Pood and Game Ptel)e3 of Rev ^orl^. 



By TARLETON H. BEAN, 



CHIEF, DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME, WORLD'S FAIR, ST. LOUIS. 



Introdactor\5 Cl)apter. 



THE most recent catalogue of New York fishes includes 375 species, but this 

 is to some extent a compilation, and the number is liable to change after 

 systematic investigations of the inland waters have been made. 



The food and game fishes mentioned in this article number 149 species. These 

 belong to 36 families, of which the most important in the number of species repre- 

 sented are the Catfish, the Sucker, the Minnow, the Herring, the Salmon, the Pike, 

 the Mackerel, the Sunfish, the Weakfish, the Cod, and Flatfish families. 



The State is greatly diversified in contour and has an extensive water area. Its 

 drainage systems are the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, the St. Lawrence, the Ohio 

 Basin, the Susquehanna, the Delaware, the Hudson, with such adjacent small 

 streams as the Passaic, Hackensack, VValkill and Bron.x, and the great inland lakes, 

 nearly all of which communicate with Lake Ontario. 



Long Island is richer in fishes than the rest of the State, but its species are 

 chiefly marine ; its fresh waters contain few kinds and of those about one-half are 

 recent introductions. 



The only extended systematic series of observations upon the occurrence of the 



fishes in any part of the State appears to be recorded by the writer in the Bulletin 



of the American Museum of Natural History, volume IX, 1897, pages 374 to 375. 



This is the record of Mr. \V. I. DeNyse at Gravesend Beach, Long Island, for 1895 



to 1897. The following table is copied from the publication referred to as far as it 



relates to the food and game fishes of the present article : 



251 



