56 The Ottawa Naturalist. [June-Jul\ 



REVIEW OF A REVIEW. 



To the Editor of The Ottawa Naturalist: 



It is to be regretted that the slips alluded, to in a review of 

 the "Checlc List of the Fishes of the Dominion of Canada and 

 Newfoundland," in the May issue of the Naturalist, are not 

 pointed out by the reviewer. In the introductory remarks of 

 the book it is stated that "it is subject to amendment in regard 

 to species to be added to the list as records or discoveries reveal 

 them; and not only so, but in regard to species, and such are 

 apparentlv few, to be eliminated from the list as having no 

 right there." But that given by "C," as an instance of an 

 occasional slip, can hardly be regarded in that way, because the 

 occurrence of Thymallus tricolor ntoiitanus is queried in the text, 

 and the foot-note does not suggest that the so-called grayling 

 is, as "C" puts it, that species, for the words are these: "A 

 little salmonoid in rivers of southern Alberta, locally called the 

 grayling, may be this sub-species." Besides, even if this 

 salmonoid turns out to be a species of whitefish (Coregonus 

 williamsoni), as "C" says the Alberta Fishery Commission 

 stated distinctly, and not a grayling at all, yet as Thymallus 

 tricolor montanus occurs over the Albertan border, in Montana, 

 its mention in the list, with a query, is quite in keeping with 

 what the list purports to be, as is explained by the following 

 remark in the introduction: "Species which occur close to our 

 borders .... although not actually recorded from our 

 waters, are provisionally admitted." This is what has been 

 done sometimes in other lists of the kind, and thereby a purpose 

 may be served in stimulating research on the part of any who 

 seek to ascertain what the entire geographical range of a species 

 in particular may be. It might then be hazardous for "C" to 

 state positively that the Montana grayling does not occur in 

 southern Alberta lest it might be found there, and its provisional 

 mention with a query in the list does not, therefore, appear to 

 be amiss. Indeed, it is quite likely to be found north of the 

 United States boundary, for it is doubtless a post-glacial survivor, 

 and the clear, cold streams of southern Alberta, flowing down 

 as they do from the moimtains, seem well adapted for the 

 requirements of this little fish as a habitat. If, then, slips occur 

 in the list, that singled out by "C" as an example does not seem 

 well chosen. 



The book itself must stand or fall according to its merits, 

 and if it is lacking "in completeness of matter " and in "compact 

 description and arrangement" it has, nevertheless, been com- 

 plimented by eminent authorities and has been applied for 

 widely by naturalists. In point of fact, it was never meant to 



