REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 179 
North America,” published originally in the Memoirs of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences in 18467, and ‘‘A History of the Fishes 
of Massachusetts,” also published in the Memoirs of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, from 1853 to 1867’. These were later 
published as separate works and with independent pagination, and 
doubtless are in such form constantly referred to at Woods Hole, as 
they are still the largest complete works that pertain avowedly to the 
region in question. 
The Report of 1839 was a useful compilation of existing knowledge 
respecting the subject-matter, and for the first time brought together 
deseriptions which could only have been found previously in scattered 
publications. The classification of Cuvier, then almost universally 
accepted, was adopted. The material which served for the deserip- 
tions in Storer’s works was mainly found in a small collection in the 
Boston Society of Natural History, in the markets, or was supplied 
by fishermen and by Dr. Leroy M. Yale, a practicing physician of 
Holmes Hole. Doctor Yale supplied most of the southern forms, and 
without his aid the Report would have been much more incomplete 
than it was. 
William Yarrell, the author of ‘‘A History of British Fishes,” not 
long before published (1836), was an exemplar for the Report, and, as 
Storer acknowledges, ‘‘the generic characters are generally given in 
the language of Yarrell.” In one case, however, five is substituted 
for free, and the genus Gasterosteus is consequently said to have ‘‘one 
dorsal fin, with five spines before it,” whereas Yarrell had printed 
Sree. Of course the error may be considered typographical. The 
genera not represented in Britain are defined after the Yarrellian pat- 
a The Synopsis was published as follows: 
(1) A-‘Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. < Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences. New series. Vol. Il, (Cambridge, 1846), pp. 253-550. 
739 nominal species from all North America (including the West Indies) are described. The 
descriptions, however, are mostly inaptly compiled and insufficient. 
(2) A Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. By Dayid Humphreys Storer, M.D., A. A.S. Cam- 
pridge: Metealf and Company, printers to the university. 1846. [4to, 1p. 1. (title) +298 pp.] 
A reprint, with separate pagination, title-page, and index, of the preceding. 
bThe History was published in parts and as a whole, as hereinbelow indicated: 
(1) A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts. By David Humphreys Storer. <Memoirs of the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Boston), mew series, viz: 
1. V, pp. 49-92. pl. 1-8, 1853. 
2, V, pp. 122-168, pl. 9-16, 1853. 
3. V, pp. 257-296, pl. 17-23, 1855. 
4. VI, pp. 309-372, pl. 24-29, 1858. 
5. VIII, pp. 389-484, pl. 30-35, 1863. 
6. IX, pp. 217-263, pl. 36-39, 1867. 
184 species are described and (except one—the Pholis subbifurcatus=Eumesogrammus subbifurcatus) 
illustrated, and, in an appendix, a nominal list (by Mr. Frederick Putnam, of Salem) of 21 additional 
species is published. Of the 134 species, 116 are salt or brackish water, and 18 fresh water. 
(2) A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts. By David Humphreys Storer, M.D.,A.A.S. * * * 
[Reprinted from the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.] Cambridge and 
Boston: Welch & Bigelow and Dakin & Metcalf. 1867. [4to, 2p. 1. + 287 pp., 39 pl.; pl. 39 folded.] 
As indicated on the title-page, a reprint of the preceding, or rather a collection of extras of the 
several parts separately and consecutively paged, and with an independent title-page and index. 
134 nominal species are described and 133 tigured on the 89 plates. 
