SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF NORTH 

 CAROLINA FISHES. 



EXPLANATORY NOTES. 



A full list of all species of fishes known to inhabit the fresh or salt waters of 

 North Carolina is here presented. The plan which has been followed is to give 

 for each species its technical name and original describer, and its popular names; 

 a brief synonymy; a diagnostic description; and then a general account of the 

 distribution, abundance, size, habits, food value, economic importance, etc., 

 having special reference to North Carolina. 



The synonymy includes a reference to the original description of the species, 

 all important papers in which the occurrence of the species in North Carolina is 

 mentioned, and an authority for the terminology which has been adopted herein, 

 this last usually being Jordan and Evermann's "The fishes of North and Middle 

 America", 4 vols., 1896-1900, published as Bulletin 47 of the United States 

 National Museum. Citations of works pertaining wholly or partly to North Caro- 

 lina are condensed and are intended to be taken in conjunction with the index of 

 North Carolina fish literature which appears on page 419; thus, " Ptychostomus 

 robustus Cope, 1870, 473", means that the species so called by Cope will be found 

 described on page 473 of the work published by him in 1870. Other works, not 

 given in the bibliography, are referred to with greater fullness in the synonymy. 



In order to render the catalogue useful in the identification of North Caro- 

 lina fishes, there are introduced artificial keys* to the families, genera, and species; 

 and there are also given, as a matter of general information, brief accounts of the 

 families and genera. The keys have in most cases been adapted from, and the 

 diagnoses also are largely based on, Jordan and Evermann's invaluable work, 

 which has been followed in the arrangement of the families. Numerous original 

 diagnoses based on North Carolina specimens have, however, been introduced. 

 Technical terms used in descriptions are explained in the glossary on page 403, 



The common names applied to fishes by the people of North Carolina are 

 given in ciuotation marks; and other vernacular names in more or less general use 

 are also shown. 



A special object in view has been to clothe the technical descriptions in 

 simple language, so that fishermen and the general public may be able to make 



*In using the keys for the identification of specimens of North Carolina fishes, first determine which of 

 the major groups the species is in and then take up in regular order the letters under each group; if the char- 

 acters of the specimens do not agree with those given for the single letters, then look under the same double 

 letters, ignoring all intervening matter. 



