18 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Among the sources of information should be mentioned a number of early- 

 general works on North Carolina in which the fishes receive more or less attention; 

 these works are chiefly valuable for the historical insight they afford as to the 

 knowledge of the fish fauna in the latter part of the seventeenth century and the 

 first half of the eighteenth century. "Carolina; or a description of the present 

 state of that country", by Thomas Ash, published in London in 1682, makes 

 brief mention of the fishes (including salmon, trouts, and bass). The best of 

 the early works was that of John Lawson, surveyor-general of North Carolina, 

 entitled "A new voyage to Carolina; containing the exact description and 

 natural history of that country", etc., published in London in 1709. It con- 

 tains many quaint and interesting notes, and has been hereinafter quoted in the 

 accounts of a number of species. This was followed by " The natural history of 

 North Carolina" of John Brickell, M. D., printed in Dublin in 1737, which is 

 chiefly remarkable for its free plagiarism of Lawson's work. John Edward 

 Holbrook's excellent "Ichthyology of South Carolina" contains a number of 

 references to North Carolina. 



Among the general works on American fishes and fisheries in which North 

 Carolina receives due consideration are " The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of 

 the United States", by George Brown Goode and associates, 7 volumes (1884- 

 1887); "American Game Fishes", by Goode (1887), with revised edition edited 

 by Dr. Theodore Gill (1903); "Statistics of the Fisheries of the South Atlantic 

 States", by Hugh M. Smith (1893), with illustrations and local names of all the 

 important food fishes of the region; various other statistical papers published by 

 the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries; "The Fishes and Fish-likei Vertebrates of North 

 and Middle America", by Jordan and Evermann, 4 volumes (1896-1900); and 

 "American Food and Game Fishes", by Jordan and Evermann (1902). 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE FAUNA. 



While the fish life of North Carolina is not of a peculiar or distinctive type, 

 and bears a close resemblance to that of the adjoining states, it nevertheless has 

 some features of exceptional interest. 



The great variety in the topography of the state; the number, length, and 

 volume of the streams; the remarkable coast-wise fringe of large, shallow sounds; 

 and the long coast-line, have contributed to the development of a fish fauna rich 

 in both species and individuals. Many species of fishes were first made known 

 from North Carolina waters, and a considerable number of these have not been 

 found elsewhere and will probably prove to be peculiar to this state. Other 

 species here exist in greater abundance than in other states. Among the promi- 

 nent features of the fish fauna are : 



(a) The abundance of certain anadromous fishes, whose numbers are 

 scarcely surpassed in any other waters, the chief of these being the shad, the 

 alewives, and the striped bass. 



(b) The variety and abundance of suckers, minnows, and sun-fishes in the 

 fresh waters generally and of darters in the headwaters of the streams on both 

 sides of the Alleghanies. 



