138 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



the Doctor has examined and described amount to more than one hundred and fifty 

 species and varieties. And in addition to this, he has made great progress in describing 

 the cete, or whales ; the testacea, and Crustacea, forming the shell fish ; and the mollusca, 

 constituting the soft, boneless, and gelatinous class of animals. Dr. Mitchill's account of 

 the codfishes of New-York may be seen in the Amer. Med. and Philos. .Register, vol. 4. 



If the whole world contains one thousand species of fish, as is said, it is not unreason- 

 able to suppose, that the United States and their dependencies contain between three 

 and four hundred. Our western lakes furnish a great number 5 and as our waters are 

 discharged into every ocean that surrounds America, there can be no hesitation in assent- 

 ing to the reasonableness of this estimate. The work of the Doctor is now ready for 

 publication. It ought to be accompanied by engravings, taken from correct drawings ; 

 and as the expense of such an undertaking is enormous, the munificent patrons of science 

 and genius, and our enlightened public bodies, ought to come forward and promote the 

 publication of a work so interesting, undertaken and executed by one who has done as 

 much for the honour of American science and literature as any man living. 



As connected generally with this subject I am happy to have it in my power to fur- 

 nish a literary curiosity. It is a poetical version, by Dr. Mitchill, of the third Piscatory 

 Eclogue of Sannazarius, who is thus characterized by Dr. Blair : " Sannazarius, a famous 

 Latin poet, in the age of Leo X. attempted a bold innovation. He composed piscatory 

 eclogues, changing the scene from woods to the sea, and from the life of shepherds to 

 that of fishermen. But the innovation was so unhappy that he has gained no followers. 

 For the life of fishermen is, obviously, much more hard and toilsome than that of shep- 

 herds, and presents to the fancy much less agreeable images. Flocks, and trees, and 

 flowers, are objects of greater beauty, and more generally relished by men, than fishes and 

 marine productions." This may be true to a certain extent; but it does not follow that 

 a description of the simplicity, activity, and variety of piscatory life, has not its charms 

 and attractions, as well as a delineation of the tranquillity and composure of the pastoral 

 state. It is well known that those who devote themselves to the sports of the waters, 

 and the active pursuits of the fisherman and seaman, cannot be induced to change their 

 destination; and surely poetical representations, calculated to recall to the memory 

 scenes of such delight, and to awaken the mind to their contemplation, are worthy of 

 the best efforts of genius, and deserving of the highest encomiums of taste and just criti- 

 cism. Sannazarius wrote five eclogues. The third now published is called Mopsus, and 

 has a considerable resemblance to Virgil's Palsemon. It is a conversation in which four 

 speakers take their part. Their names arc Celadon, Mopsus, Chromis, and Iolas. The 



