of a “Geography of Cuba,” and of a “Treatise on Mineralogy,” used
in the Havana schools. A number of poems from his pen have likewise
been published, but these I have not seen.
The great work of Poey's life is the still unpublished “Ictiología Cubana.” This is to contain a detailed account of each of the fishes of Cuba. It is to be composed, according to a statement of Poey, published in a Havana paper, “of a thick volume of text, Spanish folio, and of an atlas of ten volumes larger folio (eighteen by thirteen inches). The plates are made with a light indication of the colors, which are described in the text. All are original, drawn from nature by the author. . . . The text contains the scientific name of each species, the common name, the complete synonymy, a description of the colors, distinctive peculiarities, relations of the varieties, comparisons, critical observations, and the history of the fish. It contains, moreover, the characters of classes, sub-classes, orders, families, genera, and species. The total number of plates in the Atlas is 1,040. These show 758 species of Cuban fishes, represented by 1,300 individuals in all stages of growth. All except the sharks are drawn of life-size.
“These 758 species, together with 24 mentioned at the end of the work, make up 782 species of Cuban fishes. Of these, 105 are doubtful, and therefore are left without specific names. I hold them in suspense till I can receive further data from the study of other specimens. There are, therefore, 677 species well determined, of which more than half have been first made known by me. Not more than a dozen species in the list have not been examined by me. These are inserted on the authority of writers who claim to have received their specimens from Cuba, and who appear to be worthy of confidence.
“The preparation of the text has cost me an immense amount of time and labor, by the preparatory studies which it has required. In the determination of the species it is rarely that a single one has not occupied me for an entire week. I have wished to make known the certain as certain, and the doubtful as doubtful, so that I shall declare nothing to be new unless it is so in reality.”
The manuscripts of this great work are now in duplicate. One copy is retained by Professor Poey; the other has been purchased by the Spanish Government for $5,000. It is expected and earnestly hoped by Professor Poey and his friends that the Government will soon order its publication, but, unfortunately, there seems to be no certainty of this.
The manuscripts and drawings of the “Ictiología Cubana” were placed on exhibition by the Spanish Government in the Exposition of Amsterdam in 1883. In testimonial of their worth. Professor Poey has received from King William III the decoration of the order of the “Lion Néerlandais.” Before this, as the most distinguished of Spanish naturalists, he had received from the King of Spain the title of “Encomendador de la Orden de Isabella la Católica.”
