248 LAKE SUPERIOR. 



countries whence it came from. And the more minutely we trace 

 this geographical distribution, the more we are impressed with the 

 conviction that it must be primitive, that is to say, that animals must 

 have originated where they live, and have remained almost precisely 

 within the same limits ever since they were created, except in a few 

 cases, where, under the influence of man, those limits have been 

 extended over large areas. To express this view still more distinctly, 

 I should say that the question to be settled is, whether for instance 

 the wild animals which live in America originated in this continent, 

 or migrated into it from other parts of the world ; whether the black 

 bear was created in the forests of New England and the Northern 

 States, or whether it is derived from some European bear, which by 

 some means found its way to this continent, and being under the 

 influence of a new climate, produced a new race ; whether the many 

 peculiar birds of North America which live in forests composed of 

 trees different from those which occur either in Europe or Asia, 

 whether these birds, which themselves are not identical with those of 

 any other country, were or were not created where they live ; 

 whether the snapping turtle, the alligator, the rattlesnake, and other 

 reptiles which are found only in America, have become extinct in the 

 Old World after migrating over the Atlantic, to be preserved in this 

 continent ; whether the fishes of the great Canadian lakes made their 

 appearance first in those waters, or migrated thither from somewhere 

 else ? These are the questions which such an inquiry into the geo- 

 graphical distribution of animals involves ; it is the great question of 

 the unity or plurality of creations ; it is not less the question of the 

 origin of animals from single pairs or in large numbers ; and, strange 

 to say, a thorough examination of the fishes of Lake Superior, com- 

 pared with those of the adjacent waters, is likely to throw more light 

 upon such questions, than all traditions, however ancient, however 

 near in point of time to the epoch of creation itself. 



In order to proceed methodically in this investigation, our first 

 step must be to examine minutely, whether the fishes of Lake Supe- 

 rior are the same as those of other lakes in this or any other country, 

 and if not, how they differ. To satisfy ourselves in this respect, AVC 

 shall successively examine all the families of fishes which have repre- 

 sentatuos in those great fieshwater seas. 



