classification of the "Everte- 

 brata." 



For the study of reptiles and amphibians Fitzinger's 

 work is of tremendous significance, not so much because 

 of the nearly 100 new generic and subgeneric names pro- 

 posed, but because he always cites generic type species 

 or "generotypes" (genotypes in the old sense). Even if 

 the diagnoses are sometimes missing, these generic 

 names are still valid apart from homonyms and younger 

 Synonyms. The last part of the book presents an over- 

 view of the geographical distribution of the "Ambly- 

 glossae." 



At about the same time Fitzinger published some 

 populär works, of which the best-known was his "Bilder- 

 Atlas," which contains 200 color pictures of well-known 

 sorts of animals. Of the scientific papers which he pub- 

 lished, his study of the olm, Proteus anguinus, deserves 

 mention (1850). It was based on research using not less 

 than 479 specimens, of which 140 were alive and origi- 

 nated from 1 1 different localities. Fitzinger grouped them 

 into seven species, of which some shall very likely be 

 proven valid subspecies in future revisions. 



The last of his herpetological works was the descrip- 

 tion of the first frog known from New Zealand, the en- 

 demic Leiopelma hochstetteri (1861) which was found 

 by the "Novara" expedition of 1 860. He named it after 

 his museum colleague in geology, the famous explorer 

 of New Zealand, Ferdinand von Hochstetter. 



The realm of herpetology constituted only a small part 

 of the scientific activity of Fitzinger. The limited space 

 does not allow us here to delve in detail into his amazing 

 versatility as a zoologist. He also studied Darwinism but 

 became its Opponent. During his years with the Vienna 

 museum he worked on many other animal groups in- 

 cluding rainworms and mollusks. He even published an 

 admirably complete molluscan fauna of Austria cover- 

 ing 152 species which is still useful today. With his suc- 

 cessor as curator of ichthyology, Joseph Heckel, he 



