PARASITES OF FISHES OF BEAUFORT, NORTH CAROLINA. 



By EDWIN LINTON, Ph. I)., 

 Professor of Biology, II 'ashington and fefferson ( 'ollege. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The following report is based mainly on notes and sketches which were made at 

 the time of collecting at the laboratory of the Bureau of Fisheries, Beaufort, N. C, 

 in the months of July and August, 1901 ami L902. While it has not been possible 

 to subject the whole collection to detailed study, in most cases, especially wherever 

 the character of the material permitted, the information obtained at the time of 

 collecting lias been supplemented by subsequent study of the preserved material. 

 Most of the species of distomes, for example, were studied with the aid of specimens 

 which had been stained and moulded in balsam. In a few special cases serial 

 sections were cut in order to clear up some anatomical obscurity. 



This report should, perhaps, he understood as a contribution to economic rather 

 than to systematic zoology. It is hoped that it may he followed by more detailed 

 descriptions and more precise determinations than are here essayed. 



Since the plan of the report has as its central idea an enumeration of all the 

 parasitic forms which were actually found, brief descriptions are made necessary. 

 In the carrying out of this plan no doubt some forms are mentioned which, even 

 though accompanied with figures, it may not be possible to bring into harmony with 

 subsequent finds. Frequently, after the most painstaking search in a large number 

 of fish, a single distome, for example, would be found in the resulting collection of 

 entozoa which differed specifically and. according to the later classification, generic- 

 ally, from any other find of this or of previous years. Such distome, moreover, even 

 with careful manipulation, may show but a part of the anatomy necessary to a satis 

 factory determination. To bestow new specific names under such conditions is not to 

 be thought of. On the other hand, if no mention be made of examples of entozoa 

 unless found in sufficient numbers or in such excellent condition as to permit full 

 descriptions, little will be accomplished toward an enumeration of the species which 

 infest our fishes. 



To the naturalist no defense need be made for time and energy spent in the study 

 of life in any of its phenomena. To those who are not naturalists, however, some 

 justification is due. Particularly does this become proper when the general public, 

 by means of such laboratories as those of the Bureau of Fisheries, furnishes facilities 

 for scientific inquiry. One who has never undertaken to get knowledge at first-hand 

 from nature is likely to have little conception of the vast amount of work which is 

 oftentimes necessary for the establishment of a very simple proposition. Suppose, 

 for example, exact and complete information is desired as to the food of the English 



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