Acknowledgements

1Not being professional historians, we relied heavily on the help of others for our investigations on the person of Lamotius and of the fate of his paintings. In the first place we thank Mrs. M. C. J. C. van Hoof, chief archivist of Section I of the National Archives of the Netherlands at The Hague, who helped us tremendously in unearthing data about Lamotius and who greatly encouraged us in this work. Numerous other archivists in the Netherlands, South Africa, and Mauritius also supported us greatly and provided significant information. We thank Dr. F. R. Bradley, chairman of the Van Riebeeck Society, Capetown; Drs. D. M. Bunskoeke, Regional Archives, Waterland; Mrs. A. Dunselman, Regional Archives Kennemerland, Driehuis (who provided us with the date of baptism of Lamotius); Mrs. A. Ettekoven, National Archives, Utrecht; Mrs. T. de Groot, Municipal Archives, Zaanstad; Mrs. M. Molenaar-Valk, Netherlands Genealogical Society, sect. Zaanstreek-Waterland; Dr. W. Chr. Pieterse, Municipal Archives, Amsterdam; Mrs. M. A. P. Roelofsz, National Archives, The Hague; Mr. H. Snel, Amsterdam; Dr. P. H. Sooprayen, Chief Archivist, Mauritius; Mr. A. H. G. Verouden, Delft; and Mr. D. van Wingerden, Municipal Archives, Rotterdam. We are also very much indebted to Mme. Monique Ducreux, former Conservateur en Chef of the Bibliothèque Centrale du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, for permission to publish the Lamotius manuscript; and to Madame M.-L. Bauchot and Drs. C. Érard and P. J. Moree for helpful comments on the final draft of the manuscript. Mr. W. J. F. Mörzer Bruyns, head curator of the Netherlands Maritime Museum, Amsterdam, kindly explained to us the way in which the V.O.C. determined the longitude of geographic positions.

2For identification of the plants that Lamotius mentioned in his description of Mauritius we had most cordial help from Dr. Gerda van Uffelen of the Botanical Gardens of Leiden University and from Mr. W. J. Holverda of the National Herbarium, Leiden. For identification of the two species of Echinodermata figured by Lamotius we had much appreciated help from Professor Michel Jangoux of the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. For help with identification of the fishes we thank Drs. G. R. Allen, Western Australian Museum, Perth; W. D. Anderson, Grice Marine Biological Laboratory, Charleston, South Carolina; D. R. Bellwood, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia; K. E. Carpenter, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia; B. B. Collette, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.; D. W. Greenfield, University of Hawaii, Honolulu; P. C. Heemstra, J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Grahamstown, South Africa; P. J. Kailola, Newham, Tasmania; J. E. McCosker, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; N. V. Parin, P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow; S. G. Poss, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Museum, Ocean Springs, Mississippi; J. E. Randall, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii; B. C. Russell, Northern Territory Museum, Darwin, Australia; D. G. Smith, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.; W. F. Smith-Vaniz, U.S. Geological Survey, Gainesville, Florida; and M. W. Westneat, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.