;
RHE avian
sn i eet te
SEAR ESCA URC Achot milena eis ista en

relate id et a Hiatt eae

acu

saat aR IEE EG rar eating
. i ps ea Hi Poni ‘

i
4

tie) aba
Tea ctiaaitay
ita bat bth
Viale yt
ane faite,
+
a

ie

, iis na Pail ates
nieelaiaiuianants
; tare

ei
~
roe
steers

sore

eae
sie sisss

i it:
Speteptel a |: Uastie

. five ial ¥
mere est Rea bth tty
sapere

Reseateatacyeeeniss

|
4 3
ay Ly ial aha
att
Att Hs ite
home He

Diccipaas teits Mii cate ate aera
eee aa Ma nab aed as aie
| ahah a: Fearne sta leheseier ary 4 Ne ci
at iietioneera a ee dav ate in ara ate ie

4 ani at ihe ii sea HURCH sen SR Meas sis i

Is oaile|

Walais
iagetath

LPaeee

it
Cie

ay Aa ae
sla ada gile

Pee FEES

si nite

Faas ieh lath

cy iiss a
aa

atasteettoa sy
Pete ical
Cotaests

y

ae
ihe thd

x

>

i is ih
™ ars

a ‘Se if

a7 ‘

satin 4 Bivilen of Pletog).

ote LU}

nyo
LO,

ioe
thy

Le

TRANSACTIONS ©

AMERICAN FISHERIES
SOCIETY

NINETEEN HUNDRED ONE

oy

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

AMERICAN
| FISHERIES SOCIETY

‘
rh
7
:
\<
+
'

| Jet 2-19 AND 201901:

AGT pei

Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Headquarters of the Meeting, Hotel tie Mil: VAKREE,
Wisconsin. ey 5
ie Pr oaei® if aS

i aa =\"? \
Ss Ay, €
| tional Muses
APPLETON, WIS.
f THE POST PUBLISHING COMPANY, PRINTERS AND BINDERS,
h 1901.
$

bse ca

der 5 ‘ers tet

Officers for 1901-1902.

President, - - - GENERAL EK. EK. BRYANT, Madison, Wis.
Vice-President, - - EUGENE G. BLACKFORD, New York City.
Recording Secretary, - GEORGE F.. PEABODY, Appleton, Wis.

Corresponding Secretary, JOHN EK. GUNCKEL, Toledo, Ohio.
Treasurer, - - - C. W. WILLARD, Westerly, R. I.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
JoHN W. Titcoms, Chairman, St. Johnsbury, Vt.

GEORGE T. MATHEWSON, Thompsonville, Conn.
I. H. Dunyiap, Washington, D. C.
HENRY O’MALLEY, Baker, Wash.
W. H. BoaRDMAN, Central Falls, R. I.

J. J. STRANAHAN, Bullochville, Ga.

NOTE:

On account of the short time at the disposal of the conven-
tion, it was impossible to discuss every paper which was con-
tributed. The text of the various papers and discussions will be

found in Part Two of the Transactions.

List of New Members

Addressi bys Presid @ntt aise. cc1s jars oo) ieeesc ouside c tote epel
Reportiot Baird) Memorial) Committee heel ert

Address by ex-Governor George W. Peck ..............

Report of Committee on Location and Time...........

Report of Committee on Nominations .... ......2.../:
/\GkoTAESS Jone JETS Ole ESMECE > oan sonsasoo ss uduooco ges dood
Report of Treasurer..... BEND HSN Cre eS eS ic neice

Reporter Auditing (Committees ioc. cine ance om) Wieeise es

Report of Committee on Resolutions. ................

Papers and Discussion:
Biryarit, Gea. Eo5h).) Madison, WiSaet i... 06 abla ok
Parker, Dr. J.C. Grand Rapids; Mich. 25: 4...

Gunckel,

JohnH eboledoy One wee ieee a cea

WigveSia, xRopts Wi (Ca WWelslapvaverwoyals JOR(G5 5555 convec
Mtkinsw@hasaG ashy ast Orlat cd. ViCmemretrn peenier sericea
WEKAoa, Uewravery IMieiohiSory WalSapooscoduconndedces5cne
Wiead Pole AnD, fe TOviG ence aici warn ecient

Henshall) Dr. James Ai, Bozeman, Monts...

Wood, C.

Cr, Plymomthy Mass:....meieeet iter

ORS tora Orn Sclicolomsgeepocasno cooddooe SoodKs as
Cohen: Nat: He Uirbanar Wes as crieieiorecetetstereneie iets
Stone seivin s ston, CapenVanGernt.yNaeYs-etvela ihrer

James, Dr. Bushrod Washington, Philadelphia, Pa

Thompson, WL. , NASW sING dG ce .iie nice asco +00 0)8is

Dinsmore, A. H., Green Lake, Me
List of Members....

Constitution

plas shelelels] dis. 6) = c)e \0/njlee eels elsiaie ¢ & eee alle" @ elmcelale. «18

O00). a ).ee) 0) »)\e)\6) sn0'ls\0@!\8)s wile ©, (e||0)s, 0 16)'s 616 el] ae elle «

ee ed

©; [o: eice (0.0, ae) 76710718 'e)\hiie!.6) 6; 0 (e],e, \e) Ohy''@)6,\e le) se!) 6 18 0

@ 0: (sie © ele:

eee ce eee

wie (ae vexeua le

2. 0 (ene le elee

see eee

Waele éin eave

ee ete ene

see ew eee

eliuhe)‘siiera ers,

eevecuens

22

101
105
114
133
137
144
152
159
163
174

PARE f.

BUSINESS SESSIONS.

4, 7 f =
Mie oe

ane

2 go - ra rs
‘yr oP h i oe

eee ot |
Pitan

Transactions of the American Fisheries
Society.

Friday, July 19, rogor.
Convention called to order at 10:30 a. m., by the President,
Mr. F. B. Dickerson, of Detroit, Mich.

During the several sessions the following gentlemen were
elected to membership in the society :

Name. Address.
PATTIE HOLCLH AS AG BO eaten oe Ree a neo Leadville, Col.
Ballo Go kewrel OMe rece reste key cia: do veg see: a eaten nes Cie San Francisco, Cal.
AB rlliclnyaiing OSA Gee Seo cnc cceeth ave wit cians ateitcgh os este San Marcos, Tex.
ACCU ail aoe MOTT VW area eros « Ghee alt "a otek ams New Preston, Conn.
IBye Tine ie NAb et tice Phone: meas S ene ac Seen trata Woonsocket, R. I.
Ra Wekeas lee pail aad matets ser ecko A aiaa elias vee Suatahoneeee New York City.
TERS a kolchay Bie ke aie a ie anes he Is Se eae Mill Creek, Mich.
TEREST OOM Gr sO Crane Ge caantrrs aegis om aR pee game OD Columbus, Ga.
Glaitslecs AT roc ances tayawccs ook aid uapia sss one taehew eaten Mill Creek, Mich.
Woo petsele cA criti wesjstleaseda cialbiaene Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.
1B anletal ie \enk een ee anare he Mae Rena tino 6 Grae Bethel, Vt.
Deans tetera mrt eco his ees berate a ace Breech epee es Neosho, Mo.
DeNyses Washinetom Uc5 32 ces 2 tee Gravesend Beach, N. Y.
IBA) ep OLN peweaine. path stance hie eeiei wie \ovaseh ve ex eres ek as Paris, Mich.
a ywilll Fevearayais green cn bYs) inal Ly eee anne ee i aon me arse RPh rer St. Paul, Minn.
(Gaal tnivoniteves Clalle (OES salceaee tc eee Pac ReRS chee Oho Scie aa Swanton, Vt.
(OMA er Aca dth epagtn gate ese ekaecaatel wana © WieSeT MINS ees ass Chicago, Ill.
Veil lites RO We tape rec saeictet nchaey a eatecee, wie Suclctsta adsyo!'< 6. << Norfolk, Neb.
Joness Cole Jamecstien sey see esee. +2. New. York Nae
TNGE SUCRE A gelh I Eee psi eae NA at ee a New York, N. Y.
ee heres 1B Ie SINR OAS Bs see en Ore ee Santa Monica, Cal.
Meare aelic lnttealetrspnse lb spctapeore. fare ters evehe ees) 2) San Marcos, T'ex.
Mears income Wes mpists cect) sare joi ehie 2) Baie as eo ohees Saginaw, Mich.
VG ehrelieee roses: Wanvamnore NDs32°%. 20.) 3Ssrauar Sascha tty aber Milwaukee, Wis.

8 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Miao elles iain PA; 2c, ccat iets s oe ene eae ee aes Columbus, Ga.
Dealer VO Ma bes eectacw te aioe Rapa nn ee et aE Boston, Mass.
PWOEUNEIS, Saige NL ccs a) Sane rane. St eRe ee eae Columbus, Ga.
Barkker,: We Els 2 shese car pines Lac la Peche, Quebec, Canada.
Balke. (Rober EtG? ge cass Oe oe ee GP ithe pea Middletown, Conn.
Sampson, MR ftw emi Melee nas eine ee New York, N. Y.
MSA OR TS Be tanto ic ek areata ons ee AUS cutee nee er San Francisco, Cal.
Sear borousdy whe wae iad. 2. ates ocean rae ae Columbus, Ga.
mebley.; Die ho V Ave ate ie oh tate cee ee Columbus, Ga.
Sell te: ol sAcé hs Pore Gases ee lad eke Sek heals eee Havana, III.
Sineleton, J ames WH ss. de 5 a 8 ate a oreo ane Woonsocket, R. I.
SONU) nuege) oe) ava BM con canon tae eed COA mien trio Nid nH Appleton, Wis.
EME AAs Ae pede to eA SE munaaretne «<a e ae lee Boston, Mass.
Syrumicher ear SE Beit, nen chteoehragomyee anes tps eyiar Ashtabula, Ohio.
Spencer waecbi is eases Ose au tulecls vac oe New York, N. Y.
RS) DUAN 1/272) cst le oes EN tara a CaP SP ara Columbus, Ga.
ROME NSS UG AMR Spe. oa rare aoe tote fellas Fanahe os ald Rca ee ye Madison, Wis.
ownsend.sOhass ss best oy ae tient aS Washington, D. C.
US ThE) Re) ee ORO ars RCO far Re Re te Aen Set Columbus, Ga.
ML CMUIUROUS GRE SENCIVPLMr: SEN sh calcd ayes Mata Sah ete ai cae Nashua, N. H.
Mvhieclar 1G ras SuCisONis ... bsen neetanauetesc ues San Francisco, Cal.
Miisner, )sNelson, ir Ate arse ale ced 4. yore Washington, D. C.
Wioadarth GSS B a, hata w piee ety mates ae Sea Columbus, Ga.
Honorary membership.
Becks. home GeO W tig tata Steele ssa aocogs atc Milwaukee, Wis.

The President: It affords me much pleasure to greet the
members of this Association on this our 30th annual gathering.
I had hoped however to see a great many more present. but
understand that there will be quite a good many more here this
afternoon. I must confess that I have been so very busy during
the past year that I have not done a very great deal of work my-
self ; the secretary however has done a great deal.

We are assembled for educational purposes with as much in
the line of social intercourse and good fellowship as we can
crowd in on the side. I am afraid however that we will not have
an opportunity to crowd in very much “on the side,” inasmuch
as our gathering a year ago must have been composed largely of
Seventh Day Adventists, as they set this meeting so that if we
consume the three days we would have to work on Sunday, the

American Fisheries Society. 9

same as they do. The consequences are that this year we will
have to crowd three days’ work into two or desecrate the Sab-
bath; so we must get right down to business and hurry along.

I understand that we have two illustrated lectures which of
course will be very interesting, and if it is possible to have both
of those tonight we will do so, inasmuch as it is desired to go to
the Bayfield Hatchery tomorrow on the early evening train, and
therefore there will be no opportunity for any session tomorrow
night.

I love to fish as well as any man living. In fact, for me this
form of recreation ranks above all others and claims all of the
time I can possibly steal from a very busy life to devote to real
and unalloyed pleasure. I would lke to be wading and whip-
ping a good trout stream this very moment; or be in camp near
the banks, under the inspiration of the woods and God’s pure air,
and within sight of familiar pools and bends where the skillful
dropping of a fly would not pass unrewarded. In the midst of

such surroundings, gentlemen—and if any of you haven't been

right there, you have missed the best opportunity of your life
IT might warm up and talk of fish and fishing by the hour, of the
big trout I have landed and of the still bigger ones that got
away, but time forbids.

A word as to the growth of our society and the qualifications
for membership. It seems to me that our membership lst should
increase far more rapidly. We should have one hundred mem-
bers or even one thousand where we now have but one. It has
occurred to me that through lack of example or proper encourage-
ment, we have unintentionally barred out a large class who are
eminently qualified for admission, and I hereby appoint every
member a committee of one to advertise the fact that all
amateur and professional fish liars are eligible to membership.
No convention hall in the country would hold the delegates if
we could but bring into the fold all who are gifted in this direc-
tion and practice the art. Indeed, from some things I have
heard since coming here, there is a lot of mighty good material
in Milwaukee, and we should at least double our membership
right here.

On my way over, the thought occurred to me that, although
we are now few in numbers, this organization is destined to grow

10 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

great and powerful. We are the pioneers in a movement that
must inevitably exert a far-reaching influence and become an
important factor in the solution of the greatest economic prob-
lem that must sooner or later confront mankind, namely, that
of providing an abundant and unfailing source of food supply.
And why? In this and nearly all countries we find that prac-
tically all fertile lands, lands that yield their fullest fruitage
merely by tickling the soil, are occupied. Increased food produc-
tion from this direction must come very largely through fertili-
zation, irrigation, and more-thorough and scientific methods of
farming.

But we have an immense area of inland and_ outlying
waters, constituting a water farm of such vast proportions and
possibilities, that it can be cultivated only by states and nations.
This great public farm, this vast public estate, is today very
largely in a state of nature, uncultivated, unexplored, unex-
ploited. True, great progress in the science and art of produc-
ing water life has been made in this country, greater, in fact,
than by all other nations combined, resulting in the creation of
millions of dollars in food wealth, yet we are only at the thresh-
old of the possibilities in this direction. And it is the mission
of this society collectively, as it should be of every member
individually, to aid in discovering and pointing out the way to
so cultivate and crop this vast water farm as to develop its
illimitable resources to the greatest practicable limit. We are
charged with a high responsibility, gentlemen, but we are
engaged in a noble cause, and if we are but true to our mission,
each contributing his mite towards the solution of the complex
problem before us, we shall be true to humanity, and millions
yet unborn will rise up to bless the name and the founders and
pioneers of the American Fisheries Society.

( Applause ).

We will vary our program as we have really less than two
days in which to do the work of three, and will therefore have to
rush matters with all possible speed. With the permission of
those present I will forego the appointment of committees until
this afternoon, as | understand there are more members to arrive
about noon. Just exactly what the program is as regards the
desires of the Wisconsin Fish Commission, I am not fully in-

American Fisheries Society. 11

formed; the only thing I know of is their generous invitation,
without expense, to take this body of gentlemen to the Bayfield
Hatchery; I understand they have furnished a private car to be
attached to the regular train. Every one who can should avail
himself of this invitation and visit the Bayfield Hatchery, which
is a most excellent one in every respect.

A motion was carried that the president appoint a temporary
treasurer to take the place of the treasurer in his absence.

The president appointed Mr. I. H. Dunlap of the United
States Fish Commission, Washington, D. C., as temporary
treasurer.

The President: I will appoint as a committee on new mem-
bers, to report as soon as possible, Mr. Frank N. Clark, of North-
ville, Mich., Mr. George F. Peabody, of Appleton, Wis., and Mr.
I. H. Dunlap.

General E. E. Bryant, of Madison, then read a paper on the
subject of “The Power of the State to Regulate Fisheries and
the Taking of Fish.”

Mr. Henry T. Root, Providence, R.1I.: That is a paper
which I think should be published by the society and distributed
largely to the members, without waiting for it to appear in our
regular transactions. It is the most valuable paper probably
ever prepared on this subject, and we ought to have it printed in
such quantities that we can lay it before different legislators.
I should like to bring up a motion that will cover that point.

Mr. Titcomb: I would like to put it in as an appendix to
our state report if we could get it.

The President: It could be printed readily and cheaply by
the society.

Mr. Root: I move that a thousand copies of the paper read
by Gen. Bryant be printed at the expense of the society and dis-
tributed to the members.

The President: Our commission will print five thousand
and charge any other state that wants them a proportionate rate
and it won’t cost the society anything. It ought not to cost
over two dollars a thousand to print the paper.

It was moved by Mr. Henry T. Root that the president, Mr.

12 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Dickerson, be requested to print 5,000 copies of General Bryant’s
paper and to supply them to other commissions at cost price.
Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Dr. J. C. Parker, of Grand Rapids, Mich., then read a paper
on the subject of “Man as a Controlling Factor in Aquatic Life.”

Mr. John E. Gunckel, of Toledo, O., then read a paper en-
titled, “The Index.”

The President: There will be two lectures this evening, com-
mencing at 8 o’clock, one by Mr. Titcomh, illustrating propaga-
tion of fish, and the other by Mr. Townsend, on deep sea sound-
ings. These lectures will be illustrated with lantern slides and
the public are invited to attend them.

Recess until 2:30 p. m., same day and place.

AFTERNOON SESSION, JULY 19.

Society called to order by the president, at 2:55.

The President: We will first hear the report of the commit-
tee on new members.

Mr. Clark: The committee have had these names under con-
sideration, which haye all been recommended by members of the
society. They are all good men and true, and we are glad to have
them join.

(List of new members read, whose names are published at
the beginning of the printed proceedings, together with those of
all others admitted during the several sessions).

They have all paid the annual dues of $1.00 to the secretary
and your committee recommend them for membership in this
society and that they be elected as members of this society with
all its privileges.

Report adopted and members elected.

Moved, seconded and unanimously carried that the chair
appoint the usual committees.

The President: I will appoint as the committee on nomina-
tions: George F. Peabody, Henry T. Root, J. J. Hogan, Frank
N. Clark and John W. Titcomb.

Auditing committee: I. H. Dunlap, D. Lydell and W. F.

Hubbard.

American Fisheries Society. 13

Committee on time and place of next meeting: J. E. Gunc-
kel, G. M. Brown and W. H. Boardman.

Committee on resolutions: General E. E. Bryant, Charles
H. Townsend and 8. W. Downing.

Report of treasurer referred to auditing committee.

The President: The committees will report tomorrow
morning.

You will remember that there was a memorial committee
appointed to consider the plan of erecting a memorial to Profes-
sor Baird, and the chairman of that committee being unavoid-
ably absent has submitted his report and I will request Mr. Clark
to read it.

Mr. Clark then read the following:

REPORT OF BAIRD MEMORIAL COMMITTEE.
Woods Hole, Mass., July 13, 1901.
To the President, ;
American Fisheries Society,
Milwaukee, Wis.

Sir:—As chairman of the Baird memorial committee
appointed at the last meeting of the society, I have the honor to
make the following brief report:

Shortly after the adjournment of the society, the committee
set about soliciting subscriptions, by means of letters and per-
sonal appeals, and invited small contributions from many rather
than large contributions from a few. The plan to erect at Woods
Hole a memorial to Professor Baird was favorably noticed in the
press and unqualifiedly endorsed by the fishing and scientific
public.

From a statement furnished by the treasurer, Hon. KH. G.
Blackford, it appears that the total amount subscribed up to
July 15, 1901, was $503.25, of which $473.25 had been paid and
$30.00 remained unpaid. This sum has been contributed in
small amounts by many persons, the largest individual subserip-
tions being $20.00.

At a called meeting of the committee held at Washington on
February 3, it was decided, after considering the probable
amount of the subscriptions, that the proposed memorial take the
form of a natural boulder with suitably inscribed artistic

14 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

bronze tablet; and full powers for determining the details and
proceeding with the erection of the monument were delegated to
a sub-committee consisting of the chairman and treasurer.
Various unavoidable matters have delayed the completion of
the monument more than the committee anticipated; but it can
now be stated that the plans for the monument have been com-
pleted, the placing of the stone will soon be begun, and the
memorial will be duly consummated during the present summer.
Respectfully submitted,

Be MSS MME

A motion was then made, seconded and unanimously carried
that the report be received and referred to committee on resolu-
tions.

General Bryant: Is there any member of the memorial com-
mittee present to whom we can hand contributions ?

The President: Mr. Peabody and Mr. Clark are members of
the committee and are present.

I think it will be well, in view of the limited time we have,
to first listen to those papers furnished by members who are here
themselves to read them, and then we can take up those papers
which are to be read by others, because there are undoubtedly a
number of them that we will simply have to print in the proceed-
ings, so that if there is no objection we will go ahead and call on
those who are present first to read their papers.

The Wisconsin commission would like to know exactly how
many gentlemen are going tomorrow night to Bayfield. The
transportation is furnished and those who go will simply pay
for their sleeper. The train will return Monday morning and
will reach Chicago at 9 o’clock. The Bayfield Hatchery of
course is one of the latest and most up-to-date hatcheries in the
country, and is well worth a visit.

Professor Marsh then read a paper on the subject of “Brook
Trout Disease.”

General Bryant: We have among us now ex-Governor
George W. Peck, of Wisconsin. He is a friend of the fish and
game commission, and I would like to suspend our discussion for
a moment, if this paper is concluded, and hear a few words from
him.

American Fisheries Society. aS

_The President: He is a bad boy and something of a fisher-
man himself, and that is why I know he is a bad boy. He said to
me this morning, “Dickerson, did you ever know of a fish called
the bee-fish?” I said no, I had never heard of him, and he went
on to tell about fishing off the dock down here at Milwaukee and
he said he caught one of those bee-fish and it weighed seventeen
pounds and when he got him on the dock and cut him open he
found a hive of bees in him and thirty-two pounds of honey. I
think he is eligible.

(Great laughter and applause).

Ex-Governor Peck: I had supposed that the Fish Commis-
sioners were the ones that told those stories. Before Fish Com-
missions were appointed the laymen who do the fishing were sup-
posed to tell those remarkable stories, but as I understand it, the
appointment of these Fish Commisioners was made for the pur-
pose of having them start out and tell the stories that the people
might adopt. That certainly was my idea in appointing two of
the most distinguished citizens of Wisconsin as Fish Commis-
sioners. (Laughter and applause).

I have been interested in fish since I was seven years old. At
that time I was provided with a three board boat that would hold
a barrel of water to wade in, and I had my trousers rolled up,
what there was of them, and I caught the sunfish and the bull-
head. That was my first experience, and I have great confidence
in the bullhead because he never goes back on the fisherman.
When a bullhead bites you have got him; vou haven’t got to fool
away any time with a three ounce rod in poling him all over the
lake or river to get him into your boat. When he begins business
and swallows the bait it goes clear down to the bottom and the
best way is to cut it out from the other side. (Laughter). The
bullhead is the best thing that a young man can begin on, be-
cause it teaches him that the fisherman is invulnerable and the
bullhead is a fool. But the bullhead is good eating. After that
IT caught all kinds of fish that I could; I never worked any when
I could help it and never shall (laughter and applause). I be-
lieve that it is the duty of every citizen of Wisconsin particu-
larly to go fishing all of the time that he can. Business is some-
thing that some have to attend to, but when men get to be 50 or

16 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

60 years old the business should be attended to by their sons, or
their sons-in-law, and men should be allowed to go fishing.

Not many years ago I advocated publicly in the newspapers
that when old men were sent to asylums or poor houses or sol-
diers’ homes, those institutions ought to be located upon the bank
of some lake or river where there is fishing, and every old man
after he gets to be 60 should be provided with a boat and all the
fishing tackle that he wants, and that the city or the county that
entertains him as a pauper or in any other capacity, should give
him the bait, and if it is necessary, if he has had his finger shot
off, somebody should be detailed to put the bait on the hook for
him. That is the way I feel about the old men. Old women can
get along any way—all they want is to eat the fish.

I presume many of you do not know much about Wisconsin
except what you have been told by our local manufacturers. If
you could see a map of the northern part of the state you would
think that Wisconsin was one case of smallpox from the number
of little lakes dotted all over it; and these clear lakes, some of
them not more than half a mile across, are full of the best fish in
the world. The waters are deep, blue, perfect and clean, and you
ought to go into the northern part of the state for a month and
look this business over, look at the fish hatcheries and also look

at what nature has done—and nature will keep it up.

You have got a great responsibility. It has sometimes
seemed to me that it was wrong to take a female fish, and take
all there is in her out and let the Fish Commissioners make it
into minnows. I don’t know how they do it. I sometimes
thought I would go and examine and see how they take this
spawn that is no good in the fish, get in their work on it and
make it so that it is good. (Laughter and applause). At one
time | thought when I appointed some of these Fish Commis-
sioners and we provided through Speaker Hogan a car that would
carry fish all over the world, that some time I might get in there
and look it over and find out how it was done. I hope that I
may do so even yet and that | may be able to work it in in my
own business (laughter and applause ).

When I read that the Fish Commissioners of a state plant
millions upon millions of fish in its waters, I feel as though
they are responsible for the millions and millions of hes that will

American Fisheries Society. 17

be told by the fishermen after the fish get big enough to be
caught. But a good commissioner does not care how much any-
body else lies as long as he is truly good and ean tell the truth
himself.

I hope that vou will visit as much of the state as possible
before you go, you will find much good fishing and you will be-
come convinced that Wisconsin is as grand a state as there is in
the Union. We raise everything in Wisconsin that is raised any-
where in the world, except h—l. (Laughter and applause).
Some of you can do that better than we can. But Wisconsin has
got everything from the south line to Lake Superior that the
people need for a good living. We could build a fence around
the state of Wisconsin and never a citizen go outside of that
fence, and nobody be allowed to come in from the outside, and
we would all get so fat and so happy that you would pay an
admission fee to come and look over the fence and see the good
people of the State of Wisconsin. (Laughter). We trust that
you may come often to see us, and I will say that I will detail
my Fish Commission which is here and which I am as proud of
as I am of the appointment of any individuals during my term
of office, to greet you and show you everything there is and give
you everything that you need to be happy. (Applause).

Mr. Bower: I move that Ex-Governor George W. Peck be
elected an honorary member of this society. Motion seconded
and unanimously carried.

The President: We shall expect you to be present at our
next meeting.

Ex-Governor Peck: I shall if I can. I shall be glad to ren-
der any assistance that I can, as long as I live, to the Fish Com-
mission of this country.

The President: While at first it was thought best only to
have papers prepared by members present read, yet we have a
paper in the same line as that of the preceding paper written by
one of the oldest employes of the United States Fish Commission,
and it seems to me that this is an opportune time to hear that
particular paper. So if there is no objection we will vary the rou-
tine a little and I will ask Mr. Bower to read Mr. Charles G. At-
kins’ paper on the subject of the “Study of Fish Diseases.”

18 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

The paper was then read by the secretary.
General Bryant here took the chair.

Mr. Sykes then read a paper by Mr. Nevin on the subject of
“Muscallonge.”

The President: Professor Starr of the Wisconsin Commis-
sion has a beautiful yacht and he tenders us a ride on the lake at
5 o'clock this afternoon.

(Invitation accepted).

Motion made at 4:45 p. m. to adjourn until 8 p. m. in the
banquet room.
Motion carried.

EVENING SESSION, BANQUET ROOM, 8 O'CLOCK.

Lectures delivered with illustrated lantern slides by Mr. C.
H. Townsend on “Deep Sea Exploration,” and Mr. J. W. Tit-
comb on the subject of the “Propagation of Fish.”

An adjournment was then taken until July 20th, 10 a. m. in
the club room.

Saturday, July 20, rgor.
MORNING SESSION, 10 O'CLOCK.

An invitation was accepted for a carriage ride around the
city at 4:30 p. m.

The committee on location and time presented the following
report:
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LOCATION AND TIME.

After carefully considering the invitations from the several
cities we respectfully suggest that the next annual meeting be
held at Put-in-Bay (Lake Erie) Ohio, on Tuesday, Wednesday
and Thursday of the first week in August, 1902, and that the
meeting be called to order at 2 p.m. Tuesday. It is further sug-
gested that the place and time be printed on the letter heads
usually furnished by the society.

. J. EB. GUNGKEL,
G. M. BROWN,
W. H. BOARDMAN.

American Fisheries Society. 19

Report received, accepted and unanimously adopted.
teport of committee on nomination of officers, presented by

Mr. Peabody:
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS.

The committee on nominations beg to report, nominating
the following officers of the society for the ensuing year:

President, General E. E. Bryant, Madison, Wis.

Vice President, Eugene G. Blackford, New York.

Recording Secretary, George F. Peabody, Appleton, Wis.

Corresponding Secretary, John E. Gunckel, Toledo, O.

Treasurer, C. W. Willard, Westerly, R. I.

Chairman Executive Committee, John W. Titcomb, St.
Johnsbury, Vt.

Members of Executive Committee: George T. Mathewson,
Thompsonville, Conn. I. H. Dunlap, Washington, D. C. Henry
O’Malley, Baker, Wash. W. H. Boardman, Central Falls, R. I.
J.J. Stranahan, Bullochville, Ga.

Report unanimously accepted, adopted and nominees de-
clared duly elected.

General Bryant, president-elect was called on for a speech.

General Bryant: In the language of our daughters when
they are proposed to, I say, “This is so sudden.” I had not
thought of anything of the kind, but I extend to you my heart-
iest thanks for your kind appreciation and assure you that in
so far as in me hes I will endeavor to serve the society faithfully
and promote its interests to the best of my ability. The
rest of the oath of office you will consider implied.

The subject of fish culture with me is of necessity more a
by-study than a pursuit to which I can give my undivided deyo-
tion, but I am very much like old Ethan Allen, of Green Moun-
tain memory, who said that of ‘tall the Lord’s cattle on the thou-
sand hills he best preferred soldiers for companions.” I can
paraphrase that honestly and say that of all the Lord’s cattle on
a thousand hills I best enjoy the society of men engaged in fish-
eries and fish culture, and can co-work with them in my feeble
way with hearty satisfaction. It is the tendency of human
nature, we know, for every man to exalt his own vocation. That

20 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

idea comes down to us from the classics in the old adage, “There

is nothing like leather.” The story is told that when an ancient
city was threatened with attack from the enemy, they called a
counsel of all the people of the city to consider how they would
best fortify it. The stone masons said with a sneer that of
course they must use stone; the brickmakers said that by laying
brick walls thick enough they would better stand the battering
ram than stone; the lumberman insisted that a strong system of
stockades would be built the quickest and would best withstand
attack. They called up the old tanner and he said, “Gentlemen,
there is nothing like leather; you just peg down sole leather
walls around this city and all the battering rams on earth can-
not batter them down.” Every man exalts his own vocation, but
we who are engaged in fish culture are in no danger of overdoing.
The work that we are doing is so beneficial to mankind, its possi-
bilities so great, its power of usefulness to mankind so unlimited,
that we may well exercise this failing of human nature and give
to our pursuit due honor. It has been said that the man who
makes two blades of grass to grow where one had grown before,
is a benefactor of mankind. If that be so how much more is it
so where one makes an hundred food-fish to grow where nature
makes only one to grow. .

You recollect our old friend Sam Weller, one of the most
delightful characters that Dickens ever drew, having assisted a
young couple to elope, who were very enxious to marry but met
with domestic opposition, said, when he was complimented on
the part he had taken in the matter, “Well, I only assisted
nater.” (Laughter). Now we are assisting nature in this work
in one of her weak spots. We are taking up her work and pro-
ducing vastly greater results than she could produce herself.
That is our function in this great work, to assist nature and to
enable her to produce blessings for mankind an hundred fold or
a thousand fold, where left to herself she could give perhaps but
five or ten fold. Is not that so, Brother Titcomb ?

Mr. Titcomb: That is right.

General Bryant: Let us go on then with this work, let us
maintain this society. This society may not present such a
showing in numbers at its conventions as the Elks, the Modern
Woodmen, or other fraternal societies, but I can liken it best to

American Fisheries Society. 21

those old bottles of wine that have grown few and scarce in a cel-
lar, of some ancient vintage, rich, mellow, delicious and nourish-
ing—but the bottles are few. We have a small membership in
attendance, but a large membership in sympathy, a large circle
of readers who read with interest the papers that are submitted
here. Let us keep up this work. Let us make the report of
this society vear by year, better and better. Let us dig deeper
into all the problems that perplex us. I hope a hundred years
from now the American Society of Fisheries will be presenting
its annual report and turn back reverently and gratefully to the
sterling spirits who worked for it in its youth and its earlier
manhood. So far as I can help in my feeble way I promise you
my best endeavors. (Applause).

Mr. Gunekel: As I am compelled to take my leave now, I
wish to take the liberty, not being a scientist in the art of fish
culture, to thank the members for their kindness and_ personal
attention to a common, every day, worm fisherman. I have been
a member of the society for eleven years and seldom miss a meet-
ing. Near my home in Toledo some time ago a 21 pound small
mouthed bass was caught and turned over to Mr. Downing, of
Put-in-Bay, the fish commissioner of the state of Ohio, who is
here present. When this fish was taken to him, he opened it and
found one gallon of small mouthed black bass eggs. He took
those eggs over to his hatchery; he took from his laboratory dif-
ferent bottles of milt procured from various kinds of fishes; he
poured this milt in sections over the eggs that he had and in this
manner produced pickerel, white-fish, black bass and sun-fish.
When you come to Put-in-Bay you can see that hatchery, and I
hope to be there to further continue truthful fish stories.
(Applause ).

Mr. Peabody: Iam informed by Mr. Gunckel that his wife
secured six gold fish during the present hot season and put them
into a globe bowl of water, and they perspired so that the water
ran over the edge of the bowl and spoiled the carpet. (Laugh-
ter).

The report of the treasurer was then read by Mr. Dunlap.

Thirtieth Annual Meeting

REPORT OF THE TREASURER.

To the American Fisheries Society.

Gentlemen :—! hereby submit my annual report as treasurer,
from July 19, 1900, to July 18, 1901.

RECEIPTS.

July? 19; 19005 Lovbalance my treasuiyzegrctrertee terres eternal $216.34
Yearly dues: ands fees .k saoenns ena eieuettee ie 260.00
One Wifesmembershipsrees asec 15.00
REPOrts: SOL de so. ey. co acekeoeee oe eee ernest recone 4.75
Interest on funds deposited in bank......... 201.
$498.80

DISBURSEMENTS.
July, 1900. Stenographer, Woods Hole meeting......... $ 30.00
i De HuntinstonkstampsietCaanemeerieeeac BBY
Aug. 10, Express'-on treasurer's ookSso. aoc eer .70
oli, J. W. Titcomb, sundries, Woods Hole meeting Uc
H. J. Rice, balance due on worker 54.37
29, Stamps amd: enivelopesr. oi. ee oemieiececmeiee 4.50
Sept. 4, Receipt book 2s a. 2 eves «Sel Oe 2.89
Nov. 30, Stamps; and! enivelopes... 5)... Aa csueiee « roereerener 4.65
Dec. 18, Speaker Printing: Co:, printing; ,etes. ...s.- 2. 162.20
Richmond & Backus, envelopes............. 4.00
S. Bower, secretary, stamps, etc............ 30.61
May 10, 1901. Receipts, stamps and envelopes............ 2.80
July 12, Speaker Printing Co., circulars, etc......... 15.00
S. Bower, secretary, stamps, ete......:..<.- 13.30
11155. Stamps: emveclopes: (ete. asciset cme er 1.20
$333.71
Balanceon handjh Sa 35 ce ae oe anciss's cid cae ROR ee oer earn 165.09
$498.80

Depository of Funds,

Manufacturers’ Trust Co., of Providence, R. L.,

drawing interest at 2 per cent. subject to check.

CHAS. W. WILLARD,
Treasurer.

July 15, 1901.

REPORT OF AUDITING COMMITTEE.

Mr. Dunlap: The auditing committee has been over the

accounts and finds vouchers except for immaterial expenditures.

and that the accounts are correct.

Report of treasurer accepted.

American Fisheries Society. 23

Report of auditing committe accepted and adopted.

Mr. Clark: I desire to call attention to the fact that for
some reason the balance this year is less than it was last year. I
presume that our expenditures have been greater.

Mr. Titcomb: <A year ago we made an unusual effort to get
in back dues. Members who had not paid for ten or fifteen
years were written to, and we got a good many of them to pay
up, and for that reason I think our receipts that year were
larger than they were this year.

Mr. Clark: I-notice in the report of the treasurer that there
was one life membership taken out and paid for. I believe that
we took action on the subject of life memberships last year, but
I think some plan should be adopted so that the life member
may have some sort of certificate to show his membership.

The President: I will ask Mr. Boardman to read Professor
A. D. Mead’s paper on “Experiments in Lobster Culture.”

Mr. Boardman: This paper by Dr. Mead, of Rhode Island,
deals exclusively with lobsters, and may not be very interesting
to those who are not engaged in that culture. Dr. Mead wished
me to express his regret at his inability to be present at the meet-
ing, but his work is especially heavy at this time of the year and
it was impossible for him to come.

Dr. Mead’s paper was then read.

A paper on the subject of “Practical Hints on Fish Culture,”
by Dr. James A. Henshall, was next read by the president.

Mr. Clark then read a paper entitled, “The Quality of the
Water a Factor in Rearing Trout Fry,” by Mr. C. C. Wood.

The President: I wish to announce to you all a new arrival,
Mr. Carp—I mean Mr. Bartlett. (Laughter). (Mr. Bartlett.
was invited to address the society).

Dr. 8. P. Bartlett, Quincy, Ill.: I thank you.

Mr. Townsend: There is no fish but carp and Bartlett is its
prophet.

Dr. Bartlett then addressed the convention.

A motion was made, seconded and unanimously carried that
Dr. Bartlett be requested to prepare a paper on the subject of
carp, with instructions for cooking him.

24 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

An adjournment was here taken until 2:30 p. m., same day
and place.
AFTERNOON SESSION, 2:30 O’CLOCK.

Meeting called to order by the president.

Mr. Bower: During the past year I have had considerable
correspondence with Mr. A. H. Dinsmore, a member of this
society, formerly of the state of Maine, but recently transferred
to South Dakota. He is an emplove of the United States Fish
Commission, and I have rather encouraged him in the collection
of a number of views, and he expected to be present at this meet-
ing and give us an illustrated talk similar to those that we were
entertained with last night, but at the last moment he found
that he could not come. He prepared a large number of slides
and has also sent in an introduction to his lecture, and has gone
to a good deal of trouble and some little expense in the matter,
and it seems to me we ought to recognize it in some way, espe-
cially as he has been encouraged by the official representative of
the society and he is certainly entitled to a vote of thanks.

Since Mr. Dinsmore has been transferred to his new field in
South Dakota, I have had a number of interesting letters from
him. He writes me that he has run across a great many inter-
esting things of a fishing nature out there, that the artificial
propagation of fish has been remarkably successful, that in fact
most of the fish they catch are salmon yanked from irrigation
ditches, and that it is a common sight to see men and women
fishing through the cracks in the sidewalk all through the city.
(Great laughter and applause).

I will now with the permission of the society read a letter
from Mr. Nat. H. Cohen, president of the Illinois Fish Commis-
sion, regarding the amended fish law which went into effect in
Uhnois July 1, 1901.

Mr. Cohen’s letter read.

General Bryant, chairman of committee on resolutions, then
presented the following report of committee on resolutions:
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS.

Resolved: That the thanks of the society are heartily ex-
tended to the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company and

American Fisheries Society. 25

the Wisconsin Central Railway Company, for courtesies extend-
ed in enabling the members of the society to visit Bayfield:

To the proprietor and management of the Hotel Pfister for
facilities furnished for holding our meetings and lectures:

To the several Milwaukee dailes for their kindly mention
and full reports of our proceedings:

To Mr. J. W. Titcomb and Mr. C. H. Townsend for their
very interesting and instructive lectures; and to Mr, A. H.
Dinsmore for the excellent slides sent by him to illustrate fish-
ing scenery, etc., on the lines of the Maine Central and B. & A.
R. R. in Maine:

To Mr. Wm. J. Starr, for the dehghtful sail on the good
yacht Rosamond :

That we extend our thanks to Mr. A. D. Mead, Mr. W. T.
Thompson, N. H. Cohen, Livingston Stone, B. W. James, A. H.
Dinsmore, C. C. Wood and C. G. Atkins, for the valuable and
interesting papers submitted by them, and express our regret
that the several writers could not be present to take part in the
discussion.

That the thanks of the society are extended to Mr. Bower,
secretary, for his able conduct of the duties of his office, and to
all the various out-going officers of the society. We would be
very glad, if we felt that the revenues would warrant it, to sug-
gest compensation to Mr. Bower for the trouble and pains he has
taken in the conduct of his office, but being somewhat frightened
at the state of the exchequer we have not included such a recom-
mendation in our resolutions. We would be very happy if it
could be otherwise.

The committee report back the resolution relating to the
Baird memorial and recommend the adoption of the following
resolution, that the thanks of the society be extended to the com-
mittee having that matter in charge for their efforts in that be-
half, and that the members of the society are urged individually
to contribute the sum necessary to complete the work.

We would suggest that any other persons to whom we ought
to extend a recognition of thanks, can have their names inserted
by the secretary.

Report accepted and adopted, to be printed in the transac-
tions.

26 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

The Secretary: I move that the introductory part of Mr.
Dinsmore’s lecture, which describes the wild-life scenes and por-
tions of Maine where he collected this material, being a brief
and very interesting description, be printed in the minutes of
this society’s proceedings.

Motion unanimously carried.

Mr. Clark: I move that the outgoing secretary turn over to
the incoming secretary all letters and telegrams of regret, etc.,
and that the secretary acknowledge them, although they need
not necessarily be published in the proceedings. These letters
and telegrams show at least that these members take an interest
in the society, and that should be recognized.

The President: That will be done as suggested.

Mr. Bower: There are three more papers which have been
presented, viz.,

“Sturgeon Hatching in the Lake Champlain Basin,” by Mr.
Livingston Stone, of Cape Vincent, New York.

“The New Code of Fish Protective Laws of Pennsylvania,”
by Bushrod Washington James, of Philadelphia, Penn.

“Brook Trout Notes,” by W. 'T. Thompson, of Nashua, N. H.

We probably have not time to read and discuss them, and I
therefore move that they be printed in the transactions.

Motion unanimously carried and so ordered.

Moved that the secretary be authorized to edit and print 500
copies of the proceedings.
Motion unanimously carried.

The Secretary: I move that any member who furnishes a
paper here be given five extra copies of the transactions free, if
he wants them, by paving for the carriage.

Motion unanimously carried.

The President: I desire to remind you that at 4:30 you are
to take a carriage ride around the city, and if there is no further
business, a motion to adjourn will be in order.

The society then adjourned sine die.

Deceased Member since last meeting,

Collins UW. Walton.

cs wt Sesh © 4

i

‘de F aa

ea
4

rae

ange yak Eunde See iN hey

“G Hw ~
. . . Sr Ny MP nae
ree ' ion ‘

BSS era Vite Dh” ease tees

ee ‘

.
2

132 | w Mbppnpipietanlevegien creer Oe iet rend mbes

PART IL

PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS

THE POWER OF THE STATE TO REGULATE FISH-
ERIES, AND THE TAKING OF FISH.

BY EDWIN E. BRYANT.

The purpose of this paper is to give some general principles
as laid down by our Courts, as to the power of the State to con-
trol and regulate the taking of fish in all waters, save private and
artificial ponds where the fish are rightfully confined from pass-
ing into waters not owned by the proprietor. No attempt is
made to give the legislation of the various states, which is vari-
ant, changeful to fickleness, and oscillating from harshness and
unreason to unreasonable laxity; and everywhere but indiffer-
ently enforced. The scope of this paper is confined rather to
those general principles underlying all legislation on the subject
of regulation and preservation of fish and game. It is rather a
collation of the doctrines of the Courts than an expression of per-
sonal opinion. <A few suggestions as to the proper framing of
protective laws are added; and these, so far as they are the sub-
ject of criticism, the writer and not the Courts, must be answer-
able for.

I. The ownership of Fish and Game.—The fundamental
principle on which legislation of this kind rests is that the owner-
ship of fish and game in the wild state is in the State, in trust for
all the citizens. English doctrine is that the ownership is in the
King, as the representative of the sovereignty, in trust for his
subjects. And it was centuries ago the settled policy of the com-
mon law that the hunting and killing of game or the catching of
fish in public waters might be regulated under the police power
of the government.

The property of the King passed to his grantees under the
various grants made by royal charter, and vested as an incident
of sovereignty in the states upon their being absolved from alle-
giance to the British Crown. Martin v. Waddell, 10 Pet. 367;
Russell v. Jersey .Co., 56 U. S8., 15 How. 426.

The power in the government to enact laws in regard to fish,
to which this paper is limited, has been repeatedly affirmed by

32 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

the Courts. It was held by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts
in 1809, that the legislature might regulate the taking of fish
within the state and oblige all persons to conform to the regula-
tions by inflicting penalties for the violation of them. Burnham
v. Webster, 5 Mass. 266; Nickerson v. Brackett, 10 id. 212. This
power may be exercised for the protection of the fish, to prevent
extermination of the species, and for the maintaining of equality
in respect to the right to fish, and the state may regulate fisheries
by reasonable regulations. Holyoke Water Power Co. v. Lyman,
82 U. 8. 500; Fish Commissioners v. Holyoke Water Power Co.,
104 Mass. 446.
The cases declaring or recognizing this right are very

numerous :

Barber y. Cummings, 20 Johns. 90;

Gentile v. State, 29 Ind. 409 ;

State v. Norton, 45 Vt. 258 ;

People v. Collison, 85 Mich. 105;

Magner vy. People, 97 Ll. 320.

If. Zo What Waters the Right of Control Hxtends.—The
right of control and regulation of the fisheries extends:

1. To the inland rivers and streams, whether navigable or
not, but it does not extend to private or artificial lakes or ponds,
artificially stocked and having no connection by channel with
other lakes or streams of a public character. The property of
such fish is in the private owner.

2. To all lakes or ponds, except such as are subject to abso-
lute private ownership. In the western states, the meandered
lakes are not the subject of private ownership but the fee is in the
state, of the soil below low water mark.

3. To private waters as well as to navigable streams; that is,
to streams where the waters flow in non-navigable streams
through the lands of more than one owner.

4. And each state owns the bed of the tide waters within the
state, subject to the paramount right of navigation (McCready
v. Virginia, 94 U. S. 391.), in trust for the enjoyment of the
public right of fishery, which the state may control. Manchester
v. Massachusetts, 139 U. S. 240. This right extends on the

American Fisheries Society. 33

shores of the ocean, a marine league from the shore. In these
waters the state may regulate fisheries.

5. The ownership of the soil, under low water mark, in the

lakes of the states, and the public right of fishing in them is dis-
encumbered of any question of riparian rights. In Wisconsin,
two decisions have recently been made which are of interest in
this connection. In the case of the Nepee-Nauk Club y. Wilson,
96 Wis. 291, a small stream of water had expanded out into a
pond from 35 to 65 rods in width and 3 miles long. It was
known as Mud Lake, and there was little or no current during
the greater portion of the vear. The rushes and wild rice grew in
the summer time luxurantly, and the surface was interspersed
with mud and bog, leaving open some small spaces of clear
water. In ordinary stages it was navigable only for canoes and
small boats. It had been meandered as a lake in the original sur-
veys. The Club acquired the riparian rights and sought to hold
the exclusive right of fishing and duck shooting on the waters.
The Court held against them, declaring that it was not a stream,

5

but a “lake,” and that their right to the soil terminated at low
water mark. The public could fish and fowl there in open sea-
son, to the disgust of the members of the Club.

The other ease, is that of the Mendota Club v. Anderson, 101
Wis. 479. The facts were that a dam had been put in at the out-
let of Lake Mendota in 1850. This caused the waters to rise
some feet and flowed lands not flowed or but partially flowed
before the dam was built. Since the dam was built the lands
claimed by the Club as its own private preserve were constantly
flowed and navigable to small boats, sail boats, ete., and outside
of the original meander line. In 1874, the title under which the
Club claimed was obtained by a tax deed for the fractional lots
to that portion of the shore. In as much, as if the dam had never
been raised the riparian owners could have claimed much land
that was covered by the flowage caused by the dam, the members
thought their title to that part of the lake was exclusive, but the
Court shattered their dreams of exclusive occupation of fine fish-
ing and ducking grounds by holding the lake to be public waters,
as far as it extended by the raise of the dam at least as against
the title derived twenty-four years after the dam was built.

34 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Il. The Legislature may prohibit persons from catching
fish on their own land in the close season.—The private right of
fishery on one’s own land, where the stream runs through one’s
land or therefrom onto the lands of others, is subordinate to the
public welfare, and one may be forbidden by law to catch fish on
his own land during the close season. Hooker y. Cummings, 20
Johns. “CN; YY.) (90; "Com: vy, Chapm; a. backs, 199-2 Vann
v. Welsh, 9 Pick. 87. The right of the riparian proprietor is sub-
ject to such regulations as the legislature may make for the com-
mon benefit. Com. v. Bender, 7 Pa. Co. Ct. 624; Peters v. State,
96 Tenn. 682; People v. Doxtater, 75 Hunn. 472; People v. Col-
lison, 85 Mich. 105; People v. Hanaford, 18 Me. 106; People v.
Bridges, 142 Ill. 30; Com. v. Look, 108 Mass. 452.

IV. The Legislature may prevent the Obstruction of the
Free Passage of Fish.—This is a lawful exercise of police power.
Com. v. Essex Co., 13 Gray 274; Holyoke Water Power Co. v.
Lyman, 15 Wall. 500. And after a company had been granted a
charter to build a dam, a subsequent statute requiring it to build
a fishway is not unconstitutional. id.

Every owner of a dam or other obstruction in a stream holds
it on condition that a sufficient passageway be allowed for fish to
pass up and down the stream. Stoughton y. Baker, 4 Mass. 524;
Cottrill v. Myrick, 12 Me. 229; Parker v. People, 11 Ill. 581;
State v. Slunke, 21 Pac. 675; State v. Roberts, 59 N. H. 256.

V. The Legislature may Prohibit the Sale of Fish and Game
or the Shipment of the same from the State-—Vhe state legisla-
ture, in order to prevent the too rapid destruction of fish and
game, have in some of the states, enacted laws, to prohibit the
shipment of fish or game from the state. These provisions have
been the subject of important adjudication. In Magner vy.
People, 97 TIL, 320, it was held that, as the property of fish and
game in the wild state, is in the state, and within the state con-
trol, the state legislature may prescribe the terms and conditions
on which the ownership may be transferred upon capture, to the
individual. And the state may as a condition provide that fish
or game so captured shall not be shipped out of the state. The
State of Connecticut, in 1888, passed a law that no person should
kill woodeock, quail or ruffled grouse for the purpose of convey-

American Fisheries Society. 35

ing the same beyond the state, or should transport or have in pos-
session with intent to procure such transportation, any of such
birds killed within the state. This statute was challenged as
unconstitutional. The Supreme Court of Connecticut sustained
the law, and it went on writ of error to the Supreme Court of the
United States. That court divided on the question, but the
majority held with the state court, so that the principle may be
considered settled that the state can forbid the killing of game
or fish except for domestic use. The doctrine was stoutly com-
bated in the dissenting opinion. Mr. Justice Field denied the
soundness of the rule that the state was owner to the extent that
it could qualify the ownership of one who had lawfully killed or
taken the fish or game. He contended that after the capture the
property of the captor was absolute, and that he could dispose of
the property as he pleased, and that it beg an article of com-
merce, the state could not restrict the sale of it to be sent out of
the state. In this view Justice Harlan concurred. Brewer and
Peckham did not sit in the case.

But here, it will be seen that judicial opinion is much
divided. A state law of Kansas made it unlawful for any person
to transport out of the state certain animals and birds embraced
in the term “game.” The defendant, an agent of the Adams
Express Company, was prosecuted and fined under the act. He
admitted the act, but contended that such acts constituted no
offense as the act was unconstitutional and void. The Supreme
Court of Kansas held the act void as interfering with interstate
commerce. But here the court overlooked the crucial point,—
that is, that the state can part with its ownership of game birds
in the wild state on such terms and qualifications, as it deems
wise, and can as a condition of the privilege forbid their ship-
ment, after caption, out of the state.

The Supreme Court of Massachusetts has gone farther than
other states, and farther than seems necessary. It holds as con-
stitutional, a law forbidding the sale, during the close season, of
fish artifiicially propagated in private ponds. Com. v. Gilbert,
100 Mass. 157.

The state laws forbidding the having in possession during
the close season, or the serving as food at hotels and restaurants,
are upheld. State v. Beal, 75 Me. 289.

36 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Some difficulty has arisen here. The statutes are variant.
Some include fish and game lawfully taken in the close season,
and game or fish sent into the state from beyond its borders.
Others, except these; and in some cases, where the statutes were
silent on the point, the courts have held the state laws inappli-
cable to game lawfully taken and to that brought into the state.
The burden of proof being on the state to prove that the game
was of domestic origin, great difficulty in procuring conviction
was found.

VI. The Power of Wardens to seize and destroy Nets im

illegal use.—The legislature may by law declare all seines, nets,
set-lines, traps, spring guns, etc., set for the unlawful killing of
fish or game, public nuisances, and may authorize the officers to
destroy them when found in such unlawful use. Weller v.
Snoover, 42 N. J. Law, 341; State v. Lewis, 134 Ind. 1383; Law-
ton v. Steels, 119 N. Y. 226-234. This kind of statute does
not interfere with a constitutional right. It is analogous to
those that declare it criminal to have in possession counterfeit
money or dies or tools for making the same, or the laws which
authorize the seizure of liquors kept for illegal sale. Mugler v.
Kansas, 123 U.S. 623; Kidd vy. Pearson, 128 U.S. 1.

The case of Lawton v. Steels, 119 N. Y. 126 is a leading and
important one on this point. It was held by the court of Appeals
of New York that the state might declare illegally set nets, when
found in unlawful use, public nuisances, and that officers might
destroy them when so found and seized. The case then was
taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, the conten-
tion being that the state law deprived the owner of his property
without due process of law. That tribunal affirmed the decision
of the New York Court, and Mr. Justice Brown in his opinion
discusses at some length the cases where there may be a summary
destruction and those in which there should be an adjudication
before there could be a destruction of the property. The in-
stances where there should be a condemnation are those where
the property is of very considerable value, such as a vessel, teams
and supplies in lumbering horses, ete. There are several cases
in the state courts, where a technical view has been taken and
such laws declared unconstitutional. For example; In Teck vy.
Anderson, 57 Cal. 251, the summary confiscation of the boats,

American Fisheries Society. 37

nets and tackle was held a depriving of property without due
process of law. In Jensen y. State, 7 Ohio Com. Pleas 18, it was
lately held that the statute of Ohio, giving the power to any per-
son to take and summarily destroy nets, ete., illegally set and
making it the duty of wardens, their deputies, sheriffs and con-
stables to destroy such apparatus wherever found, whenever such
officer should think it was illegally set in violation of law, was a
depriving of property without due process of law.

