Volume 1

The history of British fishes / [Robert Hamilton].

  • Hamilton, Robert, M.D.
Date:
[1876]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of British fishes / [Robert Hamilton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of the limits of what are now called classes, and the general differences and relations of such sections of the animal kingdom, cannot be said to be superior to tliose of Aristotle, from whose writings, indeed, they were principally derived; and they may even be affirmed, in some respects, to fall greatly short of the views of his great master. Such being the cliaracter of the work in regard to the more general features of the subject, we must look for its merits in the particular history and description of the species introduced, and on examining these we are at no loss to find much to commend. It is true that no small degree of what we are now prone to regard as useless labour and erudition are employed in tracing out the old names of species, and making us acquainted with all that ‘ those ancients' have said and sung about them; but when released from this prolixity, we find a good deal of accurate observa- tion and description, and what may be called legiti- mate natural history. This holds true in particular in regard to the fishes of the Meiliterranean, as the author’s residence on its shores afforded him facilities for investigating them such as few writers have en- joyed. Here, accordingly, we have useful notices of their habits, and other interesting ])articulars in their general history, points in which the accounts of tho fishes from other quarters are very defective. Tho same advantage enabled our author to become ac- quainted with a good many very rare species, which few ichthyologists even of the present day have had an opportunity of examining, and they are f)blifrcd,