Introduction 



The aim has been to make a book by the aid of which any 

 one of average intelligence may easily and readily identify any 

 American fish that is used as food or game, and the book is 

 technical only to that extent. For those who do not care for these 

 facts the part of the text which refers to them has been printed 

 in smaller type. The small type is therefore for those who would 

 study fishes with specimens in hand ; the large type for those who 

 would read about fishes, whether the fishes themselves are present 

 or not. 



The second purpose of the book is to give individuality to the 

 different kinds of fishes treated, by some account of their geo- 

 graphic distribution, habits, life histories, commercial and food 

 value, and interest to the angler. 



These facts and discussions are, indeed, those which are given 

 greatest prominence in the book. 



About 12,000 different species of fishes are now known, besides 

 a vast and varied assemblage of forms now extinct. These 12,000 

 species are arranged in about 200 groups called families. 

 The families are of very unequal size, some containing hundreds of 

 species, others but few or even only one. In some cases the group 

 is now at its height, more forms existing than ever before. In 

 other cases one poor little species may be the sole survivor of a 

 once mighty race. 



Of the species of fishes which are known about one-fourth 

 (3,300) are found in the waters of North America, that is north of 

 the Isthmus of Panama. All of these the present writers have 

 described in detail in a book of four volumes and 3,313 pages, 

 called "The Fishes of North and Middle America," to which those 

 who wish to study our fishes more seriously are referred. The 

 present volume covers the same geographic area, but its treatment 

 is limited to those families containing fishes useful as food or inter- 

 esting to the angler from their display of those qualities we call 

 "game." Not all the species of any family are of equal value as 

 food or game; indeed, many families, containing most excellent 

 food and game species, contain others of no value whatever for 

 either of those purposes. Then again, some species, as the tarpon, 

 possess game qualities in a high degree, but are not valued as 

 food. We have, however, usually included mention at least of all 

 the species of those families any of whose members are game or 

 food for man; and, it is believed, that any one who really cares to 