It is manifest that such laws will always be debatable ground.
The power is a harsh one, but that it can be exercised within cer-
tain limits seems clear.

Some statutes have gone further and authorized the seizure
and destruction or confiscation of property that is in possession
with intent to illegally use, or that has been illegally used, but
is not in such use when seized. Such laws are of doubtful con-
stitutionality and are unnecessary. Bittenhaus v. Johnson, 92
Wis. 586; 32 L. R. A. 380.

But the power of the state to declare as public nuisances,
articles of property while in illegal use, is asserted in numerous
cases.

Cox v. Schultz, 47 Barb. 65;

Re Jacobs, 99 N. Y. 98;

McLaughlin v. State, 45 Ind. 336;

Miller v. New York, 109 U. S. 385;

Wood on Nuisances, 1;

Williams v. Blackwell, 2 Hurlst, ete. 33;

Smith v. Com. 6 B. Monroe, 21;

State v. Bailey, 21 N. H. 343;

Meyer v. State, 42 N. J. L. 145;
And where one voluntarily places his property in a situation
where the law says it may be summarily destroyed, he cannot
recover either in value or kind. Cooley’s Const. Lim. Ch. 16;
Com. v. Kelley, 163 Mass. 169; Campbell v. Evans, 65 N. Y.
356; Cook v. Evans, 46 N. Y. 439.

VII. The Power of Wardens and other Officials to enter
upon Private Lands and there seize and destroy Fish Baskets,
Traps, etc., set for illegal Fishing, even by the Proprietor of the
Soil, is well established.

Weller v. Snoover, 42 N. J. L. 341.

38 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

And the officers are not trespassers for so doing. id.

VIII. The Right of the Riparian Owner to Fish on Waters
covering his own Soil.—We have one vexed question in connec-
tion with the stocking of streams, by state instrumentalities. At
the Common Law as laid down in many American cases the
riparian owner (whose right in fee to the soil extends to the
thread of the stream, where the stream is his boundary, and to
the whole bed of the stream when he owns on both sides), the
right of fishery is in him exclusively, and no stranger can fish in
the stream against his will without being a trespasser.

There are not wanting numerous authorities holding this
view, even as respects navigable streams, in those states which
hold that the riparian owner owns the soil under the water sub-
ject to the public right of navigation. It was held in Wisconsin
that the owner of both banks of a stream owns the bed, and the
owner of one bank owns to the center or thread of the stream,
whether the stream is meandered or unmeandered.

Jones v. Pettibone, 2 Wis. 208, 319;
Mariner vy. Schuette, 13 id. 692;
Walker v. Shepardson, 4 id. 486;
Arnold v. Elmore, 16 id. 509;
Norcross v. Griffiths, 65 id. 599;
Olsen v. Merrill, 42 id. 203;
Janesville v. Carpenter, 77 id. 288;
Barney v. Keokuk, 94 U. 8. 324.

The right of fishing and fowling is in the owner of the soil
under the water. Ne-pee-nauk Club vy. Wilson, 96 Wis. 290.

This doctrine that the owner of the bank owns the soil under
the navigable stream does not obtain in many of the states. In
others including Wisconsin it has gotten unluckily a foot hold,
and is an embarrassment to the stocking of fish for the public
benefit.

In Wisconsin, the rule of riparian ownership of the soil car-
ries with it the exclusive right of fishing in the waters over such
soil has been overturned by the late case of Willow River Club v.
Wade, 100 Wis. 86. The club leased the lands for a considerable
distance on both banks of the Willow River, an unmeandered
tributary of the Mississippi River, which was in times of high

American Fisheries Society. 39

water capable of floating logs and small row boats, though at
other times row boats can not be taken up the stream without
dragging or pushing them over shallow places. Wade, defend-
ant, entered upon this stream from a public highway which it
crossed, and thence went by boat up stream and caught fish by
hook and line in a pond the plaintiff, the club, had created by
erecting a dam on the stream, for the purpose of widening the
stream and making a fish pond of it. The court after a very
learned argument, held the stream a public navigable stream,
and that the public had a right of fishery in it while passing up
and down it, and keeping within the limits of the stream, and
not going upon the owner’s dry land to get to the stream. This
happily settles one phase of the question, but others still perplex
the subject of the stocking of the lesser streams.

IX. The Legislature may prevent the pollution of streams,
so as to destroy fish therein and may declare the pollution a pub-
lic nuisance; and such pollution may be enjoined.

People v. Truckee Lumber Co., 116 Cal. 397;

State v. Kroenert, 16 Wash. 644;

Blydenburgh vy. Miles, 39 Conn. 484. Substantially the
same rule has been applied in Wisconsin.

SUGGESTIONS AS TO PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION.

In view of the constitutional and other difficulties in fram-
ing adequate protective legislation, I venture to offer the follow-
ing suggestions to those preparing legislation on the subject of
protecting fish and game, confining the suggestions only to legal
points:

1. The penalties should be imposed as forfeitures and not as
fines. The prosecution should be in the form of a civil action to
recover a forfeiture and not for misdemeanor, in criminal form.
The reason for this suggestion is that in most of the states, I
think in all, the prosecution thus secures the right of appeal,
when the justice or lower court, overawed by local sentiment, or
sympathizing with the offenders, decides against the state. All
wardens know the difficulties attending prosecution in the petty
courts. There can be commitment to jail till forfeiture is paid,
the same as in case of fines, and in the case of agents of trans-

40 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

portation companies no arrest need be made, or 1t may be made
at the institution of the suit. The technicalities of criminal pro-
cedure can, to a large extent, be avoided by the mode of prosecu-
tion here suggested.

2. The statutes asserting the right of the state in wild game
and fish to regulate caption, should be clear in declaring the
terms on which they may be taken in open season, should speci-
fically declare the conditions on which the state parts with its
property. ‘The right to ship out of the state should be qualified,
or altogether restricted in clear terms.

3. A limited period of time after the termination of
the open season should be fixed in which fish and game lawfully
taken may be used or disposed of.

4. The plan of requiring license to hunt or fish to be taken
out, by both residents and non-residents, is a good one. ‘The
small fee required should be used as a fund to defray expenses of
protection.

5. Where fish or game are in possession in the close season,
the burden of proof should be thrown on the possessor to show
that they were caught in lawful time, or beyond the state and
that they were lawfully shipped into the state from beyond its
borders.

6. The laws should not apply to private hatcheries or waters.
isolated from others and owned and artificially stocked by pri-
vate individuals. The private propagation of food fish should
be encouraged rather than crippled. But care should be taken
that this right be not made the cloak for illegal fishing.

nN

?. The laws declaring nets, seines, etc., public nuisances
and authorizing their summary destruction, should apply only
to such as are actually taken while unlawfully set or in use, and,
I think, it would be wiser, where they are of considerable value,
to require a judicial condemnation before they are destroyed or
confiscated. Where the illegally used articles are boats, guns,
vessels, or long stretches of nets, it would be well to have them
adjudged forfeited by a court of competent jurisdiction, under
simple and speedy proceedings which give the offender his day in
court, before they are adjudged to be destroyed or sold. ‘These
proceedings should afford right of trial by jury at some stage,

American Fisheries Society. 41

and better on appeal to the circuit court than in the petty courts
where original jurisdiction may be vested.

8. Where the state expends large sums in stocking streams
the right of the public to fish in them should, as far as possible,
be secured. The right to share in the benefit of state stocking
should not be monopolized by riparian owners. This subject is
a delicate one to handle, especially where the old rule obtains
that the riparian owner has the exclusive right of taking fish on
his own soil. It will be held generally that he cannot be divested
of this right by arbitrary legislation. From those who will not
accord to the public this right, as to streams not wholly within
their own soil, stocking should be withheld, as far as practicable.
In Wisconsin, the law once provided that the appheants for
stocking must dedicate their waters stocked by the state, to free
fishing; but this law was found impracticable of execution and
was modified. Here is need of careful legislation.

9. The state laws regulating the free passage of fish are
usually utterly disregarded, or are dead letters because of their
inadequacy. ‘They need a thorough overhauling and more
vigorous enforcement. The right of the public and of riparian
owners to have passage ways for fish up and down the stream is a
common law right and a valuable one. Yet, no right has been
more systematically and flagrantly disregarded. ‘This right ex-
tends to navigable as well as non-navigable streams. Remley v.
Meeks, 51 L. R. A. 414.

The dam owners should be required to put in adequate fish-
ways; and the game wardens charged with the duty of keeping
them to the obedience of the law.

10. All statutes providing forfeiture, ought to prescribe and
declare sufficient suitable forms for the guidance of wardens
and officers in making complaints and magistrates in issuing
warrants, rendered judgment and issuing other process. This
avoids likelihood of mistakes that vitiate the proceedings.

DISCUSSION OF GENERAL BRYANT’S PAPER.

Mr. John W. Titcomb, St. Johnsbury, Vt.: It is a splendid
paper. Every one who has to do with the administration of the
laws as well as the work of propagation of fish, will appreciate
the importance and value of having the different laws on the sub-

42 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

ject so clearly explained; and if it were not for the short time at
our disposal, I should like to talk of some facts with reference to
the stocking of streams with fish, and in regard to trespass laws.
We think we have solved the problem in Vermont.

General Bryant: J am anxious to hear Brother Titcomb’s
explanation of how they have dealt with this question in Ver-
mont.

Mr. Titcomb: With reference to the trespass law and the
posting of waters, we claim, as your paper states, that all wild
game is the property of the state; but take a stream that flows
down the mountains for miles, through the valleys, and through
several farms, each farmer claims that it is unlawful for any one
to trespass on his property. In other words, if you go fishing on
his land, or cross his land and fish along the banks of a stream
flowing through his land, he can get actual damages for trespass,
that is, one cent and costs, and of course he cannot ever keep
fishermen off.

Now the state law provided a great many years ago that
where a man posted the stream with a poster of a certain size as
prescribed by the law, prohibiting fishing and hunting thereon,
he could get $10.00 in a civil suit in addition to the actual tres-
pass damages. That law was held to be constitutional. The first
embarrassment we met with in connection with that law was the
fact that the fish from our state hatchery were going into these
waters that were privately posted. We got the legislature to pass
a law prohibiting the commissioners from stocking any stream
which was privately posted. The result was that at the next ses-
sion of the legislature the farmers who had streams came in
there and said, we don’t care a d—n for your hatchery; we don’t
get any fish; we want the fish in our streams and want to control
them. The other faction said, the hatchery don’t do us any
good, the streams are all posted in our section; and the fight was
so hot that the appropriation was held up and there was almost a
deadlock on that question. I asked one of the members who was
opposing our hatchery appropriation to withdraw a sweeping
opposition measure and accept a compromise, which was done.
Under the compromise act if a man wishes to have the privilege
of obtaining $10.00 in addition to actual damages for fishing on
his privately posted waters, he must first stock those waters by

American Fisheries Society. 43

purchasing fish that are artificially reared. He cannot go to pub-
lic waters to stock them, but must stock his stream at his own
private expense from artificially reared fish, and keep it stocked.
Tf we have a stream five miles long and one or two farmers post
a mile or so of it, under the old law we could not stock the other
part of it; but now the farmers buy their fish of a commercial
hatchery and stock the portion they want to, the state stocks the
rest of it, and that is open to the public; and the understanding
is that if the state stocks any of these streams they are then open
to the public. We have in connection with our application
blanks question blanks so that we can find out whether the land
owners agree to accept these fish from the state and will permit
the public to have access to these streams after the fish from the
state hatcheries are put in there; and the plan is operating very
well. A good many who privately posted formerly have given it
up and let the public on, and we stock their waters every year. A
good many others are buying fish from the commercial hatcher-
ies.

General Bryant: ‘Then the legal effect of non-posting is an
acquiescence in the public right to fish ?

Mr. Titcomb: Yes, we do not claim that we can force the
property open.

General Bryant: But you put the property owner in an atti-
tude where he must waive his rights ?

Mr. Titcomb: Yes; the legislature can say whether he shall
have that $10.00 additional damages.

Mr. Seymour Bower, Detroit, Mich.: I want to say a word
in regard to one of the recommendations made by General
Bryant, and that is in reference to the sale of brook trout by pri-
vate breeders. It seems to me in a good many of the states we
are altogether too severe in that respect. In my state a man can-
not buy a brook trout from a private breeder and serve it to the
public, in a hotel, without being liable to prosecution. Now in
the state of Michigan I have no doubt that within five years, if
private breeders could be allowed to put their trout upon the mar-
ket, we would have twenty-five trout hatcheries at the least cal-
culation, and would be getting fifty thousand dollars to one hun-
dred thousand dollars of good Chicago and St. Louis money

every year that we might just as well have as not; and it seems

44 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

to me that there should be some practical way to surround the
sale of these fish with such provisions as will prevent the sale of
wild trout. They do these things, I think, better in the state of
Massachusetts than we do in the west. In that state, within a
radius of fifty miles from Plymouth, are to be found perhaps
twenty-five private trout hatcheries, from some of which five to
ten tons of brook trout are marketed annually. They are allowed
to sell their fish during the open season in which trout may be
caught, and in addition they have a special law that allows them
to sell in February and March, and as they have five months of
open season, that gives them seven months in the year in which
to market their fish. The denial of this privilege or right in
Michigan (and I think it is the same in some other states) drives
out what might become a considerable enterprise. I see no good
reason why the production and sale of trout as a private or indi-
vidual enterprise should not be encouraged rather than sup-
pressed, no good reason why anyone should not be allowed to sell
his own property, and I would like an expression of opinion from
others on this subject.

Mr. Clark: It was my intention to say not a word in regard
to this paper, but Mr. Bower has brought up this point and I
wish to add my mite. That question has been before me ever
since the law was passed in the state of Michigan. ‘Time and
time again, have people said to me that they would go into the
business of raising trout for market, but they could not sell them.
I do not believe

and I want to put myself right on record here
as saying so—that any such law in the state of Michigan will
stand. If I were a private trout breeder today, I would breed my
trout, raise and sell them. I do not see how you can stop a man
from selling his fish that he has raised in his own private waters
any more than you can stop him from selling beef. But the law
should be fixed so as to encourage this industry, and one result
would be that we as public breeders of fish both national and
state would have a better opportunity to buy eggs from different
parts of the country, just as we do today from the breeders in
the east. In Wisconsin, Michigan and all of these trout states,
if that industry were encouraged by the law, in the first place we
would have, as Mr. Bower says, a great many of these private
trout breeders who would raise trout for market, and by having

American Fisheries Society. 45

the surplus trout we would have that many more eggs, because
the eggs would simply go to waste if they did not save them, and
thus eggs would be much cheaper.

James Nevin, Madison, Wis.: They are permitted to do that
in Wisconsin at any time.

Mr. Titcomb: As to the constitutionality of that law there
seems to be no question. Gilbert, of Massachusetts, caught trout
out of his artificial rearing ponds, served them on his own table,
complained against himself, carried the test case to the Supreme
Court and was beaten. However the matter was finally com-
promised and I do not think that in Massachusetts or in Ver-
mont (Mr. Root can tell you about Rhode Island) we experience
any trouble from allowing artificially reared trout to be sold in
certain months during the close season. In Vermont we have
just passed a law looking to the encouragement of farmers put-
ting in artificial ponds to hatch their own fish, to raise them and
eat them any time in the year on their own premises.

The President: But they cannot sell them.

Mr. Titcomb: They are not supposed to sell them except im
certain months, but the months that they are allowed to sell them
are when there is a demand for them. I think if the matter is
properly presented to the Michigan legislature there will be no
trouble in getting a proper law there.

Mr. Root: We have experienced no difficulty at all in the
matter in Rhode Island. We saw some years ago that such a
law as exists in Michigan would oppress some of our artificial
breeders, and I went before the legislature myself and had a
simple law to this effect prepared and passed without any objec-
tion at all. The fish raiser goes to the secretary of state and
registers himself, pays a small fee of a dollar and certifies that he
will brand every package of fish that he sends out with the name
of his concern; that has to be put upon the box; and that allows
him to sell at any season of the year. There has been no com-
plaint made of the law, and if anybody wants a package of fish
he has merely to mark his package and that is prima facie proof
that the vendor has a right to sell them, and these packages can
be sold anywhere and at all seasons of the year.

Mr. ©. H. Townsend, U. S. F. C., Washington, D. C.: It
seems to me that the effects of legislation on the fisheries and on

46 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

fish culture are so far reaching that the entire time of this meet-
ing might very profitably be taken up with the discussion of this
subject. We know that the fisheries have a great many limita-
tions on account of the laws, and there is a great lack of uni-
formity in the laws. <A study of the subject and a report thereon
that would lead to uniformity in fish laws would be of the great-
est benefit to private fish culture. I have recently had some cor-
respondence from Montana on this subject. ‘There the conditions
are different from any of those that have already been mentioned.
and I have no doubt that if members from other states were to
tell of the conditions prevailing with them, that they would be
seen to be still different. In Montana commercial fishing from
the streams is forbidden, but it is not forbidden to take fish from
the public waters for the stocking of private ponds, and many
people in Montana are industriously fishing to stock their pri-
vate ponds and lakes. These immediately acquire a commercial
value, and the sale of fish from such waters goes on, so that any
one wanting to sell fish in Montana has only to get fish from the
public waters and put them for awhile in their private ponds
when they can be regarded as the result of fish culture.

A few years ago the statistical division of the Fish Commis-
sion made a canvass of the fisheries of the interior waters, where
the commercial fisheries yielded over 50,000,000 pounds of fish.
This year the same region was canvassed and we found that since
the previous investigations the laws had been changed in many
of the states. In Kansas, for instance, you cannot fish except
with hook and line. The fish are no scarcer in these states but
the fishermen do not get them. Commercial fishing being cut off
in many states we found it useless to attempt a canvass of the
commercial fisheries of several sections of the west, because of
fish laws that prevent the utilizing of many kinds of fishes that
could be taken if netting were permitted. Fish laws of the right
and proper kind need not break up all fishery industries.

Mr. Geo. F. Peabody, Appleton, Wis.: The work of stocking
the waters of Wisconsin by our State Fish Commission has been
generously and intelligently done, and not only have the inland
waters been stocked and those waters which furnish sport to the
angler and the thousands who like to go fishing, but there have

American Fisheries Society. 47

been vast quantities of fry hatched and put in the out-lying
waters for the benefit of the commercial fishermen.

Lake Winnebago and the Fox River (where I live) are the
storm centers of illegal fishing, and the illegal fishermen and the
pirates have been encouraged by the protection of the “A. Booth
Fish Co.” Wagon loads and wagon loads of illegally caught fish
have within the last few months been taken en route from Lake
Winnebago to Green Bay. They have been bought and shipped
knowing that these game fish have been illegally netted in the
inland waters of Wisconsin. It seems to me it is time the Fish
Commission and Legislators take note of these facts.

Mr. Titcomb’s remarks in which he said, “that they did not
stock waters that were private in Vermont,” is analogous to the
idea that the State Fish Commission of Wisconsin should not
propagate fish for the benefit of a corporation that assists pirati-
cal fishermen to break the law by buying illegally caught fish,
knowing that such is the case. The transportation companies
respect the law and refuse to ship fish from these waters, and
the only way that we shall be able to correct the evil is to make it
unprofitable for the illegal fishermen, first, by stringent laws,
that make it possible to destroy the utensils, nets, boats, ete.
Then to destroy the market, and the thing is done.

It would seem as if some one state might originate a clear
rational law that could be adopted by other states that would be
effective.

The President: I had this very point in mind when I sug-
gested the subject of building up public sentiment. Before we
can pass proper laws we have got to interest the public and create
pubhe sentiment in the interest of fish culture.

48 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

MAN AS A CONTROLLING FACTOR IN AQUATIC LIFE.

BY DR. J. C. PARKER.

The inexorable logic of human progress for the century, just
past, would seem to indicate that “the Power that makes” in the
Universe, if intelligent, had made a mistake in the arrangement
of things: for instead of bringing man on to this stage of action
as the last creative act, he should have been the very first and
then left in absolute fee simple with the raw material of this
earth at least—on his hands—to fashion as he might. For ever
since his advent, he has been “eternally fixing things up” so
that he might be more comfortable. He found himself in need
of a “Shirt Waist” and other things and as the “Power that
makes” had not furnished any, he had to hustle around and rob
the wild beasts of their hides to keep his own warm. He wanted
Milwaukee bricks and “Marble Halls” and the “Power” had
only furnished dauby clay and rocky ledges. So he had to get up
and hustle for a habitation. He found that his powers of loco-
motion were too slow, that in this respect the horse and_ the
camel were his superiors and so he persuaded them to carry him
wherever he wanted to go. But he wanted to go as fast as any
thing on the face of the earth, and the fastest thing he knew
anything about was the birds, so he wanted to fly. Well! he
tried that but so far the bird is ahead, but he harnessed a tea
kettle to a wagon and by keeping “eternally at it” he has a rail-
road and palace cars and has come as near flying as possible and
keep his feet on the ground. He wanted to cross the river and he
goes astride a log, then paddles across. Now he builds steam
ships a quarter of a mile long, thus can go around the world in
the time it would have taken to go from New Orleans to New
York at the beginning of the century. He was afraid of the
dark so lighted a pine knot, and that pine knot has grown to be
an are hght and turns night into day.

Along every avenue of the inorganic he has been a builder.
He is the only animal that has ever existed who has left any-
thing besides his bones to mark his place in nature and if by any

American Fisheries Soctety. 49

convulsion he should be wiped out of existence, and in aeons of
ages to come, some creature endowed as he is, should come upon
the stage of action, he would still find evidences of his power as a
builder.

But in the realm of the Organic! What of him there? A
builder? No, only a destroyer! Down through the whole
march of the ages, his record has been that of the most terrible
beast on the face of the earth. His “Slogan” was ever: Kill!
Kall! Will! and every created thing from his own species to the
worm under his foot has been the victim of his rapacity. Those
beasts that he could not tame and make subservient to his need,
he exterminated. Every beast of the field has learned to fear
him. The birds of the air have learned to hasten and prolong
their flight beyond his deadly presence. And in the waters that
pulsated at his feet! What of him there? What is his record
as a controlling factor in the life that swims on the surface or
throngs in countless millions beneath? As we listen to the
echoes coming up to us from the dawn of recorded history, and
throbbing in the ears of the present, comes the eternal cry, Kull!
Kill! Kill! From the huge Cetacean whose enormous build and
terrible strength rivaled the Leviathan of the innovation of Job,
down to the delicate anchovy whose brightness like a_ silver
arrow gleames in the ocean’s pelucid waters. In every tumbling
brook, in every gliding river, in all the inland lakes shining lke
gems in their emerald settings; in and among all these he has
been “eternally at it” killing and destroying, primarily to satisfy
his hunger and his love of gain: and secondly to satisfy that.
innate love of killing that we euphemistically designate as
“Sport.” For no matter how much we weave around it the
magic of poetry and charm of seductive language, yet all the
way from St. Izaak down to that supreme juggler with apt
words, Henry Van Dyke the “gentle art” is to kill as many of
the fish that inhabit the waters as may satisfy this madness of
destruction that riots in the blood of us all.

No one realizes better than myself, that there is another side
to this question. There has never been a picture painted in
words or on canvass of the beauties of companionship with na-
ture, that has not been painted in my soul a hundred times. I
know the sweet joy of the vagabond life of the camp: the uplift

50 Thirticth Annual Meeting

that comes from breaking all the conventionalities of daily life:
of getting close to the ground, and getting acquainted with its
wonderful revelations; of the health renewing strength that
comes in the wind that has swept across leagues of water and
miles of forests filled with odors sweeter than any perfume: of
the worshipful solemnity of the evening camp-fire, when you
feel why fire-worship was the first religion: and you sit and listen
to the many eerie sounds that come to your city tuned ears out of
the solemn woods, wondering what they are and whence they
come. And then the preparations for sleep that shall “knit up
the raveled sleeve of care” for tomorrow. The splash and splut-
ter of the brands of the camp-fire as you douse it” so that no
stray zephyr shall send a vagrant spark into the tinder dry tent,
and turn you out in a blaze of terror, and as you sink into the
resillient bed of fragrant hemlock, what is the last conscious
thought that engages our attention? Isn’t it “We’re going
a-fishing tomorrow!” All the other delights are secondary to
this. We take them all in, accept them, as though it was all we
came for, and yet we know very well that we wouldn’t be there if
we weren't pretty sure that we could catch at least a few fish.
Of course we are not “fish-hogs,” a dozen trout or half as many
big black bass would satisfy us, but we would certainly like to
kill a few! for that is what we came for after all. No doubt
there are those who could get all that has been described and
bar the fishing, but I doubt if they ever find their way into
societies like this. This brings us face to face with the fact that
it is only when we find that these two factors, love of gain, and
love of sport have been curtailed through our covetousness or
stupidity, that we begin to search for remedies and to ask for the
Why! and the How! of things. When commercial fishermen
find that the margin of loss and gain, on a trial balance was
perilously near the first item, they began to seek some method to
rehabilitate former conditions, and when the disciples of Sir
Izaak began to find that the streams where they fished when boys
would no longer respond to the waving of the “magic wand,”
when they realized that the “flashing trout’ could no longer
“rise to the occasion” for they weren’t there. And when they
asked the old question, “What shall we do to be saved ?” And the
reply came back, “Sell all thou hast” if thou woulds’t go a fish-

American Fisheries Society. 51

ing. Then these too began to ask, Why! and How! To answer
these two questioning factions, this and kindred societies have
been formed, and through the enthusiasm and wisdom of those
who from time to time have thus assembled, some of the problems
have been solved, and year by year the How! has been pushed
nearer to an answer. ‘lo reiterate the story of what has been
done, would be to you but an idle tale. You all know what man
has taken in that rehabilitation of the waters, from which he has
so nearly exterminated their inhabitants. Many mistakes have
been made in these efforts, but on the whole, there is I think a
perceptible gain, especially in dealing with those waters, over
which he can have nearly absolute control, like the inland
streams. These he could stock with trout and in them could
verify his work. It is the unverified portion of his efforts that is
still in abeyance. From the first he has taken so many things
for granted that it is no wonder there have been so many failures.
If our work is to be recorded as scientific, not empirical, then
there should be nothing taken for granted. Science is only an
orderly arrangement of facts one fitting into the other lke the
link of a chain, and to study these from the genesis of life to the
revelation of completeness is today the task that is set before the
disciples of scientific pisciculture. Our work in the past to which
we brought the best that was in us, has been largely empirical,
and our reasoning of the a priori order.

When the fact was demonstrated that the ova of certain kinds
of fish could be artificially fecundated and hatched, it was then
assumed, that if the fry were planted in the waters almost any-
where then the problem of the future supply of the fish was prac-
tically settled. So we proceeded to hatch them out by the hun-
dred of millions and dump them into the waters, usually those
from which the parent fish had been taken, it being assumed
that a large proportion ought to survive to maturity. But some-
how there seems to be a hitch either in Nature’s plans or our own
for after a score of years’ trial and a large expenditure of money,
we have no assurance that there has been any marked success.
In fact we are not sure that any one of these hundred of mil-
hons has reached maturity. We are not even sure that there has
been any particular gain in any one locality. True from time
to time our hearts have been gladdened with the reports that the

52 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

fish have become suddenly much more abundant, and we have no
other satisfying reason, why this state of affairs should exist, and
we have concluded that it was through our efforts. But have we
been equally fair in our statements of our failures? When a few
years ago the whitefish began to be caught in commercial quan-
tities in Lake Erie, after a lapse of many years of depletion, we
ascribed this sudden development to the efforts of Ohio, Canada
and Michigan, in planting them in the lake. A similar phe-
nomenon occurred in Lake St. Clair in the earlier efforts of the
Michigan Fish Commissioners, and we were greatly elated there-
at, but of those planted along the eastern shore of Lake Michi-
gan I am forced to say there was never any perceptible showing.
Depletion went on with each decade, until today we stand face
to face with the fact of an almost fishless sea.

Now pessimism is one of the easiest of virtues, and to
prophesy after the event is consummated, is a good deal like “bet-
ting on a sure thing.” But it really does seem as though man as
a producing factor in organic life has not been a “howling suc-
cess.” It seems to me that the greatest need is that of verifica-
tion.

In the case of our minor inland waters, notably those in
which the brook trout would live, verification of our efforts was
easy: and it was this that gave the supreme impulse to our
efforts in pisciculture. [f all the other work could have been
verified as this has been, all fish culture would today be a scien-
tific and practical success. Perhaps there is no fish that swims
in which we are more interested than in the Queen of the Lakes,
the White Fish. Fifty years ago, it was one of the most common,
as it is the most delicious of fishes. We have seen it slowly
decimated until today it has passed from a common article of
food to a semi luxury. And if the same rate of depletion con-
tinues for another half century, it will be one of the most costly
of luxuries. We all know the comparative ease with which the
ova of this fish can be collected, and the large percentage that
can be hatched. And if we could in any way verify the progress,
after planting, as we can the brook trout, “the two blade of grass
man” would not be in the “benefactor business” with us for a
day longer.

To point out blunders and grumble at existing conditions,

American Fisheries Society. 53

without suggesting a remedy, is hardly the province of the rea-
sonable man, and while I have only a tentative plan, certainly
not a scientific one. Still it is comprehensive enough to possibly
determine the value of planting the whitefish in a large body of
water. Lake Ontario was once bountifully supplied with this
fish. 'Today—if my information is correct—it has but very few.
Now if all who have an interest in the successful propagation of
this fish could pool their interest, and first make an exhaustive
examination of this lake to ascertain the exact conditions now
existing, as to its aquatic life. Then all the states interested to-
gether with Canada and the general government hatch as many
millions of whitefish as possible, for say three years, planting
them all in Lake Ontario. Then if possible prohibit all commer-
cial fishing for five years it seems to me that it would settle the
question for this lake at least, and indirectly for all the others,
and possibly demonstrate whether man could be a controlling fac-
tor in the larger schemes of constructive aquatic life.

There is another phase of aquatic life to which but little
attention, so far as I am aware

has been paid, and that is the
plant life of all the waters, of the sea, no less than that of our
lakes and streams. As on the land, all animal life is dependent
on the vegetation, so in the waters, there could be no organized
aquatic life without the primary existence of aquatic plants. In
this field, man has indeed been a controlling factor, and may
find, possibly, that in the future his best constructive work may
be in the study of the growth and conservation of the plant life
of the waters. Many times have I known the aquatic life in our
inland lakes nearly obliterated by the deepening of the outlet of
a lake, in order to reclaim some bordering marsh. If when you
are on a lake or stream, you will pull up any of the water plants,
during their active summer’s growth, you will find them covered
with larval or crustacean life. On this small fish feed, and ten
large ones on the smaller. And thus the balance of life is com-
plete. Interrupt this in any manner and you have destroyed the
delicate poise of the balance. By lowering the water line, the
plants will wither and dry up, and with them the life that de-
pended upon them for their sustenance and growth. ‘Then the
swarms of minnows deprived of their friendly shelter and food,
either starve or become an easy prey to their predacious neigh-

54 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

bors, who after having eaten the “fatted calf” cannot find even
the “husks to fill up on” and so succumb to the inevitable. I
have known lakes in which there was fine bass fishing to become
completely depopulated in three years by a foot or two’s lower-
ing of the original water line.

To my mind, it is not at all impossible that some disturbing
or destructive influence of the flora of our great lakes has more
to do with the depletion of its whitefish than the greed of fisher-
men. I remember very distinctly the surprise that I experienced
when I first discovered the food of the whitefish. It was soon
after my appointment on the board of the state fish commis-
sioners. I could find no one among authors or practical fisher-
men who could give me any information as to what they ate. So
I made a trip to Grand Haven, at that time having a large in-
terest in the catching of fish. One of the fishermen turned over
to me possibly a barrel of intestines, and I started out with a
sharp knife, a stout stomach and lots of ignorance to find out
what whitefish lived on. I worked diligently for an hour cut-
ting open stomach after stomach but without any result in find-
ing what I was looking for. In nearly every one I found more
or less sand mixed with the mucus of the stomach. I finally
came to the conclusion that as the fish had been caught in gill
nets their detention there had emptied the stomach of all food.
Just as I was about to give up for that time I thought I would
see how the inside of the stomach looked under a magnifying
glass I had in my jacket. Incidentally I looked at some of the
sand, when to my intense amazement I discovered that what I
had regarded as sand was the shells of a minute bivalve but httle
larger than a grain of sand and so translucent as to shine as a
erain of sand. Of course this was a new world and I commenced
all over again, and left with a very thorough knowledge of what
those white fish had been feeding on, for there were the shells in
all stages of digestion from those recently taken in, to the shell
from which the animal had been removed by the digestive pro-
cess. Still what I found seemed so insignificant to the size of
the fish that I thought there might be some mistake so I con-
cluded to remain over night and verify my observation by the
next day’s catch. I did so with the same results. Then I
thought it might be a local matter, and so a few months after I

American Fisheries Society. 55

found my way to Mackinac where I made examinations finding
only the same evidence of food in fish caught there. Later in the
stomach of a ten pound white fish caught on the south shore of
the peninsular, north of the Beaver Islands, I found some shells
of the genus Melania and Paludina, shells half an inch in length
and one-fourth inch in diameter, but shallow water shells, the
habitat of which is well known, but I never was able to find the
smaller shells only in the stomachs of the whitefish. I am not
aware that they have ever been found in their native habitat, or
what the vegetation is on which they feed. Of course it may be
begging the question to assume that they are vegetarians but the
natural sequence of life, so far as we can demonstrate it would
lead us to infer that such was the case and if it is, the fate of
this fish is to be determined by the growth and continuation of
this plant wherever and whatever it is.

I think that man as a builder in organic life especially in
aquatic life will work along these lines. What is true of our
“unsalted seas” is true of the salt ones. And when in the future
the problem of life in the ocean shall be studied from this point
of view, some of the puzzling phenomena of ocean life may be
solved. The immense schools of migratory fish ike the Macke-
rel, the shad and alewife. On what do they feed? As they are
doubtlessly carnivorous and as we must “hark back” to the
vegetable world as the genesis from which all organic life pro-
ceeds. So in the future the province of man as a factor in
aquatic life may possibly be in sowing the fields of the ocean as
he today sows the fields of the land.

DISCUSSION OF DR. PARKER'S PAPER.

Mr. Titcomb: I was very much interested in the doctor’s re-
marks and I have often thought that it was unfortunate that we
could not show results and prove that they were the results of
artificial propagation. He has stated that it is possible with the
trout and has been demonstrated. The subject of the growth of
fishes under natural conditions is interesting. The fish culturist
is so frequently asked for information as to the growth of fishes
after being planted that I give the following statistics:

In the spring of 1897 lake trout fry were planted in Big
Averill Pond in the town of Averill, Vermont. Each successive

56 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

spring lake trout fry have been planted in these waters. When
the first plant was made the lake contained a few brook trout, a
few golden trout (aureolus) and many shiners, dace and suck-
ers, but no lake trout. In June, 1901, [ caught with rod and
surface troll four lake trout weighing three and one-half pounds,
two and three quarters pounds and one and a half pounds respec-
tively, and one fish ten inches long which was returned to the
lake alive and not weighed. I was informed by the landlord of a
sportsman’s resort nearby that the lake trout caught by other
fishermen did not vary an ounce from the weights above given.
In other words, that the fish representing the various ages from
one year to four were quite uniform in weight. The standard
weight for a four year old lake trout is therefore three and a half
pounds, for the three year old two and _ three quarter
pounds, two year old one and a half pounds, one year old about
three-quarters of a pound. Of course the growth may be greater
or less in other waters, but the above is an accurate basis for
data. I may properly add that my landlord informant con-
sidered that his property had doubled in value in the short space
of time that this lake had demonstrated results from stocking
with artificially hatched fish.

In the fall of 1897, landlocked salmon, fingerlings. were first
introduced in Caspian Lake, Greensboro, Vermont, and plants
have been made annually since that time. Previous to 1897 the
lake was well stocked with smelts. In May, 1901, one landlocked
salmon was taken with rod and line, weighing eight and a half
pounds, one weighing seven pounds fourteen ounces, and many
others weighing from two to five pounds. The lake contained
no salmon previous to 1897. The lake is about two and a half
miles long by one mile wide at the widest place. It contains
speckled trout, ranging from a small fish to five pounds in
weight, and lake trout averaging about five pounds in weight,
but frequently caught weighing from nine to fourteen pounds.
The lake trout were first introduced in 1891.

It is safe to say that a daily average of 200 pounds of trout
and salmon were caught from this lake on week days through
the month of May, 1901, the results of artificial propagation. In
many places we cannot prove that the fish caught were artificially
hatched, but the above examples furnish very definite data.

American Fisheries Society. 57

Mr. Clark: I was very much interested in the doctor’s paper,
but still that paper as it will go to the press affords rather a dis-
couraging outlook for artificial propagation, especially of white-
fish. One would infer from the doctor’s paper that no results
really have been shown with the whitefish. If in order, I want
to make a little argument on that point.

It is true that the different states bordering on the Great
Lakes, as well as the United States Fish Commission, have
planted billions of whitefish in various waters. One-half of
those whitefish, I venture to say, have gone into Lake Erie
waters. It is well known that the whitefish are on the increase
in Lake Erie. The doctor referred to Lake Ontario as being
depleted. Lake Ontario until very recent years has had prac-
tically no whitefish planted in it—now and then a car load, but
very few. Of course in the past four or five years probably
20,090,000 to 30,000,000 or so have been deposited each year.
Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Superior will never show
an increase, but will on the contrary show a decrease, until hun-:
dreds of millions of whitefish are planted in those waters. We
must admit of course that the whitefish grow, because that has
been demonstrated. We have lakes in the interior of Michigan
today where there never was a whitefish until planted, and we
know they are there now. I have caught them thicker with a
gill net, myself, than in any gill net I ever saw lifted on the
Great Lakes. We know positively that the whitefish that we
hatch grow. If we plant them in the lakes and find the white-
fish increase, the increase must be due to artificial propagation
and planting. I contend that Lake Erie and Detroit River are
beyond the time of going back and that they are on the increase
as the records will show today, and I never expect to see Lake
Erie begin to drop down. Of course it has its years when
it will be a little better than others. For instance, the records
for last year when completed will not compare very favorably
with those of the preceding year, 1899, which showed an increase
of 100 per cent. over 1898. Last year there were not so many
whitefish caught but that was on account of the weather. On
Detroit River last year with three seining grounds the catch was
20,000, and a year ago last fall, 32,000.

The President: And all of the same size practically ?

58 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Mr. Clark: We did not have a thousand whitefish by the
15th of November, and all of the balance were caught within
about three weeks after that. "The year before, we had ten thou-
sand up to the 15th, showing conclusively that it was the weather
that kept them from coming up. Mr. Downing had about the
same experience in the upper end of Lake Erie.

I do not want to let the statement go unchallenged that the
whitefish in the Great Lakes are not on the increase, and I mean
Lake Erie more particularly, because so many whitefish have
been planted there. Now if we will plant in Lake Michigan,
Lake Huron, Lake Superior and Lake Ontario, as extensively as
we have in Lake Erie, we certainly shall see the whitefish in-
crease greatly.

The food question today has a great deal to do with the sub-
ject. I never expect to see the Great Lakes, even with billions
upon billions of fish planted each year, back where they were,
because, since civilization has stepped in, we have so much dele-
terious matter running into them destroying not only the spawn-
ing beds but the feeding grounds. The problem may become a
serious one, unless science can show us some way of increasing
the food of the whitefish; but the fact that we can increase the
whitefish is undeniable, for we are doing it right along.

Prof. M. C. Marsh, Washington, D. C.: Dr. Parker refers to
the difficulty that there would be in getting an agreement over
on Lake Ontario between the states and Canada in regard to this
matter. Inasmuch as it is often difficult to obtain legislation
from a single state, we may well imagine that it might be very
difficult to obtain an agreement between several states and
Canada. A very important planting investigation almost ex-
actly in the line that Dr. Parker has-suggested has been going on
in regard to aquatic conditions in Lake Erie, and a similar inves-
tigation has been made also in relation to salt water fish.

Mr. Townsend: I do not know whether the members of the
Fisheries Society are familiar with the more or less regular sta-
tistical canvasses that are made of the fisheries of the different
parts of the country. But it takes a good while with the small
statistical force of the United States Fish Commission to get
over the ground. They canvass the Southern Atlantic and Gulf
states in one season, the Middle Atlantic and New England in

American Fisheries Society. 59

another, the Great Lakes and Mississippi another, and then the
Pacific coast ; it takes three or four years to get over the ground.

The last canvass of the fisheries of Lake Erie showed that
there were caught 58,000,000 pounds of fish in 1899, 42,009,000
in 1893, 64,000,000 in 1890, 51,000,090 in 1885, and 29,000,000
in 1880. There has been considerable planting of fish and there
has been a great development of the commercial fisheries. The
figures are correct as far as they go. We are on pretty intimate
terms with the fishing firms and every one of them throws open
books and records and our figures are copied from these books.
The catch is generally larger than the reports show, because we
do not see all the fishermen. We do get hold of the fishery firms
however. You will see by comparing these different years with
the recent catch of 58,000,000 pounds in Lake Erie that that
catch is nearly as big as that of the best year, 64,000,000 pounds,
and it is away over what it was in 1893.

Let us take the Great Lakes as a whole; in 1889 these lakes
yielded 113,000,000 pounds of fish worth $2,500,000, and there
were nearly 10,000 fishermen. This yield compares favorably
with that of other years.

Here are some fishery facts that I think you will appreciate:
There are 19,000 fishermen on the Pacific coast, taking 219,000,-
000 pounds of fish a year worth $6,000,000. The catch of shad
and striped bass in the Pacific coast states by this canvass,—and
these figures were collected by trained statistical agents,—was

nearly 2,500,000 pounds, but there never was a shad or a striped
bass on the Pacific coast until they were carried overland and
planted there.

Mr. Clark: I carried the first 600,000 that were taken there
myself.

Mr. Townsend: I think that the study of statistics will
show the direct and positive benefits of fish culture in all parts
of the country.

The President: Nothing shows it better than the culture of
brook trout.

Dr. Parker: Verification is just what I contend for. They
verify those things by taking the shad and striped bass over
there. But what I contend is that they do not get the results
from planting whitefish in the Great Lakes in proportion to

60 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

what has been done with other fish. I say that in all probability
we can account for the condition of affairs in Lake Erie by the
increased number of fishermen going there for the reason that it
is better fishing.

Mr. Clark: But it is better fishing there because there are
more fish.

Dr. Parker: We do not know whether that is the result of
planting or of natural causes.

Mr. Clark: How will we ever know? Take your brook trout
streams in Michigan today that were planted before they were
depleted, how do you know that your brook trout lived there?

Dr. Parker: Because you have put the brook trout where
there was none and they have grown.

Mr. Clark: No, no, but take the natural streams where there
are plenty of trout.

Dr. Parker: There are plenty there today.

Mr. Clark: But according to your argument I might just as
reasonably say that your artificial trout that have been planted
in those streams do not live.

Dr. Parker: You do not know whether they live or not.

Mr. Clark: No.

Dr. Parker: I am taking this thing up from a scientific
point of view, considering the actual facts of the case—that is all
—I heartily believe in the commission, and my suggestion as to
the planting in Lake Ontario there in that way is simply to prove
if you can the value of planting in large numbers, stocking a lake
like Ontario. It is only a suggestion.

Mr. Clark: That is just the poimt I am arguing that the
vast quantities of whitefish that have been planted in Detroit
River and Lake Erie must make the increase, for we certainly
have an increase there.

Dr. Parker: But you assume that this increase is due to the
fish you plant there.

Mr. Clark: I dislike to take up the time of the society but
this is a very important question and it must be discussed here.
The doctor says, “Take Lake Ontario” (which of course is a
good example; it is all right), but how will we prove anything
better in Lake Ontario than we have already proven in Lake
Erie? The only difference between the two lakes is this, that.

American Fisheries Society. 61

Lake Ontario is a httle more depleted; but the whitefish are not
all out of Lake Ontario. Whitefish have been caught in Lake
Ontario every single year.

Mr. Townsend: Yes, but the laws of New York so restrict
commercial fishing in Lake Ontario that you cannot tell anything
about it.

Mr. Clark: If we should plant billions of fish in Lake
Ontario could we prove any more clearly than we already have
in Lake Erie, that our fish grow there ?

Dr. Parker: It seems to me you could, simply from the fact
that an exhaustive examination of Lake Ontario should be made
first on a really scientific basis, and then stock it in that way,
and then if vou could prohibit fishing for five years and then
found that the fish had increased there, you would certainly have
verified in that lake and presumably for all other lakes, the fact
of the growth of the fish planted. That is all that I contend for
—not that I am inimical to planting fish—not by any means.

The President: The catch on the Detroit River year before
last was bigger than for years before and was all of such uniform
size that it is almost positive evidence that they were planted
fish.

62 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

THE INDEX.

BY JOHN E. GUNCKEL.

The American Fisheries Society is likened unto a _ lake
nestled at the foot hills of the Rockies which contain all the
songs the mountain brooks and streams have sung. Drop by
drop from the snow-clad, unexplored peaks, the water forms
overflowing basins, hesitating pools, miniature cascades, and
cataracts of unsurpassed grandeur and magnificence; lost for a
time in the recesses of heavy forests and then peacefully flowing
through overland meadows of wondrous shades and beauty.

It took thirty-one years to gather into this American Fish-
eries lake the knowledge gained by systematic observation, ex-
periment and reasoning of its members.

The records of the past century reveal that this society,
within its life, has made more progress in the details of scien-
tific researches than during all the past centuries. As evidence
of this fact read the official reports of the transactions of our
society. ‘The progress in the art and sciences made by men
whose lives were devoted to the beneficiary work of mankind
should receive more than a passing notice and recognition of
their discoveries and labors.

It is therefore fitting that we should frequently stop in our
active daily work and pay tribute and respect to our absent fel-
low companions who worked so diligently and earnestly with us
for so many years and are now sleeping away the centuries. Men
who devoted their lives to the cause of fish culture, the fisheries
and marine biology, and “The only reward they asked—a grate-
ful remembrance of their work.”

Dr. Theodatus Garlick, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, Prof. G.
Brown Goode, Judge Emory D. Potter, Col. Marshall Mc-
Donald, Fred Mather, Herschel Whitaker, Henry C. Ford and
many others whose names and valuable works you will recall.
Around these men circle memories that time cannot efface. These
men were leaders in biology and general scientific researches. To
them and their associates the American people owe much ; more
than a memorial tribute of words. They discovered and harvest-

American Fisheries Society. 63

ed fields that many of us today are but gleaners. In the life of
this society the road was discovered that is leading rapidly to the
solution of great problems in nature’s marvelous works. Fish
can now be artificially hatched with more success than nature
gives to the fish in their natural elements. The hatching facili-
ties of every state in the union should be so enlarged and im-
proved that millions of young fish can be planted every year of
our most important food fishes. This is helping mankind. To-
day the life of each inhabitant of God’s creative waters is known
to the fish culturist and biologist from the fry and fingerling to
the self-supporting fish, and all diseases known to fish from the
trout down to the palatable cooking of our much abused German
carp. In the memory of all of us, who have watched the inter-
ests of this society, we recall the papers and discussions giving
the results of hard labor and untiring study in detail of the suc-
cessful hatching and caring for almost every species of our
food fishes.

So deeply interested were the workers in details that it made
but little difference what subject the member was pleased to
introduce the discussion invariably ended in fry and fingerlings
arguments. It seems that the beginning of a new century found
this fry and fingerling subject amicably settled between the two
great contestants, namely—the Michigan Fish Commissioners
agreeing with the New York Fish Commission that the future
welfare and the progress of the fish, for the benefit of mankind,
“depends upon the health of the fry, the condition and surround-
ings of the fingerlings.”

So thorough and complete has been the successful workings
of the members of this society that the world is not surprised to
learn that they are daily cultivating fields in new and unexplored
territory. We are not surprised to learn that the members of the
Wisconsin Fish Commission are not only contemplating the
hatching cf whales at their Bayfield hatchery but they are on
record as promising “to hatch a brewery for each member in at-
tendance at this meeting,” and we are informed they stand ready
to fulfill their promise.

What of the future ?

Tn the index of today we find the members of this society are
branching out in other pastures. Some are endowed with talents

64 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

other than those of solving nature’s mysteries. General E. E.
Bryant, one of Wisconsin’s favorite sons, while under the in-
fluence of a Narragansett clam bake, and the ozone of Wood’s
Hole, surprised the members that he was a natural born orator ;
deep, inspiring, pathetic, amusing, and that he lost himself in
such an overflow of language that the members of the Michigan
Fish Commission are still searching the dictionary for fry and
fingerling meanings.

Again, the medium through which the public is benefited
from the results of the labors of individual members is the record
of transactions. It is an honor to this society, a great credit to
Secretary Seymour Bower, for the complete and general arrange-
ment of the report for 1900. Would it not be well for this
society to go still farther in their annual reports by following
New York’s most elegant official report of the State Fish Com-
mission? A volume more complete than our present form would
be an everlasting honor to our society. In glancing at the many
papers and discussions of men like F. N. Clark, C. E. Brewster,
H. W. Davis, George F. Peabody, A. N. Cheney, Prof. A. D.
Mead, Hon. Eugene G. Blackford, W. DeC. Ravenel, Hon.
George M. Bowers, J. W. Titcomb and many others we are not
surprised to learn that they are uniform in one belief that great
problems of the future increase of our food fishes center in the
success of what is now in progress by active members of today
who are to read papers and discuss this new movement. No man
is better able to tell us what is required of our legislators to
guarantee to the people, “Practical Protection and Perpetuation
of our Wild Life,” than our esteemed Grant M. Morse, Michi-
gan’s State Game Warden. He has carefully studied the past
and concludes that there is but one way to make this a success.
He argues that men and fish are now one, that fish planted in the
lakes and streams hatched by members of this society feel as if
they were under obligations to their friends—the fish culturists.
Therefore, he will suggest that fish should be requested not to
feed upon their kind, not to enter a net or trap, or other evil
devices of man, and do away with “Uniform General Laws.”
This idea is sanctioned by one of our oldest and most revered
members, Dr. J. C. Parker, for he is satisfied that, “Man is a
controlling factor in aquatic life.” We have had hints of this

American Fisheries Society. 65

coming event from the studied pen of F. N. Clark, who, back in
the nineties declared that, “Fry and Fingerlings one day would
form a trust which would unite the food fishes of our waters.”
C. E. Brewster also told us that, “There will come a time, some
day, when fish will understand each other.” Seymour Bower,
who knows every fish by name is recorded as saying that, “Fish
in our Michigan waters have been casting Goo Goo eyes at each
other to beat the band.” Dr. James A. Henshall who is study-
ing the habits and dispositions of our mountain stream fishes
said, in the long ago, “In the study of the black bass we are con-
vinced they are leaders and at no distant day will they unite in a
powerful combination for self protection.” Georgia’s famous
fish culturists through J. Bayard Lamkin in his paper on, ‘Feed-
ing of Black Bass Fry” and J. J. Stranahan, late of Ohio, have
come to the conclusion that to, “Prevent Cannibalism in rearing
black bass,” is to teach them in their fingerling years to eat
Georgia watermelons and other carp nourishing delicacies.
There is a unity in this problem even after death,
for S. P. Bartlett, Illinois’ carp champion, in his “More About
Carp” will tell us that there has been no fish ever discovered in
ancient or present times which can be served in more courses and
under more different names than our Illinois carp.

These are pleasing problems and incidents arising from past
associations with’men of this society, living under their in-
fluences, and we desire to add to the ties that bind, our word of
appreciation, to those who daily toil in the biological fields that,
we humble disciples of Isaac Walton love to cast our lines in
pleasant places.

Sitting on the banks of this American Fisheries lake are men
of my nature and kind, endowed with truthful proclivities.

Men who love to fish in its peaceful waters and get inspiration
from the purple shadowing landscape. Men who love to angle,
and by their nearness to nature and nature’s God could not tell a
lie if they saw it.

We are in touch with our scientific workers, although we may
not understand all the new ideas advanced in the aquatic life,

but we do agree—

“That in every kind of weather
Under cloud or in the sun
Trout and minnow play together
When the American Fisheries meet.’’

66 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

THE BROOK TROUT DISEASE.

BY PROF. M. C. MARSH.

The affection which I have designated “the brook trout
disease” is one which has caused the United States Fish Commis-
sion considerable trouble of recent years. ‘The first occurrence
that was particularly studied was at the Northville, Mich.,
hatchery in the fall of 1898 and following winter. It has also
occurred at Manchester, Ia., at the commission’s station. These
places have had, I think, regular recurrences of the disease each
season since the initial attack. It has recently for the first time
taken hold of the Loch Levens and it is therefore probably not
essentially the brook trout disease, though it seemed such at first,
for no other species was affected though identically exposed, and
it was the only serious obstacle to brook trout culture.

Members of this society are doubtless familiar with the ac-
count by Prof. Calkins of a very interesting epidemic among
brook trout, published in the report for 1898 of the Fisheries,
Game and Forest Commission of New York. This took place on
Long Island, and is, like the one under consideration, an infec-
tion, 1. e. it is caused by living parasitic micro-organisms. ‘They
resemble each other in severity and in external lesions. but I do
not however believe the parasites are identical in the two cases.

In the earlier literature of fish culture this disease does not
appear, none of those described so specifically by Livingston
Stone as affecting fry being identical with it. Mather however
describes one at Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., which resembled it
and might have been the same. He sent circular letters to vari-
ous fish culturists, inquiring for similar epidemics and but one
reply described a similar and perhaps identical experience. This
was at Caledonia, N. Y., in 1883 or 1884.

In this paper I intend to describe the disease only briefly, but
to enter at some length into the question of its prevention and to
present for your consideration and criticism the reasons which
seem to me to justify the plan for putting prevention into prac-

tice.

