172 KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



arrived, May 10, 1816, at New York, and there became acquainted with 

 the statesman-ichthyologist Samuel Latham Mitchill. In the fall of the 

 same year he visited the coast, and especially fishing towns, of New 

 England, and the lish 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 Phila- 

 delphia," 



In 1817 he settled down in Philadelphia and at once became an inti- 

 mate associate of the scientific men of that city, and his was the first 

 article contributed to the first volume of the Journal of tlie Academy 

 of Natural Sciences — that journal which has since extended into so 

 many. It is in that series that wei*e 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 Harmon}?, Ind., 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 Har- 

 mony, Lesueur issued a prospectus for a work to be published in parts, 

 by subscription*, on the "'Fish of North America, with plates drawn 

 and coloured from nature.'' The demand for the work was not suffi- 

 cient to justify its publication, and the project fell still-born. After 

 various adventures and much sickness, he left, by way of New Orleans, 

 for Franc'e, and after an absence of twenty-two 3'ears was again at 

 Havre in 1837. In Paris and in Havre he passed most of the remain- 

 der of his life and for the last two years was director of the museum 

 of the latter city. He died on the 12th of December, 1816. 



A very interesting biography of Lesueur by Dr. E. T. Hamy, a 



« As already indicated, 13 of Lesueiir's species were based entirely or partly on specimens collected 

 in Massachusetts. Reference to the volume and page of the Journal and the present identification of 

 the fish are given in each case: 



Murfena bostoniensis (1,81) Anguilla chrisypa (Ralinesque 1817). 



Mura>na argentea (1, 82) Anguilla chrisypa (Rafinesque 1817). 



Gadus compressus (I, 84) Lota lota (Linnreus 1758). 



Oatostomus gibbosus (I, 92) Erirayzon sucetta (Laccpede 1803). 



Catostomus bostoniensis (I, 106) Catostomus commcrsonii (Laccpede 1803). 



Hydrargyra ornata (I, 133) Fundulus heteroclitus (Linnaus 1758). 



Hydrargyra nigrofasciata (I, 131) Fundulus heteroclitus (Linnans 1758). 



Somniosus brevipinna (I, 222) Somiiiosus niicrocephalus (Bloch & Schneider 



1801). 



Squalus obscurus (I, 223) Platypodon obscurus (Lesueur 1817). 



O.smerus viridescens (I, 231) Osnierus mordax (Mitchill 1814). 



Clupea fasciata (I, 233) Pomolobus medioeris (Mitchill 1815). 



Clupea elongata (I, 234) CluiK'a harengus (Linnjeus 1758). 



Scomberesox equirostrum (II, 132) Scomberesox saurus (Walbaum 1792). 



bThirty-five plates had been engraved by Lesueur for his projected work, and a .sample number 

 with 6 leaves of text (unpaged) and5plates (illustrating 3 speciesof " Petromtjzon", lof "Ammocates", 

 and 1 of "Accipcnser") was issued from New Harmony, Ind., in 1827. A notice was published by Leon 

 Vaillant (Note sur l^jeuvre ichthyologique de C. A. Lesueur) in the Bulletin de la Societt- Phil'vuna- 

 thique de Paris in 1896 (8. ser., t. VIII, 1.5-33) , descriptive of the plates, and a small edition of 40 coi)ies 

 ■with proofs from the 35 plates was issued by the editor soon after. 



