Division of Fishes, 

 U. S. N«tlontl Museum 



XVIII.-THE FISHES OF BERING SEA. 



Bv David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert. 



The fishes of Bering Sea were first studied by George Wilhelm Steller, naturalist 

 of Bering's Sea voyage of 1741, and by Stephan Krascheuinnikof, another able natu- 

 ralist, likewise connected with the great exploring expeditions of the Commander Vitus 

 Bering. Steller died in 1745 and Krascheninnikof about 1750, and the observations 

 of both men were printed posthumously by others. 



The manuscript notes of Steller were published in part by Tilesius, Pallas, and 

 others, 1809 to 1811, and a portion of them appear in Krascheninuikof's own work, 

 "Description of Kamchatka," which appeared about the time of his death. We have 

 not seen the original of this work, and in the English translations the parts relating 

 to natural history are greatly condensed. Both ^teller and Krascheninnikof confined 

 their attention mainly to the salmon and trout of Kamchatka, describing correctly 

 the different species under the Eussian names they now bear. In 1792 these vernacular 

 names were taken as scientific designation by Walbaum ( Artedi Piscium), the descrip- 

 tions being copied from Krascheninnikof through Pennant's compilation, all these 

 authors, Pennant, Krascheninnikof, and Steller, being nonbinomial. 



Later the fishes of the Aleutian Islands and Kamchatka, as collected by Steller, 

 Merk, Billings, and others, were carefully studied by Tilesius, and especially by Pallas, 

 whose Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica (1811) ranks with the best ichthyological work of 

 the time. Most of the larger fishes of Kamchatka and Unalaska were described 

 by Pallas, and the fuller study of our day shows the comparative accuracy and 

 completeness of his work. 



Later explorers brought some material to the museum at Paris, where it was 

 studied by Cuvier and Valenciennes, to the museum at London, and to the collections 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. It is only within the last fifteen years that large 

 collections have been made in Bering Sea. The various collections made by the 

 ofiicers of the revenue cutters and the weather observers have been especially studied 

 by Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, and the rich results of the deep-sea dredging of the Albatross 

 have been described by Dr. Gilbert and Dr. Bean, while Dr. Bean and his brother. 

 Barton A. Bean, have placed on record the collections of Dr. Leonhard Stejneger and 

 Col. Nikolai A. Grebnitzki from Bering Island, Medni Island, and Kamchatka. 



In the summer of 1896 the steamer Albatross, Capt. Jeff. F. Moser, was assigned 

 to the use of the Commission of Fur Seal Investigation. Under Dr. Jordan's direction 

 collections were made about Unalaska, off Bogoslof Island, off St. George, and off St. 

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