American Fisheries Society. 67

In the experience of the commission the disease affects chiefly
yearlings, but also fry. The first symptom is a loss of activity in
the trout. The individual becomes weak and is not ambitious
enough to stem the current of the pond, and perhaps allows it to
drift him against the screen at the lower end. He does not at-
tempt to avoid the net and is easily taken. He still remains
right side up, breathing quietly. He is apt to make spasmodic
efforts to swim, but does not go far and turns partly over in the
attempt. This is the beginning of a loss of equilibrium, which
becomes complete, and the trout lies on his back or side at the
surface or bottom, gasping. After occasional proxysms or frantic
dashings in apparent great distress, death soon occurs.

Examined post mortem these trout have not fallen off much
if any in condition. More than half of them have no external
marks of disease and these look like fine healthy fish. But some
have very plain external lesions, the essential feature of which is
an extravasation of blood into the tissues. It is seen chiefly in
the muscles, and appears in its simplest manifestation as a mere
red streak or patch, or bloody blotch, while its ultimate or ex-
treme condition is an ulcer. All intergradations between these
two stages may be seen. That is to say the blotch of blood com-
mences to liquefy the muscle surrounding it and the place be-
comes soft to the touch. It swells slightly or considerably, and
may make an elevation or puffy swelling which looks like a pus-
tule or boil. This is usually red or purple in color and rather
soft or yielding, but sometimes slightly tense when the skin re-
mains firm, showing the existence of some pressure from within.
These are found on comparatively few of the dead fish as they
usually die before reaching this stage. The skin finally sloughs
and makes an ulcer. The location of these lesions may be any-
where on the trout, but favorite places are the bases of the fins,
most often the pectoral, and the sides of the head. ‘There are but
few internal evidences of disease visible to the naked eye.

These boil-like elevations are not boils nor abscesses proper,
for they do not contain pus and the infection is not a suppura-
tion. Their contents are a bloody liquid which consists of the
serum of the blood, some red corpuscles and a good many white
ones, degenerated muscle fibres, and countless numbers of bac-

68 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

teria. There is no excess of white blood cells as would be the case
if pus were present.

The disease is extremely fatal. Usually if the fish remain in
the pond in which they acquired the disease, the death rate con-
tinues, the number dying each day becoming fewer as the school
erows smaller, until the last one has turned his belly upward.

Now, what is the nature or cause of this mortality? Is it
merely a question of bad hygiene, that is, not a specific disease,
but merely a condition due to the surroundings, or food, or un-
suitable circumstances? The fish cultural conditions are all that
care and the application of the most approved methods can make
them. 'The disease is not a mere matter of hygiene but is an
infection, i. e., parasitic. Living organisms, foreign to the trout,
have obtained a foothold, inhabit and grow within the body of
the trout and at its expense. The blood and local lesions of the
affected trout contain bacteria, in some cases in great numbers,
and the infectious agent which causes all the trouble is believed
to be bacterial. Proof is still wanting, but experiments are under
way which I hope may furnish this.

But it may be considered established that the disease is an
infection, which for our present practical purposes is the im-
portant point. It is caused then by a living parasite, an ex-
tremely small one,

a micro-parasite, which carries on operations
chiefly on the inside of the fish instead of the outside. It is not
easy to attack successfully the parasite in this position without
doing violence to the fish itself, and I will put aside this part of
the subject for the present. Prevention is worth more than cure.

Prevention suggests the question of the original source of the
infection. Where did it come from, how did it get into the trout,
and how may it be kept out? The original source is perfectly
obscure at present, and may always remain so. ‘The presence of
the infection is more apparent than its origin and destiny. Yet
there are some general considerations which have a_ bearing.
There was a time, at Northville for instance, when these epi-
demics did not occur. It is unlikely therefore that the specific
germs were normally and constantly very abundant. They were
either constantly present in the environs of the ponds in small
numbers, or at some time they became temporarily numerous. In
the former case their constancy, in the latter their numbers, en-

American Fisheries Society. 69

abled them to gain the foothold in the brood of fish. Of course
the virulence of the organisms is another factor which enters in.
The foothold is the important thing. Now, where were these
germs before they got inside the trout. The air contains many
bacteria. But it is the less likely hypothesis that they dropped
into the ponds from the air and then found their way into the
fish. There is the soil and water, and if either of these it is of
course ultimately the soil. This is a more reasonable supposi-
tion. Books on bacteriology have long lists of species of soil
organisms. I[t is readily conceivable that some of these species,
in the earth immediately surrounding the springs, conduits, or
ponds of a trout hatchery entered the water and lodged within
the body of a trout and found its blood and tissues so favorable a
home, that whether or not it had ever been parasitic before, it
now became so. It is readily seen that the mouth would be a
probable avenue of entrance. The germ having entered the water
is apt to be taken in with food of any sort. It is smaller than
most of the body cells and can make its way into tissues between
these cells. It can enter through abrasions anywhere on the
exterior of the fish, through breaks too small to be seen, possibly
through the intact skin. Theoretically one bacterium and one
trout are sufficient for the start. The rest is easy.

It appears probable then that the original infection was not
present in great abundance, but was comparatively dilute. But
after occurrence of one epidemic the conditions are very differ-
ent. When a brood of trout in a pond is affected with the dis-
ease, the specific germs must be thoroughly distributed about the
pond. Wooden or earth ponds are pervious. They harbor the
germs, and afford a permanent resting place in which they not
only live but doubtless multiply, feeding upon the organic mat-
ter which is retained from uneaten food and excreta from the
fish. The infection is now localized in the pond, it has a focus
there, is no longer dilute, but is present in strength, and the fate
of the next brood of susceptible fish placed in the ponds is almost
a foregone conclusion. These ponds are incapable of thorough
disinfection.

This brings us to what I may call the wooden pond theory.
Wooden, because the ponds have usually wooden linings, but
earth or other pervious material comes in the same class with

70 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

wood for present purposes. The idea is merely that a pervious
pond retains the infection indefinitely and passes it to the fish
held in it. I beheve no brook trout have been raised successfully
in such a pond after this disease has once occurred in it. Now, if
these ponds are built of an impervious material, cement, ma-
sonry or iron, this source of infection is cut off. Bacterial or
other micro-organisms will not penetrate such material and can
at most lodge along its surface. Here they may be readily killed
by methods of chemical disinfection, which is practically im-
possible with the other ponds. It is to be understood, of course,
that there is no magic in the cement itself to prevent disease any
more than in the wooden construction to cause disease. The
cement will act merely as a barrier to the invading germs, while
the wood or earth on the other hand are their very vehicle. Our
pond of masonry or cement then can reasonably be expected to
prevent the spread and continuance of a given epidemic. It cor-
rals it, so to speak, within a definite space, where it is vulnerable
and may be killed by the ordinary methods. I am referring now
of course to the germs in the pond but outside the fish. We can
be sure of starting in any given case, with a clean, uninfected, or
disinfected pond, and if infection enters thereafter it must gra-
vitate from the air, or come down with the water supply.

We must consider briefly that part of the fish cultural water
system above the ponds,—the part usually not inhabited by the
fish. You will remember I made a distinction between the dan-
ger of the primary or original menace of infection and of the
secondary or localized one. The former was looked upon as less
dangerous but was responsible for the first epidemic. the latter
as far more dangerous and almost certain to infect, and implied
the continuance or recrudescence of the disease. This distine-
tion corresponds on the one hand to the water supply above the
ponds and free of fish, and on the other hand to the pond system
itself in which the fish are held. ‘The demarcation is at the point
of entrance of water into the pond. Below this line, or in the
ponds, the danger of infection is the same as that above plus the
localization from previous epidemics. Bacteria probably do not
travel up the conduits, so that above this line of demarcation the
danger is that which always existed there, namely that some ob-
scure chance or accident may start the ball of disease rolling by

American Fisheries Society. Thal

introducing infection into the water. At this point it may occur
to you to ask why, if the cement construction is a barrier to infec-
tion, can it not be continued up the conduits and into the springs
and make the water system impregnable? The objection will as
readily suggest itself. As far as the conduits are concerned this
would be excellent, but when it comes to the spring that of
course must be left sufficiently open to deliver the water. These
openings would defeat the main purpose of the cemented spring.
It is a case of a little leaven leavening the whole loaf. The
cement here might be of some value, but if infection underlies
the spring the water would carry it in. If the water entering a
cement lined spring could be filtered free of micro-organisms
there would be complete protection in association with cement
ponds from infection through soil or water. But this degree of
safety cannot be attained. As for the prevention of disease by
the use of cement or stone, we must count on the application of
these to the ponds alone as so nearly covering the whole source
of infection as to offer reasonable hope of accomphshing the pre-
vention. ‘This means that the pond infection is so large a part
of all the infection to which the trout are exposed, that protec-
tion from it will mean protection from disease,—except, no
doubt, the occasional outbreak. The danger of an occasional
outbreak is a risk which must be assumed. At Northville, dur-
ing the past June, the fry in the troughs in the hatchery com-
menced to die of the disease which was among the yearlings in
the ponds out of doors. ‘This is the first time in some years that
serious trouble has occurred with the fry in troughs, and perhaps
the first occurrence of this particular disease in the troughs. At
first this seems to militate against the pond theory, for the
trough supply water comes directly from a large spring above
the ponds. But this spring is practically a fish pond, for trout
have been kept there from time to time, and while disease has
not been noticed there it is not improbable that it has occurred.
There is always considerable loss from such ponds, part of which
is due to depredations. But it must be remembered that fish
dead or dying from disease would be apt to be quickly appro-
priated by birds and animals, or to be lost to sight in the vegeta-
tion, the conditions in this respect being quite different from the

72 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

small wooden ponds where every fish is in plain sight at all
times.

I do not forget that the source of disease may be looked for
in quite other directions than the one I have indicated. The food
would perhaps be the first to come under suspicion. It is very
difficult of determination for the food which causes disease is
long past examination by the time the disease is manifest. Daily
examination bacteriologically, of a large number of rations,
while involving a large amount of work, may be undertaken to
advantage when the more probable explanation is discredited.
Organisms to which the brook trout is susceptible can hardly be
habitually present in the livers fed, or the disease would be more
widespread than it is.

Thus far in considering the subject it has been assumed all
along that the parasitic organism invades the trout from without,
that is, is external to the fish. Now it may conceivably be a per-
manent resident within the trout, even performing some normal
function, and not really foreign to it, though I expressed it that
way, and when the vitality of the trout is lowered, or the suscepti-
bility increased, under the conditions of domestication, it be-
comes a virulent parasite and destroys its host. A somewhat
analogous instance may be cited in man. The colon bacillus is a
normal and constant inhabitant of the human intestine. It
ordinarily does no harm and formerly was not reckoned a disease
producer. It is now known to be frequently concerned in patho-
logic process. The intestines of the brook trout of course con-
tain always many bacteria, and it appears that the blood some-
times does in apparent health. The identity and significance of
these organisms is little known at present. The question cannot
be taken up to advantage until by experimental imoculation a
specific bacterium is established as the cause of this trout disease.
It will readily be seen however that should this hypothesis prove
true the disease is much more serious than at present appears,
and that cement ponds will be quite useless in combating it, un-
less they happen to be more hygienic. ‘The matter of prevention
would then resolve itself into a question of hygienic conditions.
and keeping the broods in a high state of vigor. Presumably
this is best accomplished by imitation of the natural conditions,

American Fisheries Society. 73

and with this domestication is largely inconsistent, because there
must be considerable divergence from natural conditions.

As for a remedy for the disease, to apply to trout actually
affected, I have none to offer. It is not probable that any will be
found. In many human infections the best that can be done is
to give the patient the best chance possible to fight it out by him-
self. There are very few specific remedies. The antitoxins are
notable instances, particularly diphtheria antitoxin, which is a
conspicuous triumph of medicine. These will probably not be
applicable to fishes. When a trout shows external signs of the
disease, he is doomed, and many are before such signs appear.
However I have used formalin three different times in dilute so-
lution as a bath. The idea was that there might be a germicidal
action through the gills, but it was scarcely hoped that it could
accomplish cures. Formalin is an aqueous solution containing
40 per cent. of formaldehyde gas. The bath contained one-third
of 1 per cent. formalin or a little more than one-tenth of 1 per
cent. formaldehyde. Fry endured this without injury for about
five minutes, yearlings for about ten. On the first occasion there
was no immediate falling off in the death rate, but after some
weeks the infection subsided and a portion of the brood sur-
vived. It was an open question whether or not this was due to
the treatment. On other occasions it was applied to fry and the
death rate went up instead of down. I conclude that this sort of
medicine is useless, and do not believe that any treatment is of
any avail. The cure is nothing, the prevention everything.

At one station the disease was checked by the transfer of the
trout to certain large earth ponds which contained an abundance
of natural vegetation. In fact most of the conditions to which
wild trout are subject were supplied by these earth ponds. They
were very much larger than the wooden ponds. Now I believe
there was more prevention in this than cure. The unaffected
individuals merely failed to take up the infection, and the chief
factor that enabled them to avoid it was the dilution of the infec-
tion, and the previous freedom of the pond from infection. It
was somewhat like returning the trout to a natural stream. ‘They
separate, there is more space between the individuals and there
are fewer germs to each cubic unit of water. Many fish within a
small space is of course a necessity in domestication. This is a

74 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

very important factor in the transmission of disease, perhaps the
determining factor in its control. The fish are crowded from
the standpoint of disease though not from that of aeration. One
naturally wonders whether wild trout ever suffer this disease.
The attempt has been made to follow the history of trout distri-
buted from the hatchery, but no evidence of mortality could be
obtained. In the wide range afforded by the natural streams lies
the safety of the wild fish. Yet it will not be very surprising if
the disease is sometimes found in the trout streams.

This remedy, then, is probably a preventive remedy. It is
difficult to believe that any with the disease well established
could have recovered. It is a success, nevertheless, so far and so
long as it is able to check and prevent this disease, and it has
done so in the few instances in which it could be applied. But
such ponds as these must of course be limited in size and their
ultimate infection is extremely probable, if not certain. They
will then propagate the disease instead of checking it.

There is a class of predisposing causes. The explanation, or
rather supposition, concerning the original entrance of infec-
tion regards it as a comparatively rare accident, and attributes it
to no factor which could have been readily foreseen and con-
trolled. A number of such factors have suggested themselves as
possible explanations of the trouble with the brook trout :—food,
water, lack of aeration in the water, in breeding, and the general
artificial conditions which may be summed up as continued
domestication. Some of these could actually convey infection,
as the food or water, and predispose at the same time. But the
others are predisposing causes only, where they have any influ-
ence at all. They are not efficient causes. The distinction is an
important one because on it may hinge the future of brook trout
culture. As for inbreeding there is probably no such thing in
the sense of close consanguinity in which it is used with higher
animals. If water should lack slightly in aeration, if hard water
is of any disadvantage, if small ponds without vegetation are
unfavorable, none of these things would express itself as an infec-
tion. But they could, singly or combined, predispose to such
infection, and might be so important as predisposing causes that
they determine the attack of disease. But the predisposition and
the presence of disease germs must coincide. It is proposed to

American Fisheries Society. 75

bar out the germs. It is hoped that cement ponds will be an
adequate barrier. The predisposition will remain. It is hoped
that the brook trout will thrive in spite of it.

Until this year, as far as | know, the disease in question
affected only the brook trout. Now the Loch Leven has it. But
the rainbow in ponds alongside and under identical conditions,
has never acquired the disease, and seems to be immune. This is
the only explanation I can offer, that of immunity. It is a mat-
ter of lack of susceptibility. This is a sufficient explanation for
there are plenty of similar cases among higher animals, in which
closely related species have very different susceptibility to the
same disease. The immunity may not be complete, and the dis-
ease may sooner or later establish itself among rainbow trout.

The fact that many places where trout are bred and held in
wooden ponds have not experienced the disease is only an appar-
ent objection to the explanation of its cause as here given. It
merely means that the germ is not present in the vicinity or has
not gained a foothold in the ponds and in the trout. If one were
permitted to inoculate these ponds or trout with material from
diseased trout it would be surprising if the result were not the
establishment of the disease there.

In the light of the facts at present known about the brook
trout disease, its infectious nature, the experience of the United
States Fish Commission with it, and the general principles that
obtain in analagous diseases of the human family, it is submitted
that the theory of pond infection is the most probable of the
possible explanations of its regular recurrence; and that while
impervious ponds are not proven to be the best and only way of

dealing with the trouble—experience alone finally settling that—-

they are worth installing on an experimental basis.
DISCUSSION OF PROF. MARSH’S PAPER.

The President: We are greatly indebted to Mr. Marsh for
that paper.

Mr. Clark: I think that the people here who have had any
experience in the way of fish diseases should relate them and that
there should be full discussion of the paper, any questions that
may occur to us on this subject being directed to Prof. Marsh.

Mr. Bower: Prof. Marsh rather intimates that where the

76 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

trout have access to the earth, or where the pond is filled with an
abundance of vegetation, while this is not exactly a cure for
disease, it may prevent it, and yet he prescribes as a remedy that
we build cement ponds. This of course would cut off access to
the earth and prevent the growth of vegetation, and while this
might cure some particular form of disease or destroy some par-
ticular kind of parasite, might 1t not also encourage the develop-
ment of other parasitic forms which the presence of vegetation
would have a tendency to correct or prevent ?

Prof. Marsh: It is a matter of experience that earth ponds
actually did prevent the disease. That is, at a particular station
the disease was in existence in a small pond, say an eighty foot
pond lined with wood in the ordinary way; a great many of the
fish were dying there every day; and the prospect was that in a
short time they would all be dead; but we took them and put
them into one of these large natural ponds which had been dug
out, but which contained no wood, cement or stone in it, and the
vegetation grew much as in an ordinary pond. It had all varie-
ties of temperature, being fed with springs, and near the springs
the fish could get as cool as they pleased, while at the top of the
pond the water was as warm as could be desired, and there was a
variety in temperature. These trout did not all die and the
disease was checked. I do not think the earth cured any of them
that already had the disease but it stopped the spread of the
disease. ‘The disease had existed in a pond not much larger than
this room, and there was every chance for the disease to spread ;
but when the fish were put in the large pond they were widely
separated and while there were fish that had the disease, no
doubt, yet they did not pass it on to the rest and they got well.
Now if that could be applied at all the stations where this
disease is found and the fish could be turned over into such
ponds, it would work well at least for a time, but, as I said in the
paper, the infection even of such a large pond as is mentioned is
merely a matter of time in my opinion. When the mud at the
bottom of the large pond once becomes impregnated with the
germs that have been carried over, the large ponds instead of
checking the disease will spread it, and when you do get one of
those large ponds infected you will never get the infection out;
it is much harder to disinfect the large ponds than the small

American Fisheries Society. (a

ones, for you cannot disinfect them with chemicals. The cement
pond acts merely as a barrier against infection, and, as Mr.
Bower says, it might in some way predispose to other diseases ;
we do not know about that. It is untried and the experiment
must be made. I do not see how it could predispose to some other
disease than the one we are trying to prevent.

Mr. Nevin: At our Bayfield hatchery we built a race ten by
two hundred feet, and we had such a good stream of water run-
ning through, that with all the fish we handle during the spawn-
ing season, we hardly lost a trout till the middle of May; but
from that time to the middle of June we lost a good many. We
held the narrow race responsible for this loss at the time. We
now have large ponds but we have the same trouble with them as
with the smaller ponds. At the Madison hatchery we have the
largest loss of fish in one of our best ponds in point of water sup-
ply, while in a small stone pond, with a limited supply of water,
we carry more fish than in any other.

Mr. Arthur Sykes: Prof. Marsh, in speaking of the case
where they transferred fish from an infected pond to one which
was not infected, said the disease abated and that is the experi-
ence we have had several times at Madison, that transferring to
another pond seemed to stop the disease, and that is true not
only of fry but of yearlings.

The President: Do you know whether down in New Eng-
Jand among those commercial hatcheries where they use peat for
the sides of the ponds, they have had any difficulty with this
disease or not ?

Prof. Marsh: I have been told that those commercial
hatcheries in New England have never had the disease ; that they
are able to raise brook trout successfully; and I understood that
their ponds were much the same as the ordinary wooden ponds
except they were of peat.

Mr. Clark: These fish, that Prof. Marsh has been working
on were from eggs bought from the eastern hatcheries (the year-
lings and the fry).

Mr. Bower: There are only one or two hatcheries that use
peat, but they use either peat or wood.

The President: None of them have stone or cement; they

78 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

are all natural earth banks or they are wood, and yet they never
have the disease.

Prof. Marsh: Of course that seems strange, but there was a
time when the disease did not occur in these wooden ponds. The

infection has got to occur there after a certain length of time
it will come.

Mr. Brown: I would ask, where they have the wood pond, if
the wood was not treated with some kind of paint that made it
impervious to germs—creosote or coal tar ?

Prof. Marsh: That is practically proposing to make the
equivalent of cement. If you can put wood in the ground and
make it Impervious, well and good, but I do not believe that you
can do it. You can make an impervious box or bank above the
ground, but if it is in the ground how can you protect it from
being heaved by the frost? It would be very difficult, you see,
and rather difficult to make it tight. In this climate I suppose
it would be upheaved the first winter by the frost, and that is
possibly an important objection to the cement or stone ponds; I
cannot find where they have been experimented with during hard
winters.

Mr. Clark: Was this question brought up by Mr. Brown in
regard to the wood ponds, that if they were properly coated with
something that that might be a preventive of germs ?

The President: Yes.

Mr. Clark: Prof. Marsh has not touched upon that. But
the disease now, as he says, has developed in ponds having
cement sides and no wood. That helps to carry out the theory
that this disease works in. I now have orders from the commis-
sioner to build two ponds in accordance with Prof. Marsh’s sug-
gestions, that is, entirely of cement, bottom, sides and ends.
The water goes through nothing but cement tile. We thus hope
to avoid the possibility of the introduction of germs. Four of our
present ponds have cement sides but not cement bottoms, so the
theory of the painted wood sides cannot figure in this matter, as
cement sides are certainly as effective as painted wood in keeping
out disease.

Mr. Nevin: We have never had any loss among the small
fry or yearlings, but our loss has been among the largest trout.

The President: Those that have been in the pond longest. —

American Fisheries Society. hs,

Mr. Nevin: At Bayfield we do not have the loss until the
spring of the year. The water goes down to 33 or 34 degrees and
as soon as it begins to warm up in the early summer our loss
commences. At Madison we have our greatest loss in January
and February while in Bayfield it is in May and June.

Prof. Marsh: Mr. Clark’s experience is that this disease
affects yearlings especially and that he has never had it in the
adult crop. The yearling appears to be especially susceptible,
but later the disease attacks the fry, and we have never had it in
fish over two years old. !t comes in yearlings more than in other
fish.

Mr. Mathewson: In Connecticut we lost lots of our fry in
the troughs before we got them out into the ponds at all—lost
them by thousands

and we were using the same water as with
yearlings, but we did not lose any of our yearlings. We have not
been able to account for this fact.

Prof. Marsh: Was it brook trout ?

Mr. Mathewson: Yes, we lost thousands of fry in the trough.

Mr. Titcomb: We have not had what we call an epidemic
either at the state hatchery or the national hatchery, but we have
had in two or three instances cases where the fry in one trough
supplied with water from the supply trough would turn right
over and all die, where the fry in the other troughs right next to
them would be strong and healthy and go through all right. We
could not account for that.

Mr. Mathewson: That was our experience this year.

Mr. Sykes: The change of environment has brought them
out all right at Madison. Even a fry that is a little weak, when
taken out into the pond receiving water from the hatchery, comes
out all right. The change of environment seemed to be what
was required.

Prof. Marsh: There was no greater amount of water but
more room.

Mr. Sykes: That is true. There was a different bottom, as
they were taken from a gravel bottom and put on a mud bottom.

Prof. Marsh: There might be something I suppose in mere
change.

The President: This discussion is very interesting to the
Michigan Fish Commission, because we have just secured an

80 Thirtieth Annual M eeting

appropriation to build a new hatchery, and they have not started
it vet.

Prof. Marsh: I would like to ask the gentleman who spoke
about Connecticut if he noticed in those fry that he was talking
about, the appearance of the dead ones. Did they look like
healthy fry ?

Mr. Mathewson: They appeared to be perfectly healthy.
They seemed to start and go all at once; I took them to the state
chemist at Yale college and he could not explain it.

Prof. Marsh: You examined the dead fry and their sides
and muscles seemed to be all right ?

Mr. Mathewson: Yes, except a httle dark streak through
the intestines.

Prof. Marsh: No ulcers or sores ?

Mr. Mathewson: No.

Prof. Marsh: That might have been a different disease than
the particular one that we are discussing.

Mr. Mathewson: This was just as they were beginning to
feed—they had been feeding about two weeks at that time.

Mr. Geer: I would like to ask if that disease would affect
the hatching troughs also so as to kill the fry ?

Prof. Marsh: We have had the disease in fry that were in
troughs, but very much more rarely than in the ponds. This
summer for the first time it occurred in the troughs. The
troughs in the house, as far as protection from germs is con-
cerned, are on just the same basis as cement ponds out of doors.
They are painted with asphalt all over and are perfectly imper-
vious. So I explain their infection on the ground of original
and rare infection from the springs, and that should be excluded.
If you could continue impervious construction up into the spring,
it would be advisable to do so, but you cannot do it, so that once
in a while this disease will attack trout even in cement ponds
under the best conditions, but you can nip it in the bud, whereas
with wooden or earth ponds the infection is carried on forever ; it
rests in the organic material, soaks into the wood, and multiphes
inv this organic matter which always exists, and disinfection Is
impossible. But in the cement ponds disinfection can be readily
accomplished, and you can start over with your pond perfectly
clean. Now if this original infection should occur every year

American Fisheries Society. 81

you are as badly off with cement ponds as you are with wooden
ponds, but happily this original infection will probably be com-
paratively rare.

Mr. Sykes: Where diseased fish are put into another pond
they must leave the germs of the disease in that pond.

Prot. Marsh: Yes, sir:

Mr. Sykes: You put diseased fish into earth ponds ?

Prof. Marsh: Yes.

Mr. Sykes: Your idea is that the soil becomes polluted with
this disease germ, yet in the nature of things that must leave
the new pond in the same condition.

Prof. Marsh: It has not done so yet, because it has not had
time. The large earth pond would be infected more slowly be-
cause of its size.

Mr. Sykes: Your idea is that these disease germs multiply
in the soil and do not tend to die out ?

Prof. Marsh: In a plain earth pond or wooden pond the
tendency is for them to grow. The water soaks in through the
boards and there is nothing but a wet mush full of organic ma-
terial, and they will grow in that, but in a natural pond of vege-
tation I think there is less chance for it, because it is not quite so
rotten down there.

Mr. Sykes: You make a distinction between an earth pond
with vegetation and a board pond without vegetation ?

Prof. Marsh: Yes.

82 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

THE STUDY OF FISH DISEASES.
BY CHAS. G. ATKINS.

It is not my purpose in this paper to present an exhaustive
discussion of the subject, nor even a general summary of the re-
sults of investigation in the field. I shall attempt the humbler
task of citing a few passages from my experience, perfaced by
some general observations which I trust may commend them-
selves to your approval.

While for the complete elucidation of the nature of the dis-
eases of fishes, as well as those of the human race, we must call
to our assistance the professional microscopist and the profes-
sional pathologist, it is not at all necessary that the lay fish cul-
turist should he on his oars while epidemics or diseases of more
limited scope sweep away lis charges. It is quite within his
province to observe, to record, to experiment, and quite possible
thereby to learn very much about these diseases and the means of
their avoidance, control or cure. But it is quite essential that
any one attempting such studies should adopt the scientific
spirit, and the scientific spirit demands the exercise of great
earnestness, great alertness, great patience, great perseverance,
and above all great self-control. And when I say self-control, I
mean especially control of the opinion, restraining one’s mind
from making itself up prematurely,—on insufficient data. To put
it in more popular language, one must not jump at conclusions.

I may be pardoned for digressing here far enough to say that
in the course of a lifetime spent in this pursuit, I have often had
occasion to note that the bane of fish culture has been the disposi-
tion to jump at conclusions. It is a trait of human nature.
Hardly one of us is free from the foible, and hardly one of us
but is suffering today from the effects of some mistaken conclu-
sion reached in the past by disregarding some pertinent facts
that, if not plainly in sight, might have been easily brought to
view by a little more of persistence in the search. Private fish
culture and public fish culture are suffering from it today.
There has been too little of the scientific spirit. And science, I

Amerwvcan Fisheries Society. 83

beg to remind you, does not consist essentially in a knowledge of
the Latin names of fishes or the minute anatomy of an insect.
Such things are not to be despised, but they are only aids and
means to something of greater importance ; and a man may pos-
sess either or both of them and yet be less scientific than a
humble layman who holds his eyes and his mind open for the
acquisition of new facts, and faithfully restrains his opinions
from crystallizing on any half-knowledge.

I think that the importance of this subject is generally under-
estimated. It is not impossible that many fish cultural opera-
tions have been brought to naught by the action of unrecognized
diseases: nor that definite diseases have been the cause of many
of those great fluctuations in the numbers of wild fishes that his-
tory has recorded.

Hardly any of the great commercial fishes have escaped fluc-
tuations, either general or local, which have been of great
moment to mankind. Not only to the fresh-water and anadrom-
ous species, but to those of the ocean, will this statement apply.
For instance, the sudden disappearance of the tile fish some years
ago from the grounds where it had been abundant, followed after
years by its reappearance; the fluctuations of herring on the
coast of Sweden; of the blue fish and menhaden on the coast of
New England. Some of these phenomena may be accounted for
in other ways, but the tendency of discovery is in the direction of
some destructive enemy or disease to account for very sudden de-
crease of species.

An official report lying before me gives a list of 104 different
diseases from which human deaths occurred in the state of Maine
during the seven years from 1892 to 1898. Is there any inherent
reason why fishes should not have as many diseases as men?
Observation has already gone far enough to indicate the probable
existence of a very considerable number of diseases among the
fishes we cultivate. At the Craig Brook Station of the United
States Fish Commission there have been observed perhaps a
dozen different diseases affecting salmon and trout, the majority
of which still await sufficient study to warrant us in naming them
or assigning definite causes. A rough lst of them, not pretend-
ing to be complete or exact, is as follows:

84 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

1. <A spot disease of the sac, appearing in the egg or after
hatching.

2. A disease appearing when the sac is about half absorbed,
characterized by a whitening of the sac, which begins in irregu-
lar white blotches: our most serious disease, known locally as
the “‘sac-epidemic :” attacking several species.

3. Another disease of the sac stage, characterized by a
strong upward curvature of the trunk.

4. A disease of the dorsal fin of a salmon in the first sum-

mer of its life, in which the fin is eaten away at its edges until
more than two-thirds gone and then heals up perfectly, with no
other apparent injury to the fish.
5. <A similar disease attacking the fins of young rainbow
trout and steel heads, especially the caudal fin, which is com-
pletely eaten away, together with the adjacent flesh, until the
extremity of the back bone is bare.

6. Fungus on the egg.

~
‘

Fungus on fry two to four months old.

8. Fungus on adult salmon.

9. Monstrous enlargement of the genital organs of salmon
in their second year.

10. ‘T'rematode parasites on young lake trout.

11. An epidemic attacking salmon two or three months old.

12. An epidemic attacking salmon four or five months old.

13. A sort of epilepsy in which salmon two or three months
old have temporarily lost their balance.

One of the most interesting cases was that of the young lake
trout attacked by parasites in 1896. These fish had been hatched
from eggs received from Northville and had apparently been
thriving until about the middle of July, when there was a shght
increase in the mortality. A week later the rate of mortality had
trebled and by the 10th of August it had increased more than
tenfold. At first 1t was thought possible that the mortality was
due to fungus, and the fish were treated with salt. No benefit
resulting, the microscope was brought into use and behold the
fish were swarming with living, active parasites, which moved
about over the fish after the manner of loop-worms or leeches,

American Fisheries Society. 85

apparently the creature that has been described under the name
of Gyrodactylus elegans. In hope of destroying the parasite, the
salt treatment was continued, but it was found at last that the
parasite could endure quite as much salt as the fish itself. Mr.
Seagle at Wytheville, has since discovered that this parasite is
readily destroyed, with entire safety to the fish by a bath consist-
ing of one part common cider vinegar, three parts water. The
mortality went on until the sufferers had shrunk from 39,000
July Ist to 10,000 in November, and the survivors were fish of
low vitality, of whom probably not one ever grew up.

No unusual mortality occurring among the fishes of other
species reared alongside the lake trout, and under the same ecir-
cumstances, it was a puzzling problem why the Gyrodactylus had
made such an attack on the lake trout. The theory was at once
suggested that the parasites had been imported along with the
eggs, and the occurrence of a few specimens on other fishes in
neighboring troughs might easily have been accounted for on the
supposition of accidental transfer from trough to trough; but
the discovery of specimens on wild fish caught in Craig Pond at
the head of Craig Brook, more than half a mile distant, with in-
tervening falls of great difficulty, indicated that the parasite was
native to our locality, and suggested that something extraordin-
ary in the condition of the lake trout invited the attack. Indeed
it seems not impossible that the fish died from some other cause,

—some unknown disease,—and that the parasites had merely
been feeding on the disintegrated tissues. Verily, this is a case
in which judgment must be suspended.

The most destructive disease that has ever come under my
observation was the sac-epidemic which raged several seasons at
Craig Brook and in 1892 destroyed 99 per cent. of our young
Atlantic salmon. I call it ‘‘sac-epidemic” because it raged dur-
ing the sac stage of the fry, and because the most obyious symp-
toms were connected with the sac. It would appear about mid-
way of the sac stage, while the sac was still less than half ab-
sorbed. In water of constant temperature, such as pure spring
water, I imagine that the disease would appear by the first quar-
ter of that stage. Our-water is very cold at the time of hatching
—about April 1st,—and gradually warms up, so that the develop-
ment of the embryo is at first very slow and later comparatively

86 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

rapid. ‘The fry hatch about April Ist, and before the end of
April, in epidemic years, the mortality suddenly increases, and it
is found that the sacs of the fry are blotched with white. These
blotches spread until the sac is nearly all white, especially the
apex. When it reaches this stage, the fish dies. Other symp-
toms are apparent listlessness, indifference to Hght and outside
movements, and in consequence a scattering about on the bottom
of the trough instead of crowding into the dark corners as is the
normal habit of the fish.

This disease was first observed in 1890, when it carried off 30
per cent. of our fry, including Atlantic salmon, and land locked
salmon, but did not touch Loch Leven trout or Swiss Lake trout.
It was, however, observed that not all of the Atlantic salmon
were attacked (or at any rate suffered noticeably) and in the lots
where it did appear its destruction was quite uneven, in some
cases barely noticeable and in others wiping the lot completely
out.

It is our practice at the Craig Brook Station to preserve a
careful record of the character of every salmon handled at spawn-
ing time, to keep the spawn taken each day separate from that of
every other day, and to keep up the distinction with the fish
hatched through the entire season, and indeed as long as the fish
remain with us. In some cases, as, for instance, a female salmon
of remarkably large or remarkably small size, or an unhealthy
appearance of fish or eggs, the product of each fish is kept by
itself. The position of each family in the hatchery is also noted.
When hatching time approaches, the large lots of eggs. (or fam1i-
lies), are divided up into smaller lots of one or two thousand

each,—sometimes larger—and the origin, location and history of

each of these minor lots is recorded. When therefore, one of our
fishes dies, or does anything else remarkable, we are able to fol-
low back its record to the day when as an egg it rattled into the
pan at Dead Brook, and sometimes to the identical mother that
dropped the embryo and the identical father that gave the initial
impulse of life. These records sometimes appear, even to us who
keep them, as somewhat laborious and fussy, but in this instance
of the sac-epidemie of 1890, they have enabled us to draw some
very interesting conclusions as to the influence of heredity in this

disease.

American Fisheries Society. 87

It happened that the troughs intended for the summer use of
these fish were not quite ready when the eggs were laid out in
March to hatch, and they were therefore crowded for hatching
into a smaller number of troughs which were for the purpose
divided into compartments by fine, close-fitting wire screens.
The water, passing first over lot A would nourish in succession
lots B, C, D and so on down the trough.

One of the most noticable results was that the losses were
very unevenly distributed in the troughs. For instance, Lot A,
at the head of the trough, might be half destroyed, Lot B totally,
and Lot C almost wholly escape. When all the results were cor-
rellated, it was found that the mortality ran in families, some
familhes being utterly destroyed, some suffering moderately,
while in others the mortality would be so light as to warrant the
conclusion that the epidemic had nothing to do with it.

Now what shall we say? Did the germs of the disease come
to these little fishes from their parents, or did they inherit merely
different resisting powers, so that, though all of them were
assailed about equally by the disease-germs, some of the families
had a hereditary ability to ward them off, while others sue-
cumbed? The answer to this question must await deeper study
than we have yet been able to give.

Among other deductions to be drawn from the same data is
one as to the infectiousness of the disease. Infectiousness would
cause the lots occupying the lower parts of the troughs to receive
the disease from those lying above them; but the record shows
that nothing of the sort happened. The rate of mortality of the
lower lots was wholly uninfluenced by the condition of those
above. It was therefore not an infectious disease, and did not
spread from lot to lot.

It was further observed with reference to this disease, that
the occasion of its first appearance was coincident with a great
reduction in the proportion of lake water in the hatchery supply.
A coffer dam had been constructed at the outlet of Craig pond
(or lake) which in the spring shut off the lake water and com-
pelled us to use a much larger proportion of spring water. A
second attack in 1892, was coincident with a very low stage of
Craig pond and brook, caused by a scanty fall of rain and neg-
lect of storage measures. It therefore seemed reasonable to turn

88 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

our suspicions in the direction of the spring water. Measures
were taken to insure a fuller supply of lake water during the
stage following and immediately preceding hatching, and this
has been attended with favorable results.

I earnestly recommend all fish culturists to keep complete
records, even to the verge of fussiness, so complete and exact
that they can be intelligently referred to after the lapse of many
years. Besides many other uses, they may serve to solve some of
the puzzling problems connected with the diseases of fishes.

DISCUSSION OF MR. ATKINS’ PAPER.

Prof. Marsh: The reference that the writer makes to epi-
lepsy in fishes recalls to my mind an interesting instance of that
disease occurring in the Snowy Grouper (epinephelus niveatus ) in
the aquarium at Washington. These fish had a peculiar attack of
what one might term epilepsy. ‘They became frantic and dashed
about the aquarium at a tremendous rate. They looked as if
they would die, and apparently they did die. Their mouths were
wide open and gills distended; but they came to life again; and
every now and then the fish in this aquarium would undergo the
same experience, and did for all the time that they were there ;
and this was repeated a number of times, and this family of
Groupers seems to be subject to such attacks of fits of epilepsy,
and it is interesting to notice it in Mr. Atkins’ experience.

Mr. Clark: Just before the reading of the first paper the
attention of the superintendents was called to the importance of
this subject. Its discussion has been very interesting to me and
has brought out a great deal that is good.

General Bryant: Dr. Birge, of the State University, is
studying with the greatest care and watchfulness all indications
of disease that occur in our hatcheries, and | was in hopes that
he would be here today—he may be here tomorrow—he is now
president of our university and is so loaded down with adminis-
trative cares that he is compelled to be absent today at least.

Mr. Bower: Mr. Atkins enumerates in his paper thirteen
different diseases. It looks to me as though the trout culturist
has a pretty hard row to hoe, and it seems that new diseases are
coming up all the time, or at least old diseases under new names,

American Fisheries Society. 89

and it all emphasizes the necessity for great vigilance on the
part of the fish culturist and the constant employment of a
scientist to work on these subjects.

General Bryant: I secured legislation in this state some
years ago to make the professor of biology in our university ex-
officio a member of the Fish Commission, and the legislature
fell in with the suggestion very readily. We considered it a very
wise step to take at the time and experience has justified it.

90 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

THE PROPAGATION OF MUSKELLUNGE IN
WISCONSIN.

BY JAMES NEVIN.

The muskellunge is the largest of our fresh-water game fish,
and as he was endowed by his creator with great size, in like
manner, he was given liberally of those excellent game qualities
which appeal to the sportsman. From a gastronomic standpoint
he has few equals among fresh water fish. To the frequenters of
the great fishing resorts of Northern Wisconsin there is no
attraction so great as the capture of this king of fresh water fish.
His great size, vigorous game spirit, and superior table qualities
combine to make him a prize worthy the effort of the most exact-
ing disciple of Walton. Many anglers come for hundreds of
miles with the one idea of capturing this fish, and few sports-
men are content to leave our northern waters till they have put
at least one of these fine fishes to their score. The fish is worthy
all the effort that is given to its capture; for, to say nothing of
the pleasurable excitement incident to catching it, it has a table
value not excelled by any other large fish of our fresh waters.
By some it is properly ranked in quality next to the salt water
salmon.

For many years, since the wilderness of Northern Wisconsin
was opened by the railways and by lumbering operations; with
the advent of the comforts and conveniences which the railroad
takes into a new country, and the encroachment of the settler
and summer hotel on the primitive banks of our northern lakes,
the pursuit of the muskellunge has been constant and relentless.
Its utter extermination has been well nigh accomplished in many
of our lakes to which it is indigenous; and nearly all of our
waters have been cleared of this fish to such an extent that its
future has become a matter of much concern to sportsmen, fish
culturists and others interested in keeping our waters well
stocked with superior game fish.

Under these circumstances it has devolved upon the State
Fish Commission to attempt the preservation and increase of

American Fisheries Society. 91

muskellunge in our waters, and it is much to be regretted that
this work was not begun several years ago.

The artificial propagation of muskellunge was first taken up
by the Fish Commission of the state of New York some twelve
years since, and in 1891 that state made the first successful
hatch of this species, planting over 1,000,000 fry. Since that
time the Fish Commission of New York has planted several
millions of fry of this species in Chautauqua Lake and other
waters with unqualified success.

The Commissioners of Fisheries of Wisconsin began the pro:
pagation of muskellunge during the spring of 1899 in connec-
tion with the work of collecting wall-eyed pike ova; and we be-
lieve we are now in a fair way to successfully hatch and plant
the fry of this fish in large numbers.

The chief difficulty we encountered in this work was to catch
the fish on the eve of spawning; as we found that the large fish
would not stand confinement. In the beginning we could not
get a sufficient number of ripe male fish. We tried holding the
fish in pens, expecting that both the male and female thus con-
fined would ripen in a few days, but in this we were dis-
appointed.

Last year we caught the fish in pound and fyke nets and con-
fined them to a large dummy or pocket, 20x22 feet, 10 feet deep.
We were quite sure that we could hold the fish in this way until
the ovaries ripened, but we were again disappointed ; as we found
the ova would cake in the fish and we were obliged to liberate
them without securing the eggs we expected.

During the spawning season just past we made a large pen in
a thoroughfare between two lakes, in a current of flowing water,
in which we held the unripe fish. We found this pen a great
improvement over the dummy for this purpose. The unripe fish
placed in the pen matured the ova in due time and we were en-
abled to take spawn and milt from most of the fish secured.
After spawning, the fish were returned to the water alive.

If you are searching for the spawning beds of muskellunge
you should look where the logs, stumps and drift wood are the
thickest. There you will find them, in season, attending to their
procreative duties. They approach their spawning grounds in
pairs and spawn in shallow water or flowage where dead limbs,

92 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

logs, and brush have accumulated as the result of flooding for
logging purposes or otherwise.

To catch the fish as they approach their spawning grounds is
the strategy employed by the fish culturist; for it would be im-
possible to set a net where they spawn. For this purpose we now
use only fyke nets, and as the fish are taken from the nets each
day, if unripe, they are transferred ao the retaining pen until
such time as the spawn may be taken from them.

It is not altogether an easy matter to collect a large number
of muskellunge from our waters for spawning purposes; as it 1s
necessary to cover considerable territory with our nets, setting
them on the approaches to as many spawning grounds as possi-
ble. Many fish caught in this way are transferred four or five
miles from the point where they are caught to the retaining pen.

In transporting the fish from point to point we use large live
boxes (so called) sixteen feet long, two feet wide and ten inches
deep. These boxes are made scow shape to facilitate towing
them. The bottoms of the boxes are made of slats, nailed two
inches apart, giving abundant circulation of water and enabling
us to safely transport the fish in tow of a row boat to any reason-
able distance.

During the season just past we secured 190 muskellunge
from which we took 1,200,000 eggs; one female, weighing about
forty pounds, producing not less than 225,000 ova. <A quart
measure will contain about 80,000 muskellunge ova.

Unlike most other fish, the eggs of the muskellunge do not
harden after being taken from the fish but remain soft and
flabby until hatched. With water at a temperature of fifty-two
degrees the eggs hatch in about ten days, and about fifteen days
are required to absorb the food sae.

Heretofore, we were not in position to try hatching muskel-
lunge eggs in jars. This year our work was conducted in the
vicinity of the Minocqua Hatchery, and I placed part of the eggs
in Chase hatching jars at this station. The remainder, being
more than half the eggs, was put in hatching boxes and sunk in
some four feet of water. We hatched a very small per cent in
boxes, but were more successful with the eggs incubated in jars.
Just before the eggs began to hatch, we took them from the jars
and placed them on trays made of fine wire-cloth. This was

American Fisheries Society. 93

done to prevent the young fish smothering; for I found that the
fry would not make their way out of the jars unaided on account
of the comparatively large umbilical sac.

The fry when first hatched are of a light color and seem to ad-
here to the side of the tank, box or tray or any other object with
which they come in contact. Those that we hatched were strong
and healthy. They grew rapidly, and in their development ex-
hibited their wild nature and the instinct of self preservation by
quickly darting off to hide when alarmed by a person approach-
ing the tank in which they were confined. We retained part of
them until they were four weeks old and at the end of that time
they were an inch and a quarter long. We fed them on young
pike which seemed to be a suitable as well as very acceptable food.

We planted 500,000 fry.

I believe we are justified in claiming that our work in plant-
ing muskellunge fry during the past two years has shown results
of a substantial nature. In the Minocqua waters, where we
planted the fry hatched the first two years, more small muskel-
_ lunge weighing from one to three pounds have been taken dur-
ing this season than were ever taken before from those waters in
the same period in the memory of the oldest guide or resident.
We are gratified by the results of our first efforts in this work and
entertain large hopes for the future. Already, in fancy, I see our
lakes again teeming with this splendid fish, and the value of
fish cultural work once more conclusively demonstrated in our
waters.

Numerous lakes in Northern Wisconsin, the habitat of this
fish, afford an extensive field in which to work, and, when once
well stocked, these waters will be a source of abundant revenue
to the state; for no other fresh water fish is so attractive to the
sportsman and summer tourist.

DISCUSSION OF MR. NEVIN’S PAPER.

Mr. Bower: How long were the fish held in confinement be-
fore yielding up their ova?

Mr. Nevin: Some of them a week or ten days.

Mr. Bower: Our practice has been to catch the fish, spawn
them and let them go as quick as we could. |

94 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

EXPERIMENTS IN LOBSTER CULTURE.

BY DR. A. D. MEAD.

There is, in the hfe of ithe lobsters, a definite, well-marked
period beginning when the eggs are hatched and ending when the
young have shed their shells three times and have reached the
fourth stage of development. During this period the young are
very poorly equipped, either in structure or habits, for protecting
themselves against their enemies or from escaping from them.
They swim about slowly and aimlessly in the water, an easy prey
to shrimps, fishes, and other animals; they lack the hard shell,
the protective coloration, and the swift movements common to
most small crustacea; indeed, they do not have even the sense of
fear which might lead them to avoid danger. During this period
of life there is, as might readily be inferred, a very great mor-
tality.

When, however, the skin has been shed the third time and the
lobsters have entered the fourth stage, there is immediately an
almost miraculous change in their habits and structure. In
many respects the difference between the fry in the third and
fourth stages is far greater than between animals belonging to
different orders, and the change may be compared to the meta-
morphosis of flying insects from their larval to their winged con-
dition. In the lobsters, however, the direction of the change is
the reverse of that in the insects. They tend to quit their swim-
ming habits, except for purpose of changing position, capturing
prey, ete., and become adapted to life on the bottom. They crawl
over the bottom, hide under shells and sea-weed and, if these ob-
jects cannot be found, they even burrow in the sand.

A brief statement of one experiment will illustrate the sud-
denness of this change of habit. Three hundred specimens re-
cently moulted into this stage were put into a car which had
eravel and stones in the bottom. Within ten minutes not a single
specimen was in sight.

Not the least remarkable of the altered characteristics of the
fourth stage is their’ mental attitude. Upon entering this stage

American Fisheries Society. 95

they are born again, they know good and evil; for the first time
the sense of fear is evident, and they retreat from danger ; there
is, In short, a purpose and direction in their activities which was
not apparent in the three earlier stages.

The suddenness and completeness of these changes so con-
ducive to the safety of the lobsters gives much practical and
economic interest to the problems of rearing the young through
the critical period. The solution of these problems would mean
a great advance in the efficiency of general propagation of lob-
sters, and would be the first step toward artificial lobster culture.
With this in view a series of observations and experiments have
been conducted during the past three seasons by the United
States Fish Commission at Woods Hole, Mass., and by the Rhode
Island Commission of Inland Fisheries at Wickford, R. I.

The problems in question can be arranged conveniently under
five heads as follows:

1. What changes in structure occur in the early develop-
ment ?

2. What is the duration of the first three stages ?

3. What are the general habits of lfe in the first four
stages ?

4. What is the best method of supplying food ?

5. What is the best means of protecting the fry in the first
three stages ?

1. What changes in structure occur during the early de-
velopment ?

An excellent account of the structural changes from the egg
to the fourth moult is to be found in F. H. Herrick’s mono-
graph of the lobster, and it will hardly be necessary to discuss
them in this paper.

2. What is the duration of the first three stages ?

The average period between hatching and reaching the fourth
stage for the experiment at Wickford was a little over twelve
days. In each experiment the average duration of the first
three stages, meaning the interval between the time of hatching
and the day upon which the largest number entered the fourth
stage, varies from nine to sixteen days.

96 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

In experiments conducted at Wood’s Hole the time required
for these moults was considerably greater; of one lot, hatched
May 23d, the fourth stage was reached by a few only on June
12th, after an interval of twenty davs. Indeed, on the twelfth
day (the average time of reaching the fourth stage at Wickford)
none had reached even the third stage at Wood’s Hole. The
explanation of the variations in the length of time required for
the first three stages probably hes in the difference in tempera-
ture of the water—the colder the water, the slower the develop-
ment.

3. What are the general habits of life in the first four
stages ?

Allusion has been made already to the swimming habits of
the fry in the first three stages and to the sudden change to the
crawling habit when the fourth stage is reached.

The habit of shedding the skin begins when the lobsters are
two or three days old and continues throughout life. ‘The inter-
vals between successive moults grow longer as the age increases.
It has already been stated that the first three moults occur, in
about twelve days, on the average, at Wickford. There is much
variation, according to different conditions. Late in hfe the
periods are longer, and the adult may not shed more than once a
year. In the first moults, as in the succeeding ones, the process
is the same, the old skin being split across the back, between the
thorax and the abdomen, and the body worked out through this
opening, leaving the cast skin otherwise intact.

The actual process of moulting usually occupies only a few
minutes, but not infrequently something goes wrong and the
struggle is quite prolonged. Often the lobster dies in the pro-
cess, and the period of moulting is at best a very precarious one
in the life of the lobster, whether in the young stages or in the
later ones.

No animals, with the exception of typhoid convalescents, are
more voracious than newly-hatched lobsters. They feed normally
upon all sorts of minute organisms such as copepods. diatomes,
ete., and will readily eat some kinds of flesh, if chopped into fine
pieces and kept suspended in the water where the fry come in
contact with it. Apparently they do not distinguish food suffici-
ently well to go to it from any considerable distance, but take

American Fisheries Society. 9%

what they come in contact with; and as they are continually moy-
ing about in an ocean full of organisms, they must but rarely
want for food.

The experiments in rearing the fry through the critical
period have demonstrated that the chief difficulties to be con-
tended with are, first, that of supplying proper food ; and, second,
that of furnishing adequate protection.

4. What is the best method of supplying food ?

When a large number of fry are kept in an enclosure, the
natural food supply consisting of other organism, is of course
not sufficient in quantity and other food must be introduced.
Some method must be resorted to, which will provide the food in
greater quantities and with greater certainty. The fry decidedly
prefer an animal to a vegetable diet, and, while shrimp can be
fed satisfactorily on bread, the lobsters will not eat it.

One of the best foods is lobster liver, which is readily shaken
into minute short filaments. At the present price of lobsters this
diet is rather too luxurious to be used on a large scale, and fur-
thermore the experiments seem to indicate that it does not
always agree with the fry. Shredded fresh fish is fairly good,
and very satisfactory in the later stages. The best food so far
discovered is the soft parts of clams. 'The bodies of the clam are
eut ont and chopped into fine pieces in a chopping tray and then
thrown into the water.

There is one habit of the fry which makes the question of
ample food supply especially important, their atrocious canni-
balism. From the moment they are hatched, throughout the
early stages of life their affection for one another takes this dis-
gusting form. The only way to prevent them from destroying
one another is to give them an abundance of food, and in such a
manner that they will take it in preference to other lobster fry.

5. What is the best means of protecting the fry during the
first three stages ?

There are two main difficulties in the way of providing a
suitable enclosure for the fry which will allow them sufficient
freedom, and which will at the same time confine them and pro-
tect them from their enemies. The fact that the young fry swim
about and are carried hither and thither by the currents consti-

98 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

tutes the first difficulty, for when they are placed in an enclosure
provided with a screen which will allow a free circulation of
water from the outside, but shuts out the enemies, the fry are
carried against the screen and die. The second difficulty is quite
as serious and is due to the fact that at certain times the fry
have a tendency to leave the surface and sink to the lower depths.

The endeavor was made to rear them in large cars, such as
were used at Wood’s Hole for holding cod, but provided, of
course, with screen sides. This and other similar experiments
failed, because the lobsters would be carried against one side by
the tide and there gradually sink to the bottom, where they be-
came foul with accumulated silt and unused food and were also
apt to meet with death in fighting one another.

The apparatus which promised the best results was first tried
by Prof. Bumpus in the summer of 1899. This consisted of
large square bags made of scrim, fastened to a float, and weight-
ed at the lower corners. The action of the tides and winds
tended to keep the sides and bottom of the bag in constant undu-
lating motion, and thus prevented the fry from lying long in one
place, if they were inclined to sink.

This was the method which was almost exclusively used at
Wickford during the summer of 1900.

After making numerous experiments and watching the re-
sults for about five weeks, we gradually came to the conclusion
that the secret of success in rearing the young lobsters was to
keep the water in continuous motion. This accomplishes two
things: it prevents the fry from settling into pockets to smother
or devour one another, and it keeps food in suspension so that the
fry can obtain it.

