vill PREFACE. 
trating the habits and characters of fishes. ‘To the same author, we are indebted 
for several important papers in the Boston Journal of Natural History. In 1839, 
Dr. D. H. Storer, who had previously furnished several valuable papers on ichthy- 
ology in the Journal just alluded to, published a masterly report on the Fishes of 
Massachusetts. In this report, the author has enumerated one hundred and nine 
species, of which one hundred and four are accompanied by original and care- 
fully drawn up descriptions. This report is an invaluable document to the Ame- 
rican ichthyologist, and is every way worthy of its eminent author. Among the 
casual contributors to this department of science, we have to enumerate the 
name of a former Governor of this State, De- Witt Clinton; of Mr. Wood of Phi- 
ladelphia ; of Messrs. Redfield, father and son; and quite recently, of Mr. Hal- 
deman, of Pennsylvania. 
Having thus briefly alluded to the various sources from whence is derived our 
knowledge of the fishes of this country, the pleasing duty remains, of expressing 
my obligations to those who have assisted me in my solitary and arduous under- 
taking. Several years since, my friend Dr. Holbrook, so favorably known for 
his work on the Reptiles of the United States, contemplated publishing a work 
on the Fishes of Carolina. He collected many species, and caused them to be 
carefully drawn under his own eye, by the same artist who had so successfully 
figured the reptiles. These drawings, illustrative of fifty-two species, he placed 
in the kindest manner at my disposal, and they have enabled me to extend our 
acquaintance with the geographical distribution of many species. I feel much 
indebted to Dr. Storer for the instruction I have derived from his correspondence, 
and for the prompt and liberal aid he has afforded by furnishing me with several 
specimens for illustration and comparison. To Mr. I. Cozzens, Librarian of the 
Lyceum of Natural History, Iam under many obligations for his assistance in 
collecting, and his accurate and practical discrimination of species. My thanks 
are also due, for several specimens from Lake Champlain, to Mr. Z. ‘Thompson 
of Burlington (Vermont), who is occupied in publishing a work on the Natural 
History of Vermont, at the moment these sheets are passing through the press. 
In no department of the natural sciences is the want of good illustrations more 
strikingly felt than in the class now before us. Those which relate to American 
fishes are distributed through so many rare and expensive volumes as to render 
them difficult of access, and indeed entirely beyond the reach of a large majority 
of students. We hope, therefore, that the figures of two hundred and fifty spe- 
cies, which appear in this work, will not be unacceptable to the American ich- 
