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GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF FISHES
A GUIDE
TO
THE STUDY OF FISHES
BY
DAVID STARR JORDAN
President of Leland Stanford Junior University
With Colored Frontispieces and 427 Illustrations
IN TWO VOLUMESVol I.
"I am the wiser in respect to all knowledgeand the better qualified for all fortunesfor knowing that there is a minnow in thatbrook."—Thoreau
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1905
Copyright, 1905
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
Published March, 1905
To
Theodore Gill,
Ichthyologist, Philosopher, Critic, Master in Taxonomy,
this volume is dedicated.
PREFACE
This work treats of the fish from all the varied points ofview of the different branches of the study of Ichthyology. Ingeneral all traits of the fish are discussed, those which the fishshares with other animals most briefly, those which relate tothe evolution of the group and the divergence of its variousclasses and orders most fully. The extinct forms are restoredto their place in the series and discussed along with those stillextant.
In general, the writer has drawn on his own experience as anichthyologist, and with this on all the literature of the science.Special obligations are recognized in the text. To Dr. CharlesH. Gilbert, he is indebted for a critical reading of most of hisproof-sheets; to Dr. Bashford Dean, for criticism of the proof-sheetsof the chapters on the lower fishes; to Dr. William EmersonRitter, for assistance in the chapters on Protochordata; toDr. George Clinton Price, for revision of the chapters on lanceletsand lampreys, and to Mr. George Clark, Secretary of StanfordUniversity, for assistance of various kinds, notably in the preparationof the index. To Dr. Theodore Gill, he has been formany years constantly indebted for illuminating suggestions, andto Dr. Barton Warren Evermann, for a variety of favors. ToDr. Richard Rathbun, the writer owes the privilege of usingillustrations from the "Fishes of North and Middle America"by Jordan and Evermann. The remaining plates were drawnfor this work by Mary H. Wellman, Kako Morita, and SekkoShimada. Many of the plates are