6. Ray and Willughby and Their Immediate Successors
p. 150-159
Texte intégral
1Ray1 and Willughby2 had the honor of being the first to write an ichthyology in which the fishes were clearly described according to nature, and classified based on characteristics drawn only from their structure, and in which their natural history was finally rid of all passages from ancient writings —accounts repeated so arbitrarily about the various species by authors in the sixteenth century, so many of which are patently unlikely or unintelligible.
2De historia piscium, although it bears only Willughby’s name on the title page, is in large part the fruit of their common labors.3 They had gathered the principal materials for it on a journey to France, Germany, and especially Italy, from 1663 to 1666, during which Willughby described and dissected all the fishes they were able to procure. Ray arranged them under classes and families, based first on the cartilaginous or bony nature of the skeleton, and then on the general shape, the teeth, the presence or absence of pelvic fins, the type of fin rays, soft or spiny, and finally the number of dorsal fins [see Table 2]. But failing to keep in mind what was meant by spiny fins and cartilaginous skeleton, he did not always place the species where they should be according to his classification. Thus the sturgeon (esturgeon) remains with the bony fishes, while the tuna (thon) is left among the fishes without spines in their fins, and so on. Neither are there any well-defined and well-circumscribed genera; nevertheless, relationships between fishes in many places could be readily observed, so that of these connections it took only a few words to form several genera that have since come into use.
A porcupine fish
Diodon histrix. Engraving from Francis Willughby’s De historia piscium libri quatuor (1686), plate I.5.
Cliché Bibliothèque centrale, MNHN
3As for species, the authors assembled not only those that they saw and described from nature, amounting to 178, but also those of preceding authors, whose descriptions they intercalated with their own, arranging them as much as possible according to the method they had adopted.
4One sees in these additions, proof of the prodigious care Rondelet had put into his research and of the success he achieved. Willughby was often surprised by the great number he could not find, which had not escaped the naturalist of Montpellier. After Rondelet, Marcgrave furnished the most. Willughby was also very much helped with freshwater fishes by a manuscript by Baldner, a fisherman at Strasbourg;4 and at the end of the volume, Ray added a supplement taken from Johan Nieuhof5 and some foreign fishes furnished by Martin Lister.6 The total number is 420; but the authors occasionally failed to recognize that some species were identical to certain others taken from the works of preceding authors, so there is some duplication, that scourge of natural history that is always ready to intervene as soon as the most severe criticism is not brought to bear on a compilation.
Fishes from the coasts of Cornwall
Engraving from Ray (John), Synopsis methodica piscium; opus posthumum quod vivus recensuit & perfecit ipse insignissimus autho…, London: W. Innys, 1713.
5The second volume, titled Icthyographia and composed entirely of plates, presents copies of all the illustrations by Salviani, Rondelet, Marcgrave, Clusius, Nieuhof, and other ichthyologists, with a certain number of new illustrations marked with a plus (+). They have been well engraved in copperplate, but of course they have only the degree of fidelity of the originals.
6The Synopsis methodica piscium,7 a posthumous work by Ray, is scarcely more than an abridgment of the Icthyographia, with some supplements taken from du Tertre or accounts provided by Sloane and a Cornish priest named George Jago. The latter are interesting because they contain information on fishes of Europe that had not yet been described.
7The book by Willughby forms an epoch, and a happy one, in the history of ichthyology. Subjected thenceforth to methodical forms, this science could make regular progress, distinguishing new species from old, adding them to the mass while placing them with certitude, and above all, the work provided a fairly complete model for descriptions. But, because Willughby had no nomenclature of his own, nor fixed names for his genera, his influence on the authors immediately succeeding him was scarcely noticeable. Seldom does one see his influence in the writings of that time, or even long after, on the natural history of the various provinces of England,8 although some fishes are described; nor even in the writings devoted to the natural history of particular fishes, such as that on the herring (hareng) by Dodd.9
8His influence is more noticeable in writings that describe natural resources in the English colonies, especially in Sloane’s publication on the fishes of Jamaica10 and Catesby’s on those of the Carolinas.11 The former described only thirty-nine fishes, and the illustrations are poorly done from samples poorly dried. The descriptions themselves are based solely on these samples, and most of the species were already to be found in the works of Marcgrave and du Tertre. Catesby provided better drawings, colored according to life, which gives them a validity altogether too uncommon. There are forty-three fishes, and because they were caught farther north, they are less likely to be found among fishes already described.
9Hughes, whose natural history of Barbados was not published until 1750, gave no indication in his writings of being aware of Willughby, even though he wrote about some twenty species.12
10Edwards is hardly to be included among the ichthyologists;13 only fourteen fishes are found in his writings, and half of those were already known; therefore, this is not the place to note his adherence to Willughby, whom he followed faithfully in his disposition of birds.
