42 



tent merely to study the outward appearance of the fish; 

 as the title tells us, he also dissected every specimen 

 and he gives a full and exact account of the shape and 

 position, etc. of the inner organs and parts. Hence Gun- 

 ther, the renowned ichthyologist, might well say, in 

 1880, of the contents of this section, "descriptions which 

 even now are models of exactitude and method". 



From this part of his work, as from his depiction 

 of "partes piscium" in his "Philosophia Ichthyologica", 

 we can very plainly perceive that Artedi was exceedingly 

 well versed in the Anatomy of Fishes, as is abundantly 

 evident, for instance, from the exhaustive description 

 he gives in that place of the system of blood-vessels in 

 fishes, which for that time is quite marvellous. Artedi's 

 knowledge of that subject enabled him to demonstrate 

 the anatomical differences found to exist in fishes when 

 they are compared one with another, and to call atten- 

 tion to the importance of that phenomenon for the 

 scientist who is about to determine the classification of 

 the fishes according to natural principles; in that re- 

 spect Artedi may be looked upon as a harbinger of 

 that method of investigation, which was to attain full 

 maturity long afterwards under G. Cuvier, Johannes 

 Muller and others, the method namely of Comparative 

 Anatomy. 



Beyond the important work above briefly reviewed, 

 we only possess by Artedi's hand some descriptions of 

 fishes in the third volume of "Sebae Thesaurus", the 

 large illustrated work giving a report upon the natural 

 history collections of Seba, the Dutch chemist. It con- 

 tains 12 folio plates, some of them being double, with 

 140 reproductions of fishes together with descriptions of 

 them. Which, or how many, of these Artedi is respons- 



1 According to Linnaeus' own note, there were only 6 fishes 

 left undescribed. 



2 About Artedi's "Philosophia Ichthyologica" Guntrer says, 

 in his "Introduction to the Study of Fishes" (p. 10): — "in fact he 

 establishes the method and principles which have subsequently guid- 

 ed every systematic ichthyologist". 



