NATIONAL FISHERY CONGRESS. 203 



History of the fishes of the Gulf coast which even to this day constitutes the bulk of 

 our knowledge of many of the species of that region. He made invaluable collections, 

 containing many species new to science, and his own direct contributions to the 

 literature of Florida fishes, published in the Fishery Industries reports of the Tenth 

 Census, may well serve as models for writers on natural-history subjects. The 

 untimely death of Mr. Stearns in 1888 was a severe loss to science as well as to the 

 State of Florida. 



Since 1878 a number of persons have done more or less collecting in Florida; 

 among them the following may be mentioned: Dr. J. W. Velie, in Clearwater Harbor 

 and vicinity; Dr. J. A. Henshall, from Biscayne Bay around the coast to Tampa; Dr. 

 Jordan, at Pensacola, Cedar Keys, and Key West; Dr. O. P. Hay, about Captiva 

 Pass; the vessels of the Fish Commission, at the Tortugas, on the Snapper Banks, 

 and elsewhere along the Gulf coast; Messrs. A. J. Woolman and L. J. Rettger, in the 

 streams of the western part of the State; Mr. Einar Lonnberg, in the fresh waters 

 about Orlando; Mr. Charles H. Bollman and the writer, at Pensacola and on the 

 Snapper Banks; Mr. Barton A. Bean and the writer, in Indian River and Lake 

 Worth; Dr. H. M. Smith, in Biscayne Bay; Dr. William C. Kendall, in the St. Johns 

 River; and Dr. Kendall and the writer, about Biscayne Bay, Key West, Tampa, and 

 Tarpon Springs. The characteristics of the fish fauna of the other portions of the 

 State are almost wholly unknown; and our knowledge of those regions which have 

 received some attention is far from satisfactory. New species and new and important 

 facts about known ones are discovered each time any investigations are made in any 

 part of the State. A vast amount of work remains to be done before we may consider 

 our knowledge of the fishes of Florida even approximately complete. 



THE FISHES OF FLORIDA. 



The total number of species of fishes known from Floridian waters is about 600, 

 or about one-fifth of the entire fish fauna of America north of Panama. This number 

 is far larger than can be found in any other section of our country, and is due to the 

 diversity and peculiarities of the climatic conditions already mentioned. The Florida 

 fish fauna may be regarded as made up of at least five more or less distinct faunas: 

 (a) the salt-water fauna of our South Atlantic States, (b) the subtropical fauna of the 

 Florida Keys, (c) the Gulf of Mexico fauna, (d) the fresh-water fauna of the southern 

 portion of the Lower Mississippi Valley, and (e) the fresh- water fauna of the Everglades. 



These, of course, overlap more or less, and in a consideration of the entire fish 

 fauna of America these regions would not be regarded as constituting distinct fauual 

 areas; but for our present purpose they may properly be considered as fairly distinct. 

 From Fernandina southward to Biscayne Bay are found most of the species charac- 

 teristic of the coast south of Cape Hatteras. From Biscayne Bay to Key West and 

 the Tortugas is found a fish fauna marvelous in its multitude of species and in their 

 richness of coloration. 



Among the fishes of this region which deserve special mention are the great 

 numbers of groupers, snappers, grunts, and porgies, all important food-fishes; the 

 many labroid species, such as the hogfish, pudding- wife, and the various parrot-fishes, 

 all remarkable for their brilliant coloration; the many species of pipefishes, the tangs, 

 angel-fish, and chaetodonts, among them several of the most gorgeous of American 

 fishes. 



