INTRODUCTION Xlll 



field is very limited, and for most of the statements made concerning 

 the food, feeding habits, and alimentary structures of fishes, we have 

 had to draw upon the papers of the senior author, published in vol- 

 umes I. and II. of the Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of 

 Natural History, and based upon studies made between the years 

 1878 and 1888. 



In the details of the classification we have followed, with little 

 variation, Jordan and Evermann's catalogue of "The Fishes of North 

 and Middle America," published as Bulletin 47 of the U. S. National 

 Museum, but our arrangement of orders and families is that proposed 

 by Boulenger, in Volume VII. of the Cambridge Natural History, 

 and followed in the main by Jordan in his "Guide to the Study of 

 Fishes." 



It has not been our purpose to enter into the synonymy except so 

 far as was necessary to connect the specific names here used with 

 both the more general publications in this field and the more special 

 papers on the fishes of Illinois. We have in all cases referred to the 

 original description of the species, and have, with few exceptions, 

 made reference also, using the abbreviations indicated, to the follow- 

 ing books and articles: 



Gunther: Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum. (Abbre- 

 viation, G.) 



Jordan and Gilbert: Svnopsis of the Fishes of North America, (J. 

 & G.) 



Jordan: Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States. 

 8th edition, 1888. (M. V.) 



Jordan and Evermann. The Fishes of North and Middle America. 

 (J. & E.) 



Boulenger: Catalogue of the Ferciform Fishes in the British Museum. 

 (B.) 



Nelson : A Partial Catalogue of the Fishes of Illinois. Bull. 111. State 

 Lab. Xat. Hist., Vol. I., No. 1. (N.) 



Jordan: A Catalogue of the Fishes of Illinois. Bull. 111. State Lab. 

 Nat. Hist., Vol. I., No. 2. (J.) 



Forbes: A Catalogue of the Native Fishes of Illinois. Rep. 111. State 

 Fish Comm., 1884. (F.) 



Forbes: Various papers on the food of fishes. Bull. 111. State Lab. 

 Nat. Hist., Vols. I. and II. (F. F.) 



Large: A List of the Native Fishes of Illinois, with Kevs. Rep. 111. 

 State Fish Comm., 1900-02. (L.) 



Richardson: A Review of the Sunfishes of the current Genera Apo- 

 motis, Lepomis, and Eupomotis, with particular Reference to the Species 

 found in Illinois. Bull. 111. State Lab. Nat. Hist., Vol. VII., Art. III. (R.) 



Besides the assistants already mentioned, especial acknowlnlg- 

 ments are due to Mr. H. Garman, assistant in the State Laboratory 



