INTRODUCTION. XI 



James Ross I have had the opportunity of describing and figuring the salmon pro- 

 cured by him on Sir John Ross's recent expedition ; and still more lately I have 

 obtained some useful specimens of the heads of fish, prepared by Mr. King during 

 Captain Back's overland journey *. It will be observed, that these different col- 

 lections consist almost exclusively of the fresh-water, or anadromous species, that 

 supply a principal article of diet to the natives and residents in the fur-countries, 

 the smaller kinds which escape through the pretty wide meshes of the gill-nets in 

 ordinary use there having been mostly overlooked. I am, however, indebted to 

 John James Audubon, Esq., the celebrated American ornithologist, for a small 

 but interesting collection, made on the coasts of Newfoundland ; and Lieu- 

 tenant-Colonel Hamilton Smith favoured me with sketches and notes of several 

 Canada fish. But even with these advantages the work must be considered as 

 very defective in marine species, and by no means complete even in the fresh-water 

 ones. As it was not until after I returned to England from Sir John Franklin's 

 last expedition that I entertained the idea of publishing a work of this nature, I 

 had no inducement to avail myself of the opportunity which was afforded by our 

 journey through Canada and the State of New York, for the collection of mate- 

 rials in aid of such an undertaking ; and my numerous subsequent attempts to 

 remedy this deficiency, by procuring specimens through correspondents, have been 

 unsuccessful, except in the instances above mentioned. Upwards of four hun- 

 dred species of European fish are described in the Histoire des Poissons, or 

 noticed in the Regne Animal, and it may be fairly inferred, that a still greater 

 number inhabit the fresh waters of British America, or the Atlantic, Arctic and 

 Pacific seas which bathe its shores t. The present work contains only one hun- 

 dred and forty species, so that much remains to be accomplished by resident natu- 

 ralists ; and with the view of facilitating the labours of those who may undertake 



* Many of the specimens, having arrived at different periods, and when the printing of the work was considerably 

 advanced, could not be noticed in their proper places, and their descriptions have therefore been introduced either at the 

 end of the families to which they belong, or in the Appendix ; but an attempt has been made to remedy this irregularity 

 by arranging the table of contents. 



f De Witt Clinton estimates the species of fish in the United States at four hundred, and Dr. Mitchill describes one 

 hundred and seventy that are brought to the market of New York. 



b 2 