To prove the correctness of this conclusion with the material
and apparatus at hand, it was decided to experiment with lobs-
ters which were at that time in small bags. Accordingly the
foree of the laboratory was divided into watches, and the water
in the bags was henceforth stirred with an oar continuously for
a week. ‘The result was ample proof that the conclusion was cor-
rect. One of the most encouraging results of this method was
the clean and healthy appearance of the fry in all stages. The
continual stirring prevented the accumulation of parasites found
on the body of nearly all of the specimens in the other lots.

American Fishertes Society. 99

Such good results led us to follow up this experiment with
others, working upon the same theory, namely that the water
should be constantly stirred. To do this a mechanical device has
been contrived which takes the place of the oar.

This apparatus, which was put into operation at the begin-
ning of the present season at the floating laboratory of the Rhode
Island Commission at Wickford, has proved to be very efficient
and a brief description of it may be of interest.

Cylindrical cages, about five feet long and four feet in diame-
ter, made of fine meshed netting were used to contain the newly
hatched fry. On the inside of the cage near the bottom was set
a two bladed propeller which could be rotated by a vertical shaft.
When the propeller was slowly rotated the water was forced
gently upwards and the fry, together with particles of food, were
kept constantly suspended. In our experiments twelve of these
apparatus were operated by a small gasoline engine. The pro-
pellers were kept constantly in motion day and mght throughout
the season. When it was necessary to change the lobsters from
one cage to another or to put in a new experiment any of the
propellers could be easily thrown out of gear.

The results obtained by the use of this apparatus were cer-
tainly very gratifying to anyone who is at all acquainted with
previous experiments along this line. In order to ascertain
exactly what proportion of the fry could be reared, they were
carefully counted one by one at the beginning and at the end of
each experiment. From 1,000 to 5,009 of the newly hatched fry
were put into one cage and the percentage reared to the fourth
stage was in no case less than sixteen except in one case when the
bag was torn and the fry escaped. One experiment yielded 34 1-2
per cent., one 40 per cent., and one of the later experiments 59.6
per cent.

Though a comparatively small number of experiments were
tried a total of 8,996 lobsters in the fourth stage were obtained.
These were placed in cages with sand or gravel bottoms for they
no longer needed attention when provided with a place to bur-
row or hide and enough to eat.

A number of lobsters hatched last year were carried over win-
ter in similar sand cages and are now from one and one-half to
three and one-half inches in length.

100 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

As a conclusion drawn from these experiments I think it may
be asserted not only that we have discovered the right principle
in the solution of this most difficult part of lobster culture but
that the problem is actually solved. For in view of the enormous
mortality of the fry in the early stages, it would be conservative
to say that even ten lobsters in the fourth stage are of more
significance in lobster propagation than 100 lobster fry newly
hatched, and a yield of 30, 40 or 50 per cent. is better yet.

American Fisheries Society. 101

PRACTICAL HINTS ON FISH CULTURE.
BY DR. JAMES A. HENSHALL.

In the conduct of any operation the smallest matters are
often the most important, and too much care and study can not
be devoted to seemingly unimportant details. Very often, also,
the simplest devices give better practical results than those of
more elaborate and complicated structure.

In fish culture, especially, is this true, and the more we en-
deavor to follow the methods of Nature, and rely on the simplest
means to that end, the greater will likely be our success. There-
fore, while the following suggestions may embody nothing not
already known to some or all fish culturists, they are none the less
true and worthy of consideration.

AERATING SCREENS.

To begin with the ovum or egg—air is just as necessary to
the well-being and development of the embryo as water. In the
running water of streams there is air enough for the necessary
aeration or oxygenation of the embryo, but in spring water, as it
issues from the ground, there is very little, if any, free air.

In fish hatcheries air is furnished usually by a horizontal
aerating screen at the head of the trough, being simply a wooden
frame with a bottom of perforated tin or zinc. This is all right
in theory, but in practice I have found that the small holes in
the sheet of tin, being cut very smoothly, do not permit a flow of
water through each and every hole as one might suppose. A film
or diaphragm of water is thrown over many or most of the holes,
preventing the water from passing through, under the pressure
of water usual in most hatcheries. Under these circumstances
there may not be sufficient air furnished to the ova or fry, as the
case may be. At all events it is well to give them the benefit of
the doubt.

After being convinced of the inefficiency of the aerating
sereen as usually made, I devised one that fully meets all require-
ments. It is constructed as follows: A piece of soft roofing tin
of the desired size is marked with lines an inch apart, both ways

102 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

of the sheet, and tacked on the frame. Where the lines cross, at
right angles, a hole is made with a six-penny wire nail, from the
inside of the screen. Thus in a screen of ten by twenty inches,
imside measurements, there will be 200 holes. In driving the
nail through the tin a shallow dent or depression is made around
each hole, while on the under side the hole has a ragged or broken
edge.

The simple driving of the nail produces just the conditions
that are needed. ‘The water naturally gravitates into the wmbili-
cated margins of the holes, and passing through, is broken up by
the ragged edges below, imprisoning the air as it falls into the
trough. We thus have 200 broken streams of water, the most
efficient system of aeration that can be devised, and the most
simple. Where the screen is made of the perforated zinc or tin
of the shops, the water pours through but a portion of the holes,
as before mentioned, and moreoyer has a tendency to cling to the
smooth under surface of the screen bottom, until the water from
several holes coalesces, and by its added weight finally drops
into the trough in streams of unequal sizes. This condition of
affairs is patent to any one who has interest or curiosity enough
to examine into it.

I consider the commercial perforated zine or tin a delusion
and a snare for any purpose whatever in fish culture. For foot
or guard screens it clogs, for reasons before given, and the smooth
round holes are a constant temptation for fry to worm themselves
through, whereas by using brass wire cloth the flow of water is
free and unobstructed, and fry are not so apt to attempt to pass
through it, and would fail to do so if the mesh is small enough.

FEEDING FRY.

I wish to call particular attention to the remarks of Mr. W.
T. Thompson on the subject of feeding fry, which may be found
in the proceedings of this society for 1900, pages 143-146. I
wish to indorse and emphasize what he says concerning the feed-
ing of fry before the yolk-sac is absorbed. I first adopted the
plan of feeding grayling fry as soon as hatched several years ago,
and afterward trout fry in a similar manner. My plan is to
feed the bloody water from finely ground and screened liver, by
placing it in the horizontal aerating screen at the head of the

American Fisheries Society. 103

hatching trough. While no particle of food may be apparent to
the naked eye in the bloody water, it is there, nevertheless, and
it is carried along with the water at the bottom of the trough,
where the fry soon learn to appropriate a part of it as it floats by
them. Coral polyps and other marine invertebrates that are not
free swimmers depend entirely for their food on the passing cur-
rent—food that is not visible to the naked eye, but shown by the
microscope to exist in great quantity.

By this early feeding of fry the nourishment contained in
the umbilical sac is augmented, and when the sac is absorbed and
the alevin becomes a free-swimming animal, it has become accus-
tomed to the liver water, and has acquired a taste for that kind
of food. The subsequent surface feeding of liver emulsion then
becomes an easy matter. The plan of feeding fry before the
absorption of the sac is especially demanded where spring water
is used, as it contains no natural food, unless it flows a long dis-
tance before entering the hatchery. Where spring water is
replaced by stream water as soon as hatching is completed, or
where stream water is used entirely, and where, consequently,
there exists much natural food in such water, the early feeding
of fry is not so imperatively demanded. But if considered in
view of the subsequent surface feeding of liver emulsion, which
is rendered easier by an early acquired taste for it, as mentioned,
it would not be amiss to practice the plan in any case.

DISCUSSION OF DR. HENSHALL’S PAPER.

Mr. Clark: I think that it is now generally understood that
all trout breeders commence feeding their trout before the sac is
absorbed. They go still further than that, and I think most of
the superintendents and those who are distributing trout, deposit
them in the streams before the sac is gone. To deposit trout in a
stream just after the sac is entirely absorbed, is a case of plant-
ing fish in streams to die.

Mr. Titcomb: We formerly planted our fry before the sac is
absorbed and before the snow water is out of the stream. We
would put them in some times, and I have done so a great many
years ago, when our team was carried over the hill on top of four
or five feet of snow, on a crust that would sustain horses and
everything, and then when we got to the stream, we would slide

104 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

the tank down on the crust and get to a hole where there was
enough current to keep it open and there deposit our fry. I do
not believe in that method, although I know that the fry just be-
fore the sac is absorbed are more easily transported than just
after. I do not believe in planting the fry just after the sac is
absorbed. I agree with Mr. Clark on that point. Therefore we
keep our fry until they have been fed for six or eight weeks at
least, before planting them.

The President: After the sac is gone?

Mr. Titcomb: After the food sac is gone. Then you have
got nice strong little fishes, well able to take care of themselves.
The streams have then reached their normal conditions also. We
begin planting the latter part of May and we plant, you might
say, right through the summer. We are shipping all the month
of June and into July. There is an intermission through
August, and we begin to ship our fingerlings in September and
earry shipments right through October, but we cannot in Ver-
mont, with success, plant fry before the sac is absorbed.

Mr. Clark: There is no chance for argument between us. I
say that if the trout are to be planted as fry before they are fed
at all, they must be planted just before the sac is absorbed. If
given any artificial nourishment whatever, the longer the fry are
fed the better is their condition for planting. Fry that have
been fed only a week or two should not be liberated. Those havy-
ing taken food two months or more are decidedly superior for
planting, the younger fry having failed to acquire in a week or
two sufficient growth and strength.

Mr. Titecomb: I! think I misunderstood you in the first place.

American Fisheries Soctety. 105

THE QUALITY OF THE WATER A FACTOR IN
REARING TROUT FRY.

BY C. C. WOOD.

In rearing Brook Trout the temperature of the water is
usually the first important item to be considered. However the
quality of the water is also of great moment, and many who have
attempted to raise this fish have failed because the above item
had not been sufficiently considered, even if given a thought in
an intelligent manner.

What is the quality of water necessary to successfully rear
this fish? A general answer might be, water that is pure and
cold; and this in many cases would prove correct.

But in what does the purity of the water consist ?

Will analysis determine whether the water is suitable for the
purpose or not; were it pronounced pure ?

I think that in many instances an analysis will prove little,
for while nothing may be detected injurious to the fishes it may
be found upon trial that the supply lacks much of the life-giving
properties necessary to the health of the fish. Again water of the
utmost purity may be entirely unsuited to the trout, while that
from a pond or lake, seemingly unfitted almost for common use,
if of low temperature, as during the colder months of the year,
might furnish a splendid supply for the nursery ponds until
warm weather.

In speaking of this subject I would lke to consider the
difference, which no doubt many of you have noticed, in the
quality of the water from springs or streams, starting at no great
distance from each other. While on one the trout may be
healthy, do well and grow rapidly, perhaps on the other, but a
few rods away it will be found impossible to make them live
after they have commenced to feed. And yet both waters may
be pure and cold.

Let us consider that the water has had sufficient aeration,
that the pools are not over-stocked and that the fish are treated
the same in each case; what should cause the difference in
results ?

106 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

In one case a splendid success; in the other an utter failure.
This is not an easy question for one to answer and I shall not
make the attempt. Perhaps some of you present may be able to
tell just what the trout require, what quality of water is best
suited to them.

Many trout breeders, soon after the fry are hatched find it is
impossible to retain them in the hatching boxes without great
loss, but that if removed to pools out of doors a fair degree of
success may be attained on the same water supply. In such cases
I should be inclined to think that insufficient aeration was given
the water in the first instance, for the mere fact that the troughs
and fish were inclosed within a building would hardly cause
them to suffer in any way; yet the fact of the water running
through the air, and perhaps falling even a few inches from the
hatching house to the pools may give the conditions necessary
for the absorption of sufficient oxygen to support life in the
second instance.

And yet I would not have you think that by the quality of
the water I mean water containing sufficient oxygen or air only,
for there is also something quite necessary besides this I firmly
believe, much less understood, too often lttle appreciated, but
of vital importance to the maintenance of the hatchery.

Young trout fry, in my opinion, are very sensitive to sudden
changes and a change in the quality of the water, for even a short
time, may result in a disastrous loss. If the water has once
proven all right the greatest care ought to be taken that it re-
main so, that no surface water may get into the supply even for
a day, that the temperature may not change suddenly by the
inflow of melted snow or ice into the reservoir or spring. I be-
lieve that nine times out of ten where great losses of young fry
have occurred, in a seemingly unaccountable manner, on streams
which have been proven suitable for the rearing of this fish, it
has been because the quality of the water has suddenly changed,
which in most cases could have been prevented. If the water has
been once proven right take every precaution that it be kept so.
Protect your spring or reservoir perfectly. A water supply given
all possible aeration by artificial means, may not be changed in
quality, at least not in such a way as would be the case were it
allowed to run exposed to the air and sun over soil and sand,

American Fisheries Society. 107

through weeds and water plants, where it might absorb nature’s
elixir of life, and perhaps give up some of the elements peculiar
to itself when starting at the source.

An instance came to my notice some years ago where the
water seemed greatly benefited by the growth of water plants.
The trout were confined in a long pool of water coming from
driven wells at one end of the pool. It was yuite noticeable that
the fish did not frequent the upper half or third of the pool, and
were much thicker at the outlet than elsewhere. About one-quar-
ter of the pool including the driven wells was screened off and
water plants introduced, which grew rapidly, soon completely
filling up that portion of the pond. A remarkable change was
at once noticed in the behavior of the fish, which were now scat-
tered quite evenly over the enclosure, showing that the water had
undergone a change and become suited to their life.

Water from some springs and driven wells however may be
found of the right quality from the start. I have seen trout liy-
ing in ponds supphed from driven wells, where the supply came
in at the bottom of the pool, and where there was no possible
chance of aeration, except what little air might be absorbed at
the surface. The water was surely of the right quality at the
start for the small fry grew rapidly and were perfectly healthy
im every way. At one time I remember (to illustrate the great
difference in the quality of the water sometimes found in the
same location) that I delivered a quantity of trout fry, late in
June to a party in the northern part of Maine. I arrived at the
gentleman’s place late in the evening, and found that he had
arranged a race-way with a suitable screen and that a good sup:
ply of water was flowing through from a clear, cold spring a few
feet distant. I thought his arrangement perfect and, being
rather tired having left the hatchery at daylight, went to my
room at once.

Next morning upon inquiring how the fry were getting on I
was surprised at being told that soon after being put into the
pool they had commenced to die and only quick work saved a por-
tion of them. Noticing that they were acting strangely and
turning up, the purchaser who was a practical sort of man, made
a temporary place for the fish in a box by knocking out the ends
and covering with netting, then transferred the fry to this small

108 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

box placed in a stream of water not ten rods away, where they
fully recovered, and when I saw them next forenoon were as
lively and as smart, crowded thickly in their close quarters as
they were, as when I started them on their journey the previous
day. I doubt very much if an analysis of the waters from the
spring and stream would have shown the vital difference in
quality, proved beyond question upon trial.

Trout fry may be successfully hatched in water not possess-
ing the quality necessary for future success, and while they may
do well if transferred immediately to other streams more adapted
to them, such may not be the case if retaimed under the first con-
ditions until they become sickly and weak. Frequently have |
heard someone exclaim: “I don’t see what is the matter with
my fry, they are feeding well but are dying fearfully!’ Such
may be the case when the greatest care is taken, the proper
methods followed and the eggs from strong, healthy, vigorous,
parent fish are used. I should like to mention a case where the
hatchery and fittings formed one of the best arranged and com-
plete plants I have ever seen. The water supply was from a
spring reservoir with ample aeration. I was asked to visit this
plant as the fry were dying in large numbers, and find a remedy
for the trouble. As soon as possible I went to the hatchery. The
hatch of brook trout that season was nearly 3,000,000, and the
sight I saw on arrival made me shiver. The fish, just on the
point of feeding, were dying by hundreds of thousands daily,
and the bottom of the troughs were covered with dead although
the man in charge assured me that all dead had been removed
the day before. A most careful search failed to show anything
wrong, the water was cold and splendid to drink, and all right
for “it had been analyzed.” Yet nevertheless I told the man that
I did not believe trout fry would live in that water for the qual-
ity was not right for them. He replied that it must be for there
was trout living the year round a quarter of a mile below, in the
same stream. But future seasons proved that I was correct, no
trout fry could be reared in that water and after a time the at-
tempt to do so was abandoned. The methods followed were
right—the quality of the water alone prevented a gratifying
SUCCESS.

I might mention several other cases of the almost total loss

American Fisheries Society. 109

of fry at hatcheries supplied with water of poor quality for this
purpose, but I can suggest no way of proving the quality except
by trial. Most likely if wild trout are known to inhabit certain
waters during the year the conditions are suitable for their main-
tenance, and this should go a long way toward deciding on a suit-
able location for a hatchery. But one will see that although
trout may be found in a stream during most months of the year,
and living in a perfectly healthy condition, it does not follow that
they were hatched in that particular water. It may be that some-
where the length of the brook a spring or tributary makes in
where the spawn was given out by the parent trout, and while
this smaller creek is of just the right quality for the young trout-
let during the first few months of his life, perhaps the stream in
which the larger trout was observed would prove very unsuitable.
I think that it might be perfectly safe to say that where trout fry
will hve mature trout will live also, but many a failure will be
made trying to rear fry where the larger fish will do fairly well.
And lots of nice trout fry are wasted yearly by being planted in
unsuitable places, where fingerlings or yearlings would live and
grow. And almost everyone admits this, and still the same
thing is done again and again.

Speaking of the planting of trout fry and fingerlings, I have
never yet met anyone who advocated the planting of trout fry
exclusively who was successful in rearing them much past the
sac period. However, better to hatch a few million fry and scat-
ter them broadcast into our waters than to do nothing; better
still to raise some fry, some fingerlings, and plant them in an
intelhgent manner. And why cannot this be done? It can and
should be done in every state having natural waters for this fish,
for springs of the right quality can be found where the fish
could be reared easily, for almost with neglect will they thrive
and grow in waters just suited to the purpose. I feel that the
idea I have tried to present should be nothing new to most of
you present, but if generally thought of I would lke to ask why
it is that so many of our public hatcheries are maintained year
after year on a water supply that makes success of rearing the
fish impossible. True they may be hatched and planted when a
few weeks old, but how much better to rear a portion of them for
as many months, how much more gratifving to grow some of

110 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

them to the yearling age, for the mere hatching of millions of
trout and retaining them during the yolk sac period only, is a
small achievement compared with the raising of one-tenth of the
number to a year old.

DISCUSSION OF MR. WOOD’S PAPER.

Mr. Titcomb: I wish to bring up one subject in connection
with the paper for the consideration of the members, with the
possibility that if it does not bring out discussion here, it may
develop something in the form of a paper another year.

I have been experimenting with the eggs of the domesticated
trout and the eggs of the wild trout. The eggs of the domestic
trout are kept in spring water at these commercial hatcheries at
a temperature of about 46 degrees, and the parent fish are kept
in what you might call spring water in those drive-well hatch-
eries. In taking them to my hatchery and subjecting them to a
temperature during the winter sometimes as low as 34 degrees,
yes, even down to less than 33 degrees, (you can see the frost
sparkling in the water) the eggs of the domesticated fish seem
to be affected, while the eggs of the wild fish do not. Now I do
not consider a water supply for a hatchery good which goes down
to that extreme low temperature, but the question arises in my
mind whether the domesticated trout reared in spring water will
produce an egg which can be hatched as well in the cold water as
the egg of the wild fish which is subjected to all temperatures of
cold water, you might say. There is a point there that I have
not been able to settle in my own mind, but I have suspected
that trout which have been kept for a long time, or in different
generations, in the warmer water throughout the winter, are not
so well able to exist in the lower temperatures as the wild trout.

Mr. Clark: I take it from Mr. Wood’s paper that it turns
more upon the kind and quality of water. Of course, as you are
aware, I have had considerable experience in trout culture and
fish hatching for quite a number of years. Now I just want to
give you my ideal of water for a hatchery: It is to have two
kinds of water, as we have spring water, and either creek or lake
water. In having the two, which range during the hatching sea-
son from 32 1-2 to 46 or 48 degrees, we are enabled by mixing
the water to control and regulate the temperature, determining

American Fisheries Socvety. Wt

to a great extent the period of incubation—especially with our
lake trout—turning out the fry at such intervals as are conven-
ient for distribution. In other words, fry from eggs of the same
age do not all hatch at the same time, some being retarded by
colder water. At Northville we can distribute fry for two
months—holding them right in the hatchery—and never plant
any with the umbilical sac completely absorbed.

Mr. Bower: I have been personally acquainted with Mr.
Wood for some time and I believe he is one of the most intelli-
gent and successful brook trout breeders in the country today,
but I cannot agree with his conclusions as to the relative merits
of planting fry and fingerlings. He rather intimates that the
planting of fry is not very successful. I think there is no
example in the whole United States of more successful trout
planting than is presented in the state of Michigan. Over two-
thirds of the trout streams in the state today, comprising some
of the very best trout waters to be found anywhere, did not con-
tain trout naturally, and their present standing as trout waters
is due wholly to the planting of fry and not fingerlings. Now, I
believe that if you plant a thousand yearlings or a thousand
fingerlings you will get more adults than if you plant a thou-
sand fry, but the point is right here: a thousand dollars’ worth of
fry, in my judgment, will produce a much greater number of
adult fish than a thousand dollars’ worth of fingerlings or year-
lings, because there is some loss in rearing and there is also a
heavy expense for food and care, and it costs twenty dollars to
distribute a given number of yearlings to one dollar for an equal
number of fry, so that you can plant such a vastly increased
number of fry for the same amount of money that you will get
much greater results for the money invested, presuming of
course that the fry are properly planted, and that you must
assume also with yearlings or fish of any age. So that, so far as
the state of Michigan is concerned, we are thoroughly satisfied
with fry planting and propose to continue it—it is no theory
with us, we have the results to show what the planting of fry
will do.

Mr. Clark: I see that Mr. Bower sinve he went with the
Michigan Fish Commission, has become a great fry man. I
have had arguments with some of the members of the Michigan

112 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Fish Commission in regard to the fry and yearling matter and
am on record in that respect. Neither at this time nor at any
future time do I wish to take up the argument again. and espe-
cially with Mr. Bower. When Mr. Bower was with me he was
one of the most rabid yearling men you ever saw, but I think Mr.
Bower is all right, and he does believe in raising or partially
rearing fish for planting, but not of course if you undertake to
raise three or four million—that you can not do. But raise what
you can, one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand or some-
thing of that kind, and I do beheve that if you ever get lake
trout established in many of the lakes in the state of Michigan
you must rear them before you get them started. A brook trout
two to four inches long is just as well able to take care of itself
in the wild waters as when it is a year old, as everybody knows.

Mr. Bower: I just want to correct one impression. Mr.
Clark says that when I was with the United States Fish Com-
mission I was a rabid yearling man. Well, when I first com-
menced to hatch fish I was with Mr. Clark, and naturally drew
my inspiration on fish matters from him and accepted his views
and ideas as authority. But by and by when I began to read a
little and learn a little by observation, and began to do a little
thinking on my own account instead of allowing him to do my
thinking for me, I began to modify my views, and long before I
left the employ of the United States Commission, I was forced
to admit that the planting of trout fry in Michigan streams pro-
duced excellent results. I was confronted with “a condition and
not a theory.” And I think Mr. Clark has changed his attitude
very much, for he says when you want to plant three or four
million fry it is all right, and that is exactly the poit I would
make. I say it is not true economy to undertake to raise five or
ten million trout for planting, and that it is neither necessary or
advisable, for your money will go a great deal further and the
ultimate results will be much greater if the total cost of produc-
tion and distribution is applied to fry instead of yearlings. ‘This
may not be universally true or true under all conditions and cir-
cumstances, but I am speaking of trout planting as it has come
under my immediate observation. I really think Mr Clark has
come over to my way of thinking to a great extent himself.

Mr. Clark: There is not a single place in all the transac-

American Fisheries Society. 13

tions of the American Fisheries Society, or in any of the reports

ever given by me to the United States Fish Commission, where I

have ever written or said anything advocating the rearing of all

the fish that are hatched
The President: To fingerlin
Mr. Clark: No, sir.

hever.

,
os?

©

114 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

DISCUSSION ON CARP.

LED BY DR. S. P. BARTLETT.

Dr. Bartlett: From a practical standpoint I want to say to
you that the United States Fish Commission builded a_ great
deal wiser than it knew when it introduced carp in the waters of
Illinois. I am here as representative of the United States Fish
Commission, and I want to say to you that the waters of Illinois
have proven more acceptable to carp than many of the other
waters. I want to speak of that of which I know. The work of
the Fish Commission depends entirely of course upon the money
they have to run their business. It is getting to be practically a
matter of dollars and cents, this Fish Commission business, and
ought to be in the various states, but that is particularly true in
Ilhnois. There is, perhaps, no one here that has been a stronger
advocate in years gone by of protection than myself. I early
made up my mind that any law the enforcement of which
would kill a fisherman was next to gospel. I have changed my
mind as to that considerably and believe now in propagation
rather than protection. The last legislature of Illinois enacted
laws which prohibit the taking of black bass, wall-eyed pike, ete.,
except with hook and line during the whole season. The carp on
the other hand have been subject to a little more of the open sea-
son and are permitted to be caught more months in the year. I
want to say to you briefly, however, and without giving you any
reasons for it, because you all know what my reasons are, that the
carp have produced in the State of Illinois more money than all
other fish put together. That seems like a pretty hard statement
to make, but it can be verified, and I want to say to you that there
are more carp eaten on the hotel tables in the State of Illinois
than any other fish. I have been served with “red snapper”
which turned out to be carp. This cry against the carp is a great
they are a good fish if you know

big humbug—it is an outrage
how to cook them, but not so good if you don’t know how. Most
of you are men of leisure and like your black bass and whitefish,
but what about the one dollar and ten cent a day man? He has

American Fisheries Society. 115

got to take carp. Illinois produced three quarters of a million of
dollars in coarse fish last year. It would be as much as your life
is worth to take a trip down to the Illinois river and tell the men
there that carp is not a good thing. They would take you out
and duck you gracefully into the river. More than one-half the
towns on the [lhnois river depend mostly for their existence on
the fish industry, and considerably over two-thirds of the fish
taken are carp. They grow anywhere and everywhere ; they grow
with the black bass, and the black bass are as plentiful as ever.
Illinois can furnish one-half the black bass for stockin the United
States, and yet there will be no diminution in quantity. We
take just as many black bass with the hook and line this year as
ever, while the carp are steadily on the increase. I have no
patience with the newspaper talk that says that the carp are an
enemy of the game fish. I do not believe anybody can prove it.
I would like to hear it if it is so.

The carp in this state are accused of eating up all of the
water plants,—in fact they have been accused of destroying the
duck hunting in the states of Ilhnois and Indiana; they have
been accused of almost every crime that fish can be accused of,
but I do not believe any one can prove that the carp has ever
been an enemy of the game fish or destroys its young or spawn.
That is a pretty bold statement to make, but we have representa-
tives here from all over the country, and I would like to hear
what they have have got to say on the subject. I hold the posi-
tion that the United States government made the most practical
plant of any of its plants when it planted carp in the muddy
waters of such states as Illinois and Indiana. ‘Twenty-five years
of experience with people in the state of Ilnois in the fish busi-
ness has been up-hill work. I took the commission there when
there was not a line on the statute books for the protection of
fish, and I have followed it up until now, and previous to the
introduction of the carp the muddy waters of Illinois were
almost depleted of coarse fish, and today it is shipping to the
east more and better fish than any other western state.

If I get a little bit extravagant, please attribute it to old age
and forgetfulness. JI do not wish to make any mistake or to
exaggerate. I came here just to provoke the discussion on the
carp.

116 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Mr. Peabody: I am very glad that Dr. Bartlett, the friend
of the carp, has introduced the subject, because we want to get
some information in that line. I have run up against a number
of very strong statements regarding the injury that carp do the
fishing and shooting interests of Wisconsin. Only a day before
this meeting began I attended a meeting of the directors of the
Diana Shooting Club, and some of the directors stated emphati-
cally that the carp were ruining our shooting, that they were
eating up the wild rice and wild celery. One of the gentlemen
said that the introduction of carp in Lake Koshkonong had
destroyed the fishing of black bass and pike; that they roiled the
waters and kept them in that state all the time, and that there-
fore the black bass and pike were driven out and did not propa-
gate. I was in hopes that Mr. Ravenel would be here, because he
has been the one defender of the carp at all these meetings, and I
have always relied on him as to the value of the carp. He stated
last year that the highest priced fish sold in New York during
November and December was carp; that they came in with the
turkey and were considered edible and valuable. Now some of
the fish culturists here undoubtedly can give information that
will be of value to us in this state especially as to just how much
injury carp are and do, and if there are any gentlemen here who
can answer the question, do they destroy the wild celery and the
wild rice on such marshy ponds as are frequented by ducks, to
the injury of the duck shooting, and do they roil the water so as to
prevent the propagation of such game fish as bass and pike, and
do they destroy the spawn, and do they go on the spawning beds
of the black bass and destroy them, the information they give us
will be very acceptable. Those are questions that I wish might
be opened up here and discussed freely so that those of us who
are not thoroughly posted on the subject may become so.

Mr. Townsend: It may be that the carp has been introduced
in some places where it was not needed, where other kinds of fish
were more important; it might not be advantageous to introduce
the carp into the beautiful little lakes of Mr. Peabody’s state ;
but there are many waters in this country teeming with carp,
and people are finding out in many places that carp is a food fish.
There is a market for carp in the big eastern cities and carp will
sell there. ‘They sometimes sell even for a high price; generally

American Fisheries Society. ai L7/

they sell for a low price and are bought by poor people. ‘There
are many foreigners in our eastern cities that are steady con-
sumers of carp, and take all that come to market. Carp go to
market generally in good shape; they can be packed in ice in Ili-
nois and will reach New York alive. If they are properly cooked
they are very good fish.

Now we have in our waters a pretty good supply of coarse
fishes. There is a tendency on the part of legislatures to cut off
the commercial fisheries, to reserve more and more waters for
hook and line fishing. ‘This harvest of coarse fishes still re-
mains. If the crop is not harvested it is lost. In the Illinois
river they catch over 14,000,000 pounds of fish a year, chiefly
carp and buffalo. That affords employment to 1,000 fishermen,
who incidentally catch other fishes. It can be shown by statistics
in the Fish Commission office that the yield of black bass in this
great carp river, the Illinois river, has increased along with the
earp. They now catch more bass than ever and the chances are
that the young carp are food for the bass and the more predatory
fishes.

The work of the net and seine fishermen in the Ilhnois river
results in the capture of these coarse fishes, carp, buffalo, cat fish
and dog fish, and the other fishes taken do not count for much.
At the same time there are plenty of game fishes for those who
want them for sport—such fishing is better than ever. So there
are undoubtedly many waters in this country that will support
the coarse food fishes and the fine game fishes without the one
being an injury to the other. That may also be the case in Lake
Erie where the carp catch is already important and marketable.

The dealers of Sandusky and Port Clinton are shipping all
the carp they can get, not only to the eastern markets but to St.
Louis, Cincinnati and Louisville.

On the Pacific coast the carp is abused just as much as it is
elsewhere, and yet the Chinese of California are consuming carp
and cat fish more than any other kind of fishes.

In New Jersey the carp have taken to living in the shghtly
brackish water, and most of the catch comes from those waters
which lie between the more salty bay waters and the fresh waters.
The carp there are in places where they appear to hurt nothing,
and they are beginning to find their way to market. If I hada

118 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

big lake I should not hesitate to stock it with carp, and I should
expect it to pay before very long.

I could go on talking about carp indefinitely. I do not know
how much they roil the waters and how much they interfere with
the feeding of wild ducks, but perhaps some of the other mem-
bers do.

Mr. Clark: Mr. Townsend said that he did not think that
the fishermen were yet catching many carp in Lake Erie, but
last year in Maumee Bay, according to reports, carp were being
caught by the ton, and I understand from Mr. J. N. Dewey that
they are establishing there a system of keeping the carp when
the market is low and putting them on the New York and Phila-
delphia markets when prices are high, also that they are making
ponds along Maumee Bay and they catch the carp and hold them
in the ponds until they wish to send them to market.

Mr. Townsend: It should be 3,000,000 pounds for Lake
Erie—the figures were put too low.

Mr. Clark: I understand they do not catch so very many
carp down in the lake along the islands, but the carp are there.
In Detroit river during the last two years but few carp were
caught, but it is possible that the carp will remain in great num-
bers in Lake Erie and will stay in such places as Maumee and
Sandusky bays.

Dr. Parker: How is it up about the Flats?

Mr. Clark: They have some. There is some kicking about
the carp.

The President: I can tell you about the Flats. I go up on
the boat to the Flats twice a week, and every time I come down
on the boat I get a damning from some bass fisher
that claims the carp are destroying the bass fishing.
But notwithstanding their claims the bass fishing on
St. Clair Flats has been better during the last three
years than at any time during fifteen years — previous,
and we have not planted any bass either. 1 can not account for
it in any other way except that the environments of the carp and
black bass are absolutely different. Black bass likes a clean,
pure, sandy bottom, and the carp lives on a muddy, weedy bot-
tom. I believe that the carp is a good thing in many waters
where black bass thrive. I believe that the bass fishing at the

American Fisheries Society. 119

Flats has increased by reason of the food that young carp make
for the bass, though he was not planted there. Millions of them
are up there and you will see their backs sticking up out of the
bullrushes. The only injurious thing that I believe they do is
to destroy the food for the perch. Our perch fishing is not what
it used to be, and the carp living up among the weeds and rushes
cleans out the weeds at the bottom so that there is not as much
vegetation there for food for the perch as there otherwise would
be; so it is my judgment that the carp has injured our perch
fishing but improved our bass fishing.

Mr. Titcomb: We all know that Mr. Bartlett is an authority
on the carp; we also have here an authority on the bass. The
question which I was going to ask and which Mr. Peabody did
ask, was whether carp destroyed the spawn of bass. I say no,
but I am not an authority. Now in Buffalo there is a strong
fish and game association which obtained permission of the New
York Fish Commission to seine the carp out of the river for the
alleged reason that they destroved the spawn of the bass, and
when I passed through there they asked me to bring that ques-
tion up at this meeting. Now, I should like to hear from Mr.
Bartlett in answer to those questions which Mr. Peabody fired
out so rapidly, he answering them as direct questions and as an
authority, and I should like the views of others who have had
experience with either the carp or bass, on that question, so that
we can have a direct record on our minutes of these questions
which have been asked directly and answered directly, in addi-
tion to the valuable information which we have been getting
through the remarks of Mr. Townsend and yourself.

The President: Do the carp destroy the spawn of black
bass ?

Dr. Bartlett: You are placing upon my shoulders rather
more honor than belongs to me. I am not an authority on the
carp further than an intimate association with them during a
number of years has given me the privilege of a good deal of
observation.

Our Illinois river is really a series of lakes from one end to
the other. The river itself is anywhere from seven to fifteen
miles wide, and there is a considerable chain of lakes or low
places on either side of the river, extending the whole length of

120 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

the river, and making an immense body of sluggish water. In-
terspersed are a large number of spring lakes. In order that 1]
might know positively what amount of injury had been done by
the introduction of the carp into the waters of the Illinois, I took
occasion when carp were first brought upon the market and the
hue and cry raised as to their destructive qualities, to open and
be present while hundreds of carps were opened, to see if I could
find in their stomachs anything that would indicate that they
took the fry of other fish or spawn of other fish. I can not say
that | have never found the spawn of other fish in their stomachs,
but when I have found such spawn it has been of such a nature
as led me to believe that it was such spawn as floated on the sur-
face of the water, and that the carp took them in, in that suck-
ing motion that he has, gommg around on the surface of the
water.

So far as their eating up the growth in the water and de-
stroying that is concerned, that is to some extent true, but I do
not think that it is extensive enough to drive away the black
bass from their breeding grounds or in any way interfere with
them; and I think, Mr. President, you struck the key note ex-
actly when you spoke of the increase of bass being due very
largely to the immense supply of young fish for food. My work
on the Illinois river is of a very pecuhar nature, and I say this
to show you why I gave you the figures that I did. Our work is
simply saving these fish out of the overflow. There are thou-
sands of acres of land planted to corn today where the land was
water a few months ago, and thousands and thousands of acres
more will dry up before the season is over. Into those places
we go and take out the young fish, and a very careful estimate
made after years of investigation, shows that not over fifteen per
cent. of fine fish are taken out of those places under natural con-
ditions. That is, go into a place that is not disturbed and eighty-
five per cent. of the fish will be the coarser varieties and fifteen
per cent. perhaps of the gamey varieties of fish, and not over one
per cent of black bass. When we take into consideration the
fact that is so well known of the voracious habits of the black
bass, it shows an all-wise provision of nature to supply a very
large quantity of coarse fish to feed the other fishes, and I believe
as firmly as I am standing here that if the carp had not been

American Fisheries Society. 121

introduced in the state of Ilhnois, the buffalo having become
almost extinct in our waters although it was once the great com-
mercial fish that the bass would have been gradually taken out
entirely from the list. As it is now, I want to repeat the state-
ment that we have more black bass than ever, and our carp cer-
tainly have increased in a greater ratio than ever before.

Mr. Townsend: The figures prove that you have more black
bass than you ever had.

Dr. Bartlett: Yes, sir. In our work for the United States
Fish Commission we took this year from Barlow Lake, which
would cover perhaps a mile in length and five hundred feet to a
quarter of a mile in width, low and shallow, 51,000 black bass
for distribution. Now that is in a mud hole, and there is no
estimate as to the amount of carp that were removed at the same
time and put into the rivers—they have been simply beyond com-
putation.

As I said before, I have worked faithfully for carp all these
years. For the first few years, fishermen would take the carp,
open them up and dress them for sale the same as buffalo, and I
had free access to the stomachs of the carp and failed to find to
any considerable extent evidences that the carp has interfered
with the spawn of other fishes. That is true at least for the
muddy waters of Illinois that abound with plenty of other food
for the carp. What might be the result in some of your cold
water lakes in Wisconsin I can not say. The carp have a very
peculiar value in that it is not necessary to dress them for ship-
ment. The buffalo fish you might ice down as carefully as possi-
ble and within a verv few hours he becomes soft, and therefore
you have to dress the fish before shipment, and I believe about
two-fifths is allowed for dressing. But the carp is shipped so to
speak, with guts, feathers and all; he is taken right out of the
water, covered with ice and frequently shows signs of life after
being in a refrigerator car forty-eight to sixty hours, and every
pound that is taken from the water by the fisherman is utilized
to bring back so much per pound from the market.

It is only justice, however, to state that these carp are used
in the east by a class of people who will not eat anything unless

Russian Jews, Poles, ete.

it is pretty nearly alive

122 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

If there is any direct question that I can answer from per-
sonal observation I shall be very glad to do it.

Mr. Peabody: What do you know about the roiling of the
water ?

Dr. Bartlett: At certain seasons of the year they do make
the water very roily. But we are to consider that our black bass
are taken from waters that frequently have six or seven inches
of mud at the bottom, and so it makes no difference.

Mr. Peabody: You do not think that that is important ?

Dr. Bartlett: Yes, sir. There are a great many places in
Ilhnois where the introduction of carp has proved a disad-
vantage. I know that to be a fact, in small spring lakes, take a
lake of four or five acres, something of that kind.

Mr. Peabody: You would not think that a lake of one to
three miles in size would be affected at all?

Dr. Bartlett: No, sir. My observation has been that the
very best fly-fishing in the United States can be had upon the
Illinois river today.

Mr. Titcomb: [s it not a base slander upon the bass to inti-
mate that it would allow a carp to touch its spawn ?

Dr. Bartlett: I should think so.

Mr. Bower: I think that where bass and carp inhabit the
same water it is natural that the bass should increase. We have
been hatching black bass for a number of seasons in ponds where
we have an opportunity to observe their spawning operations
from the time the male fish begins to prepare the bed until a
good many days after the hatching is completed, and we know
that the male bass guards the bed against all intruders. He will
put up the stiffest kind of a fight against any animal that
approaches the bed with a view of preying upon the spawn.
There is no danger of a carp ever looting the spawn from a black
bass bed. On the other hand I do not think the carp can retali-
ate against the bass in’any way, shape or form. While the bass
is preying on the carp, the carp can not come back at them in
any way. In other words, in the interchange of hostilities be-
tween the two species, the bass gets the better of it at every stage
of the proceedings, and I think it is a perfectly natural result
that the bass should increase in waters where there is an abund-
ance of carp.

American Fisheries Society. 123

Mr. Peabody: I would like to have Mr. Lydell’s opinion on
this subject.

Mr. Lydell: I never have known but a single instance where
the carp has destroyed the spawn of the black bass, and I never
knew of their destroying any other spawn. I have handled and
opened what few carp were caught at the Detroit river, Belle
Isle, Fisheries, during the last ten years, but never found any
spawn in them.

Every one here seems to be friendly toward the carp, but a
gentleman a while ago said he did not know how to cook them.
I think it would be a good idea for this society to educate the
people how to cook these carp. The only experience | have ever
had in cooking carp I got from a German friend of mine at Mill
Creek. He was a saloon keeper and had been at me for a number
of years to get him some carp. Last spring [ procured him two
that weighed about four pounds apiece. They were cooked by
his wife and I was invited down to dinner. I enjoyed the carp
very much and I asked him how he cooked them. He said they
were stuffed with sauer kraut and boiled in beer. (Great
laughter ).

Mr. Townsend: Just another point in this connection that
may save discussion: We hear a great deal from sportsmen’s
clubs and from other sources as to how the carp can be extermi-
nated. It can not be exterminated. It is hke the English spar-
row, it is here to stay. Ata meeting of the American Ornitholo-
gists’ Union a while ago, one of our foremost ornithologists
stated that the European sparrow could not be exterminated in
this country. I think it is the same with the carp. It is here to
stay and we can not exterminate it any more than we can exter-
minate the green grass of the fields. I do not wish to pose as an
advocate of the carp—I prefer other fish for myself—but I main-
tain that the carp has a place in good and regular standing in
our big eastern markets, and I do not think that our great repub-
lic with its rapidly increasing population can afford to sneer at
even so cheap a source of food.

Dr. Parker: I wish to say just a little bit in regard to this
matter. The carp is the most omnivorous of all fishes. He is a
hog and will eat everything. He will eat spawn if he gets it, but
I do not think he will search it out. I believe, as the president

124 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

here has said, that the black bass will increase as a result of the
presence of the carp, but we will see a depletion of the perch.
As I said in my paper, you must go back to the vegetable for the
rehabilitation of waters. If you destroy vegetation and the
larvae, you destroy the minnows, and the perch have no min-
nows to feed on, unless they can eat the young of the carp, which
they do not appear to do, but the black bass will eat the young of
the carp and will thrive. Therefore you may look for an increase
of the black bass, a decrease of the minnows, and also of those
fish that feed upon the smaller minnows. I shall look for that
in the balance of life that would naturally occur in a stream like
the one described. That the carp do make the water roily goes
without question. The old German (Hessel) who brought the
first carp to this country told me in Washington that a clear carp
pond would be an anomaly. They stir up the mud at the bottom
of the stream, and live on the larval and vegetable life they find
there. I believe then that the black bass will certainly increase
with the carp unless the carp gets so numerous as to feed on the
bass beds. Of course with a carp weighing twelve or fifteen
pounds, an ordinary black bass weighing four or five pounds will
not have much show.

Mr. Clark: Yes, he would.

Dr. Parker: He might whack away at him—they are not a
very scary fish. I think that the carp has got more brains in
his head than any other fish that swims. When I was on the
commission over at Glenwood where they had the beds I tried
time and again watching the carp that would be feeding on the
edge of the pond there, by starting the slash-board, and every
one of them would put right for the center of the stream, know-
ing at once where they were safe. I experimented a good deal
with them and they are certainly the most wily fish I ever met.

Mr. Titcomb: I just want to make a statement about the
bass, because this talk will be read not only with interest by
absent members, but by sportsmen everywhere. The doctor inti-
mated that a bass would not keep a twelve or fifteen pound carp
off from the spawning bed. I want to make the statement, and
if I am not correct I want to be corrected here, that the bass uses
his dorsal fin as a weapon of attack and defense, and when a two

American Fisheries Society. 125

or three pound bass runs his dorsal fin against a fifteen or
twenty pound carp, Mr. Carp will move off, if he is not dead.
General Bryant: I wish to make a friend of some of these
friends of the carp, and get them to tell me their methods of
catching, shipping and cooking him, and I would suggest that a
paper he prepared next year upon that subject. The greatest
trouble we have in some of our lakes in Wisconsin is that the
carp have got in there. I do not know of a fisherman in Wiscon-
sin that would catch one if he could, and I never heard of one
being eaten either by anybody in the circle of my acquaintance.
They were originally put into the muddy ponds, but in the high
water they washed into the streams and have found their way
into our lakes and are there by millions. They occupy the shal-
low sedge and muddy bottomed portions of the lakes, and I have
often wished that somebody that knew how would start a method
of catching them and shipping them, because I have heard so
much said about it, and I always believe what the Illinois people
say about the carp, and I do not question their veracity or their
judgment at all, but the people in our section of the country are
not educated up to the idea of appreciating the gospel according
to St. Bartlett (applause and laughter) and other disciples and
brethren of that faith. I am not questioning the truth of the
gospel, but I am lamenting that it is not spread in our section.
Within a radius of five miles of Madison there are billions of
carp. Every fisherman sees them, curses them, and refuses to
catch them. They seem to thrive there in the clear Wisconsin
lake waters. There are many springs in part of these lakes,
there are bars where the bass hatch and propagate and_ little
sedgy inlets, indentations, bays, and sloughs, or whatever you
may call them, where the sedge grows and vegetation springs up
through the water, and there the carp are to be found in vast
multitudes. Of course they can not be seined out from that
kind of water. Now, what is the best way to catch them under
such conditions in large enough quantities to ship? When you
get them, what is the best way of cooking them? You tell us
they are served in the restaurants in New York as a luxury, how
can they be made so? If you can convince our brewers that to
boil them in beer is the true way to prepare them, we will cer-

126 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

tainly have a strong auxiliary right hand to help us.
(Applause ).

Dr. Bartlett: While I am a strong advocate of the carp and
their increase and value and all of that, yet a note of warning
ought to be sounded in every state of the union as to legislation
on the subject of the carp, and it should be of such a nature as
to keep them down. If the people of the state of Illinois had had
their way two years ago, the Illinois river and all the waters of
the state would have been so full of carp as to have crowded out
all of the other gamier varieties of fish. Carp increases so rapidly
that legislation in all states ought to be had to allow them to
take these coarse fish. We have thrown open the state of Illinois
to the seining of these coarser fish.

To answer my friend’s query as to cooking them, permit me
to say that a carp taken out of the very muddiest of water, killed
and bled as soon as taken out, laid in salt water over night, par-
boiled and baked with proper sauce, can not be distinguished
from the finest red snapper.

Dr. Parker: Another mode of preparation of carp is by
smoking and curing them, as is done with halibut and sturgeon.
A gentleman who had eaten them said to me he liked them better
than halibut, though not quite so well as sturgeon, which he con-
sidered the finest smoked fish in the world.

Mr. Dunlap: In the line of General Bryant’s sug
would like to move that Dr. Bartlett be requested to prepare a

gestion I
paper on the subject of carp, covering the subject as fully as
possible, to be read at the meeting of the society a year from now,
and I would say that the fish commission would be very glad to
publish that paper in the Bulletin, as we all know there is very
little literature on that subject; and I think from what we have
heard that Dr. Bartlett is prepared to discuss the subject in all
its phases.

(An inquiry was made as to the value of the carp as a game
fish, that is as to their being any sport in getting him with hook
and line).

The President: Yes. If you can get him, it is great sport.
But the only way to do it is to take a piece of potato or dough
and sink it to the bottom, and when you have got him on your
hook there is no fish in the world equal to him for sport.

American Fisheries Society. 127

Dr. Parker: A kernel of corn will do very well for bait.

Dr. Bartlett: A man who has been many years in my em-
ploy tells me that the best bait for a carp is a dough ball incor-
porated with cotton to make it firm, and that a potato fried, but
not too crisply, is the next best bait. I have seen three hundred
and fifty people fishing at one time for carp with hook and line.
These fish make a big fight because you cannot drown them.

Mr. Townsend: I brought with me a bundle of statistical
sheets of the Mississippi region and the Great Lakes region, and
if any members want them, they can have them.

Mr. Titcomb: I wish to suggest some topics for considera-
tion at our next meeting. We get our calls for these meetings a
short time beforehand and are busy and do not think just what
we want to talk about. Now, on a recent trip I met a friend
who joined the society at this meeting, Mr. Parker of the province
of Quebec,and we traveled over thirty lakes in a canoe and caught
trout in every one of them. One of those lakes was eight miles
long and just teeming with trout. There seemed to be an abund-
ance of food and the conditions were just the same as in the
other lakes, and yet none of those trout that we caught there
would weigh over one-third of a pound, and the average would
be about a fourth of a pound. The next lake might give you
trout which would average a pound, some of them going as high
as four pounds. Passing on to another lake you would get trout
the average of which as taken with the fly would be half a pound,
and another lake three-quarters. You could pass on to the last
lake and pick up trout at every cast in six to ten inches of water
with the waves a foot high so that the fish would jump right out
of the water and land on the sand if they did not happen to
catch your fly, and the fish would run about three to a pound.
Now the question which I have raised and put in the form of a
topic is given here this way:

“Given the same kind of water, food, ete., the same environ-
ment so far as appears from a superficial examination, why such
a great variation in the growth and average size of adult trout in
various lakes ?”

There is one other question which comes up very often and
which I think has never been answered and I would like to see

128 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

a paper on it if anyone has an opportunity to study into the sub-
ject, namely:

“The cause for variation in color of flesh of speckled trout
from any given body of water.”

Of course the general variation relates to different bodies of
water, but frequently you can take fish right out of the same
pool, or without moving your boat from a certain spot, which
have a distinctly white meat, a light pink meat, and a rich sal-
mon colored flesh. The general answer ordinarily given to that
question is “food and environment,” but it does not answer the
question when you can take those fish with three colors of flesh
out of a space ten feet in diameter.

Mr. Peabody: Mr. Lydell is a specialist in bass culture and
I have had the question asked me and the statement made boldly
that the large mouthed bass cast their spawn in the weeds and
against the weeds, and do not make a bed like the small mouthed
bass; and if that question can be answered authoritatively, I
think it would be a source of satisfaction to a great many who
are interested in bass culture and in bass fishing.

Mr. Lydell: This last season our big mouth bass spawned on
several different kinds of beds, but in no instance have I known
them to spawn without first cleaning away the vegetation and
getting to the roots ot the weeds. Some of their eggs were found
on the weeds adjoining the beds cleaned off. This year they also
spawned on prepared gravel beds, and on other artificial beds
having various materials on the surface and imbedded in the
cement mixture of which the beds were made, such as Spanish
moss, cocoanut shreds, sea grass and excelsior.

The President: But where is the natural spawning bed of
the wild big-mouthed bass ?

Mr. Lydell: It seems to be on roots of the different weeds
that grow in the lakes around the shores. The bass there also
spawned on roots and bark that were in the bottom of the pond,
and also on lily roots in the pond that is prepared at that station
for large-mouthed bass. This pond had been set out to pond
lilies, and they cleaned the roots off under the lihes and spawned
on them. So I say I think the large-mouthed bass will spawn on
most anything, but they prefer the grass roots.

American Fisheries Society. 129

The President: That is the natural spawning bed of the
wild bass.

Mr. Lydell: Yes. In one pond that we have, almost invari-
ably they have cleaned off the dirt from the roots carefully
around the shore, and spawned, but in the pond that I mentioned
where they were confined they did not have enough room to
spawn on those places, and so they cleaned off the roots, ete., as I
have mentioned.

Mr. Peabody: In your opinion will the large-mouthed bass
guard their spawn beds as pertinaciously as the small-mouthed
bass do?

Mr. Lydell: I do not think so. I do not think they are as
voracious or as great fighters as the small-mouthed variety. I
think they will give up easier and let something else destroy
their bed easier than the small-mouthed bass. The question was
raised here a few minutes ago regarding the fighting qualities of
the small-mouthed bass. I know of one small-mouthed bass that
guarded its bed until it died right on the bed fighting ten other
small-mouthed bass, and some of them a great deal larger than
he was, but he kept them off for a day and one night until they
killed him.

The President: I have made this assertion, that no carp
ever got hold of an egg of a black bass unless Mr. Bass had been
first taken off from that spawning bed. I do not believe there is
such a thing as a carp ever having devoured a single egg from a
black bass bed where the black bass was on the bed. Of course if
the beds are deserted that is different, but as long as the bass is
alive and guarding the bed, no carp ever got a single egg.

Dr. Parker: My observation regarding the spawning habits
of the large-mouthed bass is that in the natural state they prefer
the lily roots, but in their absence they will take the roots of
grass or anything, but they like the large spread of the lly root.

Mr. Bower: Mr. Ravenel stated at the last meeting that in
the southern states the big-mouthed bass spawned on sand, gra-
vel, clay and in fact almost everywhere, but that they preferred
hly roots.

Dr. Bartlett: The state of Illinois presents exactly that fea-
ture in the spawning of bass—you will find their nests every-
where from gravel to simple mud. Fifty-one thousand small

130 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

black bass were taken from a place in a pond where there is no
gravel, but a black loam mud running from twelve to twenty
inches deep.

Mr. Peabody: Is it your conviction that the large-mouthed
bass do not protect their spawn or young?

Mr. Lydell: I say they do, unless a large number of other
fish drive them away. They will give up easier than the small-
mouthed bass, but they will stay with their fry longer than the
small-mouthed bass. I have had them guarding their fry until
they were one and a quarter inches long, and unless the water
becomes very roily they will not desert their fry, but if it does
become roily they will.

“Mr. Nevin: I saw hundreds of them spawn this year and not
one of them protected their spawn at all. The large-mouthed
bass do not protect their young but the small-mouthed bass will.

Mr. Lydell: We had some large-mouthed bass that spawned
and deserted their spawn in a couple of days, but on examination
we found that the eggs were blasted, and the bass undoubtedly
knew that.

Mr. Nevin: What percentage of eggs do you find impreg-
nated among bass ?

Mr. Lydell: I think close to ninety-five per cent., when they
do fertilize, is fertilized, among large-mouthed bass.

Mr. Nevin: How much among the small-mouthed bass ?

Mr. Lydell: The small-mouthed bass, some of them nearly
100 per cent., and I have had them fertilize as low as ten per
cent.

