FISHES 23 



study of them is based upon the classifications of Peter Artedi and 

 Linnaeus, who wrote in the i8th century, and Cuvier, who wrote in 

 the early part of the 19th, In recent times the most important single 

 work is Giinther's "Catalogue of the Fishes of the British Museum," 

 published in 1859-70. This work and Boulenger's continuation of 

 it published in 1 898-1 900 are fundamental for the modern systematic 

 study of fishes. The fishes of America have attracted many brilliant 

 students, the most eminent of the earlier ones being Louis Agassiz, 

 who first placed the study of American fishes on a sound scientific 

 basis. Since his death in 1873 the school of ichthyologists founded 

 by him has been directed and carried on by David Starr Jordan, one 

 of his pupils, who together with his pupils and associates has made 

 the fishes of North America better known than perhaps those of any 

 other equally large area. The "Fishes of North and Middle America" 

 by Jordan and Evermann (1896-1900), the Check List oi Jordsin, Ever- 

 mann and Clark (1930) and the Manual of Vertebrates (1929), revised 

 as to Fishes by C. L. Hubbs, are the foundation of the descriptions of 

 fishes in this book. 



Number of Species and Distribution. — The Class, Fishes, 

 includes over 30,000 described species and subspecies, grouped, as 

 described in this book, in 2 subclasses. Over 600 species live in the 

 fresh waters of the United States, grouped in about 36 families. The 

 largest of these families are the Cyprinidce with 311 species and the 

 Etheostomidce with 115 species, as given in the Check List of the Fishes 

 of North and Middle America of Jordan, Evermann and Clark (1928). 

 The Catostomidce with 83 species and the Cyprinodontidcc with 61 species 

 are the next in rank; and these four families include two-thirds of all 

 the species of fresh water fishes in the country. 



The fresh waters of the United States are very rich in species of 

 fishes, as will be seen by a comparison with those of Europe, which, 

 although having a land area of about the same extent and with a very 

 varied surface, contains only about 125 species. It is the very large 

 hydrographical basins of our country joined with its varied character 

 and the relatively high temperature of the middle and southern portions 

 of it which have brought about the multiplication of species of fishes 

 within its borders. The Mississippi basin contains about 200 species 

 and that of the Great Lakes about 150 species. 



Key to the Subclasses of Fishes 



ai Mouth without jaws; no paired fins; nostril median., i. Cydosiomata (p. 24). 

 ao Mouth with true jaws; paired fins present; nostrils 



paired 2. Pisces (p. 28). 



