INTRODUCTION. 11 



to distinguish the different species is made : one name 

 (and that, more often than not, a purely local one) is 

 often applied in a most hap-hazard manner to several 

 allied species. 



Having thus pointed out some of the main diffi- 

 culties confronted in compiling this portion of the list, 

 I may add that I have found it necessary to give only 

 those species of fish which have been either identified 

 by myself, or mentioned by some authority, such as 

 Yarrell, Day, and Donovan, or noted by some other 

 competent recorder in the pages of The Zoologist, The 

 Field, or Land and Water. 



The lack of catalogues of the Fauna of the maritime 

 counties generally has been a still further hindrance. A 

 list of the Fish Fauna of all our neighbouring counties 

 would afford opportunities for comparison, and, by 

 teaching us what species exist on similar shores, would 

 incite a search for those whose presence would be 

 otherwise unsuspected. 



Of the three counties on the eastern coast of 

 England for which lists have been published (viz., 

 Norfolk, Yorkshire, and Essex), the former has been 

 especially fortunate. Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), 

 the well-known author of the Religio Medici, compiled, 

 more than two centuries ago, " An Account of Fishes 

 found in Norfolk and on the Coast." This was first 

 printed by Simon Wilkin in his edition of Browne's 



