HISTORY OF ICHTHYOLOGY. 



63 



Sicily is perhaps the richest field for the ichthyologist, 

 of any yet explored in the Mediterranean, in whose 

 warm and prolific waters, washing the tranquil shores 

 of so many islands, an immense variety of fish are 

 constantly found. Besides these two works, more es- 

 pecially devoted to the ichthyology of Sicily, many 

 other papers by the same author are scattered in the 

 periodical publications of Palermo ; and he has also 

 given a most original and valuable account of the fishes 

 of the great river Ohio. The second volume on 

 Mediterranean Ichthyology, by M. Risso, just alluded to, 

 is highly interesting, from an account of several new 

 species, and a few new genera ; but the classification is 

 that of Lacepede, and the figures too small to be ser 

 viceable : a second edition, as we find, was subsequently 

 published ; but this we have not yet seen. The fish of 

 these shores were subsequently illustrated, in detached 

 portions and separate essays, by several learned foreigners, 

 among whom the names of Viviani, Spinola, and Va- 

 lenciennes, are conspicuous ; while the labours of 

 Leach and Montagu, in our own country, have been 

 justly praised. A most perfect and masterly account 

 of the singular fishes of Egypt has proceeded from 

 the accomplished pens of the illustrious GeofTVoy Saint- 

 Hilaire, and his talented son Dr. Isidore Geoffroy; 

 the figures are drawn from the life by the younger 

 Redoute, but they are by no means good: the expense 

 of this valuable work renders it inaccessible to the ge- 

 nerality of purchasers. A decade of Cuban fish, very 

 fully and perfectly described, came from the pen of 

 M. Desmarest ; but the plates by which it was intended 

 to be illustrated, we have never seen. The ichthyology 



•whole life has been devoted to science, and who has been singularly un- 

 fortunate in his worldly concerns ; who, notwithstanding his eccentricities, 

 has a kind and benevolent heart; and whose labours have never been 

 appreciated as I think they deserve. But for this, M. Rafinesque would 

 not, in advancing life, have to contend with pecuniary difficulties, from 

 which a small pension from the American government, proverbially ge- 

 nerous to her scientific sons, would set him free. 