Turdus oculo radiato
Text and drawing from Catesby (Mark), The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands…, London: W. Innys, at the expense of the author, 1731-1743, plate 22.
Clichés Bibliothèque centrale, MNHN
11Willughby exerted even less authority on the Continent than in England; he was neglected even in works on fisheries or natural history of northern Europe; Zorgdrager,14 Egede,15 Anderson,16 Horrebow,17 and even Cranz18 took no notice of him. However, they addressed themselves more to cetaceans and seals than to fishes and did not mention the latter except as targets of large fisheries.
12Pontoppidan,19 who must have known both Artedi and Linnaeus, cited only Willughby, and then only once or twice, so much are these so-called topographic naturalists usually behind in current knowledge. There were exceptions, however: some authors were careful to consult the great English ichthyologist and conform to his classification in their descriptions. Marsigli20 should be placed in the first rank for his work on the fishes of the Danube, in his natural history of that river, which he assembled with care, described with exactitude, and illustrated with magnificent plates, and to which he added an exact anatomy of the beluga sturgeon (esturgeon hausen). The number of his species is fifty-three, among them a poécilie [actually a loach, genus Barbatula]21 found nowhere else.
Fishes of the Danube
Engraving from Marsigli (Luigi Ferdinando), Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus…, The Hague: P. Gosse, R. Chr. Alberts & P. de Hondt; Amsterdam: Uytwerf & Changuion, 1726, vol. 4, plate 2.
Cliché Bibliothèque centrale, MNHN
Notes de bas de page
1 John Ray or Wray (in Latin Raius), English theologian and one of the great naturalists of the seventeenth century, was born at Black Notley, Essex, in 1627 and died in 1705. He carried the spirit of true method into all the branches of natural history and contributed more than anyone else to the regular progress this science made during the ensuing century. [For more on Ray, see Allen (Elsa Guerdrum), “The history of American ornithology before Audubon,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series, vol. 41, no. 3, 1951, pp. 417-426; Baldwin (Stuart A.), John Ray (1627-1705), Essex naturalist: a summary of his life, work and scientific significance, Witham (Essex): Baldwin Books, 3 1986, 60 p., ills; Raven (Charles E.), John Ray, Naturalist: his life and works [with an introduction by Walters S. M.], Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, xxv + 506 p.]
2 Francis Willughby, born in 1635 of an ancient lineage in England, the several branches of which have had or still have peerages, died in 1672. He joined with Ray, his teacher and friend, to work on the natural history of animals. [For more on Willughby, see Allen (Elsa Guerdrum), “The history of American ornithology before Audubon,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series, vol. 41, no. 3, 1951, pp. 417-426; Welch (Mary A.), “Francis Willoughby, F.R.S. (1635-1672),” Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History, vol. 6, no. 2, 1972, pp. 71- 85; Raven (Charles E.), John Ray, Naturalist: his life and works [with an introduction by Walters S. M.], Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, xxv + 506 p.]
3 Willughby’s De historia piscium libri quatuor was printed at Oxford in 1686, one volume in folio, with one set of 188 plates dating from 1685. Engraving expenses were met by the members of the Royal Society of London; the president, Samuel Pepys [1633-1703], alone had 60 of them printed. [For a facsimile edition, see Willughby (Francis), De historia piscium and Ichthyographia [facsimile edition], New York: Arno Press, 1978, [VI] + 344 +30 p.]
4 We have been informed of this work [of Baldner], which still exists in the public library of Strasbourg [Cuvier apparently based his knowledge on a copy of Baldner’s manuscript that was later destroyed by fire during the siege of Strasbourg on 24 August 1870; see Allen (Elsa Guerdrum), “The history of American ornithology before Audubon,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series, vol. 41, no. 3, 1951, pp. 419-420; Allgayer (Robert), “Un Naturaliste et son œuvre oubliés, Léonard Baldner (1612-1694),” Revue Française d’Aquarologie, suppl. 1, 1991, p. 2]; it contains mediocre drawings of forty-five freshwater fishes and several other animals. [Another copy of Baldner’s work resides in the Bibliothèque Centrale du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, MS 201: “Poissons de Baldner,” a collection of colored drawings of forty-five freshwater fishes and several other animals, with various notes in French, paper, 325 x 240 mm (see Boinet (Amédée) (ed.), Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France, vol. 2: Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, École des Mines, École des Ponts-et-Chaussées, École Polytechnique, Paris: Plon-Nourrit, 1914, p. 32) —this is apparently a copy made for Cuvier of the Baldner original then extant at Strasbourg.] [Leonard Baldner (Baltner of Cuvier, a spelling that appears to have originated with Ray, 1686, in his preface to Willughby’s De historia piscium), fisherman and conservator of waters (Wasserzoller) near Strasbourg, was born in that city in 1612 and died there in 1694. In addition to the Paris copy and the original lost in 1870, Baldner’s work, which contains drawings and descriptions of fishes but also birds, quadrupeds, insects, and annelids, is represented by copies at the Municipal Library in Strasbourg, the University Library of Strasbourg, the Natural History Museum (London), and the Staendische Landesbibliothek Kassel. For more on Baldner and his zoological work, see Allgayer (Robert), “Un Naturaliste et son œuvre oubliés, Léonard Baldner (1612-1694),” Revue Française d’Aquarologie, suppl. 1, 1991, pp. 1-12.]
