INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The apparatus enumerated in this catalogue, including as it does 

 many of the primitive forms employed by the North American Indians 

 and Eskimo and the inhabitants of all portions of the country, for both 

 fresh- water and sea-fishing, is exceedingly varied, and some of the forms 

 are of peculiar interest. The list does not pretend, however, to include 

 all of the American forms, or, indeed, all of those in the collections of 

 the National Museum, but simply those that were sent to the London 

 Fisheries Exhibition. 



It frequently happens that the fishermen are obliged to partially cure 

 their fish before landing them, in which case the apparatus employed 

 in this work, as it is used by the fishermen themselves, is included with 

 the apparatus of capture. The other implements used in prepara- 

 tion are excluded, and may be found in the catalogue of fishery products, 

 prepared by Mr. A. Howard Clark, of the TJ. S. National Museum. 



The apparatus employed in whaling being fully treated in the cata- 

 logue on "The Whale Fishery and its Appliances," prepared by Mr. 

 James Temple Brown, who had charge of the collection and installation 

 of the whaling exhibit, is also omitted. 



In order to make the collection more intelligible to the English public, 

 a large series of fishery photographs, representing all of the more im- 

 portant commercial fisheries in actual operation, were secured in uni- 

 form 8 by 10 inch negatives, by Mr. T. W. Smillie, the museum photog- 

 rapher, who visited the fishing districts for this purpose. The more 

 important views were enlarged by means of the electric light to 30 by 

 40 inch photographs, many of them being retouched with crayon and 

 India ink to render them more perfect in detail. This valuable collec- 

 tion was sent to London, and used both for purposes of decoration and 

 illustration. These photographs, which number several hundred, are in- 

 cluded with the apparatus which they are intended to illustrate. 



An elaborate report on the history and development of American 

 fishery apparatus is being prepared by Mr. G. Brown Goode and others, 

 for publication in the reports of the United States Fish Commission ; 

 any detailed description of apparatus or history of the development of 

 any particular form is, therefore, unnecessary in this place. 



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