4.— NOTES ON A COLLECTION OF FISHES FROM THE LOWER POTOMAC 
RIVER, MARYLAND. 
BY HUGH M. SMITH, M. D. 
[Plates xviii-xx.] 
No systematic collecting has been clone in the region drained by the Lower Potomac 
and its numerous tributary streams, and any contribution to a knowledge of the fish 
life of that section will probably be acceptable, as tending to aid in the elucidation of 
the problems of geographical distribution and variation. -The only researches thus far 
made embracing the fish fauna of the region covered by this paper were undertaken 
by the Maryland Academy of Sciences, the results of whose investigations were 
embodied in an annotated list prepared by Messrs. Uhler and Lugger, published in the 
report of the commissioners of fisheries of Maryland for 1876, which was followed by 
supplements in the reports for 1877 aud 1878. This list, enumerating 202 species, is 
the only one thus far compiled that essays to include all the fishes occurring in the 
waters of the State, and, while now subject to considerable revision in the matters of 
nomenclature and distribution of fishes, must serve as a comparison and guide for 
future inquiry. 
The Lower Potomac Eiver has a great wealth of fish, upon whose abundance and 
movements a large number of people are dependent. Not only is there a plentiful 
supply of desirable food-fishes which are more or less permanently found in the region, 
such as the yellow perch and striped bass, but there are very important annual migra- 
tions of anadromous species, as the shad and alewives ; while the proximity to the 
Chesapeake Bay (whose commercial fisheries are of greater value than those of any 
other body of water of like size in the world) also contributes a generous supply of 
typically salt-water fish. The topographical conditions are favorable to the employ- 
ment of seines, gill nets, pound nets, fyke nets, and other similar devices in almost 
unlimited numbers. This fact, together with the abundance of oysters and crabs, in 
addition to fish, makes this one of the most important fishing-grounds in the country. 
In the summer of 1890 I made two short visits to St. George Island, Maryland 
(situated in the Potomac River, about 15 miles from its mouth), and at the suggestion 
of Dr. T. H. Bean, ichthyologist of the U. S. Fish Commission, obtained a small collec- 
tion of fishes. Owing to the limited time available for collecting and lack of facilities 
for preserving the larger fishes, attention was chiefly directed to the smaller forms 
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