via PREFACE. 



trating the habits and characters of fishes. To the same author, we are indebted 

 for several important papers in the Boston Journal of Natural History. In 1839, 

 Dr. D. H. Storer, who had previously furnished several valuable papers on ichthy- 

 ology in the Journal just alluded to, published a masterly report on the Fishes of 

 Massachusetts. In this report, the author has enumerated one hundred and nine 

 species, of which one hundred and four are accompanied by original and care- 

 fully drawn up descriptions. This report is an invaluable document to the Ame- 

 rican ichthyologist, and is every way worthy of its eminent author. Among the 

 casual contributors to this department of science, we have to enumerate the 

 name of a former Governor of this State, De Witt Clinton ; of Mr. Wood of Phi- 

 ladelphia; of Messrs. Redfield, father and son; and quite recently, of Mr. Hal- 

 deman, of Pennsylvania. 



Having thus briefly alluded to the various sources from whence is derived our 

 knowledge of the fishes of this country, the pleasing duty remains, of expressing 

 my obligations to those who have assisted me in my solitary and arduous under- 

 taking. Several years since, my friend Dr. Holbrook, so favorably known for 

 his work on the Reptiles of the United States, contemplated publishing a work 

 on the Fishes of Carolina. He collected many species, and caused them to be 

 carefully drawn under his own eye, by the same artist who had so successfully 

 figured the reptiles. These drawings, illustrative of fifty-two species, he j)laced 

 in the kindest manner at my disposal, and they have enabled me to extend our 

 acquaintance with the geographical distribution of many species. I feel much 

 indebted to Dr. Storer for the instruction I have derived from his correspondence, 

 and for the prompt and liberal aid he has afforded by furnishing me with several 

 specimens for illustration and comparison. To Mr. I. Cozzens, Librarian of the 

 Lyceum of Natural History, I am under many obligations for his assistance in 

 collecting, and his accurate and practical discrimination of species. My thanks 

 are also due, for several specimens from Lake Champlain, to Mr. Z. Thompson 

 of Burlington (Vermont), who is occupied in publishing a work on the Natural 

 History of Vermont, at the moment these sheets are passing through the press. 



In no department of the natural sciences is the want of good illustrations more 

 strikingly felt than in the class now before us. Those which relate to American 

 fishes are distributed through so many rare and expensive volumes as to render 

 them difficult of access, and indeed entirely beyond the reach of a large majority 

 of students. We hope, therefore, that the figures of two hundred and fifty spe- 

 cies, which appear in this work, will not be unacceptable to the American ich- 



