PREFACE 1x 
Museum of Natural History happily came to my aid: it allowed me 
the help of a secretary for transcribing references, and since then it has 
with great generosity provided the means for editing and enlarging the 
work. And it now assumes the burden of publishing it. In this it was 
aided by the Jesup Fund and by certain private subscriptions, notably 
by Mrs. Isaac M. Dyckman and Mrs. Bashford Dean. 
The labor of completing the Bibliography proved difficult and exact- 
ing. About 1910 my former colleague in the Museum, Dr. Louis Hus- 
sakof, was induced to become my collaborator. During 1913-1914 he 
controlled the results of the compiler Miss Evelyn Tripp, whose faith- 
ful work deserves great credit. But Dr. Hussakof found that the 
enterprise, added to his other museum duties, was an overtax upon 
him, so in 1914 he felt obliged, to our mutual regret, to retire as a joint 
author. He merits, none the less, the sincere thanks of all who use 
the Bibliography, for the part which he contributed. 
In the same year, 1914, Dr. Charles R. Eastman was persuaded to 
assume the editorship. He was aided during 1915-1916 by Miss Mar- 
guerite Engler, who gave her time devotedly to the Authors’ volumes, 
and from the summer of 1916 onward by Miss Florence Schwarzwaelder 
and Mr. Arthur Henn, who made a great number of entries for the in- 
dexing. And at this moment, when the work is in press, I need hardly 
assure the Editor and his assistants of my great gratitude for their 
help — for no one realizes better than myself that to finish the task 
fully and accurately demanded sustained and meticulous labor. 
Dr. Eastman, I should note, was keenly interested in the work from 
its inception, for from his own studies as a palzichthyologist he ap- 
preciated its general importance to investigators and he had already 
gone widely into the bibliographical field, especially that province of it 
which has to do with the earlier writers. In this connection he is to 
be credited with bringing together the principal part of the pre-Linnzean 
literature of Fishes, which appears at the end of the second volume. 
In fact, while I am writing my acknowledgments, I should make it 
clear that had not Dr. Eastman come to my literary rescue at the time 
he did, the bibliography might never have been published, for I myself 
had become entangled with other matters and could afford neither the 
time nor the energy to complete it. Dr. Eastman’s name would indeed 
have appeared as co-author of the present work had he himself not 
modestly declined this ‘‘responsibility.”’ 
Hence there must be laid to my own score any omissions or defects 
which may be discovered in the following pages, especially since I have 
followed the steps in the work with great interest, corrected the galley 
proof and revised the material for the index. But when slips are 
pointed out I will not hesitate to console myself with the reflection 
that no bibliography is perfect even for the most special subject. 
Stevenson knew his theme when he wrote “if you are troubled with a 
pride of accuracy and would have it completely taken out of you, 
