In 1818, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque visited John James Audubon at the
ornithologist's home in Henderson, Kentucky. Rafinesque was collecting
plants and animals throughout the Ohio River Valley. The first night of his
visit, Audubon was awakened and, in his own words, "saw my guest running
about the room naked, holding the handle of my favorite violin, the body of
which had been battered against the walls in attempting to kill the bats
which had entered by the open window... I stood amazed , but he continued
jumping and running round and round, until he was fairly exhausted, when he
begged me to procure one of the animals for him, as he felt convinced that
they belonged to a 'new species.'"
The violin was a Cremona (not a Stradivarius as is sometimes reported), and
Audubon was able to get Rafinesque his specimens by using the bow to
administer "a smart tap" to each of the bats as they flew in. To exact
revenge, during the following weeks (or on subsequent visits), Audubon
apparently described and sketched, at least 10 imaginary fishes to a
trusting (and gullible) Rafinesque, who dutifully included them in his book
"Ichthylogia Ohiensis." Most of the species were large and similar in
appearance to other large riverine fishes with which Rafinesque was
familiar. These species include a sturgeon with two dorsal fins and a
gar-like fish (the devil-jack diamond-fish) which, like Superman, was
impervious to bullets.
The Rafinesque-Audubon story is very well-documented and is included in most
biographical works of the two naturalists. Audubon, himself, wrote a
first-hand account of his experiences with "The Eccentric Naturalist" in his
1830's "Ornithological Biography." R.E. Call, wrote a chapter-length
biography of Rafinesque in 1895, saying that the professor "was victimized
in a most cruel and reprehensible manner" by Audubon's "practical joke." I
have not seen Audubon's book or Call's chapter. Lyn Barber, however,
relates the story in some detail in her book "The HeyDay of Natural
History." Her book is readily available (and is wonderful reading) and
includes quotes from Audubon's account. Doug Markle, who has examined
Rafinesque's notebook containing the Audubon fishes wrote a thoughtful
analysis of the incident in Archives of Natural History. It includes
photo-reproductions of the pages of Rafinesque's notebook.
An interesting sidelight - Rafinesque's Notebook number 17, which includes
the fictional fishes, also includes the original, and still-valid
descriptions of many other familiar native fishes of which Rafinesque is
given nomenclatural authority. These include: shortnose gar, river
carpsucker, black buffalo (an Audubon species!?), smallmouth buffalo,
stonecat, flathead catfish, and fantail darter.
-----Original Message-----
From: D. Martin Moore
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2000 3:38 PM
To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
Subject: Re: NANFA-- paddlefish T-shirts and fabricated fishes
Quoth Jay DeLong regarding NANFA-- paddlefish T-shirts and fab:
> That is such a good article. Jan, if you're reading this, what is
> the story behind with Audubon's broken violin, and can you say
> anything about Audubon's other fabricated fishes?
It's a great story. I'll let Jan tell it :-)
Prost,
Martin
------
"Cry to it, nuncle. as the cockney did to the eels when she put
'em i' the paste alive; she knapped 'em o' the coxcombs with a
stick, and cried 'Down wantons, down!'"
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