The works of Artedi and Linnæus excited fresh activity, more especially in Scandinavia, Holland, Germany, and England, such as has not been equalled in the history of biological science either before or after. Whilst some of the pupils and followers of Linnæus devoted themselves to an examination and study of the fauna of their native countries, others proceeded on voyages of discovery to foreign and distant countries. Of these latter the following may be specially mentioned:--_O. Fabricius_ worked out the Fauna of Greenland, _Kalm_ collected in North America, _Hasselquist_ in Egypt and Palestine, _Brünnich_ in the Mediterranean, _Osbeck_ in Java and China, _Thurnberg_ in Japan; _Forskål_ examined and described the fishes of the Red Sea; _Steller_, _Pallas_, _S. T. Gmelin_, and _Güldenstedt_ traversed nearly the whole of the Russian Empire in Europe and Asia. Others attached themselves as naturalists to the celebrated circumnavigators of the last century, like the two _Forsters_ (father and son), and _Solander_, who accompanied Cook; _Commerson_, who travelled with Bougainville; and _Sonnerat_. Numerous new and startling forms were discovered by those men, and the foundation was laid of the knowledge of the geographical distribution of animals. Of those who studied the fishes of their native country the most celebrated are _Pennant_ (Great Britain), _O. F. Müller_ (Denmark), _Duhamel_ (France), _Meidinger_ (Austria), _Cornide_ (Spain), _Parra_ (Cuba). The materials brought together by those and other zoologists were so numerous that, not long after the death of Linnæus, the necessity was felt of collecting them in a compendious form. Several compilators undertook this task; they embodied the recent discoveries in new editions of Artedi’s and Linné’s classical works, but not possessing either a knowledge of the subject or any critical discernment, they only succeeded in covering those noble monuments under a mass of confused rubbish. For Ichthyology it was fortunate that two men at least, Bloch and Lacépède, made it a subject of long and original research. * * * * * [Sidenote: M. E. Bloch.] MARK ELIEZER BLOCH, born in the year 1723 at Anspach in Germany, practised as a physician in Berlin; he had reached an age of fifty-six years when he commenced to write on ichthyological subjects. To commence at his age a work in which he intended not only to give full descriptions of the species known to him from specimens or drawings, but also to illustrate every species in a style truly magnificent for his time, was an undertaking of the execution of which an ordinary man would have despaired. Yet he accomplished not only this task, but even more, as we shall see hereafter. His work consists of two divisions:-- 1. “Oeconomische Naturgeschichte der Fische Deutschlands” (Berl. 1782–4, 4to. Plates in fol.) 2. “Naturgeschichte der auslændischen Fische” (Berl. 1785–95, 4to. Plates in fol.)