PROLOGUE. 



the first place to his teacher ami master, Prof. Baird, and secondly, to his 

 colleagues in the preparation of the quarto volume just referred to, especially 

 to Dr. Jordan, Dr. Bean, Capt. Collins, Mr. Earll and Mr. Stearns. If 

 in some instances the quotation marks have been omitted in connection 

 with statements derived from their pen, it is simply because in the work 

 of abridgment certain changes have been made in their phraseology, for 

 which it seems hardly proper to hold them responsible. It is proper to 

 say that all the biographies of the fishes of the Pacific, and the minor fresh- 

 water species, are due to Jordan, and that Stearns is equally responsible 

 for what is said of the fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. With Bean the 

 writer has long sustained a partnership in all matters ichthyological • 

 with Collins and Earll similar relations in matters connected with the 

 study of fishery economy, and in such associations it is not always possible 

 to separate interests in such a manner as to place credit where it properly 

 belongs. The classification followed is the system elaborated and ad- 

 vocated by Dr. Gill, undoubtedly the most erudite and philosophic of liv- 

 ing systematic ichthyologists. 



Perhaps some may feel aggrieved because there are no discussions of 

 rods, reels, lines, hooks and flies, and no instructions concerning camp- 

 ing out, excursions, routes, guides and hotels. To such the author would 

 say that he has at present neither time nor inclination to enter upon these 

 subjects. Men who know them better than he have already written what 

 should be written. Thaddeus Norris's "American Angler's Book" is an 

 excellent guide in the selection and construction of tackle. Roosevelt's 

 " Game Fishes of the North" and "Superior Fishing" are full of good 

 suggestions, and Scott's "Fishing in American Waters," and even the 

 works of Brown and Frank Forrester, are at times useful. Hallock's 

 "Sportsman's Gazetteer" points out distant localities for sport to the 

 few who are not satisfied with home attractions. 



The files of " Forest and Stream," " The American Field " and " The 

 American Angler" are treasuries which cannot be exhausted, and the back 

 volumes of the monthlies, " Harpers," " Lippincott's" and the " Century '' , 

 are full of finely illustrated essays, of interest to fishermen and anglers. 



The English "Field," "Land and Water " and "Fishing Gazette" 

 are also full of interest for Americans. 



Prof. Mayer's "Sport with Gun and Rod in American Woods and 

 Waters " is a charming and instructive book made up chiefly of reprinted 

 magazine essays. 



