Preface 
stands first; indeed, there are many visitors to those parts 
who will fish for nothing else, thus losing many excellent 
opportunities of sport on days that are too rough for them to 
get out on the tarpon grounds, No attempt has been made at 
anything in the nature of an exhaustive list of the sea fish 
of Florida, which might easily have been gathered from one 
or other of the American standard works on the subject, such 
as the invaluable volumes by Jordan and Evermann, published 
under the auspices of the United States National Museum. 
Only fish that are likely to attract the notice of the angler 
have been figured and briefly described, and this from the 
sporting rather than from the natural-history point of view. 
Nor have I devoted much space to the remaining fauna of 
the coast and islands ; although a few conspicuous birds like 
the cormorant and pelican, and an occasional reptile, such as 
the turtle and alligator, the pursuit of which may pass an 
otherwise wasted hour, have claimed a place in these notes. 
Much interest attaches to the realistic photographs with 
which these pages are illustrated. One of the first anglers in 
this country to ‘inspect them was Mr. F. G. Aflalo, a fishing 
enthusiast to whom I am indebted in no small measure for the 
final arrangement of my notes, and he at once pronounced 
them to be certainly the most remarkable in their own way 
that had ever passed through his hands. They are all from 
the natural (not mounted) fish, and the effects were obtained 
by a simple, though careful, arrangement of pegs and sheeting. 
I2 