5 [On Johan Nieuhof, see chapter 4, note 28.]
6 [Martin Lister, English naturalist and physician, born at Radclive, near Buckingham, in 1639, died at Epsom in 1712. He was educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1658-1659; was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1671; and received an M.D. degree at Oxford in 1684. He contributed numerous articles on natural history, medicine, and antiquities to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London but was best known as a conchologist, a specialty in which he was held in high esteem (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1951, vol. 14, p. 203). For more on Lister, see Cole (Francis Joseph), A history of comparative anatomy: from Aristotle to the eighteenth century, London: Macmillan, 1949, pp. 231- 245.]
7 Ray, Synopsis methodica piscium, London, 1713, one volume in octavo. [For a facsimile edition, see Ray (John), Synopsis methodica avium et piscium [facsimile edition, edited by Derham William], New York: Arno Press, 1978, 198 + 166 p., [2] pls, ills.]
8 [James] Wallace [1642-1688], An Account of the Islands of Orkney, 1700; [Charles] Leigh [1662-1701?], The Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak, in Derbyshire, Oxford, 1700, in-folio; [John] Morton [rector of Oxendon, 1671?-1726], The Natural History of Northamptonshire, London, 1712, in folio; [John] Coker, A Survey of Dorsetshire, London, 1732, in folio; Silas Taylor [1624-1678], The History and Antiquities of Harwich and Dovercourt, in the County of Essex, to which is added an Appendix Containing the Natural History of the Sea-coast and Country about Harwich by Samuel Dale, London, 1732, in quarto. One could even extend this judgment to [William] Borlase [1695-1772], The Natural History of Cornwall, Oxford, 1758, in folio, in which, however, one sees several interesting fishes, notably the medusafish (pompile or centrolophe) [see Borlase (William), The natural history of Cornwall, the air climate, waters, rivers, lakes, sea and tides; of the stones, semimetals, metals, tin, and the manner of mining; the constitution of the stannaries; iron, copper silver lead, and gold, found in Cornwall. Vegetables, rare birds, fishes, shells, reptiles, and quadrupeds; of the inhabitants, their manners, customs, plays or interludes, exercises, and festivals; the Cornish language, trade, tenures, and arts, Oxford: W. Jackson, 1758, pp. 261-274, pls 26, 27]; and to [John] Wallis [1714-1793], The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland, London, 1769, two volumes. Most of these authors seem to have taken for their model The Natural History of Oxfordshire by Robert Plot [1640-1696], printed in 1677, Oxford, in folio, rather than the works of Ray and Willughby. Plot [1677, pl. 10, p. 212] provides illustrations of a small lamprey (lamproie) and a minnow (cyprin).
9 An Essay towards a Natural History of the Herring, by [James Solas] Dodd [1721-1805], London, 1752, in octavo.
10 Hans Sloane, born at Killyleagh in Ireland in 1660, physician to the duke of Albemarle, who was governor of this realm in 1687, died president of the Royal Society of London in 1753. Sloane published his work in English under the title A Voyage to the Islands of Madeira, Barbados, Nieves, St. Christopher’s, and Jamaica, London, 1707-1725, two volumes in folio, with 274 plates.
11 Mark Catesby, born in 1683 [died 1749], lived in Virginia from 1712 to 1719 and returned there from 1722 to 1726 at the expense of [Samuel] Dale [1659-1739], [William] Sherard [1659-1728], and Sloane [see Frick (George Frederick) & Stearns (Raymond Phineas), Mark Catesby, the colonial Audubon, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1961, X + 137 p., ills]. His Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, in two volumes in folio, London, 1731-1743, with 220 plates, at the time surpassed all other publications in the beauty of its illustrations. AGerman translation appeared [at Nuremberg in six parts] from 1749 to 1770 [a second London edition was published in 1771, and a facsimile edition, with introduction and notes, in 1974]. [For more on Catesby, see Allen (Elsa Guerdrum), “The history of American ornithology before Audubon,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series, vol. 41, no. 3, 1951, pp. 463-478.]
