iv P R E F A C E .
attempts, I was obliged to relinquish my design. In a hot climate, the
colours o f fish are more rapidly fugitive after death than in serpents.
T h ey escape w h ile the painter is adjusting his palette; and in the fine
gradations from the most brilliant to the softer evanescent tints, nature,
through boundless variety, ever maintains a certain harmony and characteristic
simplicity in her transitions, that required a delicate pencil
under more masterly guidance than my artist had pretensions to.
I the rather mention this circumstance for its having led to an exuberance
in description w h ich might have otherwise been spared. Yet over
minute as I thought I had been in point o f colour, it was found upon
trial by more than one artist in London, that insuperable obstacles arose
to colouring the Drawings from my descriptions.
From a graduated scale o f colours marked by figures, the tints selected
by myself were marked by correspondent figures on the Drawings, and
the written description laid before the painter at the same time. In the
returned Drawings the predominant colours were found tolerably exact ;
but numerous interstices remained blank, w h ich neither the description
nor my recollection could supply: if filled up at all, it must have been
merely by conjecture.
I am inclined therefore to think that drawings o f fish can only be
properly coloured from recent subjects; and that in proportion as fancy
and conjecture are admitted, or recollection at any distance o f time relied
on, coloured drawings descend below verbal descriptions.
Language affords definite terms for the prime colours, and many o f their
shades; and by leaving those interstitial gradations blank w h ich the
pencil only can express adequately, the eye is less liable to be misled
than when attracted by glaring colours, obtruded sometimes contrary to
truth, and often at variance with the harmonious simplicity o f nature.
Th e force o f this remark w ill be felt more sensibly on a comparison o f
some o f the plain engravings in Valentine’s History o f Am boina,‘ with
the illuminated figures o f the same fishes in Renard.+
• F r a n c is V a l e n tin e , a D n tc h c le r g ym a n a t A n tb o in a , B a n d a , Icc. in h is h i s to r y o f th o s e c o u n trie s , p u b lis h e d m D u tc h ,
i n 1 7 2 6 , h a s g iv e n e n g ra v e d fig u re s , to g e th e r w ith s h o r t d e s c r ip tio n s , o f a b o u t to u r h u n d r e d a n d s .x ly fish e s. B u t ,n
b o th , th e e s s e n t ia l c h a r a c te r s h a v e b e e n so lit tle a tte n d e d to , a n d th e c a p r ic e o f th e p a in te r e x e r e .s e d w .tl. su c h u n c o n -
tr o lle d lic e n c e , th a t l it lle b e y o n d c o n je c tu r a l in fo rm a tio n c a n b e d e r iv e d f rom m o s t o f th em .
P R E F A C E .
From what has been said no more is meant to be inferred, than that
coloured drawings, in regard to most Indian fishes, can be accurately
executed in India o n ly ; that such as have been done in Europe from
wet or dry specimens are often faulty; and that some figures in Bloch’s
justly celebrated work, cannot, in point of colour, claim exemption. It
may be proper to add, that notwithstanding my own failure, I entertain
no doubt of the success of Indian artists under better instruction than I
was capable o f giving.
in the arrangement o f the Collection, there is little deviation from the
Liiinean classification. Of the genera newly instituted, one only Irom
Bloch has been adopted.
That the large additions made lately to the catalogue o f Indian fishes
unknown to Artedi and Linneus require new invented genera, can admit
of little doubt. Many have been formed by Bloch in his late History ol
Fishes; and a much more considerable number by La Cepede in his
Continuation o f Buffon’s Natural History
Of the merit o f these late innovations, unknown to me in India, I do
not presume to judge. T h e present collection affording but few instances
to sanction innovation, I deemed it better to adhere to the classification
long familiar to me; and when in doubt to what genus the subject
belonged, to place it nearest the one to which it seemingly bore most
affinity: leaving it with more experienced naturalists to transfer each to
its proper station.
+ A n o th e r c o lle c tio n , b u t o f c o lo u re d fig u re s , p a in te d b y o r d e r o f M . B a lth a z a r C o y e tt, w h e n g o v e rn o r o f th e
M o lu c c a Is la n d s , was p u b lis h e d a t A m s te rd am in 1754, a n d d e d ic a te d to h is B r ita n n ic M a je s ty . T lie n um b e r o f fishes
in tw o v o lum e s am o u n t to ab o v e f o u r h u n d r e d , a n d m o st o f th em a g re e in s h a p e w ith th e fig u re s in V a l e n t in e : in
c o lo u r th e r e is f r e q u e n t v a ria tio n , w h ic h th e E d i to r in h is P re fa c e u n su c c e s s fu lly a ttem p ts to a c c o u n t fo r. I n r e s p e c t
to th e s e co n d v o lum e , th e E d ito r ow n s tlia t th e p a in te r h a d ta k e n m o s t u n ju s tifia b le lib e r ty in c o lo u r in g ; a c o n c e s s io n
th a t m ig h t sa fe ly h a v e b e e n e x te n d e d to th e first.
E ig h t y e a r s b e fo re V a le n tin e ’s h is to ry , a c o lle c tio n p ro fe s s in g to b e o f u n k n ow n I n d ia n fish e s, h a d b e en p u b lis h e d
a t A m s te rd am b y H e n . R u y s c h . I t c o n ta in s a b o u t fo u r h u n d r e d f ig u re s , th e g r e a te r p a r t o f w h ic h a re f o u n d in
V a l e n tin e ; th e y a re sm a lle r in siz e, b u t e q u a lly r u d e a n d e x tra v a g a n t.
T h e sty le o f d r aw in g in th e th r e e a b o v e -m e n tio n e d c o lle c tio n s su ffic ie n tly d e n o te s th e h a n d o f I n d ia n a rti s ts . B u t
a r e s em b la n c e so s tr ik in g in fig u re s , s k e tc h e d b y d if f e r e n t h a n d s a t d is ta n t p e r io d s , m u s t e ith e r s u p p o s e e x is tin g
o rig in a ls from w h ic h th e y d rew , o r a dm it a c o in c id e n c e in th e s p o r tin g o f p u r e fa n c y m o re im p ro b a b le th a n th e u tm o s t
e x tra v a g a n c e o f th e fig u re s r e p r e s e n te d . T o th is m a y b e a d d e d , th a t th e o r ig in a l o f s e v e r a l fig u re s lo n g h e ld as
fic titio u s h a v e la te ly b e e n w e ll d e s c r ib e d ; ju s t ify in g a n o p in io n h a z a rd e d b y th e em in e n t n a tu ra lis t P a lla s , th a t
th e o r ig in a ls o f a ll w ill in tim e b e d isc o v e re d -