ON SMALL FISH, PRINCIPALLY USED AS BAIT. 28/ 



they are imagined to be by the uninitiated. Like all 

 other sciences, Ichthyology has of course its own techni- 

 calities which must be mastered in the first instance ; 

 for if a man is ignorant of the alphabet of a language 

 he can hardly expect to derive much delight from the 

 study of its literature ; and the alphabet of science is its 

 technicalities. Again, the markedly, I might say almost 

 ostentatiously, dry and uninviting form in which science 

 delights to expound itself has doubtless been another 

 obstacle. But all these difficulties are to be mastered by 

 a comparatively small application of leisure and perseve- 

 rance, and even these drawbacks are yearly lessening. 



In the "Angler-Naturalist" I have endeavoured by 

 taking myself some little trouble in codifying and 

 simplifying, to save a corresponding labour to others ; 

 facts are stated plainly and with an avoidance of un- 

 necessary scientific terms, and I have otherwise done 

 what in me lies to make the subject, which is one 

 naturally full of interest, as little dry and repulsive as 

 possible. To the " Angler-Naturalist,"^ therefore, I must 

 refer my readers for those ichthyological peculiarities 

 and characteristics of the different species which are 

 here, not from choice but from necessity, omitted. 



The manner in which that attempt at popularizing the 

 subject has been received, gives me good hope that the 



* The "Angler-Naturalist: a History of British Fresh Water 

 Fish adapted to Anglers, with a plain Explanation of the Rudiments 

 of Ichthyology." London : George Routledge and Sons. 



