﻿376 
  

  

  ANNUAL 
  EEPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1927 
  

  

  but 
  could 
  we 
  know 
  it 
  all, 
  it 
  would 
  be 
  as 
  long 
  and 
  as 
  eventful 
  a 
  story 
  

   as 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  the 
  colonization 
  and 
  settlement 
  of 
  North 
  America 
  

   by 
  immigrants 
  from 
  Europe. 
  But 
  by 
  the 
  fishes 
  each 
  river 
  in 
  Amer- 
  

   ica 
  has 
  been 
  a 
  hundred 
  times 
  discovered, 
  its 
  colonization 
  a 
  hundred 
  

   times 
  attempted. 
  In 
  these 
  efforts 
  there 
  'is 
  no 
  cooperation. 
  Every 
  

   individual 
  is 
  for 
  himself, 
  every 
  struggle 
  a 
  struggle 
  of 
  life 
  and 
  death 
  ; 
  

   for 
  each 
  fish 
  is 
  a 
  cannibal, 
  and 
  to 
  each 
  species 
  each 
  member 
  of 
  every 
  

   other 
  species, 
  even 
  sometimes 
  of 
  its 
  own, 
  is 
  an 
  alien 
  and 
  a 
  savage. 
  

  

  CONTRAST 
  OF 
  FAUNAS 
  OF 
  NORTH 
  AMERICA 
  AND 
  EUROPE 
  

  

  We 
  now 
  recognize 
  about 
  681 
  species 
  of 
  fishes 
  as 
  found 
  in 
  the 
  fresh 
  

   waters 
  of 
  North 
  America, 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  Tropic 
  of 
  Cancer, 
  these 
  rep- 
  

   resenthig 
  36 
  of 
  the 
  natural 
  families, 
  as 
  shown 
  in 
  Table 
  1. 
  

  

  Table 
  1. 
  — 
  Showing 
  approximatelif 
  the 
  composition 
  of 
  the 
  fresh-ivatcr 
  fish 
  fauna 
  

   . 
  of 
  Europe, 
  as 
  compared 
  with 
  that 
  of 
  North 
  America 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  Tropic 
  of 
  

   Cancer 
  (see 
  Fresh 
  Water 
  Fishes 
  of 
  Europe) 
  

  

  Total: 
  Europe, 
  22 
  families; 
  129 
  species. 
  Northern 
  North 
  America, 
  36 
  families; 
  681 
  species. 
  

  

  According 
  to 
  Doctor 
  Qiinther 
  (Guide 
  to 
  the 
  Study 
  of 
  Fishes, 
  p. 
  243), 
  the 
  total 
  number 
  of 
  species 
  now 
  

   knowu 
  from 
  the 
  temperate 
  regions 
  of 
  Asia 
  and 
  Europe 
  is 
  about 
  360. 
  The 
  fauna 
  of 
  India, 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  Hima- 
  

   lyas, 
  is 
  much 
  more 
  extensive, 
  numbering 
  625 
  species. 
  This 
  latter 
  fauna 
  bears 
  little 
  resemblance 
  to 
  that 
  of 
  

   North 
  America, 
  being 
  wholly 
  tropical 
  in 
  character, 
  although 
  largely 
  made 
  up 
  from 
  the 
  same 
  groups. 
  

  

  