本文主要以二十世紀初葉，蔡守在《國粹學報》〈博物圖畫〉中所繪與《爾雅》〈釋獸〉、〈釋鳥〉、〈釋魚〉有關的動物為討論對象。嘗試說明二十世紀初的中國知識份子，如何從傳統經典著眼於形、音、義的「名物觀」，轉向西方徵實之學的「博物觀」。值得注意的是，蔡守的〈博物圖畫〉其文字部分，雖時常援引中國經典古籍如《爾雅》、《詩經》、《說文》、《山海經》等對該物的描述；然而在圖像部分，却明顯轉抄自當時甫出版不久的西方博物學書籍，如Lydekker, Richard所著的The Royal Natural History(1893-96)和Hird, Dennis, A Picture Book of Evolution(1906-07)等書。透過本文的研究，我們發現蔡守乃是循著中國經典的注疏傳統，輔以西方博物書籍的圖像，試圖提出一套由訓詁的「名物」轉變至自然科學的「博物」之識物觀。雖然其嘗試，從今日的角度來看，並非是一次成功的典範轉移，但透過其過程的追索，也讓我們看到近代中西學轉譯的一個側面。

In order to understand the shift of perspectives from semantics to natural history of modern Chinese intellectuals, this paper will focus on the explaining of beasts, birds and fishes of “Bo Wu Tu Hua “ in Guo cui Xue Bao by Cai Shou. It is worth noting that “Bo Wu Tu Hua “（natural history drawings） were divided two parts: textural descriptions and biological images. The former always mentions Chinese Classics and the later often imitates the images from Western related books, such as Lydekker, Richard’s The Royal Natural History(1893-96) and Hird, Dennis’s A Picture Book of Evolution(1906-07). This paper analyzes how Cai Shou follows the traditional context of Chinese Semantics and borrows recently Western biological images to form a new natural history in China.