12 Griffith Hughes [1707-1758], Anglican vicar at St. Lucia on the island of Barbados, published in English a natural history of that island, London, 1750, in folio. Of his twenty fishes, only two are illustrated [ “the triangular fish” and “the dolphin” (see Hughes (Griffith), The natural history of Barbados, London: For the author, 1750, bk 10, pp. 299- 314, pls 28, 29)].
13 George Edwards [1694-1773], English painter and librarian of the Royal Society of London, published a series of two collections containing in all 362 plates: ANatural History of Uncommon Birds, and of Some Other Rare and Undescribed Animals, Quadrupeds, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, etc., in four volumes in quarto, London, 1743-1751; and Gleanings of Natural History, Exhibiting Figures of Quadrupeds, Birds, Insects, Plants, etc., in three volumes, 1758-1764. His illustrations are quite exact and are among the best of the eighteenth century. In each volume he follows the ornithological method of Willughby. [For more on Edwards, see Allen (Elsa Guerdrum), “The history of American ornithology before Audubon,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series, vol. 41, no. 3, 1951, pp. 480-486.]
14 Cornelius Gisbert Zorgdrager [born c. 1650] author of a very confused work on the whale fishery of Greenland and the cod fishery of Newfoundland, printed in Dutch at Amsterdam in 1720 and [at The Hague in] 1727 and in German at [Leipzig in 1723 and at] Nuremberg in 1750.
15 Hans Egede [1686-1758], Norwegian clergyman [and bishop of Greenland], left for Greenland in 1721 out of religious zeal and lived there until 1736. It is under his direction that the Moravian brothers established a mission there in 1733. His description and natural history of Greenland was printed at Copenhagen, in Danish in 1741, in quarto, and in French in 1763, in octavo. There is an English translation, London, 1745.
16 Johann Anderson, merchant and burgomaster from Hamburg (1674-1743), was author of a natural history of Iceland, Greenland, Davis Strait, and other northern countries, printed in German at Hamburg in 1746, and in French at Paris in two volumes in duodecimo, 1750.
17 Niels Horrebow [1712-1760], Danish clergyman, sent to Iceland by the king of Denmark, produced a physical, historical, and so forth, description of that island, printed in Danish at Copenhagen in 1752, [in English at London in 1758], and in French at Paris in 1766, two volumes in duodecimo.
18 David Cranz [1723-1777], Moravian missionary, author of a history of Greenland, printed in German at Barby in 1765- 1770, two volumes in octavo; and in English at London in 1767, in octavo. An excerpt of it is published in [Antoine François Prévost’s (1697-1763)] Histoire general des voyages, vol. 19, 1770.
19 Erik [Ludvigsen] Pontoppidan, born at Århus in 1698, bishop of Bergen in Norway, died in 1764, published in Danish a natural history of Norway, Copenhagen, 1752-1753, in quarto, of which there is an English translation, London, 1755, in folio, and two German translations: Copenhagen, 1753-1754, two volumes in quarto; and Flensburg and Leipzig, 1769, one volume in quarto. He writes about fishes, but as a naturalist who is not well educated in the science and who is too credulous. [see Pontoppidan (Erik Ludvigsen), Norges naturlige historie [facsimile edition], Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1977, 2 vols.]
20 Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli [or Marsilli], born 1658, a nobleman of Bologna, officer in the service of Austria in 1682, prisoner in Turkey in 1683, degraded in 1703 for surrendering Fribourg, founder of the Institute of Bologna in 1715, died in 1730. He published in 1726 a description of the course of the river Danube and of the natural production of its waters and its banks, in six volumes, in folio, under the title Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus [For more on Marsigli, see Stoye (John), Marsigli’s Europe, 1680-1730: The life and times of Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, soldier and virtuoso, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993, xii + 356 p., ills]. The fourth volume, devoted to fishes [and titled De piscibus in aquis Danubii viventibus], contains very handsome illustrations of fifty-three species. The anatomy of the beluga sturgeon (hausen) is described and illustrated in vol. 6 [pp. 15-17, pls 9-21].
21 [Obviously this fish cannot be a member of the New World cyprinodontiform family Poeciliidae (as defined by current taxonomy), as indicated by Cuvier. Marsigli (1726, pl. 25, fig. 1) referred to a fish he called Gobius caninus and provided an illustration of the same labeled “Fundulus” or “nostris Germanis Grundel,” which is quite clearly the European stone loach Barbatula barbatula (Linnaeus, 1758) (Alwyne C. Wheeler, pers. comm., 6 November 1993; see Valenciennes (Achille), “Du genre Ombre (Umbra),” in Cuvier (Georges) & Valenciennes (Achille) (eds), Histoire naturelle des poissons, Paris; Strasbourg: Levrault, 1847, vol. 19, p. 539).]
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