INTRODUCTION TO THE CLASS OF FISHES 171 



tion, we will do well to consider the annual catch of the fishes 

 wherever we live. 



Unfortunatelv for our inland fishes, the latest statistics 

 for the whole country are nearly ten years old ! There should 

 have been a complete canvass in 1908, the year before the 

 publication of the last census. Once every five years we need 

 to know where we stand. The statistics of the marine fish- 

 eries of the North Atlantic and Alaska are kept well in hand 

 by the Fisheries Bureau, and the oyster industry is fully re- 

 ported upon each year, but we do need to know more about 

 the maintenance — or the decrease — of our inland fishes. 



We have been at some pains to set forth in the succeeding 

 pages some of the latest figures obtainable for our nation's 

 fishes, because we believe that the facts they represent are 

 of practical value to our subject. 



