The next figure of the big West Indian barracuda is Parra's drawing, reproduced herein as figure 17, plate v. It was published in 1787 and, though crude, is by far the best of all the figures published prior to 1829.
The first really accurate delineation of Sphyrcena barracuda is that found in the third volume of Cuvier and Valenciennes. This is really a wonderful drawing to have been made from a preserved specimen. The reader will find it given herein as figure 18, plate v. The one criticism is that the head is somewhat too short and blunt.
After Cuvier and Valenciennes' elegant figure, the next portrayal known to me is that found in volume ry of Jordan and Evermann's great work on American fishes. This excellent figure has but two defects worthy of serious criticism; the lateral line runs straight where it should rise over the pectoral fin; and the fin rays do not corre spond to the count in the text. This drawing is herein reproduced as text-figure 2. These same authors, in their "American food and game fishes" (1905), publish an excellent figure, apparently a photograph of a preserved, possibly a still fresh specimen, viewed from the side and slightly from below. This fine figure shows
the lateral line markedly arched over the pectoral fin, but the authors persist in their statement that it is straight.
Very valuable are the three portrayals in the plate taken from Bul len's book (1904) and reproduced herein facing page 55. These are by long odds the best figures extant of this fish, and portray very closely attitudes in which the fish has often been observed at Tortugas.
The observations on the living fish, its structures and habits, and the collection of material and data for further study were made at the Tortugas Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Here Dr. A. G. Mayer, the director, did everything possible to forward my work. The historical side of the paper was worked up in the Library of Congress and the Library of the United States National Museum. To the officials in charge of these two great libraries I am under obligation for many courtesies. The extracts from the various authors referred to are in the main literal quotations. Translitera tions would possibly have enhanced the appearance of the paper, but experience has taught me that verbatim quotations are far more valuable to the reader.