14 WHERE, WHEN, AND HOW TO CATCH FISH 



capitalize the name of every, or nearly every, fish he mentions in 

 his "American Fishes," 1887. He is one of the leading ichthyolo- 

 gists of the country. Albert C. L. G. Giinther, M. A., M. D., Ph. 

 D., F. R. S., Keeper of the Zoological Department in the British 

 Museum, in his "Introduction to the Study of Fishes," Edinburgh, 

 1880, capitalizes every fish he mentions. 



I can find no exception in the book, which has 720 pages. I want 

 no better authority than Doctor Giinther and Doctor Goode. 



On the contrary, Genio C. Scott, 1869 ; Hallock, 1873-5 ; Hen- 

 shall, 1884; and Eugene McCarthy, 1900, have not capitalized. 



The scientific people do not practice it except in their captions 

 and headings of lists, indexes, etc. , which latter practice is, of course, 

 customary with all. 



The same general lack of uniformity exists regarding the use of 

 the hyphen, as very few writers use it alike. I have, as a general 

 rule followed the scientific people in its use. 



As I can see no sufficient reason why the capitalizing has been 

 abandoned by some of the modern angling writers, and because I 

 think its continuance tends to identify, and make prominent, the dif- 

 ferent species, I make free use of capitals. 1 have some regard and 

 respect for the fishes, too, and think they are entitled to have their 

 names handed down in capitals, especially by the angling fraternity. 



I quote from Jordan & Evermann their formula, or method, of 

 describing the fishes in their list : 



"In our description of species, we have attempted to bring the 

 principal comparative measurements first. The expressions 'head 4,' 

 or 'depth 4,' mean that the length of the head in the one case, or 

 the greatest depth of the body in the other, is contained 4 times in 

 the length of the fish, measured from the tip of the snout to the end 

 of the last caudal vertebra, the caudal fin being not included. The size 

 of the eye and the length of the snout and other head parts are com- 

 pared with the length of the side of the head, unless otherwise stated ; 

 thus ' eye 5 ' means that the horizontal diameter of the eye is \ the 

 length of the head. 



' ' ' Scales 5-64-7 ' means that there are 5 rows of scales between 

 the base of the dorsal fin and the lateral line (the scale in the lateral 

 line excluded), 64 oblique transverse series crossing the lateral line, 

 and 7 horizontal series between the lateral line and the base of the 

 anal or the vent. When the number of pores in the lateral line is 



