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INTRODUCTION: 
Early in 1891 Mr. Henry C. Ford requested me to prepare a paper upon 
the fishes of the State of Pennsylvania for the current report of the Fish 
Commission of which he is president. The scope of the article was, by 
mutual agreement, to be limited to brief descriptions of the species, with 
notes upon their common names, distribution, size, habits, reproduction, 
rate of growth and mode of capture. Inasmuch as the plan of the work 
involved the illustration of all the important fishes it was not considered 
essential to introduce keys for the identification of the species. 
The descriptions are chiefly original, and are based upon specimens 
contained in the collection of the United States National Museum at 
Washington, 9. C. The popular notes have been obtained largely from 
original investigations’ and, in part, by compilation from the writings 
of Goode, Gill, Cope, and Jordan. In connection with field work in the 
service of the United States Fish Commission the writer has derived 
much information of value, which is here for the first time recorded. 
The colored plates were made by Mr. Sherman F. Denton of Welles- 
ley, Mass., from living or fresh specimens. The major portion of the 
illustrations in black have been reproduced from original drawirgs be- 
longing to the United States Fish Commission. In addition to these, 
a number of new illustrations were made by Mr. J. C. Van Hook and 
Mr. A. H. Baldwin. 
Acknowledgments are due toJames Thompson of Erie, John W. Hague, 
Esq., of Pittsburg, A. B. Burns and D. 'T. Webster, Esq., of Montrose, 
Ben. L. Hewitt, Esq., Hollidaysburg, Dr. B. H. Warren ot West Chester, 
Hon. Henry C. Ford and John Gay of Philadelphia, and W. L. Powell 
of Harrisburg, for valuable notes upon the distribution and habits of 
the species. Mr. Barton A. Bean, assistant curator of the department 
of fishes, United States National Museum, rendered much assistance in 
preparing the descriptions and drawings of the species. 
The scope of this paper does not include statistics of the commercial 
fisheries, but it may be of interest to remark that, considering the short 
lake coast of the state, amounting to only forty-seven miles, it is the 
scene of the most important fisheries of the state. According to the 
Review of the Fisheries of the Great Lakes in 1885, published in the re- 
port of the United States Fish Commission, Erie then had nineteen 
pound-nets and 10,700 gillnets. Erie fishermen caught nearly two- 
thirds of all the white fish taken in the lake in that year, their catch 
amounting to more than 2,000,000 pounds out of a total of 3,500,000 
pounds. The wholesale value of the fish products is said to have been 
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