29 
number of fins to some extent as a ground of classi- 
fication. ARTEDI went on to make his point clear as 
to the absurdity of such a classification by showing 
that certain fish, such as cod, mackerel, perch etc., 
which are closely allied to one another, have a differ- 
ing number of fins. We may very forcibly have brought 
home to us how far ARTEDI in this matter was ahead 
of his age, if we recall to mind the fact, that more 
than 60 years later tw r o Germans, M. E. BLOCK and J. 
G. SCHNEIDER, who were considered at their time ex- 
ceedingly distinguished ichthyologists, promulgated a 
new system of classifying Fishes on the very basis re- 
pudiated here by ARTEDI; they proposed as classes: 
"Hendecapterygii", "Decapterygii", "Enncapterygii", etc. 
Natural classes ARTEDI defines to be such as em- 
brace genera possessing a natural agreement in most 
particulars. Hence the genera should first be grouped 
correctly and naturally among themselves and be col- 
lected into certain "Maniples", as he calls them, after 
which the several classes can be arranged. According 
to ARTEDI Fishes form together one class, which is 
parallel to a class of Mammals, a class of Birds, etc., 
etc. Consequently subdivisions of these classes must 
have some other designation than Classes; he suggests 
Orders. 
What is known in more modern systematology as 
a Family does not find a place in either ARTEDI'S or 
LINN.EUS' nomenclature, though the former seems to be 
on its track, for he doubtless means the same thing by 
his Maniples; the following sentence in his writings 
points still more clearly to his being aware of the need 
for such a further division: "Genera Piscium Naturalia 
prius in certos quasi Manipulos conquaerenda sunt, ex 
quibus postea Or dines Naturales sponte exsurgunt". 
That is to say, ARTEDI perceived that, after the natural 
genera of fishes have been collected into small groups 
(his Maniples, the Families of a later date), the arrange- 
ment of these in natural Orders would follow almost 
as a matter of course. In his subsequent treatment of 
