THE 



AMERICAN NATURALIST. 



SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF NORTH AMERICAN 

 ICHTHYOLOGY IN THE YEARS 1SS0-1881. 



THE amount of ichthyological work that has been done in the 

 A United States during the years 18S0 and 18S1 is exceptionally 

 large. The greater portion of this work consists of descriptions 

 of new species and additions to our knowledge of the geographi- 

 cal and bathymetrical range, habits, food and other data of eco- 

 nomic value. A considerable portion of this work is the results 

 of the U. S. Fish Commission conjoined with the census. Upon 

 the Atlantic coast the steamer Fuh-hawk has been engaged in 

 dredging in the deeper waters, and among the resulting crowd of 

 forms new to science, have been several fishes. Upon the Pacific 

 coast, the sp rs sent out, although unprovided 



with dredging apparatus, and dependent for their specimens en- 

 tirely upon the supplies obtained by fishermen, and what they 

 could themselves collect with the simple appliances at hand, have 

 added vastly to the number of species known, and have conclu- 

 sively proved that the Pacific shores are at least as rich in animal 

 life as the Atlantic. Great additions to the fauna of our western 

 coast may again be looked for whenever«research in the deep 

 waters is commenced. Unexpected additions to the fresh-water 

 fish fauna have also been made in various parts of the country, 

 and numerous species from Lower California and the more 

 southern parts of the west coast of Mexico have been described. 

 Comparatively few have, during this period, worked in system- 

 atic, anatomical and embryological ichthyology. The tempting 

 harvest of new forms still detains many of our naturalists in the 

 easier walks of descriptive zoology, and the knowledge that the. 