Mr. Nevin: With our beds this spring they did not impreg-
nate forty per cent.

Mr. Lydell: I have had that same condition.

Mr. Bower: I think it was stated at the last meeting that
carp brought ten to twelve cents a pound. I would like some fur-
ther information on that point.

Mr. Peabody: The statement has been made that during
the season carp has brought twenty-five cents per pound.

Mr. Bower: On Lake Erie in the month of June they get
down as low as $10 a ton. That is all the fishermen get out of
them. I have clippings here that show that statement to be true.
They have hard work to find a market for them at $10 a ton. Is

American Fisheries Society. il ut

that state of things due to the fact that it is the wrong season, or
are the Illinois fish of a better quality.

Dr. Bartlett: The carp do not bring the prices I have given
at all seasons of the year, but along the Illinois river they under-
take to catch the carp and hold them until the best season to sell
them, and they are placed in ponds for that purpose. On Clear
lake on the Illinois river a man has an enclosure of ten to twelve
acres, and these fish are put in a pen as it were and kept until
the proper time to market them.

Mr. Clark: As I have casually looked over the market re-
ports in the Fishing Gazette, I do not think I ever saw carp
quoted above three cents. I have looked at the market reports
on whitefish, bass and everything else, and if I recollect rightly,
from two to three cents is the quotation on carp.

Dr. Bartlett: [ can show you quotations at six and seven
cents.

Mr. 8. W. Downing, Put-in-Bay, O.: The reports show the
price at Ft. Clinton to be forty to sixty cents a ewt. One firm
informed me that the day before I was there they had bought
and shipped 28 tons of carp. The same firm last year bought
and shipped 709 tons, and another firm there I believe did a still
larger business, which would make something like 1,50) tons
shipped srom Ft. Clinton alone. So I think the figures given are
altogether too small.

Mr. Clark: I would like to ask how those prices, forty to
sixty cents a hundred, compare with herring prices in the fall?

Mr. Downing: A little less than now.

Mr. Clark: I mean in the fall catch, how do they compare ?

Mr. Downing: A little less than the herring, but just about
the same.

Mr. Clark: The herring is considered quite a fish in the
great lakes.

Mr. Peabody: Regarding the price of carp I had a conyer-
sation with Mr. Ravenel last summer, and I think his point very
well taken. I have known peaches to sell in the Chicago market
for five cents a basket, and I have known them to sell for $5, and
it depends entirely on the season and the conditions. Now Mr.
Ravenel says that the proper time to eat carp is about Thanks-
giving time and a little later; the carp then has value in New

132 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

York and brings a high price, but that it is marketed at all sea-
sons of the year, and as it is a good shipping fish it is shipped at
all times, and the market is very poor for it during the months
when it is more easily caught, and I think all this has something
to do with the variance in the estimate of the market value of
carp.

General Bryant: How is the quality of the carp affected by
the water it is in? Where it is in sloughs of dead and sluggish
water and becomes very warm in the summer time, is the flesh
softened and does it become flabby as other fish do, or does it
keep firm ?

Dr. Bartlett: It goes through pretty solid.

General Bryant: The water that it is in with us is of an
excellent quality and not subject to impurity.

Dr. Bartlett: You would have a good fish all the time. Carp
taken out of your waters and shipped east ought to bring good
prices.

Mr. Nevin: How would carp be if smoked?

Dr. Bartlett: Good.

Mr. Lydell: Are the bass in your river large or small-
mouthed ?

Dr. Bartlett: All large-mouthed.

Mr. Lydell: As to bass guarding their beds, I will tell you
of a case of a bass guarding two beds, or rather guarding the
same bed twice. After mating and spawning and when the fry
were hatched and ready to swim up, I set a circular screen around
the bed, but the old bass did not desert—he stayed there and
stood guard around the screen. I fed him there every day with
minnows, and after the fry were removed and the screen was
taken away, this same bass mated there again and got a second
crop of eggs on the bed, and after the second crop of fry and the
screen were removed, he still continued on guard over about
thirty fry that I purposely left there.

Mr. Nevin: Was it a large or small-mouthed bass ?

Mr. Lydell: A small-mouthed bass.

Mr. Townsend: The statistics which are on exhibition show
the shipments of carp, 3,000,000 pounds for Lake Erie amount-
ing to $50,000 for 1899.

American Fisheries Society. 133

CONCERNING FISH LAWS IN ILLINOIS.

Urbana, I1l., June 28, 1901.
S. Bower, Esq.,
Secretary American Fisheries Society,
Detroit, Mich.

My Dear Sir: Replying to your esteemed favor of the 19th
inst., requesting me to prepare a paper for the coming meeting, I
beg to express my sincere regret that circumstances render it
impossible for me to comply. Just at this moment my undivided
time and attention are devoted necessarily to the reorganization of
our warden system, in view of vhe fact that our newly amended law
for the encouragement of the propagation of fish and for their pro-
tection approved May 11 last, goes into effect on July 1, prox. This
Warden system has for some time been in a very much demoralized
condition, in part from the inaptitude of the appointees, and in a
greater sense from the fact that the statute made no provision for
remuneration for the services rendered.

Incidentally, however, it may be of interest, in default of a for-
mally prepared paper, if I convey to you some idea of the improved
situation under which we expect to find ourselves under the opera-
tion of tue amended law in Illinois. To begin with, the law will
now empower the commissioners to compensate the wardens when
on errands of duty. But above all the new law has an ample provi-
sion for the seizure and destruction of such devices for taking fish
as are declared by the act to be unlawful. This will have a most
salutary effect on all violators of the law. Hitherto it has been a
practical impossibility to secure convictions in our river towns.
Local sympathy ran almost uniformly with the fishermen, in conse-
quence of which justice, juries and state’s attorneys seemed im-
pelled to override evidence, and the result was that the rights of
the people were ignored and the statutes practically nullified, so
that the destruction of tne fish supply went on almost without let or
hindrance. This exasperating state of affairs naturally demoralized
the Warden service. It was useless to send a Warden to make an
arrest, because the failure to impose, and collect a fine merely
operated to bring the law still farther into contempt. The commis-
sion was therefore constrained to abandon prosecutions in localities
where conditions such as these existed.

These exigencies inspired the commission to seek a remedy in
the legislature by having introduced a new measure, the one to
which I have already referred as coming into effect July 1 prox., a
measure much better calculated to cope with the situation. After

134 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

convincing the members of the utility of and the necessity for such
legislation as the measure asked, but little difficulty was experi-
enced in securing its passage, to take effect as already stated. One
of its wisest provisions in my opinion, and the one that will yield
the best results, is that which prohibits fishing within 400 feet of
any dam between the 15th day of April and the 15th day of June.
I mention here a single instance tnat came under my personal obser-
vation illustrating the destructiveness of the practice which this
provision is intended to cure. It was at the Waldron dam, in the
Kankakee river where one rod in a single day took 135 bass, most
of them females. Can there be anything in the way of protective
legislation more productive of good results in the perpetuation of
our game fishes, than the positive prohibition of this barbarous
method of taking the parent fish while on their journey seeking a
place to propagate their young? We are simply endeavoring to
bring the law to the assistance of these pretty and useful denizens
of the water in their efforts to perpetuate their species for the
benent of mankind. The destruction of game fish by indiscriminate
angling from April 15 to June 15 below dams is the fruitful cause of
the depletion of many of our inland streams. In a word, it is the
paramount evil that has retarded the increase of game fishes in our
waters.

Fish leave their winter quarters, ascend the streams early in
the spring, and they find their progress retarded by various obstruc-
tions, dams being the chief and most formidable. Before these
obstructions, the fish congregate by thousands, unable to proceed
further. A few succeea in getting ahead by means of fishways,
where such provisions are made; but the great body of them are
at the merey of the unscrupulous angler who never leaves the spot
so long as a poor, heipless, hungry denizen of the water will consent
to be landed in his creel. He goes home with his enormous catch,
and ignorantly gloats over the destruction of millions of fishes
which future generations ought to enjoy. He is unable to see an
inch ahead of his nose, and to recognize the fact that he is taking
out of the water the muitiplied and multiplying progeny of these
helpless creatures, the stock which nature is striving to supply for
the years to come.

I ought to mention that the stipulated limitation here mentioned
—the sixty days between April 15 and June 15—is a compromise. It
was the desire of the commission to make the limitation cover the
entire time from April 1 to July 1; but the opposition was so deter-
mined that it was deemed expedient to agree to the sixty day limi-
tation, rather than incur the risk of having the bill defeated in toto.
It is wise to recognize the fact that measures of a drastic character
must be brought before the people by degrees.

Another feature of our new law which we regard as of vital
importance is the provision which prohibits the taking of bass with

American Fisheries Society. 135

any device other than hook and line, thus making the angler the
sole beneficiary of this species.

Presumably, if the sportsmen of Illinois could have the oppor-
tunity to legislate upon the question of the use of nets or seines,
there would be a practically unanimous vote in favor of abolishing
their use entirely. But what would be the result of that? In IIli-
nois there are thousands of people who earn their bread almost
entirely by taking the coarse fishes that the angler despises. These
people would be practically thrown out of employment, and many
of the river towns would feel the effects of losing a considerable
portion of their population. Thousands of dollars that are invested
in tackle and boats would lie and rot on the banks, and vast sums of
money that come from eastern markets in the purchase of these
coarse fishes would cease to pour in, for fish that refuse to be
ensnared by the anglers’ lure can only be taken by net or seine.

It is evident that the industry in these coarse fishes must be
fostered. It is a matter of no small commercial importance. Over
14,000,000 pounds of this class of fish were taken last year within
the jurisdiction of Illinois. The laboring man, earning a dollar a
day, cannot pay 25 cents a pound for the finer fish taken by the
angler. Carp, the much abused Cyprinoid, that has not had a word
of praise from any mortal since its introduction in this continent—
villified by every sporting paper from Maine to California, a night-
mare for the angler, and a general all-around Jonah—will yet loom
up like a Phoenix in the piscatorial horizon as the future cheap food
supply for the generations that are to come. Permit me to set down
here a little anecdote illustrating my opinion of the carp as a food
fish, and showing that the tirade against it is mostly prejudice.
Some two years ago, my esteemed colleague Col. S. P. Bartlett and
myself were at Springfield endeavoring to convince the legislature
that it was necessary for the Fish Commission to have a new boat,
because the old one lacked capacity for the accomplishment of the
work laid out for the vear then ensuing. We thought we were meet-
ing with fair success, until one of the members arose and cried out,
in a ponderous voice: “That’s the man,” pointing to Col. Bartlett,
“who introduced those infernal Dutch Carp that kill all other fish,
and arent fit for a dog to eat.” We supposed we were lost; but the
bill was only on its secon. reading, and we had anotner chance.
Col. Bartlett sent to Meredosia for a twenty-pound Carp, turned it
over to the chef at the hotel and gave instructions to have it well
prepared and put on the menu as “Red-snapper.”” The instructions
were followed and it came on in an artistic manner. When dinner
was served, not less than twenty of the members called for “Red-
snapper” from two to three times. After they discovered they had
eaten Carp, our bill passed without a dissenting vote. We never
heard anything more in the way of tirade against Carp during that
session. I give this anecdote to show that it takes a connoisseur at

136 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

least to distinguish Carp when properly prepared. Suppose we
grant that it was a mistake to introduce these fishes into our
waters, is it not better to take them also under the protection of
our laws, to regard them as a real money producer and a source of
cheap food for a large class of our people, since all this can be so
readily accomplished without detriment to our game fishes?

In a word now, our new law gives the market:fisherman an
opportunity to realize his revenues from August 1 to April 15 in the
rivers used for commercial navigation only; all other streams and
lakes will be left for the angler. With the proper enforcement of
the amended law of which I have spoken, there is every reason to
expect cuat the coarse fishes will remain abundant in our waters,
and that the game fishes will increase from year to year. Thus I
trust you will be able to get a faint glimpse of the fact that we are
striving to do a good work in Illinois, in preserving and enlarging
the means which God and nature have placed in our hands for sup-
p.ying an inexpensive and healthful food for the tables of the masses
and a dainty for the tables of the rich and the well-to-do. In this
important work we shall progress the more the better the people—
the source of our authority—understand the methods by which and
the ends to which our efforts are directed.

Wishing you a pleasant and very profitable meeting, I am,

Very sincerely yours,
NAT. H. COHEN,
President Illinois Fish Commission.

Amervcan Fisheries Society. 137

STURGEON HATCHING IN THE LAKE CHAMPLAIN
BASIN.*

BY LIVINGSTON STONE.

Somewhat of the mystery formerly surrounding the taking
and fertilizing of sturgeon eggs on a large scale has been re-
moved, only to be replaced by the appearance of difficulties
which seem even now to be almost insurmountable. Only three
years ago, it was a mystery why the net fishermen, while they
caught plenty of parent sturgeon with eggs in all stages of ma-
turity, never caught any with wholly ripe eggs in them. Now
that we know the reason of this to be that ripe sturgeon caught
in nets, throw all their eggs in their efforts to liberate them-
selves, the difficulty arises of securing the parent fish before they
throw their egqs.

We adopted various devices, this spring, to accomplish this
object. We set trap nets in the two rivers and also in the lake,
but the sturgeon would not go into the trap nets. We set gill
nets in various places in both the Lamoille and the Missisquoi
rivers, and we had these nets overhauled every hour,
might and day. We also overhauled and examined all the
parent sturgeon in the pens every day, but somehow most of the
ripe fish eluded us in one way or another before their eggs could
be secured. In some instances, even when we had a night guard
on duty, parent fish caught at night by the fishermen, and put in
confinement were stolen before morning, the high price paid for
caviare sturgeon (1. e., female sturgeon with nearly ripe eggs in
them) being a sufficient incentive to poachers to incur unusual
risks in stealing them. At other times, ripe fish gilled at mght
and safely conveyed to the pens by the fishermen would spawn in
confinement before morning, thus eluding the spawn takers. At
this was on the 13th of May,

another time, a large ripe

female sturgeon of nearly a hundred pounds in weight was found

* The operations referred to in this paper were conducted under the auspices of
the United 8tates Fish Commission, by the writer, very ably assisted by Mr. Myron
Green, in Northwestern Vermont, in the Missisquoi River and the Lamoille River,
tributaries of Lake Champlain, and in the Lake itself,

138 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

in our Missisquoi River pens. There were three able bodied men
present to handle the fish besides the writer, who stood by, ready
with the spawning pan. The fish was no sooner lifted from the
dip net by the men on the stripping platform, than with two ter-
rific blows with tail right and left, she sent her eggs flying across
the platform to the distance of a rod or two, in the meantime
struggling so violently that it required the combined efforts of the
three men to hold her. Finally having subsided to a degree of
comparative quietness, the few remaining eggs in her—perhaps
20,000—were taken, but though these were successfully hatched,
the stripping of the fish was, of course, a failure, as not more
than four per cent. of the eggs were taken. At still another time,
three large female sturgeon, supposed to be fully ripe were
caught. On holding the fish up by the tail, the eggs sagged in
the abdomen as with a fully ripe salmon, and in order to ensure
our not losing these eggs as others had been previously lost, two
of these fish were knocked in the head and instantly killed, when,
to the great dismay of the spawn takers, the eggs were found
after all, not to be sufficiently mature to be fertilized. To avoid
a repetition of this risk, the third fish, which appeared to be the
least ripe of all, was put in confinement to ensure the further
ripening of her eggs. This fish spawned that very night.

The above instances illustrate how elusive and disappointing
the sturgeon were, when an attempt was made to get their eggs,
and now many difficulties presented themselves, even after their
mysterious character had been removed.

The difficulties did not prove wholly insurmountable, how-
ever. All the fishing for spawning sturgeon had been done, this
year, on the Missisquoi with nets. On the Lamoille, we encoun-
tered something different. Near the south bank of that river,
about four miles from its mouth, and half a mile from the West
Milton postoftice, Vermont, is a place known to the residents of
that neighborhood as the “Sturgeon Hole.” Here the main body
of the river rushes through a rocky gorge not over twenty or
thirty feet wide, with precipitous walls of solid rock on each side.
Just below the gorge is a hole about forty-five feet deep, appar-
ently shaped somewhat like a boat, in which the spawning stur-
geon collect, usually very soon after their appearance at the
mouth of the river, but most probably when the water reaches

American Fisheries Society. 139

the right temperature for spawning. The water is too deep to
spear the fish here and nets cannot be used, but the sturgeon are
taken by twitching them up with hooks. We watched this hole
night and day, after the appearance of the sturgeon at the mouth
of the river, and obtained many breeders from the “Hole” after
they had begun to collect in it, twenty-seven being caught on the
22nd of May, the temperature of the water being 68 degrees F.
These were all or nearly all ripe males, but on the afternoon of
the 23d of May too entirely ripe females were hooked up. The
fish not struggling violently at first, the men stopped the flow of
eges by stuffing their handkerchiefs into the vent. The fish were
then towed across the river, where the males had been secured,
and were instantly killed by being knocked in the head. Their
eggs were taken and treated lke pike perch eggs, as to impreg-
nating, mixing with milt, rinsing, ete.

In the meantime, a rude hatchery had been constructed on
the north bank of the Lamoille, with a battery of twenty-two
jars, a short distance from the Sturgeon Hole. The eggs now
obtained were all placed in the jars, where they appeared to do
finely.’ The next day, the writer took a few thousand over to the
hatchery at Swanton, where they subsequently hatched out with-
out difficulty. The remainder were left at the temporary
hatchery on the Lamoille. The hatching water for our battery
here was obtained from a spring brook, which rose, I think,
about a mile to the north. Before locating the hatchery at this
point, Mr. Green and the writer had many discussions as_ to
whether the water in the brook might not get too cold for the
sturgeon eggs. There was no other supply obtainable, however,
with the limited means at our disposal. It was ‘“‘Hobson’s

choice,’—take that or nothing—so we took the hatching water
from the brook. For a time, the weather remained fairly warm,
and the eggs did well. It was found on examination of the eggs,
when the form of the fish first appeared in the embryo, that
nearly ninety per cent. of the eggs were impregnated. ‘Then
there came a frost, one morning, and the water dropped to 50
degrees F. The next night, there came another frost, and the
water fell to 45 degrees F., and then the sturgeon eggs all died.
It was a bitter disappointment. We had struggled against great
discouragements, and now we thought we were on the eve of a

140 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

great success, instead of which we were on the eve of a great
failure.

A consignment of eggs which had been in the meantime sent
to Cape Vincent Station met with the same fate, the water of the
St. Lawrence used at this station being also comparatively cold
at this season.

We afterwards discovered a spawning ground of the stur-
geon on the shore of Lake Champlain, a short distance south of
the mouth of the Lamoille. Here is a well-protected bay, with a
beach sloping very gradually out to deep water. In the shallow
waters of this bay, in water not over three feet deep, strange to
say, the sturgeon come to spawn in the month of June. Here we
found them spawning in plain sight from the shore. We
set trap nets and gill nets here, and caught many ripe males and
several ripe females, the first week in June, but did not succeed
in collecting any impregnated eggs.

I may add here that the sturgeon eggs that we took averaged
850 to the fluid ounce. They are apparently amorphous as to
shape, and of a dull and dirty color, but this appearance is given
them by a cobwebby film which surrounds each egg. The film
can be easily separated from the eggs by squeezing the egg out of
it with the fingers, and the egg is then seen to be spherical, clear.
and crystalline like other fish eggs, and not very different in size
from white fish eggs, though perhaps somewhat larger.

The eggs come very easily from the parent fish when they are
ripe. They are somewhat glutinous, but if taken from a freshly
caugh fish, they are no more so than pike perch eggs, and if
treated as pike perch eggs are when taken, they will give no
trouble in sticking together, and will easily hatch out eighty per
cent. or ninety per cent. of healthy fry. The eggs that were
taken at the Swanton hatchery hatched in seven days in an aver-
age temperature of 65 degrees F. Their mobility was so much
less than that of pike perch eggs that it took a stream of water
running through a three-eighth inch rubber tube with about a six
foot pressure to keep them in motion in the hatching jars. The
young fry are hardy and very active, but if they are to be con-
fined in tanks or troughs, the screening must be very tight, as
they can work themselves through an extremely small crevice.

Allow me to state in conclusion, as I have already done, in

American Fisheries Society. 141

my annual report to the United States Commissioner of Fish
and Fisheries, that the following points in regard to Lake Stur-
geon and Sturgeon hatching may be considered as pretty well
established :

1. The Lake Sturgeon go up the tributary rivers of Lake
Champlain to spawn. They ascend different rivers at different
times, the time for each river appearing to be determined by the
temperature of the water. The river that the spawning sturgeon
of Lake Champlain first ascend is the Missisquoi, in the extreme
northwestern corner of Vermont. They go up this river very
soon after the pike perch have finished spawning in the river,
which is usually the latter part of April. The largest number of
ripe fish appeared about May 13th. The spawning sturgeon were
all out of the river by May 20th.

The Lake Champlain sturgeon ascend the Lamoille, a Ver-
mont river which flows into the lake about thirty miles south of
the Missisquoi, somewhat later. This year their first appearance
at the mouth of this river was about the middle of May; and they
collected in the Sturgeon Hole in the greatest numbers for
spawning on the 23d of May. They had all left the river by the
end of May.

2. The Lake Sturgeon spawn in the shallow waters of the
lake in June. At least, there is a spawning bed in the shallow
water of the bay just south of the mouth of the Lamoille, where
the sturgeon come to deposit their eggs. Parent fish collect in
this bay to spawn about two weeks later than they are found in
their greatest numbers in the Sturgeon Hole of the Lamoille.
The largest number of ripe ones was observed on June 4th. By
June 15th, all had left the spawning grounds of the bay.

3. As far as we have observed, the Lake Sturgeon will not
spawn until the water reaches a temperature of 60 degrees F.
In our experience on both lake and river, we have never found
sturgeon spawning in colder water than this. We are conse-
quently led to believe that they require water at or above 60 de-
grees F., though of course, this must be accepted only as an
inference.

4. The Lake Sturgeon spawn at various periods later than
they do in the bay just mentioned, as is evidenced by the fact that

142 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

we caught parent fish in June with eggs that would not have
been ripe for a fortnight, and others with eggs that would not
have ripened for a month or longer.

5. ‘The parent sturgeon do not seem to ripen their eggs well
in confinement, unless they are very nearly ripe when captured.
We found that the eggs of the fish that we kept in our pens
caked together and otherwise became very poor, if the fish were
too long confined, and the eggs would probably not have been sus-
ceptible to impregnation even if they had ripened enough to be
extruded from the fish. This point must not be accepted yet as
conclusive, for it is quite probable, I think, that means will be
found eventually for keeping sturgeon in captivity without in-
juring their eggs till they are ready to spawn.

The spawning season at the various spawning grounds of the
Lake Sturgeon is very short. They are doubtless spawning
somewhere all summer, but at any specified spawning ground, I
do not believe that they are in the act of spawning over three or
four days. I have set wide limits in this paper to the period that
the spawning sturgeon remain on their spawning beds, in order
to be on the safe side, but | think that on a more thorough inves-
tigation, these mits will be very much narrowed.

wv

7. Unless some device has been adopted for forcibly retain-
ing the eggs in the parent sturgeon, it seems to be almost useless
to attempt to strip a ripe fish after it has once been lifted out of
the water alive. A few seconds of time and a few powerful
strokes of the tail are sufficient to throw all their eggs to the four
winds. If the eggs are ripe, it must be ascertained before the
fish is taken from the water, or the instant it is lifted from the
water. The vent can then be plugged, the fish put in a straight-
jacket, and the eggs taken without difficulty. We adopted various
ways of “plugging” the parent sturgeon, but after all, the most
effective way was to stuff a handkerchief instantly into the vent,
and keep it there. If this is done quickly enough it will be a
success. If something of the kind is not done or if the ripe stur-
geon is given any time to struggle, if only for a few seconds, the
eggs will be lost.

8. The eggs of the Lake Sturgeon, once they are taken, are
easily impregnated. It has frequently, in fact almost always

American Fisheries Soctety. 143

happened, that when a straggling ripe female has been found, or
when the females have been ripened in confinement, ripe males
for fertilizing the eggs could not be found. On the other hand,
if the ripe females are captured during the three or four days
during which they are collected on the spawning beds, ripe males
will be found in abundance. When we caught the ripe females
in the Lamoille “Sturgeon Hole,” we could have taken a quart
of milt from the males, if it had been necessary.

9. The eggs of the Lake Sturgeon are easily hatched. Any
of the hatching jars in use for pike perch and white fish are
suitable for the purpose. Run a stream of water through the
jars with sufficient pressure to keep the eggs in healthy motion,
and they will hatch without trouble and without much loss. It
is highly probable that eighty per cent or ninety per cent. of
sturgeon eggs taken under favorable conditions will be hatched
in the future.

144 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

NEW PENNSYLVANIA LAWS FOR THE PROTECTION
OF FOOD FISH.

BY DR. BUSHROD WASHINGTON JAMES, (A. M., LL. D.),
Of Pennsylvania.

For a number of years the Pennsylvania Fish Commissioners
and the Pennsylvania Fish Protective Association have been
working in harmony to induce the Legislature to aid them by
law in protecting food fish from destruction. 'Time after time
bills have been laid before our law makers, and some have been
passed, which aimed at guarding the fish from depredation.

The United States Fish Commission has spent large sums of
money and much scientific labor in propagating and distributing
the most desirable kinds of fish in numberless streams and rivers
along either coast as well as in the interior states. Yet their
efforts have been but partially successful because of the persis-
tence of fishermen and other sportsmen who will in season and
out of season, catch the half grown and even very young fry of
those which have been carefully hatched and planted for future
benefit. The two societies named have used their utmost endea-
vor to aid in keeping the few laws that have been passed but they
felt their inefficiency because of the imperfection of the Legis-
lation.

Several times they have jointly tried to have a certain set of
laws passed which they codified with most careful consideration
of every point requisite to secure the much desired results. But
until this year efforts have been almost in vain, notwithstanding
the earnest personal attention given by several members of the
Board of Fish Commission and of our society. The writer was
for years chairman of the committee appoined to formulate a
new code of laws and to carry them through. When he became
president of the Pennsylvania Fish Protective Association he
appointed another committee on Legislation of which Mr.
Howard F. Chase is chairman. This committee has acted with
a joint committee from the Board of State Fish Commissioners,
Mr. William E. Meehan, chairman. It is with satisfaction there-
fore that he finds the laws actually passed and made available

American Fisheries Society. 145

for the future protection of the beautiful and delicious denizens
of our noble rivers and lovely mountain streams.

The act, for obvious reasons, does not embrace the border
waters of Lake Erie or the Delaware River, for all other water
ways in the state it goes into effect immediately. It embraces
the following :

Section 1. These are game fish: Salmon, all species of trout,
black and Oswego bass, crappie, grass, strawberry, white and rock
bass, blue pike, pike-perch or Susquehanna salmon, pike, pickerel,
sunfish and muscallonge. These are called food fish: Shad, white
fish, herring, lake herring, cisco, alewife, sturgeon and striped bass
or rock fish.

Section 2. Game fish may be caught only with rod, hook and
line or hand line not having more than three hooks. Food fish only
with devices specifically named. Fine, $25.

Section 3. Open season for brook trout, April 15th to July 31st;
lake trout, January 1st to September ist; black bass, sunfish, all
species of bass except striped bass, pike-perch or Susquehanna sal-
mon, pike, pickerel and muscallonge, June 15th to February 15th.
Fine, $10 for each fish. (Note.—Striped bass or rock fish, shad and
herring, may be caught with rod, hook and line or trolling line at
any time).

Section 4. Must not catch or kill white rock or strawberry bass.
less than five inches in length; brook trout, less than six inches;
black bass, seven inches; lake trout, Oswego bass, striped bass or
rock fish, blue pike, pike-perch or Susquehanna salmon, pike, pick-
erel and muscallonge, less than nine inches in length. Fine, $10 for
each fish.

Section 5. Unlawful to catch more than fifty brook trout in one
day. Fine, $10 for each fish over that number.

Among the greatest enemies to the protection of the fish
were nets, which scooped up all kinds and all ages of the fish,
from which the large ones were selected and the others either
thrown away or wasted as bait for larger fish in deeper streams.
Eel pots also were used to the detriment of the young fish. The
following laws concerning them, if properly enforced will be
very beneficial to the planted fry:

THE USE OF NETS AND OTHER DEVICES.

Section 6. Eel pots made of wicker work, five feet long, open-
ing two and one-half inches wide, lawful except in trout streams.

Section 7. Lawful to use dip nets, spanning five feet, two inch
mesh, except in trout streams, during March, April, May, October,

146 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

November and December, for carp, suckers, catfish and eels. Other
fish to be returned. Penalty, $10 each fish and forfeiture of nets, ete.

Section 8. Lawful to use fyke nets, without wings, except in
trout streams, not set to openings in dams or to wing walls, for carp,
suckers, catfish and eels, in March, April, May, October, November
and December, and in shad streams only in March, April and May.
Each net must have metal tag with name and residence of owner.
Other fish to be returned. Fine, $25 for illegal placing, $10 for each
fish unlawfully kept and forfeiture of nets illegally set.

Section 9. Lawful to use seines, mesh 11% inch, except in trout
streams and natural lakes, for carp, catfish, suckers and eels, pro-
vided bond amount of $200 be first given Fish Commission, other
fish to be returned. Fine, $100 and six months’ imprisonment, also
forfeiture nets, voats, etc.

Section 10. Lawful to fish for herring,shad, striped bass or rock
fish and sturgeon with seines or other nets, from January ist to
June 20th, except between Saturday sunset and Sunday midnight.
Meshes for herring nets, 244 inches; for shad and striped bass or
rock fish, 4 inches, and sturgeon, 10% inches. No net to be set or
fastened at both ends. Fine, $100 and forfeiture ot nets, boats, etc.

Section 11. Lawful to use lay-out lines from sunset to sunrise,
except in trout streams, for catfish, eels, carp and suckers. In trout
streams, with one hook only, each line to have tag bearing name
and residence of owner. Line must be on bottom. Cut or dead bait
only. Other fish than those named to be returned. Possession of
other fish by operator of lay-out or single line, illegal. Fine, $25
and forfeiture of lines.

Section 12. Unlawful to kill young sturgeon. Fine, $20 each
fish.

Another manner of obtaining large quantities of fish is by
sereens, fish ways, or other devices for catching and detaining
them on their way along the rivers either to their spawning
erounds or on their outward course to deep water. The law
relating to these is made quite plain. We quote,

FISHWAYS, SCREENS AND OBSTRUCTIONS.

Section 13. Fish Commissioners may compel erection of fish
ways in all dams, and collect cost from owners. Also fine $50 a
month.

.Section 14. Fish Commission may order net or screens across
race ways or flumes to keep fish from entering. Fine, $50, and Com-
mission may place such nets and collect cost.

section 15. No fishing except with rod, hook and line within
one-fourth of a mile of a fish way, and no obstruction to be placed

American Fisheries Socvety. 147

which will prevent free passage of fish. Fine, $100 and forfeiture
of all devices used.

Section 16. All obstructions to fish ways to be removed by Com-
missioners, and builders fined $100.

There was a great necessity for regulating the sale of game
fish and for specifying the times at which artificially bred fish
were to be sold, as some proprietors of fish ponds had the idea
that they could control the matter without legal interference,
hence the importance of the following sections:

REGULATING SALE OF GAME FISH.

Section 17. Uniawful to purchase, sell or offer for sale any
dead game or food fish, except during open season and six days
thereafter. Fine, $10 for each ush.

Section 18. Unlawful for any proprietor, manager, club or
agent of any market, hotel, boaraing house, eating house, saloon, to
buy, sell or expose for sale any speckled trout, or to employ any
one to catch or fish for trout, provided that nothing in the section
shall be construed to prevent during the open season, any person or
company from selling trout or speckled trout bred and raised arti-
ficially. Fine $25 for each offense.

Section 19. Lawful for any person, company or corporation
engaged in the cultivation of trout to sell trout at any time of year
for stocking purposes only on condition that the fish when trans-
ported are accompanied by a certificate of Justice of the Peace
certifying that said trout are raised by the owners for artificial
propagation only. But no company may sell trout for food purposes
during close season. Persons transporting or selling shall be sub-
ject to a fine of $100.

Section 20. Fish caught unlawfully must be returned unharmed
to the water. Fine $10 for each fish.

Another particular difficulty meeting the fish hatcheries and
private fish ponds is the injury done by trespassing. It would
be well if the law relating to the trespasser were posted in plain
view of the fisheries and hatching places. It reads as follows:

IN RELATION TO TRESPASS.

Section 21. Unlawful to trespass with intent to fish on a State
fish hatchery, or on property of corporation operating hatchery not
for profit, provided no screens are maintained to prevent free pass-
age of fish, also such property must be indicated by signs. Persons
may not fish on such property from roadways or bridges, and do-
mestic fowls tresspassing may be killed after five days’ notice to
owners. Penalty for trespassing on such land $25.

148 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

We think it doubtful if the pubic have ever thoroughly
understood that the Fish Commission is a public institution
created for the general benefit and not for the community of
sporting men as it has been believed by a few who denied the
importance of any legislation concerning fish and eels. The
sections here quoted put the matter plainly:

DISTRIBUTION OF FISH AND PUBLIC WATERS.

Section 22. Unlawful to apply for or to be concerned in apply-
ing for self or another any game or food fish for waters in which the
public are not allowed to fish. Eggs exempted, also fish and eggs
for schools. Fine $25.

Section 23. Free waters to comprise those declared navigable
by the acts of Assembly or public by common law, and such others
as are made public by owners by grant or usage.

Section 24. The Fish Commissioners may give preference in
distributing fish to waters in lands owned by the state.

Section 25. Wnenever fish are planted in waters on written
application of owners or lessees such waters are declared open to
the public for fishing purposes thereafter. Provided, that the sec-
tion shall not be construed to permit any person fishing in such
waters from the banks without permission of owners or lessees;
small spring runs tributary to trout streams not included.

At the time of the introduction of German Carp into our fish-
ing streams it was supposed to be a food fish innocent of any very
pernicious habits, but experience has shown that the larger fish
are not agreeable for food and they do unquestionably destroy,-
or devour the young of our far more desirable fish. Old fisher-
men along the borders of our inland rivers or creeks bewail the
presence of the “great rough fish.” They point to the coffee
colored waters of the once silvery streams and say that they
never were so until the carp were put there. One old man on the
Perkiomen said: “There aint no fishin’ any more; what the
cussed carp don’t eat he frightens away with his lashin’ on the
bottom of the creek.” Whether this be true or not the turbid
waters must have some cause for the new feature in their color-
ing. The Fish Commission has doubtless solved the problem as

the following sections would denote :

GERMAN CARP UNLAWFUL FISH.

Section 26. Unlawful to fish with any poison or explosive, and
no explosive sha.: be used in waters except for engineering pur-

American Fisheries Society. 149

poses, after written permission is obtained from proper national,
state, city or county official. Fine, $100 and imprisonment for six
monvas.

Section 27. Unlawful to plant German carp or use this fish for
bait. Fine, $100.

Section 28. Unlawful to plant pike, pickerel, black bass or
carnivorous fish in waters inhabited by trout without consent of
owners and Fish Commissioners. Fine, $100.

Section 29. Bait fish may be caught by minnow nets for ang-
ling or scientific purposes, and game fish during close season by
owners of water for stocking other waters; provided such netting is
done under supervision of the Commissioners or authorized repre-
sentatives. Commissioners may also remove injurious fish with
nets at any time.

There are times in which valuable food fish fall off in quan-
tity with the danger of extinction if some means is not provided
for their defense. The following law was formulated to meet
such emergency :

OTHER FISH THAN THOSE SPECIFICALLY NAMED.

Section 30. The Fish Commission may declare by public proc-
lamation a close season in any fish not specifically named in the
act; provided such close season shall not prevail for more than
three years. Fine for catching such fish in close season, $25.

There are fishes in our rivers that are regarded as good for
food but which are not included in the species that are under the
direct protection of the society. These are free to be taken at
any time considered seasonable, providing the protected varie-
ties are left unmolested, it being stated in a former section of
this act that any so taken shall be returned to the water. The
section relating to free fishing is as follows:

Section 31. Fish not specifically named in the act as game or
food fish may be taken at any time of the year with rod, hook and

line or hand line not having more than three hooks; provided this
does not conflict with the conditions of the previous section.

Section 32. The prohibitions and penalties in the act do not
apply to the Delaware river or Lake Erie

Having thus made plain the laws regulating the catching of
the food fishes which have been considered of sufficient impor-
tance to require the attention of such a body of men as the gov-
ernment now upholds, it was deemed advisable to form laws to

150 Thirtieth Annual Meetin 2

guide such officers as were required for the maintenance of these
codified laws, therefore the following laws were adopted showing
clearly the officers and their duties; we quote in full:

DUTIES OF FISH WARDENS AND OTHERS.

Section 33. Fish Commissioners, Fish Wardens, Sheriffs,
Deputy Sheriffs and constables, special officers or any peace officers
are authorized and commanded to destroy any device used con-
trary to law, and persons placing devices or fishing illegally may be
arrested without warrants. Arrests may be made on Sunday and
proceeded against as soon as possible thereafter.

Section 34. Any Sheriff, Deputy Sheriff, constable or any peace
officer who shall refuse or neglect to proceed with sufficient force to
remove and destroy illegal devices shall be deemed guilty of mis-
demeanor and subject to a fine of $500.

Section 35. Persons interfering with any officer in discharge
of his duty shall be subject to a fine of $100, or be imprisoned not
less than three months, or both, at the discretion of the Magistrate
of the court.

DISPOSITION OF FINES.

Section 36. One-half of every fine collected recovered, to be
paid to informer, the other half to the Fish Commission for fish
propagation and protection.

Section 37. Possession of fishes out of season, or illegal size,
or illegal nets, considered prima facie evidence of guilt.

Section 38. Any Justice of the Peace, Alderman or Magistrate,
upon information or complaint made by affidavit, is authorized and
required to issue his warrant, to cause such person or persons to be
arrested and brought before such Magistrate, etc., who shall hear
and determine the guilt or innocence of the accused, who, if con-
victed, shall be sentenced to pay fines or penalties, and in case the
defendant or defendants neglect to pay at once, the defendant or
defendants shall be sentenced to undergo imprisonment in the
county jail for the period of one day for each dollar of fine so
imposed and unpaia.

Section 39. The Fish Commission may close a newly stocked
stream or lake for three years, on notice given in at least two news-
papers of the county, any person fishing such waters subject to a
fine of $10 for each fish taken.

Section 40. All actions must be brought within one year.

FISH COMMISSIONERS.

Section 41-42. The Governor shall appoint six Fish Commis-
sioners, who care for the fish cultural and protective work of the

American Fisheries Society. 15k

state. They have power to enforce the provinces of the act, to
appoint fish wardens and issue bulletins on fish cultura! matters.

Section 43. There shall be not more than twelve regular war-
dens, at such salary as Commissioners may determine, who shall
be subject to duty at ail time and in any part of the state. One of
these shall be a chief, with headquarters at Harrisburg.

Section 44. Wardens, Sheriffs and constables are given the
right of search.

Section 45. No salary for wardens shall in the aggregate ex-
ceed the amount appropriated by the state specifically for this
purpose.

Section 46. Special Wardens, without salary, may be appointed
on the application of any properly organized fish protective associa-
tion or associations with established hatching houses.

Section 47. All wardens are subject to removal at any time by
the Fish Commissioners.

These laws and regulations, of course, have been codified and
passed into active service in and for the State of Pennsylvania.
But it may be possible that other states will view them with
favor and follow with equally beneficial legislation. This sub-
ject, it will be remembered, was under consideration some years
ago and a committee was formed with the hope of inducing the
numerous states to adopt uniform laws on this important sub-
ject.

152 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

BROOK TROUT NOTES.
BY W. T. THOMPSON.

Our country is peculiarly fortunate in the great area of its
trout waters. There are but few localities, excepting the extreme
south and some of the prairie states which cannot boast of one or
more suitable streams.

Varieties and sub-varieties are scarcely less numerous than
are the waters. Hach section has its aspirant for the popular
favor, some favorite son as it were, whose peculiar claims are
always loyally, if not consistently paraded for public view.
They also have the “Brook Trout.” You will find it the same
story everywhere, always: the “Brook Trout” and—some other
trout. The uninitiated finally concludes there are but two divi-
sions: the “Brook Trout” and the other trout.

I wish to call attention to two points mentioned in my paper
last year:

1. Karly feeding of fry. Fry should always be taught to
feed before they can swim, when you see them begin to withdraw
from the huddling, wriggling mass and take up a separate and
individual existence, scurrying independently around the bottom
of the trough, you may know that, in response to nature’s de-
mands, they are looking for food. Give it to them, no after care
can make amends for neglect now. They require but little at a
time. Give it to them in homeopathic doses. Don’t foul your
troughs. Brook Trout, in common with some other members of
the Salmonidae will begin to feed from one to three weeks, vary-
ing with the water temperatures, before they can swim. ‘T'ry it.
Try it yourself. Don’t entrust this most important work to
some one simply because he can’t do anything else satisfactorily.
Mr. J. W. Titcomb, our former president, has a most delight-
fully dry vein of humor which he taps on proper occasion as
when he remarked last summer during his illustrated lecture at
Woods Hole, in explanation of a certain lantern slide: “We
once had a very lazy man at St. Johnsbury. I had heard that it
took a lazy man to feed fish, so I tried him.” Adding with a

American Fisheries Society. ik 3

tinge of pathos in his voice: “He isn’t with us now.” The
tone, supplementing the picture, told the whole story.

2. Care of weaklings. Quite recently I talked on this sub-
ject with a fish culturist, who bears a most excellent reputation
for careful, conscientious work. He lamented the difficulty and
tediousness of feeding the weaklings who had fallen back to the
tail screen. Said he: “I can’t feed them there satisfactorily so
I take them up with a net and carry them to the head end before
I feed the trough.” “But are they not back at the tail by the

2” “Yes, that’s true, they are and it takes consid-

next feed time
erable labor to repeat the operation each time. I suppose Supt.
Blank thinks I consume a great deal of unnecessary time in so
doing, but I can’t feed them with any measure of success othe1-
wise.” ‘Troughs need constant thinning, when you have these
weaklings in the net, why not transfer them to a different
trough along with other similar unfortunates thereby really com-
bining in this one act the three operations of thinning, sorting
and caring for the weaklings. Give these latter several salt
baths to cure the frayed and fungused fins and heal the con-
gested gills. A lhttle extra attention in feeding and you soon
have a trough of average fry out of your hospital. Visitors fre-
quently comment on the almost entire absence of fish at the
lower end of our troughs. Yet up to the present time, we have
done no sorting except by this simple method. Always do your
thinning from the tail end. Leave your strong head-enders to-
gether. Feeding is greatly facilitated as well as simplified. We
rarely consume thirty minutes in thoroughly feeding about
125,000 trout and salmon fry, now being carried to the finger-
ling stage, and occupying some thirty troughs and ten ponds.

Transferring from trough to pond. One great drawback
that the young fish culturist experiences is the difficulty of find-
ing recent text books. Our authorities are largely out of date,
their methods obsolete. Quoting from a standard authority:
“The rearing ponds are stocked gradually, 500 to 1,000 being
placed in the pond and trained to take food before more are
added, as that number can generally find enough food to subsist
upon until they learn to take artificial food. When they have
been accustomed to hand feeding, another 1,000 fish are added

Sp

154 ‘Thirtieth Annual Meeting

and in about ten days 2,000 more, this practice being continued
until the pond is stocked with the desired number.” From
another venerable authority on the same subject, we learn that:
“A certain fashionable woman owned a most wonderful lap dog,
A most remarkable creature, possessed of every virtue of his kind
save, save one—Alas! poor Fido had a long silky tail while
fashion decreed that only bob-tails should be worn. Necessity
was ever the mother of invention. Early one summer morning,
Fido’s neighbors were aroused from their slumber and startled
by the most heartrending yelps and nowls, then all was quiet.
Fido was not in evidence that day. The next morning the yelps
and howls were repeated, curiosity was aroused. Neither mistress
nor dog appeared. ‘The strange noises were repeated daily for a
week or more. Then the mystery was solved. Fido had a bob
tail! In response to inquiries, his fond mistress tearfully said :
“Tt would hurt the poor little dear so to take it all off at once, so
I just cut off a tiny little piece each morning.” Summing up
the consensus of authority quoted, it would seem to be estab-
lished beyond question that had the whole ten thousand dogs
been placed in the pond at once, the fish’s tail would have been
bobbed in infinitely less time and with less suffering on the part
of the fish culturist. Do you know, I firmly beheve that our fish
cultural authorities are as much opposed to revision as an old
time blue Presbyterian.

When will the harvest be? No question is more frequently
asked than: “How many years does it require for these little
fellows to get big enough to catch?” It is both a reasonable and
practical one, and yet it is one that is rather difficult to answer
definitely. It is one I ask of the members of this society. “How
long does it require to grow a fish of angling size from fry?”
Two years? Three years? In New Hampshire they will tell
you “One year.” Qualifying it however by adding: “Under
favorable conditions.” For two years past the sporting papers
as well as the local press of New England have been full of the
great loss of trout throughout that section caused by the unpre-
cedented drouths of 1899 and 1900. Many stated that there
would be no brook fishing within three years, others took even a
more gloomy view claiming that it would require a greater

American Fisheries Society. 155

period of time simply to replace the brood stock. Never was
there a more favorable time to thoroughly test the value of plant-
ing and at the same time to answer the above question by a prac-
tical demonstration. In the spring of 1900, the United States
Fish Commission made heavy plantings of large, vigorous, well
fed fry from one to two inches long, followed by a summer dis-
tribution of two to four inch fish and winding up in November
and December with trout some of them even then above the
usual five and six inch hmits. This work had been done so
quietly that few other than those actually engaged in the distri-
bution and planting were aware of this new factor. Hitherto
nothing but unfed fry had been planted. The arrival of the
open season scarcely created a ripple of excitement amongst the
anglers. Conditions and results though are best described in
the accompanying letter from Mr. W. H. Beasom, a prominent
citizen and former mayor of Nashua, as well as an ardent sports-
man.

Nashua, N. H., July 1st, 1900.
Mr. W. T. Thompson, Nashua, N. H.

Dear Sir:—For the past twenty-five years, with possibly three
or four exceptions, I have fished for trout in the brooks around this
city. During this period the number of anglers has increased to
such an extent, that about ten or twelve years ago, I came to the
conclusion that nothing except regular and intelligent restocking of
the brooks would save the trout from extermination—or at least
diminishing the supply to such an extent as to make angling a doubt-
ful luxury. In company with a friend, Mr. Geo. F. Andrews, I
applied for fry from the state hatchery, they were distributed and
each year since I have with Mr. Andrews or others planted from
15,000 to 25,000 annually. If I had any doubts as to the benefits of
restocking—which I did not—they would have been removed by the
results of this season’s catch. The seasons of 1899 and 1900 were
extremely dry ones, some small brooks drying up for nearly their
whole course, while others were dry for quite long intervals—as I
found when woodcock shooting in October, I did not see any dead
trout, but it is fair to assume that many died as our trout are not
good tree climbers. During 1899 the streams had a good supply of
fry planted—but as I recollect it, the fishing of 1900 was below the
average—or at least not very good. In the summer of 1900 (Note,
Aug. 8), the United States Government Hatchery had a quantity of
fish measuring from two to four inches in length which I had the
pleasure to assist in planting in nearby streams. All previous plant-
ings had been fry about one inch long. The fall of 1900 was even

156 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

dryer than 1899 and fishermen were apprehensive of results this
year. To our surprise and pleasure, the fishing has been better this
season than for years past, especially as to size of fish. A larger
number of trout weighing from one-half to one pound has come un-
der my notice than for years—while a large number running from
six to nine inches have been caught. In fact any one with a knowl-
edge of fishing can get a few of fair size nearly any day. In speak-
ing of a well known and much fished brook, one of our oldest ang:
lers said: ‘I have known and fished that brook for twenty years
and never knew the fishing to be better than it is today.” Now one
swallow doesn’t make a summer—but my personal opinion is that
this extra fishing after unfavorable conditions is largely, if not en-
tirely, due to the planting of well grown hardy fish instead of the
fry usually distributed. To be sure fry were planted as well, and I
firmly believe fry planting to be of value, but if we could have from
25 to 33 per cent. of the total of fry in well fed trout from two to
four and one-half inches long, I firmly believe the results would be
more substantial in every way.

Yours truly,
(Signed). W. H. BEASOM.

Possibly some of you may not agree with Mr. Beasom in his
conclusions, may not think them sufficiently warranted from the
evidence. It is true this is largely circumstantial. I admit
that brook trout yearlings weighing one-half pound and upwards
sound somewhat like fish stories. Yet with his long experience
as an angler, his thorough knowledge of the conditions coupled
with his general reputation as a conservative man, his opinion is
certainly worthy of careful consideration.

This is a matter on which it is exceedingly hard to obtain
positive proof; the difficulty of successfully marking fry when
liberated, the impossibility of determining the age of wild fish
when caught, but add to our perplexity. Still there are condi-
tions under which even these perplexing questions admit of a
definite solution. Such an occasion is detailed in the accompany-
ing letter from Mr. Nathaniel Wentworth, president of the New
Hampshire Fish and Game Commission, a director of this so-
ciety and a man equally well known across the border as in his
own New England as an expert with rod and gun.

Hudson Center, N. H., July 1st, 1901.

Dear Mr. Thompson:—Yours of June 28th, at hand. The pond I

stocked last fall with fingerlings was made by building a dam across
a ravine. There had never been a trout or fish of any kind in the

American Fisheries Society. t5Y

stream above the dam before. We have some trout in this pond
from this planting that will measure ten inches. 1 am sure they
will average seven inches. They are nicely colored and very fat,
showing there must be plenty of food for them in the pond as we
have not fed them.

Our brooks in the southern part of the state as you are aware
have been partially dry the last three summers. Notwithstanding
this there have been some good strings of trout caught in the two
last seasons. There is no question but what these trout are the re-
sult of the fingerlings planted from the United States Hatchery at
Nashua.

Many of our brooks are infested with every enemy the trout has,
from the mud pickerel down, and it is almost impossible for fry to
escape them. It is impossible to get men to plant fry properly as a
rule. I would give more for 1,000 fingerlings like what we got from

you, than for 50,000 fry. Sincerely yours,
N. WENTWORTH.

It is not possible to rear in captivity with restricted range
and somewhat unnatural food such magnificent specimens as are
the gifts of nature in her more kindly moods. Still, with our
long New England winters and cold waters, we have three ponds
of yearlings at Nashua, reserved for brood stock, which on July
15 showed an average weight in the different ponds of from 6 to
6.4 oz. each and with numerous specimens weighing one-half
pound and upwards and 10 inches or more in length which we
would be pleased to show to the members of the society. An
embalmed fish is but a poor illustration; but, as the mountain
will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the moun-
tain.

The brook trout holds a unique position amongst fishes,
somehow this “speckled beauty” has a most peculiar and tender
place in our affections. He is associated in memory with the
old home, the cool sparkling brook, the ferns and the wild flow-
ers, the singing birds and the shady nook, childhood’s friends,
and the dear old home folks. Ah! me, those were happy days
indeed. In memory we live them all over again, by the uncer-
tain light we can see a youth appear and softly close the door
behind him. A faint glow lights up the east, he lingers a
moment on the stoop. The glory of the morning possesses his
soul. The cool, moist air comes up from the meadows, rich with
the perfumes of the new mown hay and lingers caressingly on

158 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

the brow flushed by the hasty preparations. Passing down
through the orchard, his heart is thrilled by the morning hymn
of the warbler, unconsciously the pure melody of the boy’s heart
bursts forth in answering strains. The robin, in the cherry tree,.
ceases his labors for a brief moment, to listen, his archly poised
head disclosing a breast ruby red, as though dyed with the stolen
fruit. A sharp tramp over the hills to the brook, then—the
stealthy approach, the light cast, the quick rush, the long
struggle, the light rod bends like a reed, every nerve quivers. It
is over, he lies in the wet grass, gasping for breath, his heaving
sides, richly colored and gaily marked glisten in the morning
light. The fiercely gleaming eye tells of a spirit unsubdued, cap-
tive but unconquered. The wild joy of the conquest passes
away leaving only a feeling of admiration. Isn’t he a noble fel-
low! The creator could have made a better fish, but—in His wis-
dom—He did not.

American Fisheries Society. 159

MAINE AND THE SPORTSMAN.

(Accompanied by Lantern Slides).

BY A. H. DINSMORE.

With the anticipation of much pleasure in the task, I began
in the fall of 1900 to collect material for a set of lantern slides,
to be presented before this meeting, illustrating the fish and
game interests of my native state. My transfer from Maine to
South Dakota early in the present season interrupted me in the
work of securing original negatives and obliged me to rely
largely on other sources for this material. The resulting slides
while not all I had hoped to make them fairly represent the great
fish and game regions of the state.

It is moreover, a keen disappointment to me that I am unable
to be present and describe to you the scenes which have been so
familiar to me from boyhood.

It is impossible for one unacquainted with the extensive
forests and the great lake systems of Maine, so easily reached
from the eastern and central states, to realize the vast importance
of its fish and game interests. It is estimated that the visiting
sportsmen annually leave in the state $4,000,000. This vast sum
is paid cheerfully for the wholesome outdoor life that comes with
the click of the reel, the swish of the line, the purring of the
water, cut by the bow of the canoe, and the inspiration of the
camp fire after the day’s chase.

For the comfort and convenience of this army of sportsmen
places of entertainment are provided in every part of the state,
ranging from the little isolated log camp to the great modern
hotel. Eighteen hundred men are licensed as guides by the state,
who furnish canoes and camp outfits. Many of these men have
small camps, well equipped, in favorable localities which are
placed at the disposal of their patrons. To guard against forest
fires, all non-resident sportsmen wishing to camp on wild land
in Maine are required to secure the services of one of these men.
The guides are required under penalty of fine and loss of license
to co-operate with the wardens in protecting the fish and game

160 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

from poachers, and to report to the commissioners the number
of people guided and the amount of fish taken and game killed.

Along with all the usual facilities for the accommodation of
summer company, including the best of New England farm
house board, the Maine Yankee has some schemes all his own
which are worth noticing. The camps of the Messrs. Young and
Buxton at Lake Onawa illustrate one of these schemes, and their
management is spoken of in the highest terms by those who have
been entertained there. Their property consists of small, cosy,
log sleeping camps or lodges clustered around a large, log dining
camp with suitable kitchen annex. Good fishing and hunting
can be had close by the home camps which are located but a few
minutes’ walk from telegraph, express and postoffice and railway
station. For the benefit of those who wish to penetrate further
into the wilderness, camps are located, equipped and provisioned
on the principal ponds and streams within a radius of twenty-five
miles.

