INTRODUCTION. 29
As regards this list of the Fish of Essex, I am
fully aware how imperfect my efforts have been to
provide a complete Catalogue. I have endeavoured
to make it as reliable as possible, with the hope that
its publication may be the means of directing the
attention of other observers to our Sea and River
Fish and, by so doing, may enable others, at some
future period, to fill up my many blanks. It is quite
impossible for anyone not residing at a fishing-port
and with many other calls on his time to make, single-
handed, anything like a complete record of all the
species occurring on the coasts of a county so rich
in species and individuals as Essex.
SUMMARY.
In conclusion, I may briefly point out that it is
amongst the Seals, Cetaceans, and Fishes that we
are most likely to have additions made to the lists
comprised in this volume.
There is no reason why stragglers of at least two
other species of Seals should not be recorded, as both
are fairly common on the Norwegian coast. One of
them, the Bearded Seal (Phoca barbata), has been added
to the Norfolk Fauna during the last year : the other,
the Ringed Seal (Phoca foetida), may have been already
frequently captured, and mistaken for the Common Seal.
Turning to Cetaceans, it can hardly be possible that