| OCR Text |
Show 286 MR. C. DAVIES SHERB0RN ON THE DATES OF [Feb. 16, p. 1234. A separate copy in the Tweeddale Library, Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), has on the title 1810, and includes " Observations sur le systeme des Oiseaux de l'Egypte," dated 5 Dec, 1810, and "a Paris de l'imprimerie imperiale, 1811." There is also a footnote on A 2 " Le premier ordre de ce systeme a paru en 1809, dans la premiere livraison de l'ouvrage general." There is no doubt that Livr. 1 appeared in 1809 and that the " Oiseaux " formed a part of it: therefore the date is 1 8 0 9 . V O L . I., part 1, "•Reptiles" by Geoffroy, pp. 115-120: by Isidore Geoffroy, pp. 121-160 : explication des planches des Beptiles, by V. Audouin, pp. 161-184. " Crocodiles " by Geoffroy, pp. 185-264. "Suite des Poissons du Nil " by Isidore Geoffroy, pp. 265-310. " Polssons de la Mer Rouge " by Isidore Geoffroy, pp. 311-343. I take these parts all together. The Reptiles of Etienne Geoffroy was completed by his son Isidore, and an explanation of the plates was given by Audouin. The Suite des Polssons and the Poissons de la Mer Rouge were reviewed in Fe'russac's Bulletin (xx., 1830, p. 319) as having recently appeared. Isidore Geoffroy, writing in D u Petit Thouars's 'Voyage de la Venus' (Mamm. p. 2, f.n.), says : "Dans les parties erpetologique et ichthyologique du grand ouvrage sur l'Egypte, 1827." Iu the 8vo edition of Savigny, the Beptiles, Fishes, and Crocodiles occupy vol. xxiv., which was published in 1829 ; while it is certain that many of the explications des •planches of Audouin were published in 1826. In Ferussac, Bull. Scl. Nat. xix., 1829, p. 336, and xx., 1830, pp. 147 and 319, the two volumes of Natural History of Egypt are reviewed. Georges Cuvier dated his preface to the 2nd edition of ' Le Begne Animal,' Octobre 1828, at which date we may with safety assume that his work was finished. H e was the most likely person to see the ' Histoire Naturelle de l'Egypte'; and an examination of his volumes shows that, though he was familiar with the plates, he had not seen the whole of the text by the date he w-rote his preface. Unfortunately Cuvier frequently omitted to quote more than the plate in his references, and this makes our enquiry more difficult. So far as Mammals are concerned, Cuvier quotes thrice only (pp. 115, 119, and 120), but these quotations do not settle anything. In Vol. ii. of ' Begne Animal,' dealing with Beptiles and Fishes, he quotes the work many times, and notably the text of the " Crocodiles " on p. 22. N o w as the " Crocodiles " formed pp. 185-264 of Vol. I. of ' Hist. Nat. de l'Egypte,' we may conclude that pp. 115-264 of that volume, which included the Beptiles, were published before October 1828; and, accepting Isidore Geoffroy's statement in the Voyage of the Venus (supra) as correct, definitely fix the date as 1 8 2 7 . The Fishes alsot which form pp. 265-343 of the Vol. II. of the ' Hist. Nat. de l'Egypte,' are quoted only as plates by Cuvier in his ' Begne Animal.' In Cuvier and Valenciennes's Hist. Nat. Poissons, 1, 1828, pp. 198, 199, Cuvier refers to the work as follows:- |
