24 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
I.—NATURAL HISTORY. 
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS IN REGARD TO THE SPECIES OF FOOD- 
FISHES OF THE EASTERN COAST OF THE UNITED STATES AND OF THE 
DOMINION OF CANADA: 
The peculiar difficulties of investigating the natural history and gen- 
eral character of the inhabitants of the sea, excepting so far as they can 
be observed in aquaria, have tended very bres to prevent the acquisi- 
tion of satisfactory information in relation to their habits and charac- 
teristics; and it is therefore not surprising that our knowledge of this 
portion of the animal kingdom is far inferior to that of species belong- 
ing to the land. This proposition applies almost equally to the fish of 
all countries, there being very few species, even on the coast of Europe, — 
the biology of which has been worked out in a satisfactory manner. Of } 
a few species we know more than we do of others, especially of the sal- 
mon, several kinds of herring, and the cod. All these, as constituting — 
an important source of wealth, have been investigated by scientific 
commissions, organized by Governments, and embracing men trained to ~ 
research, and competent to do the work assigned them. 
With anenlightened appreciation of the importance of this subject, the \ 
Norwegian Government has, for a number of years, employed some of Q 

its best naturalists, such as Professor Sars, Prof. A. Boeck, Mr. Robert ~ 
Collett, and others, in these inquiries, providing them with all the neces- — 
sary facilities. The inherent difficulties in the way will be readily appre- — 
ciated, in view of the fact that even under suth circumstances the inves- — 
tigators have not succeeded as yet in entirely working out the problems 
submitted to them for solution, but year by year further discoveries 
have been made, the sum of which constitutes the most if not the only — | 
reliable data at the service of inquirers elsewhere. 
In view of these considerations, therefore, I trust that I shall be ex- | 
cused, if the accounts I give of the present state of our well-established — 
knowledge of the habits and distribution of the American sea fish be 
more or less meager, especially as the limitation of the present report — 
will forbid going into very minute detail. By distributing questions, 
as is now being done to a considerable extent, to the most intelligent — 
observers throughout the country, and submitting particular questions » 
and inquiries, and then by collating the results, it is hoped that a large 
body of facts will shortly be available. 
The fishes of any region may be considered either in a purely zoolog- 
ical point of view, or as they would be treated in a natural history mon- 
ograph, or in their relations torparticular industries or to some special — 
relation they may have to the land or water. For the purposes I have 
in view the subject of the biology or natural history of our fishes may be 
treated under the following heads: 
A. A systematic list of the species embraced in the subject, includ- 
ing also the fishes and marine invertebrates serving as food and bait. 

