60 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



which includes some of our Northern genera. Dr. Storer, in 

 1839, published an able report of the fishes of Massachusetts. 

 De Witt Clinton, Mr. Wood, of Philadelphia, Eedfield and 

 Haldeman, also contributed to this branch of natural science. 

 It was reserved, however, for Dr. De Kay to give the first 

 elaborate description of American fish, which he did by 

 authority of the state of New York in 1842 ; his work is 

 illustrated by engravings that are badly colored, and some of 

 them are incorrectly drawn. He enumerates thirty-two fami- 

 lies, one hundred and fifty-six genera, and four hundred and 

 forty species. His description includes the Lacustrine genera, 

 as well as those of the coast of New York. Amongst the 

 latter are many that are emigrants from Southern waters, 

 which fact he fails to note. Dr. Holbrook, of Charleston, has 

 recently published an interesting work on the fishes of South 

 Carolina, which is of much interest to the angler, as it con- 

 tains an account of the habits, as well as scientific descrip- 

 tions of many game-fish, common to this latitude and the 

 Western States. His work is beautifully illustrated with 

 colored engravings. Girard, Gill, and Professor Spencer F. 

 Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute, have recently made 

 valuable additions to American ichthyology. 



In closing these observations on the natural history of fish, 

 it is proper to remark, that they are those of a mere angler, 

 who aspires to no place amongst the learned doctors, and who 

 has picked up such information, as he has imparted to the 

 general reader, from the books of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, and from his own observations noted here and 

 there, as any fish that takes a bait has interested him. He 

 presents what is here written with the hope of inciting other 

 anglers to a study of the fishes that afford so much pleasure 

 in the taking of them. 



