4 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OF 



But, unless under peculiar circumstances, the time would 

 arrive when augmented captures would again be necessary, 

 and he would have to venture still further out, to dive after 

 his prey, construct nets, to float on logs or rafts in order 

 to use them in the most advantageous localities, and this 

 would in time lead to the construction of boats, and finally 

 that of a ship. This last would become a necessity as soon 

 as he wished to extend his range to better fishing grounds, 

 or export his spoils to distant markets. Thus the basis of 

 navigation and commerce may reasonably be supposed to 

 have been laid by man pursuing the finny tribes for the 

 purpose of obtaining them as food or conveying them 

 dried or cured as an article of merchandise to transmarine 

 countries. 



When we commence our investigation into the com- 

 mercial sea fishes, the difficulty at once arises as to what 

 plan to pursue. For there exist several distinct paths, each 

 in their way leading to this end, while but few authors have 

 attempted to embrace both the practical and scientific 

 aspects of the enquiry. 



The museum naturalist, wrapt up in the contemplation 

 of his alcoholic and stuffed specimens, his skeletons and, 

 perhaps, fossil remains, unless practically acquainted with 

 field work, generally restricts himself to reviewing, and too 

 often condemning, his predecessors' labours, oblivious that 

 at the time they wrote access to information was not so 

 readily attainable as in the present age. His account rarely 

 passes beyond the anatomy and external appearances of 

 fishes, how they breed, grow, and vary, entering perhaps 

 into a short history of the successive appearance of families in 

 different geological eras, and their geographical distribution 

 in the present time, the latter being culled from the works 

 of travellers, assisted possibly by personal research among 

 the ticketed specimens on the shelves of his museum. 



