REPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. l79 



North America," published originally in the Memoirs of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1846'^, and "A History of the Fishes 

 of Massachusetts," also published in the Memoirs of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, from 1853 to 1867^. These were later 

 published as separate works and with independent pagination, and 

 doubtless are in such form constantly referred to at Woods Hole, as 

 they are still the largest complete works that pertain avowedl}^ to the 

 region in question. 



The Report of 1839 was a useful compilation of existing knowledge 

 respecting the subject-matter, and for the first time brought together 

 descriptions w^hich could only have been found previously in scattered 

 publications. The classification of Cuvier, then almost universally 

 accepted, was adopted. The material which served for the descrip- 

 tions in Storer's works was mainly found in a smiiU collection in the 

 Boston Society of Natural History, in the. markets, or was supplied 

 by fishermen and by Dr. Leroj^ M. Yale, a practicing phj^sician of 

 Holmes Hole. Doctor Yale supplied most of the southern forms, and 

 without his aid the Report would have been much more incomplete 

 than it was. 



William Yarrell, the author of "A History of British Fishes," not 

 long before published (1836), was an exemplar for the Report, and, as 

 Storer acknowledges, "the generic characters are generally given in 

 the language of Yarrell." In one case, however, ^i^'^-d is substituted 

 iov free, and the genus Gasterosteus is consequently said to have "one 

 dorsal fin, with live spines before it," whereas Yarrell had printed 

 free. Of course the error may be considered tj^pographical. The 

 genera not represented in Britain are defined after the Yarrellian pat- 



o The Synopsis was published as follows: 



(1) A Sj-nopsis of the Fishes of North America. < Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences. New series. Vol. II, (Cambridge, 184(3), pp. 253-550. 



739 nominal species from all North America (including the West Indies) are described. The 

 descriptions, liowever, are mostly inaptly compiled and insufficient. 



(2) A Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. By David Humphreys Storer, M. D., A. A. S. Cam- 

 bridge: Metcalf and Company, printers to the university. 1846. [4to, 1 p. 1. (= title) +298 pp.] 



A reprint, with separate pagination, title-page, and index, of the preceding. 

 f'The History was published in parts and as a whole, as hercinbelow indicated: 



(1) A History of the Fi-hes of Massachusetts. By David Hnmphrey.s Ctorer. < Memoirs of the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Boston), new series, viz; 



1. V, pp. 49-92. pi. 1-8, 18.'>o. 



2. V, pp. 122-168, pi. 9-16, 1S53. 



3. V, pp. 257-296, pi. 17-23, 1855. 



4. VI, pp. 309-372, pi. 24-29. 1858. 



5. VIII, pp. 389-434, pi. 30-35, 1863. 

 fl. IX, pp. 217-263, pi. 36-39, 1867. 



134 species are described and (except one— the PhoUs subbifiircati!S=Eamcsogram}nus subhifurcatus) 

 illustrated, and, in an appendix, a nominal list (by Mr. Frederick Putnam, of Salem) of 21 additional 

 species is published. Of the 134 .species, 116 are salt or brackish water, and 18 fresh water. 



(2) A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts. By David Humphreys Storer, M. D., A. A. S. * * * 

 [Reprinted from the Slemoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.] Cambridge and 

 Boston: Welch & Bigelow and Dakin & Metcalf. 1867. [4to, 2 p. 1. -h 287 pp., 39 pi.; pi. 39 folded.] 



As indicated on the title-page, a reprint of the preceding, or rather a collection of extras of the 

 several parts separately and consecutively paged, and with an independent title-page and index. 

 134 nominal species are described and 133 figured on the 39 plates. 



