PREFACE 



TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



ON publishing the second edition of the History of British 

 Fishes, I have again respectfully and very sincerely to return 

 my best thanks to those friends and naturalists who have, 

 either by their private communications or public announce- 

 ments, supplied the novelties contained herein. 



These additions to the British Catalogue of Fishes are so 

 many gratifying testimonials of the increasing number of ob- 

 servers, whose attention is directed towards the inhabitants of 

 our seas ; and I feel a sincere pleasure in the prospect of the 

 many new subjects, and more correct illustrations, which our 

 Ichthyology is likely to derive from the great interest now 

 taken in this branch of Natural History. 



Since the completion of the first edition of the Fishes in 

 the summer of 1886, thirty-seven new species have been added 

 to our list, twenty-seven of which appeared in the Supplement 

 to the British Fishes, published in 1839, and ten have been 

 ascertained since ; all of which are now incorporated in their 

 respective places in the present edition, which now includes 

 two hundred and sixty-three species. Twenty-seven fishes 

 have been newly engraved for this edition, either from speci- 

 mens, or from better representations than were previously 

 available ; thirty-four new vignettes, illustrative or ornamen- 

 tal, have also been added, and the whole work contains im- 

 pressions from four hundred and eighty-five blocks, producing 

 more than five hundred figures. 