The camps of the Debsconeag Fish and Game club are
operated on a similar plan, except that in the end they aim to
serve club members only. At present, however, they are open to
the public. These camps are situated at First Debsconeag Lake,
fourteen miles by steamer and four by canoe, from Norcross on
the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. Forty lakes and streams
may be fished from then and the hunting is as good as the state
affords.

Another special outing that is very popular in Maine is the
steamer trip on Moosehead Lake. Steamboats accomodating
from six to twenty persons may be chartered at prices ranging
from $10.00 to $15.00 per day. They are fitted with everything
necessary for cooking and furnished with good berths. A party
may live on one of these boats as long as they choose, go where
they wish on a lake forty miles long by fifteen to twenty wide,
and be absolutely certain of good fishing in season. The fishing
is undoubtedly responsible for a much larger influx of visitors,
and of far greater value to the citizens of the state, than the
hunting. While good bass, pickerel and perch fishing may be
had, trout and salmon are the great drawing cards.

Brook trout are found throughout the lake regions and here
reach their maximum size. Lake trout, or togue, as they are

American Fisheries Society. 161

called in Maine, are taken in many of the lakes, but are generally
little esteemed by either resident or non-resident sportsmen. The
food quality of this fish varies greatly in different localities.

As is well known, Maine is the home of the landlocked sal-
mon, although now found in many sections of the state, it was
originally confined to four localities, viz. The Sebago waters,
near Portland, the waters forming the Union river in Hancock
county, those forming the Sebee river in Piscataquis county, and
the Schoodic lakes, on the eastern boundary. The Sebago and
Union river waters furnish the largest fish but they are much
more numerous in the Schoodic and Sebec regions. At Cowvard
Falls on Shippond stream, between Onawa and Sebee lakes, one
may at almost any time during the summer and early fall
months count salmon by the hundred as they attempt to scale the
falls. For convenience the slides have been arranged in such a
manner as to divide- the state into three sections as follows:

1. The Rangeley and Dead river region. This country
lying in the western part of the state is easily reached from Bos-
ton and affords some of the finest trout and salmon fishing to be
found. It contains many lakes, large and small, and is popular
as a summer resort. The hunting is also excellent.

2. The Bangor and Aroostook region, including the great
northern counties of the state. It is of vast extent, containing
15,000 square miles. In it le a thousand lakes and ponds, all
well stocked with trout or salmon or both.

One of the most attractive features of this great North Land
is the opportunity afforded by this network of lakes, ponds and
streams for extended canoe trips. The so called West Branch
trip from Moosehead lake down the West Branch of the Penob-
scot river is 125 miles long, while the Allagash trip from Moose-
head lake to Van Buren is 200 miles. This trip may be extended
down the St. John’s river to the city of St. John in New Bruns-
wick.

3. The Washington county region reached by the “Sunrise
Route,” the new Washington county railroad. ‘This section was
opened to the non-resident sportsman in 1899 by the completion
of this road. It lies in the south-eastern corner of the state, and
contains the famous Schoodic salmon waters.

162 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

The trout and salmon waters of Maine, with a few exceptions,
are open to the non-resident sportsman from May Ist to October
1st, and the catch limited to twenty-five pounds at any one time.
The best fishing is secured immediately after the ice leaves the
lakes, and every spring thousands of fishermen all over the coun-
try await the telegram that tells them the lakes are clear and
sport may begin.

As many of the slides relate to the game interests of the state
a brief reference seems necessary.

Almost all the fishing resorts become game resorts after the
1st of October. For weeks, much of the time extra cars are neces-
sary to move the quantities of game which the non-residents take
out of the state with them. It is estimated that 15,000 deer are
xilled in Maine annually. About 200 moose are each year
shipped out of the Bangor and Aroostook region alone.

Do you ask how the game can maintain its numbers against
such slaughter? The answer is first, wise protective laws strin-
gently enforced; second, the great timber sections back from the
main water ways where the hunter seldom penetrates. These
regions are natural breeding grounds where the game is seldom
molested. Of course deer and moose have almost no natural ene-
mies now. The wolf was exterminated many years ago, and the
bear and wild cats are not numerous enough to do serious dam-
age.

The increase of deer in Maine during the last two decades
has been nothing short of marvelous. J can remember when it
was a very remarkable event for a deer to be seen or heard of near
my home at Dover. Now there are thousands of them within a
radius of twenty-five miles and they are frequently seen on the
outskirts of the village.

Moose, too, are slowly but surely on the gain. The illegal
slaughter of moose by wealthy sportsmen—so called—who make
no pretense to honor in such matters and care nothing for a fine,
has been stopped by the imposition of a short jail sentence.

We will now have the lights turned off and fancy ourselves
for a time in that great game land of the east, the state of Maine.

American Fisheries Society.

LIST OF MEMBERS.

ACTIVE.
Adams, BH. W., 114 Wall St., New York.
Adams, Fred J., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Ainsworth, C. E., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Ainsworth, G. G., United States Fish Commission,

Col.
Allen, G. R., Roxbury, Vt.
Alexander, George L., Grayling, Mich.
Alexander, L. D., 50 Broadway, New York.
Anderson, J. F., 240 Eleventh St., Jersey City, N. J.
Andrews, Barschall, Columbus, Ga.
Annin, James, Jr., Caledonia, N. Y.
Atkins, Chas. G., East Orland, Me.
Ayer, F. W., Bangor, Me.

Babbitt, A. C., Williamsburg, Mich.

163

Leadville,

Babcock, John P., California Fish Commission, Mills Building,

San Francisco, Cal.
Bailey, H. W., Newbury, Vt.

Baldwin, O. N., United States Fish Commission, San Marcos,

Tex.
Ball, E. M., Leadville, Colo.
Barrett, W. W., Church’s Ferry, N. D.
ibartlett, Dr’ S.-P. Quincy, Ill.
Beeman, Henry W., New Preston, Conn.
Bell, Currie G., Bayfield, Wis.
Belmont, Hon. Perry, 19 Nassau St., New York.
Benkard, James, Union Club, New York.
Bennett, Chas., Woonsocket, R. I.
Bennett, S. R., New Bedford, Mass.
Benton, W. H., Bullochville, Ga.

Bickmore, Prof. A. S., Seventy-seventh St. and Highth Ave.,

New York.
Birge, Prof. E. A., Madison, Wis.

164 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Bissell, John H., Detroit, Mich.

Blackford, Hon. Eugene G., Fulton Market, New York.

Blakeslee, T. J., 353 Fifth Ave., New York City.

Blatchford, E. W., Chicago, U1.

Boardman, W. H., Central Falls, R. I.

Booth, A., 36 State St., Chicago, Il.

Bottemanne, C. J., Bergen op Zoom, Holland.

Bowers, Hon. George M., United States Commissioner of Fish-
eries, Washington, D. C.

Bower, Seymour, Detroit, Mich.

Bower, Ward T., Detroit, Mich.

Bowman, W. H., Rochester, N. Y.

Boyce, F. C., Carson City, Nev.

Bradley, Dr. E., 19 West Thirteenth St., New York.

Brewer, W. ©., Cleveland, O.

Brewster, C. E., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Brewster, W. K., Durand, Mich.

Bross, John L., Mill Creek, Mich.

Brown, George M., Saginaw, Mich.

Brush, Dr. EK. F., Mount Vernon, N. Y.

Bryant, Gen. E. E., Madison, Wis.

Bulkley, H. 8., Odessa, N. Y.

Bullard, C. G., Kalamazoo, Mich.

Bumpus, Dr. Hi: C., Providence, R. I:

Bush, C. P., Columbus, Ga.

Carlo, G. Postiglione di, Naples, Italy.
Chambers, A. E., Kalamazoo, Mich.

Chase, H. C., 1020 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Cheney, A. N., Glens Falls, N. Y.

Clark, Frank N., Northville, Mich.

Clark, Fred, Mill Creek, Mich.

Cobb, E. W., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Cohen, N. H., Urbana, Ill.

Collins, Hon. J. C., Providence, R. I.

Cooper, E. A., Cold Spring Harbor, New York.
Corliss, C. S., Gloucester, Mass.

Coulter, A. L., Charlevoix, Mich.

Crook, Abel, 99 Nassau St., New York.

American Fisheries Socrety. 165

Crosby, H. F., 30 Broad St., New York.
Curtis, J. M., Cleveland, O.

Dale --A., York, Pa.

Davis, E. A., Bethel, Vt.

Davis, Horace W., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Davis; B: E., Palmyra, N.Y.

Davis, Hon. George B., Utica, Mich.

Dean, Herbert D., United States Fish Commission, Neosho, Mo.

Demuth, H. C., 144 HE. King St., Lancaster, Pa.

DeNyse, Washington I., Gravesend Beach, Borough of Brook-
lyms NOY.

De Rocher, Jas. D., Nashua, N. H.

Diekerson, Freeman B., Detroit, Mich.

Dinsmore, A. H., Green Lake, Me.

Douredoure, B. L., 103 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Downing, 8. W., Put-in-Bay, O.

Doyle, E. P., Port Richmond, N.Y.

Dunlap, I. H., United States Fish Commission, Washington,
D.C.

Kbel, Hon. F. W., Harrisburg, Pa.

Edwards, Vinal N., Woods Hole, Mass.

Ellis, J. Frank, United States Fish Commission. Washington,
IDRC

Fearing, Hon. D. B., Newport, R. I.

Filkins, B. G., Northville, Mich.

Fox, Capt. J. C., Put-in-Bay, O.

Friesmuth, HE. H., Jr., 151 North Third St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Frook, John E., Paris, Mich.

Frothingham, H. P., Mount Arlington, N. J.

Fullerton, Samuel F., St. Paul, Minn.

Gavitt, W. S., Lyons, N. Y.

Geer, E. H., Hadlyme, Conn.
George, Hon. A. F., Swanton, Md.
Gilmore, Col. Chas., Swanton, Vt.
Gortz, A. F., Chicago, III.

Greene, Myron, Franklin, Vt.
Griffith, S. L., Danby, Vt.
Gunckel, John E., Toledo, O.

166 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Hagert, Edwin, 32 North Sixth St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Hahn, Capt. E. E., Woods Hole, Mass.
Haley, Caleb, Fulton Market, New York.
Hamilton, Robert, Greenwich, N. Y.
Hamsdale, Frank, Madison, Wis.

Handy, L. B., South Wareham, Mass.
Hansen, G., Osceola Mills, Wis.

Harris, J. N., Fulton Market, New York.
Hartley, R. M., 627 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Henshall, Dr. James A., Bozeman, Montana.
Hill, John L., 115 Broadway, New York.
Hogan, J. J., La Crosse, Wis.

Holden, H. 8., Syracuse, N. Y.

Hoxie; ‘Chas. Ax, Carolina “Rect.

Hoxie, J. W., Carolina, R. I.

Hubbard, Waldo F., Nashua, N. H.
Hughes, Frank L., Ashland, N. H.

Buhtt. J. Eh, Nortolk. Neb:

Hunsaker, W. J., Detroit, Mich.
Huntington, L. D., New Rochelle, N. Y.
Hurlbut, H. F., East Freetown, Mass.
Hutchinson, E. S., Washington, D. C.

James, Dr. Bushrod W., n. e. cor. Kighteenth and Green Sts.,
Philadelphia, Pa.

Jennings, G. E., Fishing Gazette, 203 Broadway, New York.

Jensen, Peter, Escanaba, Mich.

Johnson, S. M., Union Wharf, Boston, Mass.

Jones, Alexander, Erwin, Tenn.

Jones, Col. James E., Director of Aquarium, Battery Park, New
York City.

Jones, Dr. O. L., 116 West Seventy-second St., New York.

Joseph, D., Columbus, Ga.

Kashiwa, A. M., 960 Sixth Ave., New York City.

Kauffmann, S. H., Hvening Star, Washington, D. C.

Keller, H. N., California Fish Commission, Santa Monica, Cal.
Kelly, P., 346 Sixth Ave., New York.

Kenyon, A. W., Usquepaugh, R. I.

American Fishertes Society.

Kerr, Capt. J. R., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Kiel, W. M., Tuxedo Park, N. Y.

Lamkin, J. Bayard, Bullochville, Ga.

Lane, George F., Silver Lake, Mass.

Lawton, Col. J. P., Columbus, Ga.

Leach, G. C., 3923 Finney Ave., St. Louis, Mo.

Leary, John L., United States Fish Commission, San
Tex.

Locke, E. F., Woods Hole, Mass.

Lovejoy, Samuel, Bullochyille, Ga.

Lydell, Dwight, Mill Creek, Mich.

McGowan, Hon. H. P., 108 Fulton St., New York.
Mallory, Chas., Burling Slip, New York.

Mancha, H. H., Northville, Mich.

Manning, W. W., Marquette, Mich.

167

Marcos,

Mansfield, H. B., Lieutenant Commander United States Navy,

368 Hancock St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Manton, Dr. W. P., Detroit, Mich.
Marks, H. H., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
Marks, J. P., Paris, Mich.
Marsh, M. C., Washington, D. C.
Mathewson, G. T., Thompsonville, Conn.
May, W. L., Omaha, Neb.
Mead, Prof. A. D., Brown University, Providence, R. I.
Meehan, W. E., Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pa.
Merritt, E. HH. J., Altamont, N. Y.
Merrill, M. E., St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Mershon, W. B., Saginaw, Mich.
Miller, Geo. F., Put-in-Bay, O.
Miller, W. S., Gallion, O.

Milhken, Dr. J. D., United States Fish Commission,

Hole, Mass.
Mills, G. F., Carson City, Nev.
Mitchell, Prof. Irving M., Milwaukee, Wis.
Mitchell, John A., Columbus, Ga.
Moore, Chas. H., Detroit, Mich.
Morgan, H. A., Baton Rouge, La.
Morrell, Danie!, Hartford, Conn.

Woods

168 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Morse, Grant M., Portland, Mich.
Morton, W. P., Providence, R. I.
Mosher, Stafford, Fort Plain, N. Y.
Mussey, George D., Detroit, Mich.

Nash, Dr. S. M., 63 West Forty-ninth St., New York.
Neal, John R., 22 1-2 “I”? Wharf, Boston, Mass.
Nevin, James, Madison, Wis.

Norman, R. M., Columbus, Ga.

Oberfelder, R. S., Sidney, Neb.
O’Brien, W. J., Dunbar, Wis.
O’Connor, EK. M., Savannah, Ga.
O’Hage, Dr. Justus, St. Paul, Minn.
QO’ Malley, Henry, Baker, Washington.
Or W. J, Bay Port, Mich:

Osborn, Wm., Duluth, Minn.

Page, P. W., West Summit, N.J.

Parker, Dr. J. C., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Parker, W. H., Lac la Peche, Quebec, Canada.
Peabody, George I*., Appleton, Wis.

Peck, Hon. Stephen, Warren, R. I.

Pike, Robert G., Middletown, Conn.

Powell, W. L., Harrisburg, Pa.

Powers, J. A., Lansingburg, N. Y.

Powers, John W., Big Rapids, Mich.

Prather, J. Hub, Lexington, Ky.

Preston, Hon. John L., Port Huron, Mich.
Preston, Dr. Henry G., 98 Lafayette Square, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Proctor, Hon. Redfield, Proctor, Vt.

Rathbone, Wm. F., D. & H. R. R., Albany, N. Y.
Rathbun, Richard, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.
Ravenel, W. DeC., United States Fish Commission, Washington,

D.-C.
Reighard, Prof. Jacob E., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Mich.

tichards, G. H., Boston, Mass.
Roberts, A. D., Woonsocket, R. I.
Robinson, W. E., Mackinaw City, Mich.

American Fisheries Society.

Robinson, A. H., St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Rodgers, Frank A., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Rogers, J. M., Chicago, Ill.

Root, Henry T., Providence, R. I.
Rosenberg, Albert, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Ruge, John G., Apalachicola, Fla.
Russel, Henry, Detroit, Mich.

169

Sampson, H. R., care of New York Aquarium, Battery Park,

New York City.
Sanborn, I. G., 438 Montgomery St., San Francisco, Cal.
Scarborough, L. A., Columbus, Ga.
Schley, Dr. F. V., Columbus, Ga.
Schute, John A., Havana, III.
Schweikart, Walter, Detroit, Mich.
Seagle, Geo. A., Wytheville, Va.
Self, EK. M., Bullochville, Ga.
Sellers, M. G., Philadelphia, Pa.
Sexton, Cramer, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Sherwin, H. A., 100 Canal St., Cleveland, O.
Singleton, James H., Woonsocket, R. I.
Smith, Henry D., Appleton, Wis.

Smith, Jay, care of J. W. Marston & Co., Lewis Wharf, Boston,

Mass.
Smith, L. H., Algona, Iowa.

Smith, Dr. Hugh M., United States Fish Commission, Wash-

ington, D. C.
Smith, Capt. J. A., Woods Hole, Mass.
Snyder, Dr. F. B., Ashtabula, Ohio.
Solman, Alden, South Norwalk, Conn.
Southwick, J. M. K., Newport, R. I.

Spencer, L. B., Supt. Aquarium, 37 W. 128th St., New York

City.
Spensley, Calvert, Mineral Point, Wis.
Springer, F. H., Columbus, Ga.
Starbuck, Alexander, Cincinnati, O.
Starr, W. J., Hau Claire, Wis.
Stelle, G. F., Chicago, III.
Sterling, J. E., Crisfield, Md.

170 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

Stewart, Chas. E., Westerly, R. I.
Stewart, A. T’., Northville, Mich.
Stone, Livingston, Cape Vincent, N. Y.
Stranahan, J. J., Bullochville, Ga.
Stranahan, F. A., Cleveland, O.
Stranahan, F. F., Cleveland, O.
Stranahan, H. B., Cleveland, O.
Suthers, Frank, Madison, Wis.

Sykes, Arthur, Madison, Wis.

Sykes, Henry, Bayfield, Wis.

Tawes, J. C., Crisfield, Md.

Taylor, A. R., 318 Main St., Memphis, Tenn.

Thayer, W. W., 234 Joseph Campau Ave., Detroit, Mich.

Thompson, Carl G., 78 Henry St., Huntington, Ind.

Thompson, W. T., Nashua, N. H.

Thompson, W. P., 112 Bread St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Tinker, E. F., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Titcomb, John W., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Townsend, Chas. H., United States Fish Commission, Washing-
tom, 5 'C.

Trumpour, D. A., Bay City, Mich.

Tubbs, Frank A., Neosho, Mo.

Tucker, Edmund St. George, Bedford Row, Halifax, N.S.

Tulian, Eugene A., Leadville, Colo.

Turner, J. C., Columbus, Ga.

Van Cleef, J. 8., Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Vincent, W. S., Leadville, Colo.

Vogelsang, Alexander T’., Mills Building, San Francisco, Cal.

Walker, Bryant, Detroit, Mich.

Wallett, W. H., Put-in-Bay, O.

Walters, C. H., Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.

Ward, Prof. H. B., Lincoln, Neb.

Webb, W. Seward, Forty-fourth St. and Vanderbilt Ave., New

York.
Wentworth, Edwin, United States Fish Commission, Nashua,
NE ale

Wentworth, Nathaniel, Hudson Centre, N. H.

American Fisheries Society. 171

Weed, W. R., Potsdam, N. Y.

Wetherbee, W. C., Port Henry, N. Y.

Wheeler, Chas. Stetson, Hobart Building, San Francisco, Cal.

White, R. Tyson, 320 Bridge St., Brooklyn, N. Y.

Wilbur, H. O., 235 Third St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Wilbur, P. H., Little Compton, R. I.

Willard, Chas. W., Westerly, R. I.

Willetts, J. C., 40 Wall St., New York.

Wilhams, J. A., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Wilson, C. H., Glens Falls, N. Y.

Wilson, S. H., Cleveland, O.

Winn, Dennis, Nashua, N. H.

Wires, 8. P., Lester Park, Duluth, Minn.

Wisner, J. Nelson, Jr., United States Fish Commission, Wash-
ington, D. C.

Wood, C. C., Plymouth, Mass.

Woodruff, C. B., Columbus, Ga.

Zalsman, Philip G., Paris, Mich.

Zweighapt, S., Deer Park, Haines Falls, N. Y.

HONORARY.

Borodine, Nicholas, Delegate of the Russian Association of Pis-
ciculture and Fisheries, Uralsk, Russia.

Fish Protective Association of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1020 Arch
St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Lake St. Clair Shooting and Fishing Club, Detroit, Mich.

New York Association for the Protection of Fish and Game, New
York City.

Peck, Hon. Geo. W., Milwaukee, Wis.

South: Side Sportsmen’s Club, Oakdale, L. I., N. Y.

Sweeny, Dr. R. O., Lester Park, Duluth, Minn.

The President of the United States.

The Governors of the Several States.

Woodmont Rod and Gun Club, Washington, D. C.

CORRESPONDING.

Apostolides, Prof. Nicoly Chr., Athens, Greece.
Armistead, J. J., Dumfries, Scotland.

172 Thirticth Annual Meeting

Benecke, Prof. B., Commissioner of Fisheries, Konigsberg, Ger-
many.

Birbeck, Edward, Esq., M. P., London, England.

Brady, Thos. F., Esq., Inspector of Fisheries, Dublin Castle,
Dublin, Ireland.

+

Calderwood, W. L., Esq., Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, Edin-
burgh, Scotland.

Feddersen, Arthur, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Giglhioli, Prof. Enrico H., Florence, Italy.

Ito, K., Member of Fisheries Department of Hokkaido and
President of the Fisheries Society of Northern Japan,
Sapporo, Japan.

Jaffe, 8., Osnabruck, Germany.

Juel, Capt. N., R. N., President of the Society for the Develop-
ment of Norwegian Fisheries, Bergen, Norway.

Landmark, A., Inspector of Norwegian Fresh Water Fisheries,
Bergen, Norway.

Lundberg, Dr. Rudolph, Inspector of Fisheries, Stockholm,
Sweden.

Maccleay, William, President of the Fisheries Commission of
New South Wales, Sydney, N.S. W.

Malmgren, Prof. A. J., Helsingfors, Finland.

Marston, R. B., Esq., Editor of the Fishing Gazette, London,
England.

Olsen, O. 'T., Grimsby, England.

Sars, Prof. G. O., Government Inspector of Fisheries, Chris-
tiania, Norway.

Senior, William, London, England.

Smitt, Prof. F. A., Stockholm, Sweden.

Sola, Don Francisco Garcia, Secretary of the Spanish Fisheries
Society, Madrid, Spain.

Solsky, Baron N. de, Director of the Imperial Agricultural
Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Trybom, Dr. Filip, Stockholm, Sweden.

Walpole, Hon. Spencer, Governor of the Isle of Man.

Wattel, M. Raveret, Secretary of the Societe d’Acclimation,
Paris, France.

American Fishertes Society.

RECAPITULATION.
: _ENUGIRIES XG pepe ea spt beara er en Pe Sek ERS afie
x Melo ON eile See ance ant Reteye cesar s oy ees Saal cs Rehan
a ee
ss CWorrespomdame gio wos rp eaters hak As pers geeks
; MRO tale rN SLOP) my vice! sew spore ee ek

a(S

174 Thirtieth Annual Meeting

CONS TIT eae

(As amended to date).

ARTICLE LI.
NAME AND OBJECTS.

The name of this Society shall be American Fisheries So-
ciety. Its objects shall be to promote the cause of fish culture ;
to gather and diffuse information bearing upon its practical suc-
cess, and upon all matters relating to the fisheries; the uniting
and encouraging of all the interests of fish culture and the
fisheries, and the treatment of all questions regarding fish, of a
scientific and economic character.

ARTICLE II.
MEMBERS.

Any person shall, upon a two-thirds vote and the payment of
one dollar, become a member of this Society. In case members
do not pay their fees, which shall be one dollar per year, after the
first year and are delinquent for two years, they shall be notified
by the Treasurer, and if the amount due is not paid within a
month thereafter, they shall be, without further notice, dropped
from the roll of membership. Any person can be made an honor-
ary or a corresponding member upon a two-thirds vote of the
members present at any regular meeting.

Any person shall, upon a two-thirds vote, and the payment of
$15.00, become a life member of this Society, and shall there-
after be exempt from all annual dues.

ARTICLEAIL
OFFICERS.

The officers of this Society shall be a President and a Vice
President, who shall be ineligible for election to the same office
until a year after the expiration of their term; a Corresponding

American Fisheries Society. 175

Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer and an Executive
Committee of seven, which with the officers before named, shall
form a council and transact such business as may be necessary
when the Society is not in session, four to constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE IV.
MEETINGS.

The regular meeting of the Society shall be held once a year,
the time and place being decided upon at the previous meeting
or, in default of such action, by the Executive Committee.

ARTICLE V.
CHANGING THE CONSTITUTION.

The Constitution of the Society may be amended, altered or
repealed by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any
regular meeting, provided at least fifteen members are present at
said meeting.

TRANSACTIONS

MERICAN FISHERIES
SOCIETY

Pe
J
‘
+ 4

| OWvicten of Flebsa,
WS) National Pacem

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

AMERICAN
FISHERIES SOCIETY

Thirty-first Annual Meeting
AUGUST S/S AND 7, 1902.

Headquarters of the Meeting, Hotel Victory, Put-in-Bay,
Ohio.

,
OMPANY, PRINTERS AND BINDERS
1902.

os a

Officers for 1902-1903.

President, - = - - GEORGE M. BowErs, Washington, D.C.
Vice-President, = - HENRY B. WARD, Lincoln, Neb.
Recording Secretary, - GEORGE F. PEaABopy, Appleton, Wis.
Corresponding Secretary, - JOHN EK. GUNCKEL, Toledo, O.
Treasurer, - - - C. W. WILLARD, Westerly, R. I.

em

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

GEORGE T. MaTHEWSON, Chairman, Thompsonville, Conn.

W.H, BoarpDMAN, Central Falls, R. I.
K, A. BrrGH, Madison, Wis.
J. J. STRANAHAN., Bullochville, Ga.
DwiGHT LyDELL, Mill Creek, Mich.
TARLETON H. BEAN, at World’s Fair, St. Louis, Mo.

~~

{
INDE x.

ae ae PAGE
ILISE Ot WER AIMISMoess os Goopouvcdpo lh ooo onou eeomgoUds DoCoUdOC 8
ANGIGURDSS THF IEMESIOIET ES ce geo doeaeonourpoDea BdDoD opomooGaoedood 10
IRGROIRE Wie SSCHEUATs ode céeaecieooemddns conde oobbooboooSOoUNESUE 18
IReiowe GHE ALiASeISiENeas ooucsanue uaaoe noo onaon on os On OnDOomspoguoG 18
INGORE OE 1Emoyercaineny Oorenveainaveeon 6 o6bonboosdes4on5doscdueeudnoon 22
meportof Committee on Amendments oie) 1.62665. -+ sae 27
Report of Committee on-location and Pime.>.. 63.5.5 .550.5. a2
Re port Of Committee One Nomina OMS er eee iiss ely ee ers ci 33

Papers and Discussion:
ILaolkaiil, ID swavelones MGNl Ceaaic, MDC. does sone ooconeoegobDoaouT 45
Henshall rn Jiames A. bozemans Montin...256 2s. oes 74
Payal, 1keiywaavopavel JEG Ia ID Ceo osnccocaesadadeoc ons MOpanbeDeC 89
Clack Hrank NZ Northyille Miche... .icc.cses luce.) cewecge 190
Wrarstiny Vieng WidslitmetOn. AD Cir y vena ciciccns ei elpe nia s Sie mieneinvere = 107
Sy asy Avewaibies Mlevaligoral, WS Sonee0 deasene soanunoos Doc 000. 116
‘Aeterna Oran Mad boar NiGIs) stiel ON (Gelb oo cam scmnmacae casos soar aac 125
Stranahaniw. Je. owlloekivalle Gas no cic neices oe oleae eieber ae 130
SERS, George aloo W/ysieaullles Wel ohduoensacoosaascouoc cnr 138
Marikina eb illochivalle Gale |e acess ctccacyenheteeeoe/ sean 6 "147
Deano swINICOSMONIO's site. a:sciere crs foes cvero eae eet atin ol nrapelelePencuateits 153
ILASENOe IMIG 638 Sram acdc Coe OUR OR ORO d ceaanria cor cerns 157
(COSTAE ENO pal ots aya cig bg DAG OA Or EROD CICA ACEO EPO ho ce OAR CiainIn CirraiOwei 169

PART LT

BUSINESS SESSIONS.

= —==

Transactions of the American Fisheries
Society.

Tuesday, August 5, 1902.

Convention called to order at 2:30 p. m., by the Recording
Secretary, Mr. George F. Peabody, and on motion duly made
and seconded, Mr. F. B. Dickerson, of Detroit, was elected tem-
porary chairman, in the absence of President Bryant.

The registered attendance at the meetings of the Society is
as follows:

Bean, Hon. Tarleton H., at World’s Fair, St. Louis, Mo.

Birge, E. A., Madison, Wis.

Boardman, William H., Central Falls, R. I.

Booth, Dewitt C., Spearfish, 8S. D.

Bowers, George M., United States Fish Commissioner.

Brewster, C. E., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Brown, G. W. M., Saginaw, Mich.

Bryant, EH. E., President, Madison, Wis.

Clark, F. N., Detroit, Mich.

Cole, Leon J., Ann Arbor, Mich.

Coulter, A. L., Michigan.

Dean, H. D., Neosho, Mo.

Dickerson, F. B., Detroit, Mich.

Downing, 8. W., Put-in-Bay, Ohio.

Filkins, B. G., Northville, Mich.

Fox, J. C., Put-in-Bay, O.

Geer, E. Hart, Hadlyme, Conn.

Green, Dr. Duff W., Dayton, O.

Gunekel, J. E., Toledo, Ohio.

Hogan, J. J., Wisconsin.

Lane, George F., Silver Lake, Mass.

Lydell, Dwight, Mill Creek, Mich.

Marsh, M. C., Washington, D. C.

Mathewson, G. T., Enfield, Conn.

8 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Morris, E. H., Washington, D. C.
Morton, William P., Providence, R. I.
Palmer, W. A., Buchanan, Mich.
Peabody, George F., Appleton, Wis.
Pike, R. G., Middleton, Conn.
Plumb, C. H., Mill Creek, Mich.
Reighard, Jacob, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Roberts, A. D., Woonsocket, R. I.
Root, Henry T., Providence, R. ‘I.
Seagle, George A., Wytheville, Va.
Stranahan, F. A., Cleveland, Ohio.
Stranahan, J. J., Georgia.

Titcomb, J. W., Vermont.

Ward, Henry B., Lincoln, Neb.
Willard, C. W., Westerly, R. I.
Wires, S. T., Duluth, Minn.
White, R. Tyson, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Wollett, W. H., Put-in-Bay, O

During the several sessions the following gentlemen were
elected to membership in the Society:

Allen, A. D., Flora, Ore.

Ashford, W. T., Atlanta, Ga.

Bean, Tarleton H., St. Louis, Mo.

Benton, Judge Henry T., Scale, Ala.

Booth, DeWitt C., Spearfish, South Dak.

Boudre, N. H., Plummerville, Ark.

Brown, George H., Jr., Washington, D. C.

Burham, E. K., Northville, Mich.

Carter, E. N., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Cole, Leon J., Ann Arbor, Mich.

Dublee, J. Clyde, Williamsport, Penn.

Evarding & Farrell, Messrs., Portland, Ore.

Everman, Prof. Barton W., Washington, D. C.

Gebhardt, A. E., Salem, Ore.

Geer, Dr. E. F., St. Paul, Minn.

LeGettee, K., Centenary, 8. C.

Green, Dr. D. W., Dayton, O.

Hampton, F. T., Hill City, Tenn.

American Fisheries Society. 9

Henkel, C. P., Neosho, Mo.

Hogue, William F., Marion, Ala.

Howell, John H., Auburn, N. Y.
Johnson, D. W., Hartwell, Ga.

Joslin, Hon. C. D., Detroit, Mich.
Kendall, Dr. Wiliam C., Washington, D. C.
Kennedy, Edwin M., McConnelsville, O.
Landers, EK. T., Hopeville, Ga.

Lewis, Charles E., Minneapolis, Minn.
Miller, Frank, Put-in-Bay, O.

Monroe, Otis, Mill Creek, Mich.

Moody, G. C., Mill Creek, Mich.

Mullett, R. M., Washington, D. C.
North, Paul, Cleveland, O.

Palmer, W. A., Buchanan, Mich.

Paxton, Thomas B., Cincinnati, O.
Pearce, Caption T. C., Washington, D. C.
Plumb, Charles, Mill Creek, Mich.
Prendergast, Charles F., Savannah, Ga.
Rodgers, J. L., Columbus, O.

Saunders, Dr. H. G., Chattanooga, Tenn.
Simons, Max, Columbus, Ga.

Thomas, Henry G., Stowe, Vt.
VanDusen, Hon. H. G., Astoria, Ore.

Corresponding Membership:

Feilding, J. B., Holywell, North Wales.

Mr. F. B. Dickerson took the chair.

Mr. Dickerson: If there is any one thing that predominates
more than another in the American Fisheries Society, it is speed
and rapid work, and it is therefore suggested that we proceed
with the election of new members during the absence of the
president, in order that there may be no delays, and that we can
begin work as soon as he arrives. It is proposed to elect these
men who desire to become members, at the very outset, and justly
so, in order that they may participate in our proceedings. Iie
therefore, any of you have any new members to suggest, will you
kindly present them at once.

10 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

We have received the following letter from the Board of
Game and Fish Commissioners of the state of Minnesota:
STATE OF MINNESOTA.

Board of Game and Fish Commissioners.

St. Paul, August 2nd, 1902.
Mr. George F. Peabody, Sec.,

American Fisheries Society,
Put-in-Bay, O.
Dear Sir:—

This will introduce to you Dr. Ethelbert F. Greer, who takes a
big interest in everything pertaining to fish and fish culture. He
wishes to become a member of the American Fisheries Society and
is leaving our city to attend the meeting. If consistent, I would like
him to represent our Minnesota Game and Fish Commission and
anything you can do to make it pleasant for the doctor will be very
much appreciated. Yours very truly,

SAM. F. FULLERTON,
Executive Agent.

I desire to propose the doctor as a member of this association.
He happened to fall in with the Philistines coming down from
Detroit this morning, but did not suffer any serious and lasting
damage from the encounter.

(Laughter and suggestion that the suffering may come later).

Candidates for membership were then proposed and elected,
whose names together with those of all others elected during the
several sessions of the society appear at the beginning of the
printed proceedings. President E. E. Bryant then took the
chair.

President Bryant: I give you greeting and assure you of my
ereat satisfaction in seeing so many faces that have grown famil-
iar and dear to me, as engaged in this work. I congratulate you
upon your safe arrival here, and I think in selecting the place
for our meeting, the good committee who made this selection and
recommended it to our society, builded better than they knew;
for certainly it is a charming spot; and one good thing about it
is that it is going to be a little difficult for us to get away until
our meeting is over. (Laughter).

We have everything to cheer us on in this work. It is less
than half a century since the feasibility of the idea of increasing
the productivity of the waters was brought to the notice of men:
and the result that has been accomphshed in that half century is

American Fisheries Society. 11

something marvelous, and the progress of the work and the re-
sults being achieved by the states and by the United States and
by the enterprising gentlemen who are entering upon this work
to produce fish for the market, are something to give us especial
gratification.

Another feature of the subject commends itself to our satis-
faction and that is the universal confidence that ig expressed by
the public in our work. I see that year by year, not only as a
local observation, but as manifested by the generous efforts of the
legislatures of the states and by congress in forwarding and aid-
ing the work in which we are engaged.

I hope our meeting will be as pleasant, as satisfactory, as
profitable and instructive to us all as the meetings we have had
im the past. Indeed, in my own experience, I may say that each
meeting adds to my stock of knowledge; it increases my interest
and opens up new fields of inquiry, and with-the intelligent work
that is being done in the direction of the propagation of fish
there is surely success to be achieved. We have yet our problems
and our difficulties, but one by one they are being surmounted,
although there are many conditions yet to be realized to achieve
all that can be accomplished. Our laws for the protection of fish
are yet imperfect, public sentiment in enforcing those laws is yet
feeble, and we must build up along those lines; we must not only
fill the lakes and the rivers with small fish to grow to maturity,
but we must so protect them that the greatest ultimate good may
be achieved, and that this end may not be thwarted by wanton or
lawless invasion—or too weak and feeble laws for the protection
of the fish, which we have demonstrated to the world in our vari-
ous fields we can produce in unlimited quantity to supply all the
wants of men. We must get the laws and organized societies to
join with us in securing for the public the greatest benefit that
can be accomplished.

I am requested by the United States Fish Commission to
give you the grand totals of their work for the year. You recol-
lect their report last year showed an extraordinary growth and
increase in their output. So far as 1 have been able to examine
the state reports, everywhere there is evidence of increased suc-
cess, larger output, broader and more generous distribution ; and

Thirty-First Annual Meeting

the figures which will appear in the United States report soon to
be published for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1902, will
show a very gratifying increase in the beneficient results of the
work of the United States Fish Commission, in every line of pro-
ductivity; and I am pleased to notice that whenever we write to
congressmen, in behalf of the commission, to aid us, or to be
helpful along the lines of supporting the United States Fish
Commission, and indirectly the other commissions, they invari-
ably reply that they are heart and soul with the fish commission
and wish to render it every aid possible. We have a grand total
here of a billion and a half distribution of fish during the last
year, while for the previous year it was a little over a billion.
This increase is shown in nearly all the lines of production, a
very gratifying result, and one that gives us all encouragement
to go on.
The report furnished me is as follows:

SUMMARY OF DISTRIBUTION,

1902.
Fry and Adult and
TOTAL EGGS Fingerling Weavline TOTAL
Shad ic- sss eee naee alle o ae aie eras 104,986 000 2,000,0 106.986,000
Quinnat Salmon........ 19,346,410 PURSUE Vol beeen wen Eee 48,683,718
Atlantic Salmon.......... a, 300,000 56,765 282,000 628,765
Landlocked Salmon............ 200,000 523,655 98,565 822.220
Silver Salmoneoce ose come: salemcellite case etc ecuae BOS ABO le woe serceeecss 424,536
BlnebackSalmontacerserewc-sellteenace eecalon SSTLOOG oo ciom ae fawn 8,371,000
SteelheadmMlrout 2. .csaes see: 68,000 389.196 77,686 534,882
Hochiieyven Druitt cite totes 'lictec ces cceeeies 91,760 5,000 96,760
Rainbow lroutecs soc eees 397,790 784,835 492.496 1,675,121
Blackspotted Trout............ 280,000 100,600 1,488,500 1,868,500
Brooke Drotees sees aaeoncien ee 920,000 5,222,422 437,340 6,579,762
Wake! Trouts.essscase Metevereroc ne 5,285,000 22.022.478 3,012 27,260,490
Scotch Sea Trout............. 10,000 7,694 6,837 24.531
Golden iroubieete is sewaies Caods |Meceomeeeeehoee 69,950]|2).asseciacece 69,950
Grayling oes coganedeterte 655,000 1,130,333 17,925 1,808,258
Wihitefishis tcc essa ates haar 111,260,000 483: 290/00] re ariciatele caer 594,490,000
PilkkexPerchisesceet acces eaaeoeee 60,000,000 DTTLOGOO0D) Maen cecteccteenee 287,099,000
Gathish as. ecko eay es bck well Gemtere eee eaten a mehaae areca 95,970 95,970
| cr (yet aegis tgs eam eR ey DE ena Aor A ete BP ee ep Bead 575 575
Pickerel ict oie bocca ca oorsteral | seach erento leabie rhe eteyeteatee 805 805
Ring) Perehis jae rnetecivets-sctssader loc coo omen certevesree secre 1,700 1,700
Buttalone. cuter oa ete «200,000 200,000
Black Basse, altaya deter ae: esol Roe eae eal ee enon teciotee 262,157 262,157
Qrappleysiteacsemeesccouac 735,120 735,120
Rock Bass: sacesseee ces 37,170 37,170
Strawberry Bass.. ...... Sic 3,351 3,351
WarmouthiBasseoncee crac dese 100 100
CalicoiBassveton eaceecstetase: 200 200
Suntichieicca seen lacie mastocooes 606,040 606,040
Bream’): cscs aae een ae WISE reyes 17,699 7,699
COd ia asicahinas onie ee ee ee 212 OOH 000 Roc remceiee mee 212,001 000
Plattishs 23.7 cee eco er TGS 1S8!000 |e ccreacevceresae 168,133,000
TO DSteniy cee scnciet ucataaseeetaree 811020000) socio entsitetueree 81,020,000
Totals and Grand Total........ 198.672,200| 1,290.000,926 6.870248) 1,495.543.374

I should be very glad if we had a brief presentment to show

what had been accomplished by the various states.

I can only

American Fisheries Society. al

say in general terms that they are all making good gains and
advances. With these somewhat hasty remarks, gentlemen, I
will not detain you longer from the business which we are met
here to transact.

Motion was then made that a committee on nominations of
officers, and a committee on time and place of meeting be ap-
pointed by the chair.

Motion seconded and carried.

Mr. I. B. Dickerson offered the following resolution :

Whereas, The American Fisheries Society has on several
occasions expressed its approval of the plan to establish a biolo-
gical station on the Great Lakes in the interest of the fisheries,
and

Whereas, A measure now pending before congress provides
for the inauguration of such an enterprise, therefore be it

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed from the
society to urge the importance of the matter on members of con-
egress and to further the plan in every legitimate way.

The President: I understand an appropriation has already
been made for this purpose.

Mr. Dickerson: No. I understand the matter was brought
up, and passed congress, establishing a biological station for the
study of the growth and food of various salt water fish; but no
such station has ever been established on the lakes for the study
of the growth and food of the fresh water fish, which is a matter
of great importance to the middle states. This matter was
brought up in congress but failed to pass both houses, owing to a
press of other business.

The President: It probably will be reached in the next ses-
sion.

Mr. Dickerson: Yes, the matter simply died in committee.

Dr. E. A. Birge, of Wisconsin: Is it dead?

Mr. Dickerson: It passed one body or the other.

Dr. Birge: It was contained in an omnibus bill of the house.

Mr. Dickerson: Yes, but it did not pass both houses on
account of lack of attention. My suggestion is that the president
appoint a committee to watch that thing and push it at all stages

14 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

of the game at the next congress. If we had done that before we
would have passed it at this last congress.

Motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, adopting
the resolution.

Mr. Dickerson: I want to apologize for doing three days’
work in one, because I expect to have to leave tonight or at 5
oclock tomorrow morning, owing to business matters at home
requiring my attention.

It seems to me there is one matter which this association has
always neglected and that is the matter of creating a public sen-
timent in favor of fish culture. We began in Michigan a year
and a half ago in a systematic way to educate our people in the
state in the interest of fish culture; we have already profited by
it; it is a matter that has never been discussed by this associa-
tion, a matter that has never been taken up, and we ought to
devise some way of systematicially educating the public in favor
of fish culture. Every state where fish culture is carried on to
any extent needs attention in that direction. When a farmer
comes to the legislature, if fishing in his immediate vicinity is of
no great importance, he looks on raising little fish as child’s
play; he votes against the appropriation because he does not see
any need for the work in his own neighborhood; he takes no in-
terest in the matter. The opposition in our legislature comes
from those gentlemen who live in districts where there is no
water in their immediate vicinity and where they derive no direct
benefit near their homes from an appropriation in the interests
of fish culture; and for that reason, to properly conduct the work
(and we cannot conduct it properly unless we get sufficient
appropriations with which to conduct it) it is necessary, in my
judgment, to begin in asystematic manner to make public senti-
ment in the interests of fish culture; and I want to suggest that
that matter be discussed here so far as it possibly can, and I will
offer a motion that the chair appoint a committee to recommend
at our next meeting the best method or methods of interesting
the public and creating public sentiment in favor of fish culture.

Motion seconded.

Mr. George F. Peabody, of Appleton, Wis.: I think Mr.
Dickerson’s idea is a very excellent one, but still the initiative

Y

American Fisheries Society. 15

must be taken by the state fish commissions in their work in each
state. They are the men to educate the public, and they can
only do it by intelligent work, each commission in its own state.
Now, Michigan stands in the front rank, and I am proud to say
that Wisconsin is a close second (modestly, I say, a close second )
and the state of Wisconsin is educated to this point; and people
send for fry, as General Bryant knows, from all over the state.
Farmezs want them and are generally friendly to the work of the
commission in the state of Wisconsin; and each year, as the
president indicated in his opening address, there is more and
more to encourage the work of this society. Now, it seems to me
that this society cannot do this work exactly as Mr. Dickerson
suggests; it is a very excellent idea to bring it up, however, and
have it discussed. But it is the business of each state commis-
sion to undertake this task. How many states have we repre-
sented here? Just a handful! Here is the great state of Ohio.
How many Ohio men are there here, although the meeting is
held right in its own waters ?

Mr. Dickerson: They have no water in Ohio.

Mr. Peabody: They have lots of it around here, yet they
are not represented. Massachusetts has one representative here,
Vermont none, New Hampshire none, and the great state of
Maine none. Those are the people to do this work. This society
can merely discuss these matters and make investigations and
promote an interest through its members, but the fish commis-
sions of each state are themselves to blame in this matter, if they
lie down and stay away from these meetings and take no interest
in them. 1! do not think it is the province of this society to chase
them up very much.

It seems to me that the scope of this society is to go on as it
is doing in original investigation and in discussion of methods
of propagating fish and all that sort of thing. It is throwing a
brilliant light on the subject of fish culture, each year more
widespread. This season, as secretary of the society, I have had
applications from foreign countries and from all over the United
States, and from men whom you would think were not interested
especially in this work, for the printed transactions of the so-
ciety, and that indicates that the interest is growing and is wide-
spread. I think the thing to do is to get at the state fish com-

par
(or)

Thirty-First Annual Meeting

missions, get at the governors and have them appoint commis-
sions lke the fish commissions of Wisconsin and Michigan,
Rhode Island and other states which are enthusiastic and in-
terested and will promote education as suggested in the resolu-
tion.

Mr. Dickerson: I agree exactly with Mr. Peabody. We in
Michigan have known that you have more sentiment in favor of
fish culture in Wisconsin than we have had in Michigan, until
within the last eighteen months. Now, Mr. Peabody has made
an excellent argument for my motion. I am sure that the gen-
tlemen from Connecticut, Ohio and from every other state,
would like to know in what manner and how you builded that
sentiment in Wisconsin. If you have made that sentiment in
Wisconsin how did you make it? We in Michigan want to know;
Iam sure my Connecticut friends want to know, and Ohio wants
to know. Now, my suggestion is that you appoint a committee
to see if the methods successfully used in one state to build up
this sentiment cannot be used in another. You let a geniug con-
nected with any of the great railroad systems devise some scheme
in California for the benefit of that railroad system, and it is
immediately put in operation, and every oftice on the entire line
of that system is made to feel it. Now, if the genius of some-
body has builded a sentiment in Wisconsin that helps the work
in that state, why should not every other state receive the benefit
of his ability.

Mr. John E. Gunekel, Toledo, O.:| My friend Mr. Dickerson
had in mind only Ohio, when he made the motion and the able
argument in favor of something that I think ought to be done.
He knew very well that for the last fifteen years I have been
about the only representative from Ohio at these meetings. I
am not a fish commissioner, I know nothing about the hard work
that my friend Mr. Clark does, but I was originally acquainted
with the man who first introduced the propagation of fish, the
late Judge Potter. As long as our companions and associates
are all right, that makes a man solid and square. Ohio has done
nothing for a number of years; but from the information that I
gleaned during the last fifteen or twenty years by attending these
meetings, I went home and in my back yard I tried a new plan,
the culture of the fish tree, in which I have been quite successful.

American Fisheries Society. 17

I am glad to say that I have been able to supply northwestern
Ohio. Since Mr. Stranahan left Put-in-Bay, something had to
be done. We used to snake our fish from Stranahan, but now we
get nothing! I strongly favor a committee to be appointed to
wake up Ohio and other states similarly situated.

The fish commission amounts to nothing, (I do not wish the
stenographer to miss that either) because it is merely a political
plan from beginning to end, and you must do so and so or it
don’t go. . Now, if there is some influence brought to bear that
will lift this state out of the hole or rut into which it has fallen,
it will be a blessing, and this committee can certainly lay plans
as to how it shall be done. If they cannot get the fish commis-
sioner to do something, they can back up the people; and the
people are ready at any time. ‘There never was a time in the his-
tory of the state of Ohio when the laws were so good for the pro-
tection of fish as this year, there is no question about that. All|
that Ohio needs is a few good men right behind it, men of ex-
perience and men that have been educated in the American
Fisheries society, that will push Ohio to the front. I am strongly
in fayor of Mr. Dickerson’s motion.

The President: The chair is inchned to commend your
energy in increasing the number of fish in Ohio by introducing
the new method of raising them on trees.

Mr. Gunekel: I had to do it, and then they called me a lar.
(Laughter and applause). So I started to raise boneless fish,
and I have succeeded, I am happy to say, in-that also,

The President: I would inquire of Mr. Dickerson what ts
his precise motion.

Mr. Dickerson: My motion was that a committee of three
be appointed to suggest to the various state commissions, or to
report at our next meeting, the best method of creating public
sentiment in the various states in the interests of fish culture.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Mr. John W. Titcomb, of Washington, D. C.: I move that
we adjourn at 5 o’clock for the afternoon session. My object in
making that motion is simply to ascertain whether the members
would like to take a boat ride, and if so that motion might be

made conditional on the weather. The fish commission steamer
)

a

18 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Shearwater will take those who wish to go on a little ride around
oO
the lake.
Motion seconded and carried.

Mr. Peabody: Prof. Jacob Reighard has a lecture to deliver
tonight, or at any time when it is convenient for the society,
illustrated by the stereopticon, and it might be well to consider
that matter before the adjournment.

Prof. Reighard: The only point about this is, that if this
lecture is to be given with the lantern it will be necessary to
make arrangements with the electricians for the connections, so
that I will have to know in advance when it is to be given.

Mr. Titcomb: | move that the lecture be given here tonight
at 8:30 o’clock, if agreeable to Prof. Reighard, and that the pub-
he be invited to attend.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Prof. Henry B. Ward, of Lincoln, Nebraska, then read a
paper by Dr. R. H. Pond, of Michigan, on the subject, “The
Role of the Larger Aquatic Plants in the Biology of Fresh
Water.”

The president appointed as a committee on program, Mr.
Titcomb, of Vermont, Mr. Peabody, of Wisconsin, Mr. Root, of
Rhode Island, Mr. Fox, of Ohio, and Mr. Pike, of Connecticut.

Mr. Clark: I think we should now hear the secretary’s re-
port.

Secretary Peabody: The printed transactions constitute the
secretary's report. Aside from that I have no other report than
that which I have read. The printed report of the discussions
has been sent to all the members and to applicants for member-
ship. The work of the secretary is embodied in that report, and
as far as finances are concerned, is contained in the treasurer’s
report.

The treasurer’s report was then presented as follows:
Westerly, R. I., Aug. 5th, 1902.
To the American Fisheries Society:
Gentlemen :—
I beg to submit herewith my annual report as treasurer from
July 18th, 1901, to August 5th, 1902.

American Fisheries Society. 19

RECEIPTS.
PS ANC CHIMUR C AGILE: sists tens a aieystenetd\ohe «Weve Goa cisneoste & sleeve $165.09
Mealy mOILESPATGnTeCSies si. cepacia ois.s le. shaievete ere 6.5 00s) 4 aPsyaieie 228.00
SiRCODLESHOLSEGDOLUSVSOIG: «cae sac somites sess aces 1.50
lmierestronwdeposit: im bam... ss. .ch. ces as eae nc 2.85 $397.44
EXPENDITURES.
1901.
July 20. J. W. Titcomb, sundries at Milwaukee....$ 9.50
Aug. 3. S. Bower, Sec., sundries at Milwaukee... 5.80
Moo OLAaAM pS and Envelopes... .....6-eaorns es» 7.74
Aug. 10. H. D. Goodwin, stenographer, by Sec..... 82.00
AVIeeeeilt HOXPESS (ON PADETS. 956-0. c06 cece rnc ene ce PAD
PA oem tle URECCLDE WOOK Ja tiaciecmd« sapslot acute sais s asets 2.87
Dec ws Lost Cublishine Co by SG... 2s... <«- 138.00
Weer) leaks El OVL et Gs iC Owe... soci oie ois acsa eta nwe 2.95
Dec. 10. Geo. F. Peabody, Sec., sundries........... 20.04
1902.

Jan. 1. 100 stamped envelopes and receipts....... 2.42
May 25. 100 stamped envelopes and receipts....... 2.52
July 1. 100 stamped envelopes and receipts....... 2.12
July 25. Ryan & Co., Appleton, Wis., by Sec...... 1025
July 25. Geo. F. Peabody, Sec., stamps, etc........ 9.84

$296.30

EMManeercashwOn Wamdly.j..Peessist hie Sor es ache eaten ties 4 101.14 $397.44

Depository of funds, Manufacturers Trust Company, Provi-
dence, R. I. C. W. WILLARD,
Treasurer.

Mr. Willard :—I should like to have the report referred to an
auditing committee.

The President: I will appoint such committee at the re-
quest of the treasurer.

On hearing the report of our good treasurer and noticing
that he accounts for interest on deposit, reminds me that it was
told historically, I believe, that the great William Pitt when he
was made paymaster of the forces, the general understanding
being that he was to have the interest on deposits as part of the
perquisites of his office, with stern honesty accounted for every
cent of the interest as well as principal; and a great many peo-
ple of England thought that he was foolish to do it. The great
Edmund Burke, also made paymaster of the forces for the pur-
pose of enriching his purse, was so strictly honest that he ac-

20 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

counted for the interest on the deposits: and I am glad to find
that our good treasurer, with the same sense of fidelity and
loyalty to our fund, has accounted for the interest, and deserves
especial commendation for his frugality and financial wisdom in
investing our funds so that they yield an income.

Mr. Peabody: <A large number of letters of regret have been
presented, also excuses for not furnishing papers, and I suppose
it is unnecessary to read them all, but there is one from Mr. E.
W. Blatchford to which I should lke to refer. A great many of
you remember him at Wood’s Hole. He was very much inter-
ested in the matter of a monument to Prof. Baird; and the latter
part of his letter is of interest as pertaining to that subject. He
says:

“The ‘Baird Memorial Committee’ are engaged in preparation
for the dedication of the admirable granite boulder and tablet in
Prof. George Baird’s memory—the large and thoughtful work con-
nected with which has been done by our honored chairman—Dr.
Smith.”

