chapter 3 Identification of Herring Species (Clupeidae) in Conrad Gessner’s Ichthyological Works: A Case Study on Taxonomy, Nomenclature, and Animal Depiction in the Sixteenth Century

Sophia Hendrikx

Between 1551 and 1558 the Swiss physician and naturalist Conrad Gessner (1516–1565) published the very first zoological encyclopaedia, the Historiae Animalium. Out of four volumes, Liber IV, the De Piscium et aquatilium ani- malium natura (1558), on fish and aquatic animals, is of special interest for research on taxonomy in the sixteenth century. Since the tenth edition of Linnaeus’ Systema naturae (1758), taxonomy is understood to be the definition and separation of groups of biological organisms on the basis of morphological characteristics, and the creation of a hierarchical classification. In present-day ichthyology this is done by measuring and counting external physical charac- teristics, such as the length/height ratio of the body, or the number and posi- tion of the fins in relation to the animal’s head and tail. Linnaeus’ taxonomy makes it possible to distinguish species, establish relationships between spe- cies, and create a logical nomenclature. Although it does not meet Linnaean standards in classifying species by measuring and counting external morpho- logical characteristics, Conrad Gessner’s ichthyological work sets the ground- work for an organisation of species as falling into groups or genera, and as varying to a greater or lesser extent according to morphological characteristics. Remarkably, very little has been published on De piscium et aquatilium ani- malium natura (1558) or Gessner’s subsequent ichthyological work. In contrast, Liber I of Gessner’s Historiae Animalium, the De Quadrupedibus viviparis (1551), received much more attention. Based on Liber I of the Historiae Animalium, it is sometimes suggested Gessner failed to take into account whether the material he published had sufficient scientific value, and that he copied text without applying proper criteria for selection.1 This negative press has largely obscured the scientific value of Gessner’s ichthyological work.

1 Kusukawa S., “The Sources of Gessner’s Pictures for the Historiae Animalium”, Annals of Science 67, 3 (2010) 303–328.

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The present article outlines the identification of herring species in Conrad Gessner’s work as one of many groups of species Gessner outlined and named correspondingly. Gessner produced three subsequent ­ichthyological ­publications: Liber IV of the Historiae Animalium (1558), the Nomenclator Aquatilium Animantium (1560), and the Fischbuch (1563). In addition, he left a collection of hundreds of original drawings (ca. 1543–1565), upon which he modelled many of his woodcuts. These were assembled into albums and anno- tated by Gessner’s associate Felix Platter (1536–1614).2 Gessner’s identification of species progressed from the Historiae Animalium to his later ichthyologi- cal publications. In the Historiae Animalium Gessner already identifies a ‘core group’ of very similar species—each of which is also described separately— which he outlines in his description of the herring. In the Nomenclator and the Fischbuch he connects further, separately described species with this group by introducing a consistent nomenclature that is applied to this group only, calling these species Hering, Häring, or “Hering Art”. Combined with the ‘core group’ of similar species, this identifies and connects a group of eight ‘herring- like’ species. Physical characteristics listed in the description of the herring are repeated in the descriptions of the species Gessner identifies as similar. The nomenclature in the Nomenclator and the Fischbuch consequently reflects the group in which a species should be placed based on its morphology, while in the Historiae Animalium this is not yet done. These references to a wider family of species take place in the primary German nomenclature. By primary nomen- clature is meant names used to describe a species that are not merely cited from other authors, or names that are part of an overview of local names. This can generally be found in the title above the descriptions, in the first lines of the descriptions, and in the Nomenclator at the bottom of the descriptions, where Gessner presents primary nomenclature in various languages. Gessner was the first to group related or similar species together on this scale using nomencla- ture. What does Gessner’s identification of species tell us of his conception of classification into groups? Based on which characteristics does Gessner group species together, and does he successfully distinguish between similar species? In his attention to species’ physical characteristics and, in connection with this, the relation between species, Gessner’s work is a significant improvement upon the work of other sixteenth-century ichthyologists, such as Pierre Belon

2 Now held at the Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam and identified in 2012, see: Egmond F., “A Collection within a Collection. Rediscovered Animal Drawings from the Collections of Conrad Gessner and Felix Platter”, Journal of the History of Collections 25, 2 (2012) 149–170.