VI 
PREFACE. 
branch of zoology, as a book of reference ; and that 
those who have not time or inclination to study the 
subject, may find herein a ready means of discovering 
the names of any fishes they may come across, and 
wish to identify. 
To the late Dr. Jerdon I am indebted for first direct- 
ing my attention to this interesting study, and for 
much help in mastering the primary difficulties. 
From Dr. Gunther, of the British Museum, I 
have received much kind assistance, notably in the 
revision of my List of Species. 
I have made free use of such works and publications 
on the subject as I have been able to procure. 
Among others, Surgeon Major Day’s Monograph of 
Indian Cyprinidee, published in the Journal of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal ; his Beport on the Indian 
Fisheries, and various papers in the Proceedings of 
the Zoological Society of London ; also the works of 
Dr. Francis Hamilton (formerly Buchanan) and Dr. 
John McClelland. 
I have been under the disadvantage of being far 
from the reach of any standard library or large 
museum to refer to in cases of difficulty. This draw- 
back would have been indeed fatal, were it not for 
the British Museum Catalogue, in which all the in- 
formation previously published by various authors has 
been laboriously collected together. Such species as 
are insufficiently known, or which for any reason 
arc doubtful, I have placed apart in an Appendix. 
