Herring Unknown

Ichthyological study of two species from the herring family, including a sardine [top], here styled Harengus minor, and an Atlantic herring [bottom], Clupea harengus, here styled Harengus major.

Printed inscription: ‘1. Harengus minor, sive Pilchardus, a Pilchard./ 2. Harengus. a Herring/ Tab. P 1. Sumptibus D. Abraham Hill e S. R.’ with further handwritten annotation: 2. Harengus major Lucidus Sardina Roma Chatecidis species Bellon./ 1. Colerinus Pallorum Bellon. Sardina Roma’. Numbered ‘106’ in the top right-hand corner.

Plate P:1 from De historia piscium libri quatuor, by Francis Willughby and John Ray (Oxford, 1686).

Francis Willughby (1635-1672), British naturalist, was an Original Fellow of the Royal Society.

John Ray (1627-1705), British naturalist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1667.

Abraham Hill (1630-1732), British merchant, was a Founding Fellow of the Royal Society, elected in 1660 and served as the Society's Treasurer from 1663-65. As Treasurer, Hill was responsible for the purchase of stock in the Royal African Company, a Crown-approved British monopoly which was heavily involved in the transatlantic slave trade.