Mr. Gitnekel: I may be fishing in water where I cannot land
the fish, but at least I can cut bait. I would respectfully suggest
a change in the constitution and by-laws as follows: Make
present Article 5, Article 6, and then add Article 5 which shall
read as follows:

“Order of business shall be as follows :”

(You all notice the trouble that we have in the order of busi-
ness ).

“First: Call to order by the president.

“Second: Roll call of members.

“Third: Appheation and action on new members.

“Fourth: Reports of officers, president, secretary and stand-
ing committees.

“Fifth: Appoimting committee of five to nominate officers
for ensuing year.

“Sixth: Appointing committee of three on time and place
for next meeting.

“Seventh: Appointing auditing committee of three.

“Bighth: Reading of papers and discussions on same.

“N. B.—Preference to reading papers shall be given to mem-

bers present, and in order of notices received by the secretary.

American Fisheries Society. 21

(I did not prepare a paper this time, because I thought as
you met in Ohio, it would be a matter of respect to the other
states that Ohio should give way to the distinguished gentlemen
from abroad. A man who comes 500 miles to attend our meet-
ings and has given notice that he is going to read his paper,
should be entitled to first attention and a full house).

“Ninth: Payment of annual dues.”

I respectfully submit this for your consideration, and only
suggest 1t because I think it may be something that will lead us
to firmer ground.

Mr. Peabody: I move that this matter be referred to a com-
mittee of three.

Motion seconded and carried.

Mr. Clark: I move that the secretary be instructed, if neces- ,
sary, to mail a copy of the present printed report to all new
members.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Secretary Peabody: I have sent them to all of the members
that we have received during the year, and there are enough to
go around now.

Mr. Titcomb: I would say in connection with this that a
resolution was passed at the meeting at Wood’s Hole, providing
for the sale of back copies of the transactions, so far as available,
to those wishing to complete their files. 1 simply call attention
to the matter.

Dr. Reighard: Are there complete sets ?

Secretary Peabody: No, there are no complete sets.

Mr. Frank N. Clark, of Michigan, then presented a paper on
the subject, “A Successful Year in the Artificial Propagation of
the Whitefish.”

The president appointed as committee on nominations and
selection of place of meeting: F. N. Clark, of the United
States Fish Commission, Dwight Lydell, of Michigan, J. J.
Hogan, of Wisconsin, G. T. Mathewson, of Connecticut, and H.
B. Ward, of Nebraska.

As committee to urge upon congress the importance of estab-
lishing a biological station on the great lakes, F. B. Dickerson,

22 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

of Michigan, Jacob Reighard, of Michigan, E. A. Birge, of Wis-
consin, J. EK. Gunekel, of Ohio, R. T. White, of New York.

Prof. Reighard: Arrangements have been made for the
reading of my paper accompanied with stereopticon views, in a
large assembly room of the hotel, at 8:30 o’clock tonight.

While I am on my feet I wish to present to the society Mr.
Dickerson’s excuses for leaving, but pressing private business re-
quired him to return home this afternoon.

Adjourned to 8:50 p. m., same day and place.

EVENING SESSION, 8:30 O’CLOCK.

Meeting called to order by the president.

The President: You all probably know that our appoint-
ment this evening to hear the lecture of Dr. Reighard failed be-
cause of lack of electric current to operate the lamp to be used,
and so we have concluded to spend the evening in the regular
business of the society, taking up the reading of papers and re-
ceiving reports of committees.

The chairman of the program committee then presented the
following report: ‘The committee on program were unani-
mously decided that the day’s session should begin at 9:30 a. m.
and last until 12, and begin in the afternoon at 2:30 and
last until 5; that the papers of those who were present should be
read in preference to the papers of those who are not here to read
them personally ; and the idea was that the bass papers should be
grouped and all read at one session. The plan was to have the
bass papers in the morning, and talking with the committees
separately about this meeting tonight, it was thought that if the
members present desire to continue, the trout papers might best
be taken up tonight, one by Mr. Seagle and one by Mr. Marsh.
‘Tomorrow afternoon after the session, if the members desired,
there could be another trip on the Shearwater, which in fact is
at the disposal of the members at any time.

Report of committee unanimously adopted and committee

discharged.

Mr. M. C. Marsh then read a paper on the subject of “T’he
Brook Trout Disease and Cement Ponds.”

American Fisheries Society. 23

Mr. George A. Seagle, of Virginia, then read a paper on the
subject, “Some Remarks on the Rainbow Trout, the Time for
Planting, etc.”

Mr. J. J. Stranahan, of Georgia, then presented a paper on
the subject, “Fish Culture on the Farm.”

(Read by Mr. Titcomb).

Adjourned to 9:30 a. m., Wednesday, August 6th, 1902,
same place.

Wednesday, August 6, 1902.

MORNING SESSION, 9:30 O'CLOCK.

Convention called to order by the president.

The president appointed as a committee on proposed amend-
ment to the constitution, Mr. Gunckel, of Ohio, Mr. Pike, of
Connecticut and Mr. Stranahan, of Georgia.

Dr. Bean: I would like to extend an invitation to the mem-
bers of the American Fisheries Society to consider the advisahil-
ity of holding the meeting in 1904, at St. Louis, at the time of
the exposition. I am well aware that the last meeting of the
American Fisheries Society held in Chicago in 1893, was not in
every respect as satisfactory as it might have been, for reasons
with which doubtless many of you are entirely familiar. There
was strife at that time; there is none now. In the year 1904 the
United States government will, I have no doubt, make the
finest display both in fisheries and fish culture which it has ever
made, and there is a perfect understanding between the authori-
ties of the exposition and the authorities of the United States
Fish Commission, so that both will work harmoniously, intelli-
gently and enthusiastically, with the object of bringing to-
gether not only interesting displays, but discussions of fish cul-
ture and fishery subjects. I suppose this meeting would be held
at a time of the vear which would be agreed upon by the society.

St. Louis has the reputation of being a very hot city in sum-
mer. I have spent the present summer there, and it is the first
summer I have spent in any city in twenty-five vears, and I have
suffered far less than I have in Washington at the same time of

24 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

the year. It is a cool year, I know, but 1904 may be another
cool year. In ordinary years the temperature of St. Louis is
much more endurable than that of a great many of the eastern
cities. I have lived in New York for a good many years and am
a resident of New York now, and when I say that St. Louis has
treated me more kindly in the matter of comfort than New
York City, you may be surprised, but it is nevertheless true.

In St. Louis, as I said, the government will have a very large
display of live fish and of fishery apphances, and in addition to
that the foreign governments will come in and show what they
can do in the way of fish culture and oyster culture. While, of
course, in some respects we have very little to learn from the
foreigners, yet in other respects, especially in oyster culture and
in the handling of lobsters and other crustaceans, we have a great

deal to learn from the Europeans—and they will be there. Their
space is already engaged, and we shall have their representative
men in fish culture as well as in fishery.

Now, St. Louis is one of the most important places in the
west, not only as a fish market, but as a city in which fishing in-
terests are enthusiastically considered. I believe that I have
never found a city of its size which contaimed so many intelli-
gent fishermen. It is a singular thing that the state does not
reflect the sentiment of St. Louis. I suppose it is because the
state officers, the commission, may be politicians—that I don’t
know. [f am not interested at all in politics, but I have found
that whenever a commission does run into politics there is very
little work done except that which will serve the politician’s pur-
pose, and I can account for it only in that way. Aside from
that, St. Louis is really a remarkable place as a fish center, that
is to say, a market for fresh and preserved fish, as a place from
which anglers go out to catch fish and study fish. Therefore,
gentlemen, I hope that you will look over this matter favorably
and decide next year to hold your meeting in St. Louis. You
will be very welcome and the exposition authorities will do
everything in their power to make you comfortable and happy.

The secretary then presented the following letters:

American Fisheries Society.

ra)
Or

St. Louis, Mo., July 24th, 1902.
Mr. J. E. Gunckel, Corresponding Secretary,
The American Fisheries Society,
Toledo, O.
Dear Mr. Gunckel:—

I have seen the announcement of the meeting of the American
Fisheries Society to be held at Put-in-Bay, August 5th to 7th. I wish
I could be with you, and possibly I may be there. I am writing you
now to ask your co-operation in securing a meeting of the society at
the Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. Of course it is a little early to
pass a resolution on this subject, but not too early to agree inform-
ally, at least, to such a course. You know that meetings of fishery
societies at international expositions have always been extremely
interesting. The Exposition authorities will welcome you, and you
will be provided with a suitable place in which to hold sessions.

Will your state do anything about a fish exhibit at St. Louis? I
am sending you, herewith enclosed, some copies of the first circular
of the Fish and Game Department. I also have charge of the
Forestry Department as Acting Chief. Kindly write to me as soon
as convenient and let me have your assurance of sympathy and
co-operation. Very truly yours,

TARLETON H. BEAN.

THE FISHING GAZETTE.
G. E. Jennings, Publisher and Proprietor.
203 Broadway.

New York, August 4th, 1902.
Mr. George F.. Peabody,

Secretary of the American Fisheries Society,
Hotel Victory, Put-in-Bay, Ohio.
My Dear Mr. Peabody :—

I regret exceedingly that I cannot be with you, for owing to
sickness, etc., I find it necessary to remain in New York during the
month of August. I am, of course, greatly disappointed, for I had
anticipated a pleasant outing with you all on Lake Erie. However,
I shall have to postpone my meeting with you until next year, when
I hope the meeting will be held in an eastern city.

I returned from Halifax on Friday and stopped at Boston on my
way and called upon Capt. J. W. Collins, Chairman of the Commis-
sioners of Fish and Game of Massachusetts, who was at one time a
member of the society. I suggested that it would be a graceful act
to invite the society to hold their next meeting in Boston, but Cap-
tain Collins very modestly said that he was not in a position to do
so, but I feel sure that if Boston should be chosen the members
from that city, particularly John R. Neal, who is one of the most
prominent fish merchants in the United States, and Mr. Jay Smith
and I think also Captain J. W. Collins, would be only too willing to

26 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

make it pleasant for the members. I feel quite sure that if the meet-
ing should be held in that city, I could get a number of prominent.
business men interested in the society and enlarge the list by a
number of new names.

This, of course, is all subject to the committee on location—
merely a suggestion. Boston is well located for an outing for the
western members, who are fond of the sea and its products, and
convenient to a number of well known seaside resorts, and I think it
would be well to consider having the meeting there next year.

Trusting the present meeting will be a big success and wishing
to be kindly remembered to all, I remain,

Yours truly,
G. E. JENNINGS.

Mr. Titcomb: I do not think it is wise to begin the discus-
sion of papers on black bass until more members are present,
and I do not lke to appear on the floor too often, but as a little
tribute to the scientists of the commission I want to read a httle
squib which I see comes from the London Chronicle :

THE LOBSTER HATCHERY.

Nature grim, in remorseless mood,
Undoes the work that she has done,
And out of every lobster brood
Slays ninety-nine and keeps but one.

Art stretches o’er the horrid scene
Her skillful and remedial sway—

And when I speak of “Art” I mean
The Fish Commission, U. S. A.

It takes the tender lobsterlet,
And gives him food and kind advice,
Changes his boots if they are wet,
Brushes his hair and makes him nice.

And lo, this baby of the sea
In gratitude begins to thrive;
Where one per cent it used to be,
Fifty, all fat, remain alive.

O noble work, heroic, grand,
That saves in scientific ways

Those little lisping lobsters, and
Keeps them for me and mayonnaise.

Mr. Gunekel: The committee on amendment of constitution
and by-laws is ready to report.

2

American Fisheries Society. 2

The President: We will hear their report.

The report was then read by the secretary as follows:

AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS.

New Article: Order of Business.
Instead of present Article No. V.

ARTE WV
ORDER OF BUSINESS.

1. Call to order by the president.
2. Roll call of members.
Appheation of new members.
+. Reports of officers.
a. President. /
b. Secretary.
ce. ‘Treasurer.
d. Standing Committees.
5. Committees appointed by the president.
a. Committee of five on nomination of officers for en-
suing year.
b. Committee of three on time and place of next meet-
ing.
ce. Auditing committee of three.
6. Reading of papers and discussions of same.
(Note—In the reading of the papers ,preference shall be
given to members present and in the order of notices received by
the secretary).

wv

i. Adjournment.

Dr. Birge: I move the adoption of the committee’s report.

Motion seconded.

Dr. Birge: | should like to ask a question. This is a sub-
stitute for Article V?

Mr. Gunekel: Article V becomes Article VI. I thought that
the secretary would understand that. Article V is an amend-
ment to the constitution.

Dr. Birge: May I ask in what way the constitution can be
amended ?

28 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Mr. Gunckel: At any time by a vote of two-thirds of those
present, provided fifteen are present.

Dr. Birge: My own feeling is that unless it is very easy to
get away from it, it is not advisable to tie ourselves up to an
order of business from which we cannot depart pretty readily.
I notice, for instance, one thing in this proposed amendment
which I feel sure the society will want to change quite fre-
quently, and that is, that the papers are to be read in the order
in which notification is received by the secretary. Certainly if
we have a group of papers on a given subject, as we had last
night on the trout, and are expecting to have today on the black
bass, I suppose it would be frequently, at least, the wish of the
society that the papers connected in subject should be read to-
gether, rather than seattered around and sandwiched in with
papers that have no relation to them.

Mr. Titcomb: I concur with Prof. Birge on that part of this
amendment. It seems to me that the order of the reading of the
paper should be decided by either a committee or the officers who
have charge of the meeting, and if this rule is adhered to we
would not have our papers grouped in the order they ought to
come. For illustration, today, by your committee on program,
it was suggested that we take all of the day’s papers at one ses-
sion, and very frequently a man comes a long distance and is in-
terested in bass, or is interested in trout. Now, he would like to
hear everything on that one subject during one session; he may
have to go away. I think further while talking on this subject,
though it may not be entirely about that resolution, that we
ought to have a committee to whom all papers should be sub-
mitted, and let them decide whether those papers are all to be
read. We may have some paper that we do not want published
by the American Fisheries Society. Some crank may read a
paper which does not do the society credit. We might get some
stuff into our pamphlets that would not do us credit when sent
broadeast through the world as our pamphlets are; and a com-
mittee could look them over and be a sort of a censor body per-
haps. I object to that clause. I think if that note was simply
omitted, then we can suspend rules any time to carry out Prof.
Birge’s idea, and we would not be tied up in that particular part
of it. 1 think we ought to have an order of business.

American Fisheries Society. 29

The President: The sixth order of business is reading of
papers and discussion of same, and to this is appended a note as
follows: “In the reading of papers preference shall be given to
members present and in the order of notices received by the sec-
retary.” The suggestion is that the note be stricken out.

Mr. Gunckel: If you will allow me, of course it is generally
known that if I can slip in a paper occassionally it doesn’t
amount to anything—I admit that—but being in the position
that I am and not of a scientific nature, except what I can glean
from these meetings, I would say that this suggestion does not
come originally from me, but from a great many members pres-
ent who read papers nearly every time. You have twice, I think,
carried motions, to the effect that gentlemen who are present
shall have the preference of reading their papers over those who
are absent; and this is the first time since I have attended any
of the meetings where you have divided papers off into groups.
That, of course, would naturally change the preference that I
have inserted there, but certainly a man who has come 400 or
500 miles and whose time is hmited ought to have the preference
in reading his paper over one who is not present, but who has
sent his paper in, thus perhaps delaying the paper of a man who
is present until too late to read or discuss it. It is unfair. That
is the argument, and I strongly think that that note of prefer-
ence there should be given to the writers of papers who are pres-
ent. You can divide the papers up into groups or in any way
you wish, but the men who are present certainly should have the
preference.

Then again, if I get up at 5 o’clock in the mornings and
study for a whole month and prepare a scientific article and I
come here to read it and want to discuss the subject, I am cer-
tainly entitled to the presence of a majority of the members.
Some of you members have spent a lifetime in propagating fish
and learning the secrets of their movements and everything, and
it is not fair to a man who comes a great distance to be put back
to the last in favor of some one who has sent in his paper late.

Dr. Birge: I think you misunderstand my point and that of
Mr. Titecomb. The thing I objected to was in regard to the
papers being read in the order of notices received by the secre-
tary. I am ready to agree that the members present should have

30 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

the preference in the matter of reading papers; that is the ordi-
nary custom in societies; but | should strike out that last part.
The fact that I give notice of preparation of a paper three
months ahead ought not to put my paper on the first session as
against the man who sends in his notice one month ahead.

Mr. Gunckel: The man that gets up in the morning and
sends in his article first pleases the secretary. The man that is
late, sneaks in and hands an article to the secretary and says he
has prepared it since he has been there, should not be allowed
to read his paper first. I say the man who got here early should
be recognized first. :

Mr. Titcomb: I think, as Dr. Birge says, we are all agreed
that the people who are here should have the opportunity to read
their papers in preference to those presented later, but I think
we ought to have some system about grouping our papers, and
if we adopt the note as it now reads, we are going to get, perhaps,
a paper on trout culture the first part of the session and then
take up a paper on trout culture again the last part of the meet-
ing. I think all kindred subjects should be taken up together,
just as we take up the bass question this morning.

Mr. Gunckel: Then strike out the words “in the order of
notices received by the secretary.”

Dr. Reighard: I move to amend the report by omitting that
clause which refers to the papers being read in the order of
notices received by the secretary.

Motion seconded.

The President: That will leave liberty of adjustment and
grouping of papers at the meeting.

Unanimously carried.

The President: The amendment to the constitution, as
amended, by adding Article Five and changing the present Arti-
cle Five so as to read Article Six, is now before you, as amended.

Mr. Clark: The committee are ready to report on officers
and place of meeting.

The President: We will receive the report.

Prof. Ward: I should lke to move that it be the rule of
this society that the officers shall be empowered to group and
arrange the papers for the session, constituting them practically

American Fisheries Society. 31

a committee for that purpose, and enabling them to do it a little
in advance of the time of the meeting. I propose that as a
standing rule.

Motion seconded.

Mr. Titcomb: Do you wish to include all of the executive
committee? I think if it is left to the president and secretary
you will have the thing done more quickly than if you wait for
all the officers to get together.

Mr. Ward: I will accept the suggestion, making it a com-
mittee of three, the president and the two secretaries.

The President: Will you state the motion again?

Prof. Ward: That the president and the two secretaries be
empowered to arrange and group the papers for the programme
of the meetings of the society.

Mr. Gunckel: We have had motions similar to that and we
always forget them. Now, why can’t you make that part of
Article Five of our constitution and by-laws, right after the
article we have discussed here, and then it will always appear
in our report. We have no back reports here. There are a lot
of motions which we have forgotten all about. There is one
made in New York a few years ago, and you have forgotten all
about that.

Prof. Ward: I will gladly do that if it can be adopted con-
stitutionally. Now, I should be glad to accept the suggestion
and make it Section 2 of the present article.

Mr. Gunekel: I would suggest that under Rule 6 this pro-
posed amendment shall be noted as Section “b.”

Dr. Birge: I would suggest that the words, ‘and group” be
omitted. The power to arrange is sufficient.

Prof. Ward: I will accept the suggestion.

The proposed amendment to the constitution is that the
president and the two secretaries be empowered to arrange the
papers of the meetings of the society, and that that be added to
Article 5 as Clause “b’” of the constitution just amended.

Seconded and unanimously carried.

The amendment to the constitution as finally adopted is as
follows:

(Ss)

ra)

Thirty-First Annual Meeting

AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS.

New Article: Order of Business.
(Instead of present Article V.)

ARTICLE V.
ORDER OF BUSINESS.

1. Call to order by President.
2. Roll call of members.

3. Applications for membership.
4. Reports of Officers.

a.
ib:
c.
le

Committees appointed by the President.

Or

a.

Cc.

President.
Secretary.
Treasurer.
Standing Committees.

Committee of five on nomination of officers for en-
suing year.

Committee of three on time and place of next meet-
ing.

Auditing committee of three.

6. Reading of papers and discussions of same.

(Note—a. In the reading of papers preference shall be

b.

given to members present.
The President and the two secretaries are em-
powered to arrange the papers of the meetings of the

society ).

7. Miscellaneous business.

8. Adjournment.

Mr. Clark: Without taking up too much time I will state
that the committee on time and place have had under considera-

tion the invitations from different points, very cordial ones from
Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Wood’s Hole and Mill Creek, Michigan.
Those presenting the names of these different cities (especially
Mill Creek) have invited the society very cordially. Mr. Tuttle
presented the Niagara Falls matter, and they are all good places
—no question about it—but the committee have decided to make

the following report :
After carefully considering the invitations from the several

American Fisheries Society. 33

cities, we respectfully suggest that the next annual meeting be
held at Wood’s Hole, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, Wednesday
and Thursday of the fourth week of July, 1903, namely the 23rd,
24th and 25th of July, and that the meeting be ealled to order
at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. It is further suggested that the place
and time be printed on the letter heads usually furnished by this
society.

They also wish to report as their suggestions for officers for
the vear:

President—George M. Bowers, Washington, D. C.

Vice President—Henry B. Ward, Lincoln, Neb.

Recording Secretary—George F. Peabody, Appleton, Wis.

Corresponding Secretary—John E. Gunekel, Toledo, O.

Treasurer—C. W. Willard, Westerly, R. I.

Mr. Peabody: I would like to say that it will ‘be impossible

for me to act next year. As I am planning now, I may be out of
the country; and further, I think it was rather understood that
we were to take turns at this thing, and it is quite a responsibil-
ity and quite a duty. If my memory serves me right, I think
it was understood that one year’s service entitles one to be
retired from that position, and I will ask you to substitute some
one else for that office.
_ Mr. Gunckel: Naturally the corresponding secretary follows
suit. Of course the corresponding secretary’s duties are not ,
very laborious—a little correspondence from the east and west—
but I think as that is more of an honorary position, that you
ought to change and have some other person. It is not very
important to me, because there is little to do, but I think you
ought to follow the rule and change. Of course the committee
thought it a matter of delicacy and did not like to put me out
in the cold world, but I will be very glad indeed if the committee
will withdraw my name and put some other person there.

Mr. Titecomb: I rise to a point of order. There is nothing
before the meeting.

The President: The rule of the American Fisheries Society
is, no flunking. The point of order is sustained.

Mr. Clark: I move the adoption of the report of the com-
mittee.

Motion seconded.

34 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Mr. Clark: Mr. Peabody makes a statement that I hardly
think he is warranted in making. I do not remember that at the
meeting at Milwaukee anything was said about the secretary’s
serving but one year. I think if he goes out serving as secretary
of this society only one-year, that it will go to the world that this
society did not think much of his work, and I for one wish to
say emphatically that Mr. Peabody has made one of our best
secretaries, and we have had good secretaries before him; but I
really think that Mr. Peabody should reconsider what he has
said. If Mr. Peabody is going to be gone the whole year, why
his excuse might avail, but I hardly think that Mr. Peabody will
be gone out of the United States for a whole year: I think he
is too much of an American for that. He may go away to Eur-
ope for a month or two, but he will come back with renewed
vigor, and can serve this society better than he has in the past,
if that be possible; and I therefore hope the society will not
consider his remarks.

(Voices: Question! Question! )

The report of the committee was unanimously adopted, with
the exception of the vote of Mr. Gunekel, which was cast in the
negative.

The President: The noes are out of order.

Mr. Gunekel: I wish to make one statement to the mem-
bers. I would lke to have them remember that the correspond-
ing secretary has nothing to do with sending out the books. A
great many letters come to me that should go to the recording
secretary. Now, all questions on scientific subjects go to the
recording secretary, all questions and problems of angling go to
the recording secretary. To get truthful stories, go to the re-
cording secretary, but if you want to learn how to lie, that mat-
ter is within the province of the corresponding secretary, and
all information will be cheerfully furnished by him. (Great
applause and laughter).

The President: He takes charge of the Department of the
Imagination.

Mr. Gunekel: Yes, sir, I take charge of that.

Mr. Peabody: I have a letter here that one of the gentlemen
from Ohio wishes me to read, as it is perhaps a defense of and

American Fisheries Society. 3:

OU

an apology for the state of Ohio having no representative of and
from their commission. I presume that is his purpose. There
are on this letter head the names of the president and four mem-
bers and two officers, but none of them is present.

STATE OF OHIO.
FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.
J. L. Rodgers, President, Columbus.
Paul North, Cleveland. Thomas S. Paxton, Cincinnati. Dr. RD.
W. Greene; Dayton. Edwin M. Kennedy, McConnelsville. J. C. Por-
terfield, Chief Warden, Columbus. George C. Blankner, Secretary,

Columbus.

Columbus, Ohio, August 4th, 1902.
S. W. Downing, Supt.,

U. S. Fish Hatchery,
Put-in-Bay, Ohio.
Dear Sir:—

I had fully intended being present at the meeting of the Ameri-
can Fisheries Association at Put-in-Bay this week, but I find now
that I am called away by an important matter and that it will be
absolutely impossible for me to get back in time to attend. Please
accept my thanks for your kind invitation and my sincere regrets
that I cannot be present.

Wishing you a most successful meeting, I am,

Yours very truly,
J. L. RODGERS,
President.

Mr. Gunckel: That, coming from the Ohio Fish Commis-
sion, shows the first recognition the American Fisheries Society
has had since 1890 from the commission, and I would make a
motion that the secretary, or corresponding secretary, write offi-
cially to them, thanking them for recognizing the association,
and insisting on the state of Ohio taking a greater interest in
the association than it has.

Mr. Downing : I would like to correct the statement in
regard to the first recognition; I think the first recognition was
yesterday when I put in six dollars for the members from the
Ohio Fish Commission.

The President: I think it would be well for the society
to recognize that we have been hospitably entertained on the
soil of Ohio, and let it go at that, and not make any record of
the fact that we missed them.

The president here appointed as a committee to audit the

36 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

treasurer’s accounts Mr. Lane, of Massachusetts, Mr. Geer, of
Connecticut, and Mr. Downing, of Ohio.

Mr. Titecomb: I wish to extend to the members of the soci-
ety an invitation to attend the Rhode Island clam bake in con-
nection with their visit to Wood’s Hole next year, and the wives
of the society members are also invited to partake of this clam
bake. You will remember very pleasantly the clam bake we had
in connection with the last meeting.

The President: I remember it very well. I can hardly wait
for next year.

Mr. Clark: There was one thing in the report of the com-
mittee on place that was left out. I beg to have it putin. Mr.
Dickerson, through Mr. Ward, extended a cordial invitation to
this society to meet in Detroit in 1904, and he was very anxious
to make this request now, so that the members could be con-
sidering it. I understand that Mr. Dickerson offers to provide
a special mail train and special mail bags for each society, or
something like that, and take them all over the state.

The President: Are there any further remarks on the paper
read by Mr. Stranahan last night ?

(No remarks).

Mr. Titcomb then read a paper by Mr. Dwight Lydell on the

oe)

subject, “The Habits and Culture of the Black Bass.”

Mr. Herbert D. Dean, of the United States Fish Commis-
sion, Neosho, Missouri, then read a paper on the subject, “Dis-
couragements in the Culture of Black Bass.”

Mr. Titeomb: After the discussion on this paper, if there
is any, there is a very short paper simply asking questions on
bass. If the audience have the patience I should like to see this
whole bass matter straightened out this morning. Mr. Clark
also has a paper from Mr, Lamkin, the fish culturist, in Georgia.

Mr. Clark then read a paper by Mr. J. B. Lamkin on the
subject, “A Few Points on the Black Bass for Discussion.”

Mr. Clark then read a paper by Dr. James A. Henshall on
the subject, “Food and Game Fishes of the Rocky Mountain

R 107 29
Le210Nn.

American Fisheries Society. 3

Motion was made, seconded and carried that the discussion
of the paper be postponed until the afternoon session.
r

A recess was taken until 2 o’clock, same day and place.

AFTERNOON SESSION, 2 O°CLOCK.

Meeting called to order by the president.

The President: I regret to be obliged to announce that
Prof. Reighard’s paper on “The Meaning of the Secondary Sex-
ual Characters of Certain Fresh Water Fishes,” and Prof. Rei-
ghard’s and Prof. Ward’s paper on “A Method of Measuring
the Efficiency of Quantitative Plankton Nets” cannot be pre-
sented this afternoon for the reason that they were unable to
make arrangements to get the current to enable them to exhibit

the lantern slides.

The secretary, Mr. Peabody, then read a paper by Mr. W. T.
Thompson, of New Hampshire, on the subject, ‘“Feeding—Its
Effeet on Growth and Egg Production.”

¢

The President: It affords me great pleasure to announce
that Hon. George M. Bowers, United States Fish Commissioner,
is fortunately with us. He arrived this noon, and as we have
done ourselves the honor of electing him our president, I ear-
nestly request Mr. Bowers to come forward and let me introduce
him to the society. (Applause).

Mr. Bowers: Mr. President and gentlemen, I very much
appreciate the honor you have conferred upon me, but from the
fact that I am not a speechmaker and that I do not desire to
delay the business of this society, and from the further fact that
quite a number of its members are anxious to leave on the 3:15
boat, I simply at this time again express my thanks and hope to
show my appreciation for this honor by endeavoring to do, as !
try to do always, my duty. (Applause).

The President: Mr. Bowers’ efforts in the line of fish cul-
ture have elicited the warmest approbation from people through-
out the country interested in that subject, and it will give me
great pleasure to deliver the baton of office into his hands when
I am through with it this afternoon.

The committee appointed to audit the treasurer’s report then

38 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

presented their report, finding that the treasurer’s report was
correct.
Report adopted.

Dr. Birge: I have a paper from Arthur Sykes of Wisconsin,
which, if there is no objection, | would hke to present to the
society.

Dr. Birge then read a paper by Mr. Arthur Sykes on the
subject, “Inbreeding Pond-reared Trout.”

Secretary Peabody: That concludes the papers.

Dr. Birge: We are all greatly disappointed in not hearing
Prof. Reighard’s paper and the joint paper of Prof. Reighard
and Prof. Ward. I suppose that the absence of the lantern
makes it impossible to give them. Would it not be possible,
however, for them to furnish for the transactions a general
statement of the contents of the papers, so that we could get
them in printed form.

Prof. Reighard: I think it would be possible.

The President: As a committee to prepare such biographi-
cal mention of the members who have died during the past
year as may be deemed proper and in accordance with the usages
of the society, I will appoint Dr. Bean, Dr. Birge and Mr. Wil-
lard to make report at the next meeting of the society.

Mr. Titcomb: May I enquire if the photographs furnished
by Mr. Lydell will be published with his paper?

The Secretary: Yes, I intend to have them in. I have se-
lected some.

The President: I would enquire if the lectures with lantern
slides, “A Method of Measuring the Efficiency of Quantitative
Plankton Nets,” and “The Meaning of the Secondary Sexual
Characters of Certain Fresh Water Fishes,” could be given in
the transactions without the slides.

Prof. Reighard: J do not think so. A good many of the
illustrations are colored. I think the most that could be at-
tempted would be an abstract of the articles, perhaps with some
illustrations.

Mr. William H. Boardman, of Rhode Island: A good many
of us who come here eager to learn are confronted with a rather
perplexing situation. These topics are taken up, papers pre-

American Fisheries Society. 39

sented, long and exhaustive discussions had—but no conclusions
reached. Now, how are we to decide who is right? I think
that by some means a definite decision where possible should be
made, settling once for all points which can be settled by us, so
that it will not be necessary to take them up again, and so that
we may know something of what we have accomplished.

The President: You will have to do as an old German jus-
tice of the peace used to do; he always said, “The last fellow got
the best speech and I gives him the case.”

Mr. Peabody: I move that the society tender a resolution
of thanks to the United States Fish Commission for its kindness
in putting the steam launch Shearwater at our disposal, and also
for the great interest that the commission has shown in being
represented here in such large numbers, in furnishing so much
material for our discussions, and affording such great help to us
in forwarding the work of the society.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Mr. Bowers: I desire to offer a resolution heartily thanking
the officers of this association for the conscientious and able
manner in which they have performed their several duties, and
to congratulate them upon the successful work of this society
during the past year.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

The President: Before we close I wish to thank the society
for the meeting, which to me has been one of great interest and
satisfaction. The duties of the presiding officer have been sim-
plified and made very easy by the excellent order maintained. I
found it the least difficult convention to manage that I ever pre-
sided over, and our meeting has certainly been pleasant and, I
hope, instructive to us all. I certainly have derived great benefit
and pleasure from the papers and discussions we have had. and
want to say to all of you who failed to meet us at Wood’s Hole
when our last convention was held there, that you will lose a
large fraction of the pleasures of life, if you fail to go there next
year, for it is certainly worth a trip across the United States to
see that country and the work that the United States Fish Com-
mission is conducting there. It will enlarge our vision very
much on the subject of fish culture, and its concomitant stud-

40 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

ies. Thanking you for your kindness and courtesy to me during
my presidency, I now lay aside the mantle of office, proud and
gratified that it falls upon such worthy shoulders as those of
my honored successor. (Applause).

Mr. Bowers: Before we adjourn, I desire to present to the
society Dr. Green, of Dayton, Ohio, representing the Ohio state
commission. (Applause).

Dr. Green: The gentlemen in Ohio have been absent from
your convention from choice, not necessity. I am glad to say to
you that while you have honored our state with your presence,
we are sorry not to have been with you more frequently, but we
are with you in spirit. We are trying to do the best we can. We
have the best game and fish laws in the world, especially in
regard to Lake Erie. We have been handicapped very much
with our laws there, but we are in a much better position now,
and we are going at matters in the right spirit, and intend to
enforce the laws. We will have a patrol boat from which we
expect great results. I am glad to meet you all and hope to see
you at some future time. (Applause).

President Bryant: The society hopes that the commission of
the state of Ohio will be with us hereafter and co-operate with us
in the good work we are carrying forward, and we wish all fish
commissions godspeed. We have appointed a committee to en-
deavor to stimulate and promote among the various state com-
missions the best methods of interesting the public and getting
a right public sentiment in respect to the protection and prop-
agation of fish.

Mr. Dean: In regard to the meeting next year, [I under-
stand there is an invitation for the ladies to come to the clam-
bake. Does that mean we are to bring the ladies next year?

Dr. Birge: Anybody that can get the price of a ticket had
better bring them.

The President: There were several ladies at our convention
last year and they enjoyed themselves very much, and everything
was done to make it pleasant for them. ‘There is a standing
invitation to the ladies to come to our conventions.

The society then adjourned sine die.

Deceased Members since last meeting:

James Wenkarod.
Prof. B. Benecke.
Prof. A. J. Adalmgren.
3. S. Wan Cleet.

. hb. Friesmuth, Fr.

PART I

PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS

es - S
a -
a :
Ln? :
; o 7 -

y
> é
a
-
hats
a ., '

a

American Fisheries Society. 45

THE HABITS AND CULTURE OF THE BLACK BASS.
BY DWIGHT LYDELL.

In this paper I shall try to set down the experiences that I
have had in the nine seasons, beginning with that of 1894, dur-
ing which I have had charge of the Black Bass work of the
Michigan Fish Commission. This work was begun at Cascade,
Michigan, and after four seasons was transferred to Mill Creek,
where it is now carried on. Since the methods of pond culture
that have been finally adopted are based on a knowledge of the
breeding habits of the fish under natural conditions, I shall be-
gin by describing these habits. The account has reference to the
Small Mouth Bass, unless the Large Mouth is specified.

In studying the habits of the bass it is necessary to distin-
guish the males from the females at a considerable distance.
Ordinarily, it is not possible to distinguish them except by dis-
section, but just at the spawning time the female is distinguish-
able even at a distance of 10 or 20 feet on account of her disten-
sion with eggs. By this means I have been able to make out the
part taken by each sex in nest building and the rearing of young.
I have several times, while watching the fish, verified my de-
termination of the sex by seiming the fish in question and dis-
secting it, have invariably found that I had determined the sex
correctly.

I do not hesitate to say that the nests of the black bass are
built by the male fish working alone. The small mouth prefers a
bottom of mixed sand and gravel, in which the stones range from
the size of a pea to that of one’s fist. As the spawning season
approaches the male fish are seen moying about in water of 2 or
three feet depth seeking a suitable nesting place. Each male
tests the bottom in several places by rooting into it with his
snout and fanning away the overlying mud or sand with his tail.
If he does not find gravel after going down 3 or 4 inches, he
seeks another place. Having found a suitable place he cleans
the sand and mud from the gravel by sweeping it with his tail.
He then turns over the stones with his snout and continues

46 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

sweeping until the gravel over a circular spot of some 2 feet in
diameter is perfectly clean. The sand is swept toward the edge
of the nest arid there forms a rim a few inches high, leaving the
center of the nest concave lke a saucer. The nest is usually
located near a log or large rock so as to be shielded from one side
If the bank is sheer and the water deep enough, the nest may be

HATCHING BED.

built directly against the bank if possible. It is always so placed
that the fish can reach deep water quickly at any time.
During nest building no females are in sight—but when the

nest is done—and this takes from four to forty-eight hours—the

male goes out into deep water and at once returns with a female.
Then for a time—it may be for several hours—the male exerts
himself to get the female into the nest and to bring her into that
state of excitement in which she will lay her eggs. If she lies
quiet he turns on his side and passes beneath her in such a way
as to stroke her belly in passing. If she delays too long he urges

American Fisheries Society. 47

her ahead by biting her on the head or near the vent. If she
attempts to escape he heads her off and turns her back toward
the nest. If, after all, she will not stay in the nest, he drives her
roughly away and brings another female.

Some fifteen to thirty minutes before the female is ready to
enter the nest and spawn, her excitement is made evident by a
change of color.

Ordinarily, she appears to be of a uniform dark olive or

SHOWING BEDS SCREENED.

brown above, changing to a light green below. The only mark-
ings readily seen are four stripes on each cheek. In reality how-
ever, the sides of the fish are mottled with still darker spots on
the dark olive back-ground. The spots are arranged so as to
form irregular, vertical bands like those on the perch-—but these
are not usually visible. Now as the excitement of the female in-
creases the back-ground becomes paler and finally changes to a
light green or yellowish hue so that the spots and bands stand
out in strong relief. The whole surface of the fish becomes thus
strongly mottled. This is a visible sign that the female will soon
spawn. The male undergoes a similar but less pronounced
change of color.

Soon after this the female enters the nest and the male con-
tinues to circle about her, glide beneath her and to bite her

48 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

gently on the head and sides. At times, he seizes her vent in his
mouth and shakes it.

When this has continued for a time spawning takes place.
The two fish turn so as to lie partly om their sides with their
vents together and undergo a convulsive flutterimg movement
lasting three to five seconds. During this time the eggs and milt
are extruded. The circling movements are then resumed, to be
interrupted, after a few seconds, by spawning. This alternate
circling and spawning continues for about ten minutes. The

POND AFTER BEDS HAVE BEEN SCREENED.

male then drives the female away, biting her and showing great
ferocity. She does not return.

The male and the male only, now continues to guard the nest,
fanning sediment from the eggs and repelling enemies. At 66
degrees Fahrenheit the eggs hatch in five days and the young fish
swarm up from the bottom in twelve to thirteen days from time
eggs are hatched.

Henshall in his “More About the Black Bass” published In
1898, quotes, with approval, Arnold’s observations to the effect
that the nests are built and then guarded by the female. Page
in the “Manual of Fish Culture” published in 189%, by the
United States Fish Commission, speaks of the nests as being
built by the mated fish sometimes working together, and some-
times working separately. These seem to be the latest pub-

American Fisheries Soctety. 49

lished observations,—and are not at all in accord with my obser-
yations in Michigan.

After the young small mouth bass rise from the nest they
soon scatter out over a space 4 or 5 rods across. ‘They do not
form a definite school, with all the fish moving together, but a
very loose swarm in which the fish are moving independently, or
in small groups. This habit makes it impossible to seine the
young fry, as upon the approach of the seine, instead of keeping
together, they at once scatter and escape the seine. ‘The fry may
be at the surface or on the bottom in weeds or clear water. They
are attended by the male until they are an inch and a quarter

POND DRAWN DOWN WHILE SETTING BEDS.

long. The swarm then gradually disperses and the young fry,
which were previously black, take on the color of the old fish.

The breeding habits of the Large Mouth Black Bass are sim1-
lar to those of the small mouth, but differ in some respects which
are of importance in pond culture.

1. The nests of the large mouth are not made on gravel, but
by preference on the roots of water plants. These are cleaned of
mud over a circular area and on them the eggs are laid. As the
large mouth eggs are smaller and more adhesive than those of
the small mouth, they are apt, when laid on gravel to become

lodged between the stones and to stick together 1m masses, They
4

50 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

are then smothered. When laid on the fibrous roots of water
plants this does not occur.

2. The young remain together in a compact school very
much smaller than that of the small mouth and the fry usually
move all in the same direction. This makes it easy to seine the
large mouth fry when wanted.

CULTURE OF BLACK BASS.
1. Ponds and Stock Fish.
After some experimenting, all our ponds, both for stock fish
and fry, are built on the model of a natural pond. There is a

POND DRAWN DOWN WHILE SETTING BEDS.

central deeper portion or kettle, about 6 feet deep, and around
the shore a shallow area where the water is about 2 feet deep.
The bottom is the natural sand, and water plants are allowed to
grow up in the ponds. All ponds are supplied with brook water,
and silt from this furnishes a rich soil for the aquatic plants.
The water of these ponds contains Daphnia, Bosmina, Corixa
and other small aquatic forms in great numbers. These furnish
food for the bass fry. The ponds run in size from 120 feet by
190 feet to 100 feet by 100 feet.

At first we were unable to feed the stock fish on liver, but
after a time we found that by cutting the liver into strips of
about the size and shape of a large angle-worm and by throwing
the strips into the water with the motion that one uses in skip-

American Fisheries Society. 51

ping stones, they wriggle lke a worm in sinking and are then
readily taken. The liver must be fresh! We found, however,
if the fish are fed on liver alone they do not come out of winter
quarters in good condition. Of eleven nests made by bass thus
fed, only three produced fry. Although eggs were laid in all
they seemed to lack vitahty owing to the poor condition of the
parent fish, and in eight of the nests the eggs died.

In order to bring the fish through the winter in good condi-
tion it is necessary to begin feeding minnows in September, and
to continue this until the fish go into winter quarters.

HAULING DAPHNIA.

The bass eat minnows until they go into winter quarters,
after which they take no food until spring. The minnows are
left in the ponds over winter so that the bass, when they come
out of winter quarters, find a plentiful supply, which lasts them
until the spawning season. At this time the minnows are seined
from the pond as their presence interferes with the spawning.
Before this, however, some of the minnows have spawned and
their fry later serve the young bass as food. When bass are fed
in this way, they come out of winter quarters in fine condition
and their eggs are found to be hardy.

2. Artificial Fertilization.

During the first two or three seasons of our work numerous
attempts were made at artificial fertilization, but like all other

52 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

attempts of this sort, these proved to be failures. Only twice did
T succeed in artificial fertilization. On one of these occasions
the female was seined from the nest after she had begun to
spawn. She could then be readily stripped. The male was cut
open and the eggs were fertilized with the crushed testes. About
75 per cent of the eggs hatched on a wire tray, in running water,
the eggs being fanned clean every day with a feather.

In the second case the fish were seined while spawning and
it was found that in the case of one female, pressure on the abdo-
men caused a reddish papilla to protrude from the vent. This
had the appearance of a membrane closing the vent. It was
pinched off and the female then stripped readily and the eggs
were fertilized and hatched.

3. Pond Culture.

Having abandoned artificial fertilization, our attention was
next turned to pond culture and this we have carried on for
about six years. Our earlier ponds were not of a sort to furnish
natural spawning ground. For this reason we constructed along
side each of the large ponds, six smaller ponds to be used as
spawning ponds. Each of these was about 16 by 24 feet, 16
inches deep, with gravel bottom, and was connected to the cen-
tral pond by a 4 foot channel.

The fish entered these and spawned. In one case we had
eight nests in a single pond of this sort. Where as many nests
as this were made, usually but one or two of them came to any
good, the others being destroyed by the fighting of the male fish.
Ordinarily, but one or two nests were built in each spawning
pond. The male fish first to enter and begin the construction of
a nest, generally regarded the whole pond as his property and
held it against those that tried to enter after him. On one occa-
sion the male thus holding the pond was attacked by ten or
twelve other males at one time and after a long struggle was

killed and his nest destroyed.

4. [ now gave up the attempt to use small spawning ponds
and had nearly all my ponds made of good size and with a cen-

tral kettle and shallow shore area—as already described. The
problem now was to prevent the fighting of the male fish and the

consequent destruction of nests and eggs. I finally hit upon

American Fisheries Society. 5a

what seemed to be the two chief causes of this fighting and found
remedies for them. I had noticed that in the natural water the
nests of the small mouth bass were frequently built against a
stone or log so as to be shielded on one side. When they were so
built the nests might be quite close together, as near as 4 feet,
and the fish did not fight, because they did not see one another
when on the nest. On the other hand, if a bass nest was built in
a situation where it was not shielded the bass on that nest would
prevent any other bass from building within 25 or 30 feet of him.
Tt occurred to me then to try to construct artificial nests and
shield them so that the fish on the nests could not see one
another. In this way I hoped to be able to place the nests so
near together so as to fully utilize my pond area and still not
have them destroyed by fighting.

In the spring before the spawning season opened, I drew
down the ponds so as to expose the shallow terrace along the
shore. This terrace was then cleaned to a depth of about 2
inches of sediment and vegetation which had accumulated since
the previous summer. Rectangular nest frames 2 feet square of
inch board were now made. On two adjacent sides these frames
were 4 inches high, while on the other sides they were 16 inches
high. They were without bottoms, that is, were frames not
boxes. ‘The frames were then set on that part of the bottom
where there would be about 2 feet of water when the pond was
filled. Each was so set that the corner formed by the junction
of its two lower sides pointed to the center of the pond while the
opposite corner formed by the higher sides pointed toward shore.
The frames were set directly on the bottom, not in excavations
and each was filled with gravel containing sand and suitable for
nest building. A board was laid diagonally across the two
higher sides and a heavy stone laid on this to keep the frame in
place. The effect of the two higher sides of the frame is to form
a shield on two sides of the nest; while the board across the top
affords shade. The frames were set in two rows about the pond,
parallel to the shore line.

The rows were about 6 feet apart and the nests in each row
about 25 feet apart, alternating with those in the other row.
There was thus about one nest to each 100 square feet of suitable
bottom, or in each area 10 by 10 feet. When the bass were on

54 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

the nests no one was able to see any other and the fighting from
this cause was practically eliminated. The number of rows of
nests may be increased to three, or four, or more where the arez
of shallow water is wide enough.

The bass selected these nests in preference to any other
spawning ground. They cleaned up the gravel and behaved in
the nests in every particular as they would on natural spawning
grounds. The first time we tried these shielded nests, not a
single bass made a nest outside them, though there was plenty
of good gravel bottom available for the purpose.

I come now to the second cause of fighting. The first season
that we tried these nests (1900) we got from 475 stock fish
315,000 fry and 750 fingerlings. In the season of 1891 the out-
put was very much less and there was considerable fighting
among the fish. This remained unexplained until the ponds
were drawn down after the spawning season, when it appeared
that, although the fish had been sorted, the number of male fish
was considerably in excess of the number of females. It was
these excess males that had made trouble. Banding together they
went about breaking up the nests of their more fortunate
brothers. It is now our practice when we set the nests to seine
out the stock fish and sort them putting about forty males to
sixty females. Since each male is thus abundantly provided for,
the second source of fighting is gotten rid of.

During the present season up to May 26th we had produced
from 493 adult fish 430,000 fry
as well every year.

and we believe that we can do

5. Up to the present year we have been troubled with two
sources of loss incident to our water supply. The supply is a
spring fed brook which runs over an open country before it
reaches us. The water in this brook becomes quite warm on a
hot, sunny day and cools off at night. The temperature thus
falls at night sometimes as much as 13 degrees Fahrenheit and
becomes as low as 46 degrees Fahrenheit. This is disastrous,
since, when the temperature gets below 50 degrees Fahrenheit
the adult fish desert the nests and the eggs or young fry are
killed by the sediment. We have lost many fish in this way. We
now get over the difficulty by watching the temperature of the

Ct

American Fisheries Society. ay

water and when it approaches 50 degrees Fahrenheit, we shut off
the supply and keep it shut off until the water warms up. Since
the ponds are well stocked with water plants the fish do not
suffer from lack of oxygen when the water is shut off. Indeed,
if the water did not leak out of the ponds I doubt if it would be
necessary to introduce any running water into them during the
breeding season.

The second difficulty with our water supply has been from
sediment brought down by the brook after heavy rains which
has sometimes accumulated over the nests so thick as to smother
the eggs and drive away the parent fish. This difficulty also we
now get over by shutting off the water supply whenever the
water is much roiled.

The only difficulty with shutting off the supply is that the
level of the water must be kept fairly constant. If it lowers
more than about 6 inches, the fish leave their nests and the eggs
die. For the purpose of maintaining a constant water level it
would probably be best to have the ponds made with clay bot-
toms. The difficulties arising from roily water of variable tem-
perature are, however, local and would probably not be usually
encountered.

6. I have still to speak of the handling of the fry after they
rise from the nest and of rearing them to fingerlings.

The fry of the small mouth have the habit of scatttering
into a large swarm when they leave the nest, and it is conse-
quently difficult to seine them when wanted. I have therefore
adopted the practice of setting over each nest, just before the
fry rise from the bottom, a cylindrical screen of cheese cloth
supported on a frame of band iron. I first remove the wooden
nest frame. The screen keeps the fry together. They thrive and
grow within it and may be left there until one desires to ship
them. The old fish stays outside and watches the screen. ‘The
fry feed on the crustacea inside the screen. When this supply is
gone other crustacea may be taken from the pond with a tow net
and placed inside the screen. We remove the fry from these
screens directly to the shipping cans as wanted.

In order to raise fingerlings, | lower the water in one of the
ponds, seine the old fish out of the kettle, and transfer them to

56 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

another pond. Then I refill the pond and put in my fry, now
about one-half to three-quarters of an inch long. The water in
the pond is thick with Daphnia and other crustacea and these do
not go out when the water is drawn off. The fry feed on them
and the supply is usually sufficient—but if it gives out, a fresh
supply may be gathered from one of the other ponds and placed
in the nursery pond. As the young bass grow they eat not only
the Daphnia but young Corixa and doubtless other aquatic ani-
mals.

In 1901 fry one-half to three-quarters of an inch long were
introduced into the nursery pond on July 12th, on August 5th
they were seined out and shipped and were then 2 to 3 inches
long. They had had none but the natural food! In _ three
months these fish, under the same conditions are + to 6 inches
long.

7. I have spoken so far of the small mouth and it remains
to say something of the large mouth, with which my experience
is more limited. It is less necessary to resort to pond culture
with them since, owing to the habit of the fry of keeping in a
close swarm, they may be readily seined from their natural
waters shortly after they have left the nests.

In culturating them in ponds I use the shielded nests already
described —but make the bottom of some fibre, preferably Span-
ish moss bedded in cement, similar to those used by Stranahan
described in the report of this Societv for 1900. This imitates
the natural nest bottom and gives better results in our locality
than the gravel nest. [1 do not place screens about the nests,
since the young fry are so small that it is difficult to hold them
with a screen and since they may readily be taken with a seine
when wanted. I allow the large mouth fry to leave the nests
with the parent fish and seine them when wanted.

Finally, [ will sum up what seem to me to be important
points in pond culture of small mouth black bass. I assume the
ponds to be constructed, as is usual, on the model of a natural
pond with a central kettle and shallow shore~ region. They
should be well grown up with water plants and should be sup-
plied with lake or brook water.

1. Fish should be so fed (with minnows) as to be in good
condition in the spring.

~2

American Fisheries Society. 5

2. ‘They should be sorted into the ponds in the spring in
about the proportion of four males to six females.
3. Shielded nests should be used, arranged as already

described—about one to each 100 square feet of -shallow water.

4. The gravel used in the nests should be carefully selected ;
it should contain sand and plenty of small stones.

5. Water on the nesting grounds should be kept constantly
at a level between 18 inches and 2 feet.

6. The temperature of the water should be kept constantly
between 66 degrees and 75 degrees Fahrenheit (in our locality).

7. Roily water should be as far as possible kept out of the
ponds during the spawning season.

8. Fish should not be disturbed until the eggs are hatched.

9. The small mouth nests should be screened just before
the fry rise from the bottom.

10. The water should contain an abundance of natural food
for the fry.

In closing I may say that I can see three ways in which my
procedure might be improved.

1. I should provide special nursery ponds for rearing finger-
lings.

2. I should try nest frames shielded on three sides instead
of on two sides. I should make them with a bottom and when
the fry rise from the nest I should close the fourth side of the
nest frame by sliding a screen into it. In this way f should not
have to remove the nest frame and put a screen over the nest,
but would simply leave the frame in place and close the open
side with a screen.

3. 1 should make the ponds with clay bottoms, so that if
necessary the water supply could be entirely shut off during the
breeding season.

FROM MILL CREEK HATCHERY:

Total output during year, ending at present time:

SMM ICTS CM DASS aah Vieron, cicte so sare Sie dam oie sida wes SQ aad rey tan ens 404,000
Ege TIA TLIC) USS ue cs. Wataes choi sata: e fis fohssonous kane soe evete mranepe sesatens 618,000
Wile BSS, 26 gp. corso ae eT Ie Ce Ne te ae a eee 36,050

BUN Urea nen yatta «seis vets sche aro! tenors whine tolienatle\org olenens % atere 1,058,050

58 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

DISCUSSION OF MR. LYDELLS PAPER.

Before his paper was read, Mr. Lydell said: On the subject
vf the black bass we have not committed ourselves to anything,
because the more you say about this question, the less you have
to take back later on.

At the conclusion of his paper, he said: And in closing, gen-
tlemen, I wish to thank Professor Jacob E. Reighard for assist-
ing me in preparing this paper.

Mr. Clark: This is a very valuable paper and Mr. Lydell
has given the bass question as much study probably as any man
in the Umited States. There is one problem of bass culture in
which I am greatly interested and upon which I should like to
hear from some of the bass men, for I am no bass man myself,
although I have bred a few. We have those here who have given
the subject a great deal of thought, and the one particular ques-
tion to which I have reference is in regard to the planting,
whether they think that bass fry deposited when two or three
weeks old, are as valuable for our lakes and streams as those
planted when three or four inches long, as fingerlings.

