vill PREFACE 
but should unquestionably next be done. Nor does the present bibli- 
ography treat exhaustively the vast fields in which Fishes come in 
touch with markets, table or angling, for these are special domains, 
less in scientific interest, yet each with its large circle of readers and 
worthy of a separate bibliography. We note that even without in- 
cluding these themes the lists here considered number over forty 
thousand titles. 
The present work, it may be explained, is an outcome of my study 
of the literature of Fishes in connection with my investigations in vari- 
ous branches; it began in 1890 in the form of an index to references, 
and by 1900 included about twenty thousand cards. There was then 
no distinct plan to publish it. But about this time my students and 
correspondents came to realize that it contained a mass of material 
which served them conveniently in their work. And in return for the 
use of the index they sometimes contributed generous lists of refer- 
ences. And in various other ways the bibliography grew. Thus 
Geheimrath von Kupffer in Munich allowed me the use of his exten- 
sive references to the embryology of Fishes. My preceptor Dr. A. 
Boéhm added many titles, especially in the literature of Cyclostomes, 
as did also Dr. L. Neumayer of the Anatomical Institute of Munich. 
In 1910 the Smithsonian Institution gave willing access to the index 
which had been laboriously prepared by and under the direction of 
Professor G. Brown Goode, whose lamented death cut short his 
project of preparing an ichthyological bibliography on somewhat the 
present lines. I am indebted, also, to Dr. F. J. Cole of Birmingham 
for valued assistance, for he, again, had planned a work which should 
serve the needs of students. . . . Thus it came about that my bibli- 
ography outgrew its original purpose. It had become a storehouse of 
references which should be made accessible to workers generally. 
But evidently it could not be published in the state in which it then 
stood. It needed additions and revision in large measure before it 
could safely be sent to press. First of all it would have to be compared 
title for title with earlier bibliographies, notably with Bosgoed’s list 
of ichthyological writings (1874). Its findings were also to be checked 
against such standards as the Zoological Record, Carus and Engel- 
mann, Louis Agassiz’s bibliography (1848-1854) and the cards of the 
Concilium Bibliographicum. Then, too, many of its titles needed, for 
reason of clearness, to be compared with the original publications. By 
this means errors were to be avoided and new references discovered. 
Finally, and for the more recent literature, the effort was to be made to 
induce the many writers in this field to contribute their lists of publi- 
cations, or to revise their bibliographies when furnished them. 
It was in 1910 that my index reached a critical stage in its develop- 
ment. It had become an unwieldy enterprise — too large to be carried 
on single-handed, yet too valuable to be abandoned. Then it was, at 
the instance of President Henry Fairfield Osborn, that the American 
