92 Fresh Water Fishes of the United States. 



VIII. — On the Distribution of Fresh-Water Fishes of the United 



States. 



By DAVID S. JORDAN, M.D., 

 Butler University, Indianapolis, Ind. 



Read, December 4, L876. 



This paper is designed solely as a contribution to our 

 knowledge of the geographical distribution of our fresh-water 

 fishes. It consists of a catalogue of (a) the fishes which have 

 been collected by myself; (b) those sent roe by correspond- 

 ents ; and (c) those personally examined by me in private col- 

 lections, fish markets, and other places, outside of the great 

 museums; accompanied by a list of the lakes and streams 

 from which, or from tributaries of which, each species has 

 been taken. 



No species has been included which has not been personally 

 identified, and no locality has been inserted from which I have 

 not examined specimens, either in my own, or some other 

 private collection. 



It is, therefore, an original, and not a compiled record ; and 

 from such records the ichthyologists of the future must draw 

 the material for generalizations concerning the problems of 

 geographical distribution and variation. We know too little 

 of our fish-fauna, as yet, for such generalizations to have much 

 value, as is evinced by the errors w T hich have thus far accom- 

 panied attempts at such work. 



The material on which this paper is based is now chiefly 

 deposited in the Museum of the Butler University, at Indian- 

 apolis, by the generous aid of which institution I have been 

 enabled to explore several streams, of which the inhabitants 

 are little known to science. It consists of collections made in 

 Cayuga Lake, by Dr. B. G. Wilder and Instructor S. H. Gage ; 

 in Delaware River, by Prof. A. 0. Apgar and Dr. 0. 0. Abbott ; 

 in Eock, Peckatonica, Baraboo, and Wisconsin Rivers, by 

 Prof. H. E. Copeland, W. F. Bundy, and R. H. Struthers ; in 

 Northern Indiana, by the Indiana Geological Survey; in 

 White River, Indiana, by Prof. Copeland, C. H. Gilbert, and 

 myself; in Genesee River, by E. R. Beadle; in Lake Michi- 



