v1 PREFACE. 
this paper in the American Monthly Magazine, in which he describes forty-two 
species, some of which had been figured in the previous essay, but without any 
description. If we subtract from these, four as doubtful or mere varieties, and 
eicht from the Bahama islands, we have thirty additional species, making with 
those previously published a total of one hundred and sixty-four fishes from the 
coast of New-York. 'The work in which this supplement appeared. was a. lite- 
rary magazine of considerable reputation, but its circulation was limited, and it 
appears to have been little known or consulted either by our own or by foreign 
naturalists. 
Subsequent to this period, the communications of Dr. Mitchill on ichthyology 
were distributed through periodicals of every description, not even excepting 
weekly magazines and daily newspapers. As a matter of interest to the Ame- 
rican naturalist, we have, in Appendix A, given a list of Mitchill’s species, col- 
lated from all these sources, and accompanied them with the names which they 
bear in the present work. It is no reflection upon the reputation of this natu- 
ralist, that these changes have been rendered necessary ; for at that day, ichthy- 
ology was little studied, and it was far from having attained its present accuracy. 
He appears to have trusted too much to the vague descriptions of foreign writers, 
and referred too hastily, descriptions of European to American species. In his 
case, however, it did not amount to a servile deference to authority; for even in 
his preliminary essay, he indicates new generic forms, some of which have been 
adopted in the great standard work of the present day. 
Nearly simultaneous with the first essays of Dr. Mitchill, appeared a new and 
important laborer in the field of American ichthyology. We allude to Mr. 
Charles A. Lesueur, an eminent French naturalist, who had accompanied Daudin 
as a draftsman in his exploring expedition. He lived several years in Philadel- 
phia, subsequently removed to the settlement of Mr. Owen at New-Harmony, 
and finally returned to France. His contributions are chiefly to be found in the 
Journal of the Academy of Natural Science, and the Transactions of the Ame- 
rican Philosophical Society. He also contributed a few articles to the Annales 
executed though small figures of the most interesting. As he adopted but two of the genera subsequent to Linneus, his 
species are sometimes placed a. little at random; in the genus Hsox, for example, he includes many heterogencous species. 
Nor has he always unravelled the true nomenclature in the often confused works of European naturalists; but he has 
himself furnished in his descriptions the means of rectifying the errors which had escaped him, and his memoir is certainly 
the best which has appeared in this century on the fishes of the new world.” Histoire d’Ichthyologie, p. 202. 
