HISTOEY OF OPHIOLGOY. 
113 
first place, Scheuchzer, who has given, in a voluminous 
and heterogeneous work, a considerable number of un- 
coloured figures of serpents, the most of which, though not 
above mediocrity, are sufficiently recognisable. Seba, who 
has surpassed all iconographists by the great number of 
'the figures which we owe to his care, has represented in 
the first two volumes of his work, the snakes which made 
a part of his own museum, one of the richest of that age : 
many of his figures are very faithfully rendered, others 
are passable, some very bad ; but the greatest number are so 
oddly coloured, that it is difficult to recognise the animal 
which has served as the model. This author does not ap- 
pear to have had in view any other object, than to exhibit 
in his work the whole of that innumerable series of speci- 
mens which adorned his cabinet- — the figures are there accu- 
mulated without selection or judgment ; the same serpent 
is there often represented ten or more times ; and these 
different portraits of the same animal sometimes offer very 
little resemblance, because the artist has disfigured each of 
them. The text, which accompanies these plates, abounds 
with errors and false information respecting the native 
country of the animals and the names of places ; it is very 
evident that Seba has done little but reported the stories 
of sailors, whose avidity invented lies to profit by his cre- 
dulity. Instead of tracing in a few words the essential 
characters of the animals figured, this author often 
dwells on the description of a trifling point, of a spot, or 
of some other insignificant mark— -a circumstance which 
renders the explanatory text absolutely useless. How- 
ever, this immense collection has furnished materials to 
many naturalists ; it has been, even to our times, a rich 
mine, which is incessantly dug, and from which many phi- 
losophers have extracted information, of which they have 
afterwards availed themselves in the composition of their 
works. 
The Natural History of Florida by Catesby, published 
about the same period, is still more useful for a knowledge 
of the productions of that country, which has not since been 
explored by any traveller, with the same view. The figures 
K 
