202 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



From the relatively cool waters of Pensacola and Fernandina the temperature 

 gradually rises southward until we reach the Keys, where it becomes noticeably higher 

 on account of the Gulf Stream as it sweeps through the Florida Straits and up the 

 eastern coast. Nowhere else on our coast is the influence of the Gulf Stream so great, 

 and nowhere else does the fauna of tropical seas extend so far north. Indeed, among 

 tin- I'lorida Keys we And the nearest approach to tropical conditions to be found any- 

 where in the United States. 



It is remarkable that the rich fish fauna of Florida did not attract the attention 

 of students earlier than it did. Prior to 1870, scarcely anything was known concern- 

 ing the fishes of the State. So far as we have been able to learn from an examination 

 of ichthyological literature the earliest references to Florida fishes are those of Mark 

 Catesby in 1754, LeSueur in 1824, and Holbrook in 1855 and 1856. Oatesby's Natu- 

 ral History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, a mammoth work of two 

 volumes, royal folio, with 220 colored plates, contains a few references to Florida 

 fishes, but this was before the beginning of binomial nomenclature (which dates from 

 1758), and no names were given. In 1824 Messrs. Maclure, Say, Ord, and Peale, of 

 the Philadelphia Academy, all great men in the early history of science in America, 

 made a trip to Florida and brought back with them dried specimens of one ray and 

 one skate. These were described in the same year by LeSueur as Raid sabina and 

 li'n in ilexmarestia, but are now known as Dasyatis sabina (one of the most common rays 

 on the Florida coasts) and Raja eglanteria, the brier skate, less common than the other 

 species. These, so far as we have been able to learn, are the first fishes ever described 

 from Florida localities. 



In 1 >."><; Dr. John Edward Holbrook published an "Account of several species of 

 fishes observed in Florida, Georgia, etc." In this paper 6 species were credited to the 

 St. Johns River, 5 species of sunfishes and 1 darter, all of which were described as 

 new, but not one of which proved to be so. In 1855 Holbrook published the first 

 edition of his Ichthyology of South Carolina, and in 1860 the second edition of the 

 same work appeared. In this work 12 species are referred to definite Florida locali- 

 ties ill the first edition and 22 in the second, one of the latter (Esox ravenelliLucim 

 atnericanuK) being described as new. 



In the twenty years following the appearance of the first edition of Holbrook's 

 I< -litli yology little or nothing was added to our knowledge of the fishes of Florida. Not 

 until ISTS \\as any serious or considerable study made of the fishes of this State. In 

 tint year Mr. Silas Stearns, of the Pensacola Fish and Ice Company, began sending 

 si-cimcns of Florida fishes to the U. S. National Museum. The first specimen was 

 described by (Joode & Bean as the type of a new species, the blanquillo (Gaulolatilus 

 i near relative of the noted tilefish, whose sudden appearance in myriads in 

 the Gulf Stream nlx>ut the same time and whose as sudden disappearance in 1882 

 remain to this day among the marvels of the natural history of fishes. 



In the winter of 1S77-78 Mr. Stearns began a most active and intelligent study 

 of the distribution and habits of the fishes of the Gulf coast of Florida. Particular 

 attention was paid to the food-fishes and the fishes found on the Snapper Banks. 

 Specimens of the various species were sent to the National Museum, which formed 

 the basis of numerous important papers by Goode & Bean, Jordan, and Stearns. 



I wish to call special attention to the work done by Mr. Stearns. It was of very 

 great importance and deserves more than a passing notice. During the few leisure 

 hours of an active business life Mr. Stearns found time to make a study of the natural 



