THE FISHES OF OHIO. 



An Authenticated List, with Especial Reference to Occurrence 

 and Distribution. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE purpose of this work is to bring together the results of 

 the investigations on the fishes of Ohio, which have from 

 time to time been made in various localities within the 

 state, and to compile an authenticated list of the fishes of 

 Ohio, which shall include only such species as have been defin- 

 itely reported for the state by some collector. An attempt has 

 also been made to show the distribution in the state, of each 

 species, by citing all the records of occurrence which could be 

 obtained. The results show that many species are so widely dis- 

 tributed and so abundant that they have been taken by every 

 collector in the state ; some are widely distributed, but nowhere 

 common ; others have been taken commonly in one or two locali- 

 ties, but not elsewhere ; and still others are so rare that onlyr 

 single individuals have been recorded. 



Before proceeding with the list it may be of interest to glance 

 at the work of some of the collectors of Ohio fishes, as shown by 

 their publications. 



The work in the Ohio Valley was begun by C. S. Rafinesque, 

 in a paper dated at Louisville, Kentucky, July 20, 181 8. This 

 paper was followed by a number of others in rapid succession, 

 and in December, 1819, to November, 1820, Rafinesque pub- 

 lished in a series of articles in the ' ' Western Review and Miscel- 

 laneous Magazine," his " Ichthyologia Ohiensis," which, as Dr., 

 Call says, " laid the literary foundation of American Ichthyologi- 

 cal Science." As Rafinesque' s paper covered the Ohio River 

 System, it is not definitely known how many species he took 

 within the limits of Ohio, but he mentions about twenty-five 



