Author^s Preface 



WHEN T/ie Life Story of the Fish was written some ten 

 years ago, it endeavored to set forth all that was then known 

 about fish which might be of interest to the angler, to the 

 aquarist, and to the normal human being of inquiring mind. 

 Since then, in spite of wars and world upheavals, piscatorial 

 knowledge has continued to advance. New facts have come 

 to light about the homing of salmon, about the spawning of 

 tarpon, about the dynamics of fish populations, about the 

 many ways in which man and fish affect each other. An event 

 of great scientific importance has occurred in the discovery 

 of a "living fossil": a huge fish, captured off the coast of 

 South Africa, of a family which palaeontologists thought had 

 become extinct a million centuries ago. 



All of which made it evident, when the question of re- 

 publication arose, that the book no longer fulfilled its 

 original intent. It has therefore been re-written, with ex- 

 tensive revisions and additions, reference reading lists for 

 those who wish to consult source material, and one entirely 

 new chapter. The present volume is the result. 



It is a great pleasure to set forth here again my gratitude 

 to Dr. WiUis H. Rich, Dr. Frank Weymouth, and Dr. 

 George S. Myers, all of Stanford University, for their gen- 

 erous advice during the preparation of the earlier edition of 

 this book. I am also indebted to Dr. W. K. Gregory, Dr. 

 Charles M. Breder, Jr., Dr. Rolf Bolin, Mr. J. T. Nichols, 

 and Mr. Leo Shapovalov, and to the late Dr. F. B. Sumner 

 and Dr. G. K. Noble, for illuminating various dark places 



