The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-20
THE FISHES OF NORTH AMERICA.


his school Of natural history en- Penikese ISL
and he called the attention of President Jor-
dan, now Of the State University. to the pau
city of knowledge regarding the fresh-water
fishes Of the United States, and particularly
to the problem of their distribution. The
questions to be determined were whether the
species inhabiting the rivers of the same
mountain slope were Similar whether the
species in the headwaters Of streams were the
same as those of the middle portions and of
the lower portions. and, generally, what were
the laws Of variation and distribution Of the
gheny mountains. This Professor Agassiz re-
garded as the most open field for
original investigation in the entire
province of American zoology Pro-
fessor Jordan, who, up to that time, had
been making special studies of botanical sub
jects, at once undertook the work, bat found
comparatively little was known as to the spe-
cies of either the northern or southern inland
waters. The mammals, birds and reptiles Of
the United States had been carefully studied
and described; the fishes had been strangely
overlooked; and before any conclusions as to
be determined, it became necessary to collect
and compile the known literature of this
group, and also to collect and restudy the vari-
Gus species themselves. Upon this labor Pro
fessor Jordan has been engaged over twelve
years. Nearly one-half Of this time has been
expended in the field, and under the auspices
of Fish Commissioner Baird, who for thirty
years has been the leader in all that
pertains to a thorough knowledge
of the vertebrate forms of North Amer
ica Professor Jordan has attracted to
him collectors and students from all parts of
the United States, and as result of his la
bors the knowledge of American fishes, both
fresh-water and marine, now takes rank with
that of either mammals, birds or reptiles
The nomenclature and classfcations have
been revised, and over four hundred new
species added to the list of American fishes.
These have been collected, studied
and described, mainly in the bulle-
tins of the United States National
Museum, by President Jordan and his CO.
laborer, Prof. Charles Gilbert, of the Uni
versity Of Cincinnati The work was com
menced ten years ago, in Indianapolis, White
river yielding over eighty species, many new
to science The first list of Indiana fishes
was published in the report Of the State Geol-
ogist for 1877. The final synopsis of the
fishes of North America was issued as "Bulle-
tin No. 16 of the National Museum" work
of over thousand pages, issued to the public
April L. 1882, and reviewed at length in the
current Journal. Since that time many new
species from the deep seas, from the
Florida Keys, from the lower part
of the Mississippi valley, have
been added through the labors of the fish
commission, or by the collections of Professors
Jordan and Gilbert. These have recently
been classified and published by President
Jordan, with those known before, under the
title of Catalogue of the Fishes Known to
Inhabit the Waters of North America, North
of the Tropic of Cancer" issued as part of
the annual report of the Commissioner Of Fish
and Fisheries for 1884 It includes all the
fishes of temperate" North America, defin-
West with Brazos Santiago and Cape ST. Lucas,
instead Of the conventional Mexican bound
airy.
The total number Of species is 1870; of
these $50 are fresh-water Species and 465 of
them occur in the Mississippi valley. The
West Indies furnish 300 species, the deep
seas los; the Pacific coast $50; the Atlantic
coast the most of the remainder. The prob
lem of distribution and the laws controlling it
have been carefully worked out and published,
and are of the greatest interest, as related to
biology and evolution.
incidentally 1T may be noticed that Indiana
has nearly three hundred species in her
waters, the White river nearly one
hundred, and even Pogue's run is
blessed with a greater number Of fresh-water
species than all of New England. The latter
region is, as Agassiz early indicated, "almost
an island" zoologically speaking. 1t has few
reptiles, fishes or fresh-water mollusks as
compared with the Wabash valley.
Much of scientific interest pertains to this
work, and the thoroughness with which it has
been prosecuted has commanded the attention
of biologists in all parts of the world. It is
comparatively easy to determine the species,