Foreword by Rajeev Raghavan 7
Foreword by Rohan Pethiyagoda 8
Foreword by Sven Kullander 10
Preface 12
Acknowledgements 13
Short guide to unpublished materials used in this new edition 14
Francis Hamilton pioneer of South Asian freshwater ichthyology 15
Ichthyology in Hamilton’s times 19
Hamilton’s working method 20
Localities and dates in Hamilton’s Latin field notes of his Gangetic Fishes 20
Hamilton’s choice of scientific names 22
Significance of Hamilton’s Gangetic Fishes 23
The different sources of Hamilton illustrations and notes on their history 23
Source 1. Hamilton drawings in the Linnean Society of London (Linnean Society Set) 24
Source 2. NHD 36 in the British Library, London (Wellesley Set) 24
Source 3. MSS. Eur. E. 2 in the British Library, London (Hamilton Set) 26
Source 4. The Hardwicke collection of water colour drawings in the Natural History Museum, London, MSS HAR (Hardwicke Set) 27
Source 5. John M’Clelland’s Indian Cyprinidae 28
Source 6. A bound volume of water-colour illustrations in the Day collection at the Zoological Society, London (Day Set) 29
Source 7. Volume 3 of Hamilton’s (1807) ‘A journey from Madras . . .’ 29
Source 8. Black and white illustrations from Hora (1929) 29
How sources were used for this new edition 29
Literature cited 36
Table 1 with list of all species mentioned in Hamilton’s Gangetic Fishes 38
Text reprint of Hamilton’s Gangetic Fishes i–viii, 1–405
Plate captions
Plates 1–228