Studies on the unpublished specimens of Japanese animals collected by Von Siebold and now preserved in the museums of the Netherlands. (2nd survey)

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This project aims to study the zoological specimens those are not described in the special series of publications, Fauna Japonica, edited and published by Von Siebold. We made our best effort to find his specimens as many as possible and also to find other natural hisotry materials to have a clue to understand Von Siebold's aim in collecting of natural historical specimens.1. Specimens of insects; 350 species in 1450 specimens were found. The species composition of this collection shows that Von Siebold was interested in insect fauna of Japan.2. Specimens of crustaceas; 205 species in 2000 specimens were examined. The quality of this collection is exellent. Von Siebold was very careful in the preparation of specimens. We found two different kinds of specimens, dry and in preservative, in most of species. The collection contains not only the species collected near Nagasaki but also those in Hokkaido and the Ryukyus.3. Specimens of plants; 75 species in 510 sheets were examined. Those were very beautifully and carefully prepared. Some of those were the specimens collected on the journey to Edo.4. Specimens of molluscs and echinoderms; identification was finished and complete list of the specimens preserved in the Netherlands was made.5. Fossils; 300 specimens were found at the Geological Museum. However, we could not find the most important specimens such as fossils of fish and teeth of elephant.6. Paintings of animals and plants; we examined numerous pictures by Kawahara Keiga and tried to identify the species. We also examined the manuscripts and pictures of several Japanese naturalists such as Kurimoto Suiken and Okochi Zonshin.