li PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION. 
and I have tried, with more or less of success, to set be- 
fore the student the essential characters of each group. 
The present edition is wholly re-written and it is 
printed from new stereotype plates. The order of ar- 
rangement is reversed, the lowest forms being sleet 
first. 
The region covered by the Manual has been extended 
in the present edition so as to include, in addition, Mis- 
souri, Iowa, Minnesota, the Provinces of Canada, and the 
sea-coast from Nova Scotia to Cape Hatteras. The deep- 
sea fishes of this region are, however, omitted, as well as 
the tropical and semi-tropical forms which occasionally 
drift northward in the Gulf Stream, without gaining any 
permanent place in the northern fauna. Several species 
of birds which have been once or twice taken in our limits, 
but which are merely accidental wanderers from the West 
or South or from Europe, have also been omitted. I have 
wished to include only those animals which really form a 
part of the fauna of the region in question. 
I have made free use of every available source of infor- 
mation, and I believe that the present state of our knowl- 
edge in this field is fairly represented. The arrangement 
of the fishes is essentially that of Jordan and Gilbert’s 
“Synopsis of the Fishes of North America” (1883), and, 
almost exactly that of Jordan’s “Catalogue of the Fishes 
of North America” (1885). The manuscript of the fresh 
water fishes, in the present edition, has been carefully re- . 
vised by Prof. Charles H. Gilbert. 
The arrangement of the Batrachians and Reptiles is 
essentially that set forth in the various papers of Prof, 
Edward D. Cope. I have made use of Boulenger’s Cata- 
logues of the Reptiles in the British Museum, and of the 
“Catalogue of North American Batrachia and Reptilia ” 
by N.S. Davis and Frank L. Rice. The manuscripts of | 
the Reptiles and Batrachians have been revised by Prof. , 
O. P. Hay. 
