| Date Note | Collection sent to London in 1834, one drawing of this collection dated 1835 |
| Description | Watercolour studies of seven scales from the fossil fish Holoptychius rugosus Agassiz, by Joseph Dinkel, [1834-1835], from the collection of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Note: the top of the sheet is marked '[Samuel] Hibbert'who persuaded the Royal Society of Edinburgh to fund the acquisition of fossils being found in the freshwater limestone at Burdie House, Scotland. (Andrews, 1982) |
| Administrative History | Collected/drawn as part of the research for Louis Agassiz's 'Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles' (1833-1843/1844).
According to Andrews (1982), Agassiz chose the specimens from the Royal Society of Edinburgh he wished to have drawn by Joseph Dinkel, sent to London in 1834.
The fossils found in the limestone quarry of Burdie House, outside of Edinburgh, were initially thought by Samuel Hibbert to belong to a new species of saurian reptile. As the limestone was of freshwater origin, the first such strata to be discovered in the Carboniferous, Hibbert feared that the other fossils in the quarry would be pillaged by various fossil collectors (and hence scattered throughout the country). He therefore convinced the Royal Society of Edinburgh to collect them systematically. The RSE's Museum collection was broken up and many of the specimens are now lost. The remains were later identified by Agassiz as being from fish - having previously agreed with Hibbert that they were saurian in nature. His change of opinion may have been influenced by Robert Jameson who did not agree with Hibbert. |