56 



CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



Synopsis appeared only in 1713,, and contains little that 

 can be said to have advanced the science. 



(57.) But ichthyology was now to assume a form 

 and order which it had never yet appeared in ; for, 

 in the year 1738, the works of the great Artedi, 

 the friend and disciple of Linnaeus, were given to 

 the world by his no less celebrated master, whose 

 arrangement of the fishes in the Systema Nature, 

 no doubt, laid the foundation of that by his scholar. 

 Having already, in a former volume, expressed our sen- 

 timents on the general system of Linnaeus, we may at 

 once pass to that of Artedi, whose knowledge of fishes, 

 and whose views on their natural classification, are un- 

 doubtedly much more profound and correct than those 

 exhibited in the Systema Natures. Artedi, in short, must 

 be considered the true founder of systematic ichthyology: 

 he has treated the subject both as a philosopher and a 

 naturalist ; and we presume to think he deserves much 

 higher honour than some writers of the present day have 

 been disposed to give him. It is not a little remarkable, 

 and may be urged as a proof how truly he deserves this 

 praise, that three out of his five primary divisions have 

 been adopted by M. Cuvier; of the other two, one (P/a- 

 giurt) is composed of the cetaceous Mammalia, and the 

 other of the Plectoynathis (Cuv.). True it is that Artedi, 

 like all the naturalists of that time, was not aware of this 

 latter order possessing branchial rays, and consequently 

 named them Branchiostagi ; nevertheless, it is quite clear 

 that Artedi perceived they formed a natural group, how- 

 ever he erred in part of their definition, for he united 

 with them the genus Lophius and Syngnathus, the whole 

 of which, as will hereafter appear, possess all the cha- 

 racters of a primary order. We must leave this sub- 

 ject, however, which more properly belongs to another 

 part of our volume, and turn to another labourer in the 

 same vineyard, although in a different department. We 

 allude to Klein, whose valuable labours on the anatomy 

 of fishes first opened the view of a new and untrodden 

 field to future ichthyologists, and laid the foundation of 



