INTRODUCTION. 



THIS handbook is on a different plan to that of any other of 

 the very numerous books on fishes and fishing. Its object 

 is the ready identification of our native species, whether sea- 

 water, fresh-water, or estuarine, the method being similar to that 

 of the other volumes of the series, of which this is the fifth. As 

 the number of species found in British waters is not large, space 

 has been found for a series of short notes, as in the case of 

 Our Country's Birds, which not only confirm the identification 

 but may prove useful to net and line fishermen of every degree. 

 The tabular chapters include a long index of local names, a 

 systematic table of all the species, and a series of keys to 

 the sub-classes, orders, families, genera, species, and note- 

 worthy varieties, arranged in such a way that the task of finding 

 out the fish can be begun at any point, the full description 

 being obtained by combining the distinctive characteristics given 

 at each step. The orders of the fishes are not difficult of recog- 

 nition, the families soon become familiar, and in ordinary 

 practice the fish it is desired to identify is not unlike another 

 that is known, so that in most cases all that is needful is to 

 refer to the specific or generic distinctions without having to 

 traverse the whole of the ground ; and of these only such are 

 given in tabular form as are readily observable om the spot. 

 The concluding chapter contains an alphabetical list of specific 

 names, including many now going out of use, so that the book 