The President: I regard the paper as very interesting and
valuable and one that is entitled to great attention, as Mr.
Lydell may be regarded as one of the pioneers in this pond cul-
ture of bass.

Mr. Stranahan: In order to get this matter started a little
bit, | would like to ask Mr. Lydell what he considers fry in his
specimens.

Mr. Lydell: The small-mouth bass I consider fry the
moment they commence to swim, and the moment they com-
mence to swim up they commence to take food; and I consider
them as fry, though before we get through shipping some of
them are an inch long.

Mr. Stranahan: Show me what you commence on, if you
please.

Mr. Clark: I would like to have Mr. Lydell tell us at what
time they cease to be fry and become fingerlings, or perfect bass.

Mr. Lydell: The difference between fry and fingerlings is
this: After they have changed their color, after they take on
the color of the old fish, they are then one and a half to two

American Fisheries Society. 59

inches long, and then- we commence to call them fingerlings.
We have got to establish a point somewhere.

Mr. Clark: About how old are they?

Mr. Lydell: About 40 days old.

Mr. Clark: Then one that was 15 to 20 days old you would
not call a fingerling ?

Ace NO. .819:

Q. I would like to ask the question: Is not a large-mouth
bass as perfect a fish at 15 to 20 days old in a temperature of
water at 70 degrees, as one three months old?

A. It is at 20 days as perfect a bass as at three years.

Q. I would lke to ask further, if you do not think that
this fish planted in that water is equally as good with the excep-
tion of the protection you give to it, as one three to six months
old?

A. Yes, sir.

Mr. Clark: The society will perhaps remember that I have
always been a yearling man, but I am not so considering bass.
Gentlemen, this is the point I am trying to get at. I do not
like to see it undertaken to raise only about 50,000 fingerlings
out of a half million fry, for I heard one superintendent say
last night that it took half a million with him to raise 50,000
fingerlings. Now, if these fish are as well and perfect at the
age of 20 days, and Mr. Lydell can plant 300,090 out of 500,000
at that time, and only 50,000 from three to six months old, then
I think it is time that the matter was looked into.

Mr. Stranahan: I am of Mr. Clark’s opinion, thoroughly.
I have been advocating it for two years—made recommendations,
and have written official reports urging the planting of these
smaller bass. They are perfect bass, they are taking their food,
they are old enough and smart enough to take care of themselves,
and they are afraid of their enemies. Our former chief of fish
culture was a great stickler for fingerling, and the larger the
better, and we had it out in numerous discussions, and IT am
glad to say that our new chief of division seems to be in favor
of planting smaller fish and more of them. I refer to the large-
mouth bass—I have had little experience with the small-mouth
variety. I had some experience north some years ago, and got
good results from planting fry in streams in which the fish were

60 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

not indigenous. We got splendid results there from planting
fry of the small-mouth bass.

Mr. Titcomb: I do want to say about this paper that I
feel as if I was amply repaid for coming here just to hear it,
if I did not hear anything else during the session; I think it
is the best article on black bass I ever saw, by far, and I think it
is going to help all the members of the United States Fish Com-
mission to solye this bass problem. From what experience I
have had since I came into my present position, I find that we
have not solved this question. Mr. Leary has been planting fry
at San Marcos with good success; this year a beginning was
made at Mr. Stranahan’s station of doing the same thing. While
I have been a fingerling man to a certain extent, yet my views
about the bass are that they are well able to take care of them-
selves when they are young, and it is much better to plant half
a million or a million of these fry than it is to wait until you
can plant only a hundred thousand, with the balance inside of
the hundred thousand.

I wanted to ask one question about temperatures: What
extremes of temperature will the adult fish stand in your waters ?

Mr. Lydell: We have a temperature of 90 degrees there
sometimes during the day. During the spawning season we
must be very careful about the temperature. On a warm day,
with lots of sun, the temperature may go up to 72 degrees, but
when you get up the next morning and you have a temperature
of 49 degrees or 50 degrees, and if any bass have spawned during
the previous day you will find that the bass have deserted their
bed and that the eggs are dead. But the temperature does not
range much higher than 90 degrees for more than a few days,
but during the summer months, after the spawning season, the
water is allowed to run all the time, and it will cool down to 60
degrees every night during the summer, and the minute the sun
strikes it in the morning it will commence to warm up, and as
soon as the sun goes down the springs flow in, and of course it
is cooled again, but our fish do not seem to take any harm from
it at all.

Mr. Titcomb: One more question: In this water of yours
is it equally favorable for both the large and small-mouth bass,
or do you want different qualities of water for the two varieties ?

American Fisheries Society. 61

Mr. Lydell: I have experimented some with the large-mouth
bass this year and last year, and I find the water very favorable
for them. Prof. Reighard saw us haul 48,000 large-mouth bass
nearly an inch long at one dip of the seine in one of our ponds.
We had only 30 specimens of the large-mouth bass at our hatch-
ery this year, and from those I think there were obtained some-
thing over 100,000 fry, although only five productive beds were
made. They were a scattering lot we picked up and did not
know whether they were male or female. We put in the same
pond quite a lot of small-mouth bass, and the two varieties did
not quarrel or injure one another at all. The large-mouth bass
were allowed to roam about the pond with 75 or 80 of the old
small-mouth bass, and the small-mouth bass that spawned in
there were in fifteen beds, and we screened those and took care
of them in the usual way. There was plenty of daphne growing
in the pond and lots of food for the large-mouth bass; and these
bass that I have here were from that lot.

(Referring to specimens).

This bass thirty days old I took from the nest and put in a
eage and kept there, and in that way I kept accurate account of
them. (Referring to specimens).

Mr. Titecomb: You must have an unusual amount of aquatic
life in the ponds.

Mr. Lydell: You can dip it up with a dipper anywhere
around the ponds in the spring. We have to mow our ponds
twice every year.

Mr. Stranahan: Is the water hard or soft?

Mr. Lydell: Some soft, and lots of spring water.

Mr. Stranahan: Is there hme in that?

Mr. Lydell: No, no lime.

Mr. Titcomb: Is there any other kind of plant life than you
have named in the paper?

A. There is the cara and potamogeton, that is all.

Mr. Titeomb: You did not get all the large-mouth bass of
which you mention, the total output, from these ponds—did
you ?

Mr. Lydell: No, sir, we had two auxiliary ponds. One is a
small pond connected with the Soldiers’ Home, from which we
get lots of large-mouth bass, and another one we have rented, of

62 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

the extent of probably one and a half acres, from a farmer.
That is where we get our large-mouth bass from now, princi-
pally. We have no room there to hatch them with the exception
of what I have hatched there this year, about 100,090.

Mr. Titcomb: Did you ever see any large-mouth bass flirt
with a small-mouth bass, as described in the paper ?

Mr. Lydell: Not a particle: We had a pond where the large
and small-mouth bass were mixed up purposely—the old ones—
and the beds around the shore alternately were some of them
Spanish moss beds and some gravel; and we had two pair of
large-mouth bass that spawned on the gravel; although they did
not amount to much. ‘Their eggs settled down in between the
stone and seemed to smother. On the other hand we had three
pair of small-mouth bass that spawned on this fiber, and we got
excellent results from them, but I think the reason they did
spawn there was because they seemd to clean down and try to
fan off that fibrous matter, and could not, but got to the cement
and thought it was rock, and spawned there. But we had one
trouble—we could not raise the nest away and screen it. If we
made a screen big enough to get the whole nest, we could not
catch the young bass.

Mr. Titcomb: As I understand it, it is necessary for the
preservation of those eggs that the parent fish should fan them.

Mr. Lydell: Yes, sir, I think so.

The President: In our ponds at Minocqua we excavated
them there and found the spring water coming in out of the
gravel in considerable quantities. Do you think that was a det-
riment or advantage ?

Mr. Lydell: It would not be a detriment unless there was
too much of it. If you could get a temperature of 66 degrees
and keep it there, I do not think the spring water would affect
your bass in the least.

The President: What are the best dimensions for ponds
for bass growing ?

Mr. Lydell: If I were to rebuild our ponds over at Mill
Creek, where I have these ponds, I would make them larger.
Our last pond we built is the most successful.

The President: What is your judgment, Dr. Birge, of the
dimensions of our ponds at Minocqua ?

American Fisheries Society. 63

Dr. Birge: The lower pond must be about 300 feet long
and the others 150 to 200 feet.

The President: And 60 or 80 feet wide?

Dr Birges) Yes.

Mr. Brown: If there is much spring water coming into the
bed the temperature would be too cold, would it not?

Mr. Lydell: Yes, if they could not keep the temperature up.

Dr.. Birge: The spring water does not affect our temper-
ature. It is a sort of a seepage spring, not a strong flowing
spring, the temperature being somewhere in the region of 50
degrees Fahrenheit, and the lake water offsets what little spring
water comes in. [I should hke to hear more about this matter
of the size of the pond; and especially as to the margins.

Mr. Lydell: I have here a view of one of our ponds, 190
by 120 and six feet deep in the center. There is a margin of
probably thirty feet clear around the pond and there is an
island here; it has a shallow margin clear around the island
to the shore, and there is a big pocket in the center of the pond
50 by 30, and six feet deep, and that is all the deep water we
have in the pond, and that runs gradually to six feet. You will
find the fish there invariably in the winter time, and all sum-
mer, unless they come out for minnows.

Dr. Birge: The broad margin of your pond is a decided
advantage, of course. You need that for a spawning bed. If
you made your pond large, would you make it irregular in out-
line so as to give you more margin?

Mr. Lydell: I would. Our ponds are nearly all irregular,
and we get better results thereby.

Mr. Stranahan: What do you consider a proper number of
small-mouth or big-mouth bass for an acre of water, everything
being favorable.

Mr. Lydell: I would put into an acre, I should judge,
about something like 200 females and 160 males, small-mouth
bas

TM

You would not think that excessive ?
No.

How about the big-mouth bass ?

IT am not posted on that.

What is your opinion about it?

OProrS

64 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

A. I would not put as many in in this little lake that we
rented. By the way, I think renting that little lake was one of
the greatest things that the fish commission ever allowed me to
do. I rented it for $10 a year, if the output does not exceed
75,000, and if it does, I must pay the gentleman $15. Of course
that is a lot of money.

Dr. Birge: That must affect your $75,000 considerably.

Mr. Lydell: I put the first season into that lake 48 or 50
fish raised at the hatchery, two years old, large-mouth bass. I
think it was something like 60,000 or 70,000 fry I got out of
there the first season, and last fall I procured forty-four or
more large-mouth bass, adults, weighing anywhere from two to
three pounds, and put them in there. I also put in a couple of
wagonloads of minnows, probably 50,000 or 75,000. This year
we got from that pond 262,000 fry, and 8,000 fingerling, and I
was quite sorry that it went to that number, because the fish
commission had to put up another $5. ( Laughter). We have
absolute control of this pond, and it is covered with chara
nearly all over, with the exception of a little in the center; and
on one end there are some pond lhes. It is nothing but mud;
you cannot wade anywhere near it without rubber boots, and
then you are liable to drop through the bogs, and there is only
one place for them to spawn, and that is on the pond lily roots;
and we had bass beds in that lake this year that were over ten
feet across, and I went there as the young bass were coming up
off the beds, and I presume two or three pair of bass must have
spawned on that particular spot, for the young bass were com-
ing up all over that bed, where it had been cleaned. You could
see them if the sun happened to be just right. We let those
alone in that pond—paid no attention to them—until they
were about 15 days old, when they were all taken out of there,
and nearly every fish that was shipped from that pond was one
and a half inches to one and three-quarters long, and we took
them with a seine.

Mr. Titcomb: What was the area of that pond ?

A. I should judge it was about an acre and a half—it is
a small pond.

The President: Let me ask you a question on another line:
At our Minocqua hatchery we are right in a nest of bass lakes,

American Fisheries Society. 65

and every spring we can catch with our sgines easily and with-
out trouble, enough bass to put into our ponds. Now, would
you prefer that method to keeping them in constant confine-
ment? If you were situated so that you could get your brood
fish by going right out into the wild lake and seining them and
putting them into the ponds during the season of propagation,
would you do that or would you keep them in stock all the time ?

Mr. Lydell: If I could I would get my spawning fish in
the fall of the year—what I need—I would hold all I could in
my ponds and feed them, domesticate them as much as possible.

I find that the wild fish when spawning season comes on are
very shy; they will come up on the shore and make their nests,
and if you happen to go along there, which we do not allow any-
one to do during the spawning season—no visitor or employe
is allowed to go around the ponds during the spawning season
unless it is absolutely necessary—our superintendent cannot go
down there unless it is absolutely necessary for him to go—they
go just enough to feed the fish—I find that when these wild fish
come out and spawn, they scoot off to deep water on the slightest
provocation—they rush back and forth all the while. But our
fish that we got the latter part of the year were domesticated
so that you could get within ten or twelve feet of the nest and
see the bass lying under the shadow of the board, guarding his
bed. Of course if you went up close he would go away, but he
would come right back, and I have oftentimes waded right up
to the bed, put my hand on the stone, and the bass were lying
there. ‘Those were domesticated bass that we have had there
several years.

Mr. Clark: Don’t you think they are acquainted ‘with
Dwight Lydell and know him, so that they don’t go away ?

Mr. Lydell: I could not say as to that, but they say good
morning to me every time I see them. (Laughter).

The President: Mr. Lydell has satisfied me that there is
a good deal of human nature in bass, even to a degree of modesty
in courtship. (Laughter).

Dr. Birge: I should like to ask a question along another
line: You spoke in the suggestion at the end of your paper, of
making the boxes protected on three sides, and then putting a

screen in on the fourth side to avoid moving the nest frame
5

66 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

and putting a screen qver the nest. If that were the case, should
not the sides of the boxes be made high enough to stick up out
of the water ?

Mr. Lydell: Certainly—our boxes that we have now with
protected sides are sixteen inches high; but I will raise the new
boxes up above the two-foot level.

Dr. Birge: You will get circulation of water enough if you
have a three-sided box coming up out of the water?

Mr. Lydell: Yes, sir, the three sides enclosed will have a
strip of copper wire screen four inches wide around, near the
surface of the water. With these boxes I am using now the
difficulty is this, you have to wade out into your pond to take
the boxes out of there, and you have to take them out. If you
screened the box itself, you could not collect one fiftieth of the
fry. Just as quick as you put your net in the water the fry will
go to the frame immediately. But when you raise the frame
out, it is filled with gravel, and the young fish are at the bot-
tom. The sides of your gravel fall away and lots of your little
fish fall outside, and some are buried in the gravel, and you roil
up the whole pond. I have lost quite a few fish from that cause,
although most of them are far enough along when you screen
them so that they would not become injured. But with the
other screen, all vou have to do is to paddle around with a boat
and drop the screen in at the side that is not protected.

Mr. Stranahan: How do you take the fry out of your box?

Mr. Lydell: In the same way as out of a screen. It
answers the same purpose as a screen—it is a screen and box
combined, and you can use the box for large-mouth or small-
mouth bass as you see fit.

Mr. Stranahan: You would not make your strip of netting
in the side more than four inches wide, and have it up near the
top of the water ?

Mr. Lydell: Yes.

Q. What mesh do you use ?

A. Fine enough to hold young fry. We-used the common
wire that they buy for door screens, for our small-mouth bass,
had it tarred two heavy coats, which lessens the size of the inter-
stices somewhat. We do not screen any large-mouth bass.

Mr. ‘Titeomb: When you take the fry out of the nest, you

American Fisheries Society. 67

raise the nest right up, do you? I refer to the boxes that have
three sides of wood and one of screen.

Mr. Lydell: Take a dip net and dip them right out. We
usually take a boat, or if some of the boys have boots on, they
take a tub and dip the fry out and get them all that way.

Mr. Stranahan: Is there an opening in the top of the
screen ?

nc! Yes:

Q. And by the screen you propose now the box is open on
one side with top, and to remove it you take the stone on it off ?

A. We have no stone on it—that is unnecessary.

Q. You would have that loaded down with your nest inside ?

A. Yes. You might lay a board across the top for shade,
if necessary.

Mr. Titcomb: Do you draw your pond down in removing
your fry from your boxes ?

a. . Never:

@. How much water is there in the boxes?

A. Twenty inches to two feet. Young small-mouth bass
are all at the top on a sunny day, and you can get two-thirds
of them the first dip; then you wait awhile and they will come
up again, but it will be two or three days before you finally clean
up the whole school.

(). That is before they are trained to say good morning?

A. Yes, sir. (Laughter).

The President: How high is the sand at the bottom of
your box above the bottom of the box?

A. Four inches. We fill it full and concave it a little in
the center.

Q. Where you had a great deal of seepage from the bottom,
would it not be better to raise it a little more ?

A. There would be no harm in doing so. We used to use
six and seven inches, but found four inches just as good in our
locality, and we do not have so much to clean out of our ponds
in the fall.

Mr. Stranahan: Suppose you are going to corral the big-
mouth bass. Our big-mouth bass spawns every three months.
So it would be important if we could clean up the whole school
and have none left to eat up the subsequent brood. Now, if you

68 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

substitute your cement and Spanish moss for the gravel in the
rig you describe, would it not work all right ?

A. Yes, sir, if you want to ship the big-mouth bass when
they first rise from the bed.

Dr. Birge: If you followed Mr. Lydell’s last plan I do not
see any difficulty if you wish to just take that nest after screen-
ing, right out.

Mr. Lydell: I have done that, but got no results. We had
last year a lot of large-mouth bass spawn in this pond and I
did not want them there, and I watched them till they were
about ready to hatch, and I raised the nest up; I had added a
bottom in it of this cement, and after I raised it above the water
there was still two inches of water in the nest covering the eggs.
I transferred those to a pond 16 x 24, and put in three or four
quarts of daphne, but got no results. In the fall I think we
had probably thirty or forty bass out of these three schools,
where we ought to have had fifty thousand.

Q. If you had used the box and screen on the large-mouth
bass when the bass had risen, you could lift the nest up and
dump the bess out, couldn’t you ?

A. Yes.

Mr. Stranahan: I would be of the opinion that Mr. Lydell’s
plan of dipping them out would be better.

Mr. Lydell: If I did not want any in the pond I would dip
out what I could and before taking the screen out of the nest I
would take it out on the shore and rinse it out.

(). Didn't you find that your Spanish moss rotted off toward
the close of the season ?

A. No, sir; I had Spanish moss that I had used
two seasons, and it is in good condition for another year yet. I
have used excelsior and used sea grass of some kind, and several
other things. They spawned on it all, but it was only good for
one season, and so I threw it away and used Spanish moss.

Mr. Stranahan: With us, late in the season it rots off.
Though our water is very warm, standing 90 degrees, every day,
and during three or four months running up to 100 degrees,
and [ think the high temperature has a tendency to rot it.

Mr. Lydell: Our beds are hardly ever in the pond more
than thirty days.

American Fisheries Society. 69
* Mr. Stranahan: Our beds would be occupied by succeeding
bass.

Mr. Peabody: You speak of your pond that you rented, of
an acre and a half, on which you raised large-mouth bass. Don’t
you mean to convey the idea that you have more success in that
pond raising large-mouth bass than you do in your regular arti-
ficial ponds ?

A. No,sir; from five beds I had something like 100,000,
which is a great deal larger per cent than I had the other way.

(). How many did you get from this one and a half acre
pond ?

A. Two hundred and sixty-two thousand.

Q. Were there any other fish in that pond?

A. Very few; that is the reason I rented the pond. There
were a few sunfish, very small, some minnows, but hardly any-
thing else ; and there was plenty of vegetation there. In another
instance we rented a lake probably four acres in extent, and put
in 250 or 260 large-mouth bass, and got no results at all. There
were lots of other fish, turtles, eels and everything of that kind,
and our results from there were very unfavorable. In the Sol-
diers’ Home pond two and three years ago we did very well; but
this season the pond has become full of suckers, sunfish, blue
gills and turtles, and our bass propagation there is commencing
to dwindle. Unless we can draw that pond down and get rid
of all those enemies, we will meet with failure there another
year; but if I had the same pond where I could control it and
draw it-down as I wanted it, there would be no trouble to get
a million bass from that one pond. The pond is about an acre
and a half in extent.

Q. What do you consider the most injurious to the raising
of bass—what enemies ?

A. Small sunfish and minnows I have found do more to
destroy the young bass than anything else in the world that we
have ever found. I do not find that any beds are destroyed;
I never found the beds destroyed, but in one of our ponds last
year I carried on an experiment for my own benefit. I had, I
think, fifteen beds of large motith bass eggs. That pond was
alive with minnows, and the vegetation grew up there early.
About the time the young bass were coming off the nest, there

70 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

was plenty of vegetation in the pond and those minnows cleaned
up the large-mouth bass so that we did not get twenty-five bass
out of that pond. This year with one-third the amount of bass
I got nearly 100,000, but there were no minnows in there.

Q. How old must the bass be before they can be destroyed
by the minnows ?

A. The moment they rise from the bed, that is, when the
destruction comes; if they do not destroy them for a couple of
weeks they are not going to do it.

(). Then would it not be wise not to ship or plant the fry
until they were of a proper age?

A. J never would plant the fry of the large-mouth bass,
because what you call fry of the large-mouth bass are very
small.

Mr. Stranahan: And there is not much loss up to the time
when they become a perfect fish one and a quarter inches long?

A. No; we never ship large-mouth bass until they are nearly
two weeks old.

Dr. Birge: 'T'wo weeks old means two weeks after they have
begun to rise?

A. Yes.

Mr. Titcomb: If you had put the two weeks-old large-mouth
bass into that pond where the minnows destroyed the product
of your fifteen or twenty beds, would they then have held their
own against the minnows ?

A. They would. We tried that this year. In this pond I
had large-mouth bass in, I had let a school come up; they were
second breeding, and I had already introduced into that pond
for the old fishes’ benefit, several thousand minnows, and this
brood came up just after we put those minnows in.

Q. That is conclusive evidence that it was safe enough to
plant them at that age ?

A. Yes. Most of our large-mouth bass this year we com-
menced planting at that age. We ship out an immense amount
of what we call baby fingerlings.

Mr. Titcomb: These fish two weeks old that escape the
minnows, do it by being too quick for the minnows ?

A. Yes; the minnows have hard work getting them. I have
watched a school of bass of that size moving along the shore,

American Fisheries Society. 71

and have seen a sunfish five inches long go into that school with
a vengeance and not touch one bass.

Mr. Clark: I would like to ask Mr. Lydell why he calls
this a baby fingerling and this a fry? -

(Mr. Clark refers to two specimens, the first specimen being
small-mouth bass, twenty days old, and about one-half or three-
quarters of an inch long; and the second specimen being small-
mouth bass thirty-two days old, about one and a half inches
long, both specimens being perfect fish).

Mr. Lydell admitted a few minutes ago that this was a per-
fect bass. (Indicating the smaller of the two specimens).

Mr. Lydell: It is a perfect bass.

Q. And at that age will do just as well to plant as when
from three to six months old?

A. Just as well.

Q. Then why do you make the distinction—one is equally
as good to plant as the other?

A. Yes, sir, the only reason that we do not plant them all
at that age is because we do not get time to do it. We com-
mence planting and plant right along as fast as we can.

Q. You call that a fry? (Referring to first specimen).

A. We do in our shipping.

Q. And eall this a fingerling? (Referring to second spec-
imen).

nee Yes.

Q. Now, from the remarks made heretofore, it is as well
to plant that, because that is a fish, not a fry? (Referring to
first specimen).

A. Certainly.

Dr. Birge: You ought to draw the line when they commence
to say good morning. (Laughter)

Dr. Bean: I think it is a proper distinction to call it a fry
up to the time when it has absorbed its yolk-sac, and then call
it a fingerling. A fry, as I understand it, is a fish which has
not yet absorbed its yolk-sac.

The President: Mr. Lydell suggests that the best method is
to capture your stock fish in the fall and keep them in confine-
ment during the winter in order to be domesticated. What is
the best means of subsistence for fish during the winter ?

~—_>
Cm

Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Mr. Lydell: Our small-mouth bass I cannot see take a
thing during the winter; they lie perfectly dormant, going into
winter quarters as the pond commences to freeze up. We com-
mence feeding the liver just after the spawning, and continue
that until along in September, and then they will be fed min-
nows until they go into winter quarters. When our fish went
into winter quarters last year you could see minnows in abun-
dance, and they had all they wanted; and this spring when we
drew the ponds out we had to seine out thousands of them and
put them away until the spawning season was over.

Mr. Peabody: I would like to ask a question on this sub-
ject: As I understand, trout fry, that has come down to a
commercial basis, and they are raised commercially and sold—
have you any idea how much it would cost commercially to raise
bass fry?

Mr. Lydell: I don’t know as I could state, except in one
instance, because it cost the commission fifteen great big bucks
to get 262,000 of them. (Laughter) If vou have a pond that
is successful the cost is very small, because there is nothing to
be done to your ponds in the winter, only to keep the water run-
ning.

Mr. Henry T. Root, of Providence, R. J.: It is a fact that
in the eastern ponds small-mouth bass are not dormant during
the winter. Under natural conditions in a pond of 2,000 acres
they are not at all times dormant during the winter. We fre-
quently catch one or two or three in a day’s fishing for pickerel.
On one occasion a friend of mine caught over sixty through the
ice, and that shows that they do not at all times lie dormant
throughout the winter—that is, that they do feed, with us.

Mr. Lydell: I never had such experience.

Mr. Titcomb: Did you see the fish ?

Mr. Root: No, but I know they were caught—no question
about that.

Mr. Lydell: Some men were hauled up before the court
a while ago for catching black bass, by the game warden. I .
was out there; Mr. Palmer was there also. The trial was had
and they claimed that those were small-mouth bass caught in
the winter, and the man got a new trial, and I came down and
found they were nothing but the large-mouth bass. I have never

American Fisheries Society. ie

Ww

been able to catch small-mouth bass through the ice in winter,
although I have heard of them being so caught. Some were said
to have been caught through the ice at Kalamazoo, but the fish
proved to be the large-mouth bass.

Dr. Bean: I can add something on the subject of black
bass, because I have had them under observation in aquaria
for some years at a time, and what I saw there partly corrobo-
rates Mr. Lydell’s studies and partly differs from them. But we
must bear in mind the fact that an aquarium is a different body
of water from a pond, because the temperature is more or less
under the control of the people in charge. I have seen the bass
of both species take live minnows in the winter, but not often.
Of course it is quite an advantage to have a fish before your eyes
and to see what he does. We noted in the New York aquarium
that the bass for the most part were dormant, but occasionally,
whether it was because there was a little accession of temper-
ature or not I do not know, they would rush at a live minnow
and take it in just as lively a manner as at any other time during
the year.

Mr. Palmer: At Jackson, Michigan, last winter, I know of
twelve or fourteen arrests made for catching bass through the

ice. I saw the bass and got them—and know it was done.

Mr. Lydell: Were they large or small-mouth bass ?

Mr. Palmer: They were considered small-mouth, but since
the trial at Three Rivers I am frank to say that I would not like

to stake my reputation on it.

v4 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF THE ROCKY
MOUNTAIN REGION.

BY DR. JAMES A. HENSHALL.

In the Rocky Mountain region there are three distinct groups
of trout belonging to the Salmo genus: the red-throat or cut-
throat, or as it is known by the United States Fish Commission,
the “black-spotted trout ;” the rainbow trout and the steel-head
trout. They are all black-spotted. In widely separated sections
of country they may be readily distinguished by certain charac-
teristics, but in localities where they co-exist, naturally, it is
sometimes difficult to distinguish one group from the others; in-
deed, at one time the rainbow and steel-head were pronounced by
competent authorities to be the same fish, the steel-head being
supposed to be the sea-run form of the species. At the present
time they are held to be distinct.

The Dolly Varden, or bull trout, belongs to the genus Salve-
linus, and is related to the brook trout of eastern waters, having
also red spots. While the red-throat trout inhabits both slopes
of the Rockies, the others named were originally confined to the
Pacific slope.

The great lake, or Mackinaw trout, and the grayling are na-
tive to Montana. The former is found only, so far as I know, in
Elk Lake at the head of the Jefferson river, while the grayling
exists, naturally, only in the tributaries of the Missouri river
above the Great Falls. It is worthy of remark that these two
species are found nowhere else west of Lake Michigan, except in
the Arctic region. It is fair to imagine that they were carried
there on an ice floe during the glacial period, and it is not un-
likely that both species were carried to Michigan waters by the
same means, and that the Arctic grayling is the original species.

The small Rocky Mountain whitefish (Coregonus William-
soni), is abundant. It is a good game and food fish, taking the
artificial fly as readily as the trouts, but is popularly not so
highly esteemed. It grows to about the same size as the red-

American Fisheries Society.

-~?

Or

throat trout, and is, in my opinion, fully its equal for the creel
or the table.

THE RED-THROAT TROUT. (Salmo clarkii).

The red-throat trout is the most widely distributed of all the
Rocky Mountain trouts. It inhabits, naturally, both slopes of
the Great Continental Divide, and as might be supposed from
this extensive range it varies in external appearance more than
any of the trout species. There are a dozen or more well-defined
sub-species or geographical varieties, but all have the character-
istic red splashes on the membrane of the throat. By means of
this “trade-mark” it may be readily distinguished from the rain-
bow or steel-head or other trout. But while it varies consider-
ably in contour, coloration and markings, in different localities,
it is identical in structure wherever found. It was originally in-
troduced to eastern waters as the California trout or Rocky
Mountain trout, and at the present time is known as the “black-
spotted” trout. The latter name is extremely unfortunate, as
the rainbow and steel-head are also “black-spotted.” The name
red-throat trout is distinctive, and is preferable to the rather
repulsive name of “cut-throat” trout by which it is also known.

The red-throat trout is commonly called the “brook trout,”
or “speckled Mountain trout,” in the mountain region, which is
also an unfortunate designation, as the eastern brook trout is
now being introduced in the same waters. When it grows to a
large size it is sometimes called “salmon trout,” as in Yellow-
stone and other lakes, but the only salmon trout is the steel-
head. he red-throat trout rises more freely to the fly than the
eastern brook trout, though in gameness and flavor it is hardly
its equal. Its habits are also somewhat different. It usually lies
in pools and holes like the salmon, and does not frequent the
riffles so much as the eastern trout. In size it is somewhat larger
than the eastern trout in streams of the same relative width and
depth, and like the eastern brook trout grows larger in lakes.

I have taken them weighing from three to five pounds in
Soda Butte Lake in the Yellowstone National Park, and in
Yankee Jim Canyon on the Yellowstone river. The red-throat
seldom breaks water when hooked, but puts up a vigorous fight
beneath the surface. As the streams are usually swift and rocky

76 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

and fringed with willows and alders, the angler must be wide
awake to land his fish and save his tackle. In Yellowstone Lake
it is infested with the white pelican parasite, rendering many of
them emaciated and lacking in game qualities; those in the river,
however, are well-nourished and gamy.

THE STEEL-HEAD TROUT. (Salmo Gairdneri).

The steel-head, or salmon trout, is the trimmest and most
graceful, and the gamiest of all the trout species, being more sal-
mon-like in shape and appearance. Its spots are smaller than in
the other black-spotted species. It has, usually, a pink flush
along the lateral line, but not so pronounced as in the rainbow
trout. Its color is of a lighter hue than the red-throat or rain-
bow, with steely reflections.

During the past five years the United States Fish Commis-
sion has introduced the steel-head in the waters of Montana,
which seem to be very suitable for this fine fish. I have seen
quite a number of three-year-old steel-heads taken on the fly that
weighed from two to three pounds, and in some localities they
have grown still larger in deeper waters, which proves that they
have come to stay. Each spring we now take thousands of eggs
from fish that run up our waste water ditch from the creek where
we planted them five years ago.

The steel-head trout surpasses all other trout for gameness
and excellence of flavor, and rises eagerly to the artificial fly. It
breaks water repeatedly when hooked, like the black bass, and is
very trying to light tackle.

THE RAINBOW TROUT. (Salmo irideus).

The rainbow trout was introduced by the United States Fish
Commission in the Firehole, or perhaps the Gibbon river, in the
Yellowstone Park, from whence it sometimes descends to the
Madison river in Montana, and may in time reach the Gallatin
and Jefferson rivers. They have since been planted in other
waters in Idaho and Montana, where they have done well, some
coming under my notice weighing two pounds at two years old.
The rainbow is similar in appearance to the red-throat, though
somewhat deeper, perhaps, and with a shorter head and smaller
mouth. Its distinguishing feature, however, is the broad red

American Fisheries Society. ta

band along the lateral line, common to both male and female. It
is a handsome fish with rather more gameness than the red-
throat trout, but not so vigorous on the rod as the steel-head
trout of the same size. It grows to a larger size than the red-
throat, but not so large as the steel-head.

THE GRAYLING. (Thymallus montanus).

Her Ladyship, the grayling, is as trim and graceful and
withal as beautiful as a damsel dressed for her first ball. Her
lovely iridescent colors and tall gaily-decorated dorsal fin, which
might be compared to a graceful waving plume, must be seen
fresh from the water to be properly appreciated. The grayling
is not only a clean and handsome fish, but is as game as a trout
and much better for the table. The grayling was taken in the
Jefferson river a century ago by Lewis and Clark, and though
they gave a fair description of it in the history of their expedi-
tion it remained unidentified until it became my good fortune a
few years ago to recognize it as the grayling from the description
of Captain Lewis.

While the grayling is found in the three forks of the Mis-
sourl, the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin rivers, and in some
tributaries lower down the stream and above the Great Falls, its
ideal home is in the upper reaches of the Madison and Jefferson.
The upper canyon of the Madison and its basin west of the Yel-
lowstone Park is especially adapted to the grayling. There the
water is swift, but unbroken, the bottom being composed of dark
obsidian sand. In this region grayling of two pounds are not
uncommon. The United States Fish Commission has been very
successful in propagating the grayling at the Bozeman, Mon-
tana, station, and numerous waters have been stocked with this
desirable game and food fish. About two million fry have been
planted each season for several years in the streams contiguous
to the grayling auxiliary station at Red Rock Lake at the head of
the Jefferson, with the result of swarms of one, two and three
year old fish. Grayling are so plentiful there that the trap can
be opened for only a short time when taking spawners, otherwise
they would enter in such numbers as to threaten them with
suffocation.

As several million eggs have been shipped to eastern stations

78 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

by the United States Fish Commission, it is to be hoped that this
incomparable fish will find suitable habitations in eastern
streams to delight the angler with its beauty and gameness. It
rises to the fly eagerly and is as game as the trout.

DISCUSSION OF DR. HENSHALL’S PAPER.

Mr. Peabody: Dr. Henshall’s paper that was read just be-
fore the noon adjournment has had no discussion at all, and
there are two points I would like to have considered. ‘Two fish
are named there, the grayling and the steelhead trout that he
speaks of most enthusiastically. He says that the steel head
trout is the gamiest and best of the trout species of which he
knows, and especially in the Rocky Mountains, and he also re-
fers to the productivity of the grayling, and says that they are
plentiful and fill the streams out there. I would like to ask some
of these Michigan men who know about the grayling, if they
have stopped raising grayling, and also what the experience of
any other fish culturist is regarding the steelhead trout. It
seems to me if they are all that the doctor claims there, and are
so easily reared and got from the hatchery in Montana, that they
ought to be distributed and ought to be put into Michigan and
Wisconsin waters especially. ‘he commission gave us a quan-
tity of eggs which we hatched and put in the northern waters of
Wisconsin very successfully.

Mr. Clark: I can state that the United States Fish Com-
mission is distributing the Montana grayling in Michigan al-
though we don’t know as yet what the result is, for I do not think
that any have been taken, and unless a scientific examination is
made it would be difficult to tell whether they are Montana or
Michigan grayling. We are planting them so far only in the
principal streams that formerly gontained grayling, such as the
AuSable River and Pere Marquette or branches, and unless
otherwise ordered by the Commission | shall continue to do so
until we see some results from those streams. They are a fine
fish, and we have successfully raised them at Northville. There
were on exhibition at Buffalo last season some two year old Mon-
tana grayling that had been reared at Northville, and I think
every one who saw them will say that they were very nice fish,
and from my observation of them at that age I do not see any

American Fisheries Society. 79

difference between them and the Michigan grayling. At earlier
stages in their life, the first ones that we hatched, I doubted very
much if they were grayling, although I do not know whether 1
corresponded with Washington in regard to the matter or not,
but I think I spoke to Mr. Ravenel on the subject, saying that
I thought the doctor had crossed them with trout, they were so
spotted. Michigan grayling have no trout markings, but the
Montana grayling have, and you can see them in Northville at
the present time.

In regard to the steelhead trout, I will answer, so far as
Michigan is concerned, that we have been planting them there
for quite a while, and all those that have been caught are very
large fish. One was sent to the Washington office this last win-
ter which I think weighed seven pounds. There is one being
mounted in Detroit that was caught near Traverse City that
weighed twelve pounds, eight ounces; and there have been a
number of other cases of this kind. The one that was forwarded
to Washington I saw upon arrival. They seem to be caught in
the great lake waters, or near-by, and my impression is that they
are going to use Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior, the same
as they use the sea in their native country.

We have had remarkable success this year in the impregna-
tion of the eggs, that is, getting a good quality, and I think that
something like 90 per cent of good eggs were obtained from the
fish, which we do not have from the rainbow trout.

Mr. Titcomb: You mean the domesticated fish ?

A. Yes, sir.

Dr. Bean: I would like to say a word on Dr. Henshall’s
paper. The Montana grayling is not the same species as the
Michigan grayling. It follows the usual rule among the gray-
lings in that the very young have parr-marks. I do not know
about the Michigan graylings. Mr. Clark has been in a much
better position to learn than I, but speaking now as an ichthyolo-
gist and from book knowledge chiefly, I say that the young gray-
ling ought to have parrmarks: the Montana erayling has them,
the European species has them; the Montana grayling has a very
much smaller fin than the Michigan grayling; its dorsal fin is
shorter and lower; its head is smaller, and in other ways it is
very easily distinguished from the Michigan grayling, so that

80 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

there will be no serious difficulty in future years if the fish estab-
lishes itself in Michigan, as I hope it will, in its being identified
without any difficulty, when compared with the native species.

As to the steelhead trout (for it 1s a trout rather than a sal-
mon) it is a spring spawner, and care ought to be taken in the
introduction of the fish. I need scarcely remind fish commis-
sioners of that fact, but I think it is hable to be overlooked in
some circumstances. It is a fish more adapted to large bodies of
water than to smaller streams. If it can find its way to the
great lakes or to the ocean it will grow very large—even to
thirty pounds. You know a fish that will approximate thirty
pounds or even fifteen pounds, is a pretty dangerous customer to
have associated with brook trout and other small species, be-
cause it is a great feeder and feeds at the time the ‘brook trout
are spawning. | merely mention these facts, because I think
they ought to be kept in mind in the distribution of the fish.

The President: In distribution you would distribute them
in lakes rather than in streams ?

Dr. Bean: Yes, sir. ‘They run up in the streams to spawn,
but prefer to live in the great bodies of water where there is
plenty of food and where they can have sea room.

There was a dispute for many years about the relation of the
steelhead trout to the rainbow trout, this dispute was upheld on
one side by my friend Dr. Jordan and on the other side by my-
self and I could not quite understand why there seemed to be so
much difficulty on the part of the Pacific coast ichthyologist in
recognizing the difference between the steelhead and the rainbow
trout. There was no trouble in my mind about it; but I learned,
much to my astonishment, a few years later that they had never
seen a steelhead ; the fish they called the steelhead was simply the
sea-run rainbow. When the steelhead at last was found it was
described as a new fish.

Mr. Clark: I hate to come up against scientists like Dr.
Bean on this question, for IT am not able to get down to the
1-1,000 part of a pound, as the scientists are, on these things,
but the Michigan grayling, as hatched by myself in 1876, and
again in 1880 or 1881, certainly did not bear the parr-marks.
There is another distinguishing feature or difference in the two
graylings, which anybody that remembers the Michigan gray-

American Fisheries Society. 81

ling knows. The Montana grayling hatches out and lies on the
bottom, while the Michigan grayling pops out of the shell and
swims like a whitefish. That is a difference that anybody will
recognize; while the parr-mark is not visible on the Michigan
erayling at any time.

Dr. Bean: That simply illustrates what I had in mind. I
have been studying the young grayling chiefly from the books,
and Mr. Clark has had the better opportunity of studying it in
the field. That is where I go when I can, but when I eannot I
am limited to books. The books all say that the young grayling
ought to have parr-marks; the books also say that a male white-
fish in the breeding season ought to have tubercles on the scales,
sometimes it has and sometimes it has not. As a matter of fact,

we do not know nearly all that is to be known about fish—even
the wisest of us. There is a great deal more to be learned and it
is to be learned from the fish themselves and not from books.

Mr. Titcomb: J was going to bring up a point which the
doctor has brought wp about the steelhead trout, and I think it
should be emphasized as much as possible, and that is, as to the
danger of introducing them into waters where you have the com-
mon trout. I should be inclined to treat them as just about as
dangerous as the black bass to introduce in trout water. They
are all right for our larger lakes, but I should be cautious about
putting them into a lake with land-locked salmon even, but in
any of our larger lakes with the lake trout it would be all right.

Dr. Birge: What do you mean by larger?

Mr. Titcomb: Not the great lakes necessarily. We have,
for instance, a lake in Vermont six miles long where we are in-
troducing steelhead trout very successfully, but that has nothing
in it now but lake trout and small fish food. In Maine the com-
mission has discontinued the distribution of steelhead trout. be-
cause almost all their waters which have not speckled trout have
the land-locked salmon, which is valuable, and we cannot afford
to lose them by the introduction of a new variety; and Mr. Pea-
body in considering that fish, should consider seriously where he
puts it in Wisconsin.

The President: Would it do to put them in the same lakes
with the bass, pickerel and that class of fish, armored fish ?

Mr. Titcomb: That is a difficult question to answer. The
6

82 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

land-locked salmon will do well in some lakes with bass and
pickerel, but in other lakes it is impossible to have them obtain
a permanent foothold. I think the steelhead trout would stand
a better show with the pickerel and bass than the
land-locked salmon, if they have a wide range and
the waters are varied in their nature. Take, for in-
stance, some lakes which are pecularly shaped, irregu-
larly shaped, with many islands, and you will find the pickerel
have their own part of that lake that they will be in most of the
time, and one end of the lake where they spawn, and if the small-
mouth bass are in the lake you may find them in still another
portion of the lake, and it is possible with some of those lakes of
irregular shape to introduce either the land-locked salmon or the
steelhead trout quite successfully, especially if you have good
streams for them to spawn in.

The President: They will have a Latin quarter and a Polish
ward, will they? (Laughter).

Mr. Clark: Do you think the steelhead more of a cannibal
than the rainbow ?

Mr. Titcomb: Yes, they are more predacious and more vora-
cious, because of their size.

Dr. Bean: In the West it is a toss-up between the steelhead
and rainbow trout as to destructiveness of eges; but the Dolly
Varden is the most destructive consumer of salmon eggs in the
Waters.

Mr. Clark: I would like to ask Mr. Seagle this question:
Do you find that the rainbow trout destroy the young trout ?

Mr. Seagle: I donot. I have not observed more than half a
dozen cases of cannibalism in my ponds since I have been having
rainbow trout, covering a period of twenty years.

Mr. Clark: Do you think they will eat fish if they can get
other food ?

Mr. Dean: Rainbow trout will eat each other if they can,
and we have to sort them, but not as much as the speckled trout.

Mr. Seagle: We keep our trout well sorted as to sizes, and
possibly that is the reason we have no cannibalism. We sort our
fish at least twice a year as to sizes.

Mr. C. E. Brewster, Grand Rapids: I would like to ask Mr.

American Fisheries Society. 83

Clark if rainbow trout are dangerous to the brook trout in the
brook trout streams ?

Mr. Clark: That is just the point. I think Mr. Dean will
remember when he was with me at Northville that we had more
rainbow trout than we have now, and possibly he was there at
the time the experiment was tried of putting some large rainbow
trout in a tank with smaller trout, and some large brook trout
later on with smaller trout. We performed such an experiment
at Northville, and the large rainbow trout did not eat the smaller
fish, after leaving them there four or five days or a week; but the
brook trout cleaned out nearly all the smaller trout that were in
the tank. I never in my life have seen a rainbow with another
trout in its mouth, while, of course, we are seeing brook trout do
that all the time. We take them by the tail and pull them out.
Our commercial men have had the same experience.

Mr. Lane: Yes.

Mr. Clark: I have never seen the tail of a trout sticking out
of a rainbow trout’s mouth.

Dr. Birge: You will write him a certificate of good charac-
ter?

Mr. Clark: I will so far as that is concerned. It does not
seem to me that they are cannibalistic at all. But Mr. Dean says
he has seen it right along.

Mr. Dean: My idea is that the water beimg warmer makes a
difference. T know at Northville at one time we put 55,000 rain-
bow trout in not a very large pool, and after carrying them some
time we counted out 53,000. That would show there was a very
small loss, but if we leave much larger trout in the ponds with
them they become cannibalistic.

Mr. Clark: JI do not wish to carry the idea that they will
not eat fish. Of course if you starve them to it they will do so.

Mr. Brewster: Not long ago a complaint was made that the
rainbow trout in the little Manistee river (and this is the second
season that they have begun taking fish from that river) were
eating up the brook trout. The man who made the complaint
was a gentleman who spends all his time on the river and runs a
club house there. I replied to his letter expressing my doubt
about the matter, and he stated that a gentleman connected with
the Pere Marquette Railway Company had recently caught a

84 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

two and a half pound rainbow trout with a brook trout more
than six inches long in his stomach. I still expressed a doubt
about the matter, and when I was up there about three or four
weeks ago he showed me a number of brook trout that were badly
lacerated, which showed that they had been caught by some
larger fish and had been chewed up in the efforts of the larger
fish to turn their prey and take it down head first; and those fish
I examined very carefully, and they certainly looked to me to
have been exactly as he stated: caught by some larger fish.

Mr. Titcomb: I have heard it said that the rainbow trout
was responsible for the disappearance of the grayling in the Au-
Sable river.

Mr. Clark: That is not the case.

Mr. Titcomb: I do not know but what I was misled in
answering a question about the comparative voraciousness of
rainbow and steelhead trout. I am not prepaerd to say that a
rainbow trout would do as much damage as a steelhead of the
same size. I had one experience with the two fish together of
the same size in an aquarium four feet by two by eighteen to
twenty inches high. These fish would weigh about a pound
apiece. We had three or four rainbows, three or four speckled
trout and one steelhead. We had to remove all the fish except
the steelhead to save their lives—the steelhead was chasing them
all over the aquarium and tried to drive them out of the water:
he gave them no rest no matter whether they were speckled trout
or rainbows.

Mr. Clark: Right in the Detroit hatchery I have in the
aquaria rainbow and steelhead trout; I have seen the steelheads
fight almost continuously during the spawning season, but I
never saw them take down in their throat or undertake to swal-
low their antagonists, but they will fight viciously during that
period. Was not this at the spawning season ?

Mr. Titcomb: No, it was not. We have the same trouble
with the rainbow trout during the spawning season.

Mr. Clark: Yes, but I have never seen them undertake to
eat other fish.

Mr. Brewster: I would like to furnish Mr. Clark a brook
trout from the Little Manistee that shows the marks that I have

American Fisheries Society. 85

described, and would like to have him examine it and pass judg-
ment on it.

Mr. Clark: I do not think I could tell the markings of a
rainbow trout’s teeth. It may have been captured by some larger
fish and chewed up.

Mr. Brewster: They think it is the rainbow and ! think it is,
too.

Mr. Clark: Show me a rainbow trout with a brook trout in
its mouth, and I will be convinced.

Mr. Brewster: I did not see that.

Dr. Bean: I have had some experience with rainbow trout
both in ponds and in the aquarium; and it is very well known on
Long Island that the rainbow trout is the most voracious fellow
in the ponds. One bully, (and not necessarily the largest fish)
will boss the whole pond or tank, and he will drive every fish
away or kill them, frequently, unless they are taken away. We
had that trouble in the New York aquarium. We put in some of
the fine rainbows from the Long Island hatchery, obtaimed from
the United States Commission, and they were all alike. They

would fight outrageously outside of the spawning season—any

and there was no

time seemed to be scrapping time with them
way of keeping them alive except by taking out of the tank the
fighters, and we would have to take out a new one about every
day.

Mr. A. L. Coulter: I would like to ask Mr. Clark one ques-
tion: I am nota fish culturist; I do not study half as closely the
habits of fish as I do the habits of the violaters of the game laws
of Michigan. But I find that conditions in certain portions of
the country change very materially. I think Mr. Clark will
agree with me that the AuSable River at one time was a grayling
stream; later in its history it was a speckled trout stream; after
the speckled trout was introduced the rainbow was introduced.

Mr. Clark: The rainbow trout were introduced first in the
AuSable river.

Mr. Coulter: Then take the Boardman river: the facts are
that wherever rainbow trout are put in different streams the
speckled trout disappear and the rainbow trout predominate.
You could not convince a native on those streams in a hundred
years, or by all the books and technical knowledge on earth, that

86 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

the rainbow trout were not destroying the speckled trout in the
Michigan waters.

The President: Was the grayling driven out by another
planting ?

Mr. Coulter: The theory of the average mortal along those
streams, who has lived all his life there and watched the disap-
pearance of the native graylings, is that the speckled trout have
destroyed the grayling, and in turn the rainbow trout is destroy-
ing the speckled trout, and you cannot convince him of anything
else. 1 think at one time the Boardman river had some grayling
in it; it was at first a native grayling stream, and the grayling
was afterward replaced with speckled trout, and today you will
eatch about half and half, but the speckled trout are disappear-
ing every year.

The President: I have been told by your Michigan fisher-
men that the grayling was a fish you could fish out more easily
than you could trout; that you could go to a pool and catch every
one of them; that is, they did not appear to be affected and get
shy as others do, by the disappearance of their mates, but you
could take the last grayling out of the pool and he would bite as
eagerly as though he had not lost any of his companions.

Mr. Clark: I think that is true.

Mr. G. W. M. Brown, of Michigan: I went into the wilder-
ness of Michigan early in 1869 and 1870 on the Pere Marquette,
Baldwin Creek and Percy rivers particularly. On the first day
of May, 1892, myself and a friend caught 163 grayling in one
pool in the Manistee river in eighteen mile bay. That is the
last day that I ever had fine fishing for grayling. The poliey of
the Michigan Fish Commission for the last two years has been
in planting rainbow trout to put them in the larger streams
where the water gets too warm for brook trout—in the Pere Mar-
quette and the AuSable, but we do not furnish any rainbow trout
for the smaller brook trout streams. For ten years I have been
engaged in raising brook trout on a private, protected stream, as
fine a stream as I ever saw, and the rainbow trout do not run in
that stream at all; but right at the mouth of the stream last June
| caught four rainbow trout that weighed eight and one-half
pounds, although not a rainbow trout has been caught in that
stream in the last ten years weighing a quarter of a pound. It is

American Fisheries Society. QF

a comparatively small stream and cold all the time; they do not
run out of the larger rivers into the smaller streams

Mr. Clark: I did not bring up this subject to defend the
rainbow trout for a moment, because it is immaterial to me which
fish we have. I like the brook trout personally just as well as I
do the rainbow trout. The part | wished to bring out was this:
I wanted to know positively whether rainbow trout fed upon
other trout. Now, Mr. Brewster has spoken of the AuSable
river. The records show that the rainbow trout were the first
ever planted in this stream, and old Uncle Dan Fitz Hugh was
the man who put them there; and everybody knows what he had
to say about the grayling and what he knew about it. This latter
fish was plentiful there before the brook trout came, but they
never have been so numerous as the brook trout now are, and I
do not beheve they ever will be, right in the AuSable river. If
anybody can demonstrate to me that the rainbow trout fishing is
better between two or three miles above Steven’s bridge and down
below Wickley’s bridge than it was ten years ago, I would like to
know it. Mr. Dickerson doesn’t find it so

as he told me. They
do not get any large rainbow trout above Wakley’s bridge, except
In spawning season but catch them in deep water. 1 have seen
the rainbow trout up that river in March when you wardens are
not there, and have seen a five-pound rainbow trout five miles
above Steven’s bridge; those large fish have been caught clear to
the up dam during the spawning period. When we were hauling
seines and catching brook trout for propagating purposes, we cap-
tured nearly as many rainbow trout fry as we did brook trout
fry; but the large fish drop down in the deeper water where you
do not get any brook trout.

Mr. Brewster: I think in 1891 the first rainbow trout was
taken on the Bourdman river by Winnie of Traverse City. The
river at that time was pretty well stocked with native grayling,
and there were some native brook trout in the stream. It had
been stocked heavily with brook trout, and from that time until
1895 or 1896 the brook trout fishing was good. Now more than
50 per cent of the trout taken from that river are the rainhow
trout and the brook trout are gone or are becoming scarce. ‘There
are no grayling there at this time. I do not agree with my friend

88 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Coulter that the brook trout have destroyed them; I think other
elements have conspired to destroy them.

Mr. Coulter: I did not say that at all.

Mr. Brewster: Take the Manistee river up above the log
chutes, the scene of the operations of the lumbermen, and you
still find grayling and sometimes pretty good fishing. I know of
a party of three who caught over 100 grayling there last year.
Last year at my request Mr. Clark delivered half a dozen gray-
ling to a friend of mine in Potoskey. ‘Those grayling have been
kept and are there now. I think he lost one out of a half dozen;
they are being kept in water pumped from the bay. They are
doing splendidly and growing nicely, and I believe that water un
there is good for the grayling.

American Fisheries Society. 89

THE ROLE OF THE LARGER AQUATIC PLANTS IN
THE BIOLOGY OF FRESH WATER.

BY RAYMOND EH POND. Pike D:

The primary object of an investigation of the biology of our
Great Lakes, is to ascertain the factors which determine the
quantity of food fish produced. The problems at once involved in
such an undertaking are numerous, but may be in a general way,
assigned to three groups. In the first group we may include
those arising from the various relations which the different ani-
mals sustain to each other, such as, food and feeder, enemy and
friend, host and parasite, and the like, all of which are strictly
animal problems to be solved by the Zoologist. In a second
group, would occur such questions as are suggested by the rela-
tions existing between animals and plants, and to these, the
botanists as well as the zoologists may properly give attention.
In the third group, we could include inquiries concerning the
relation of plants to the soil and water, and such as belong more
especially to the plant physiologist. Such a grouping of the
secondary problems is purely arbitrary, being given to indicate
the scope of the investigation, and to lead up to the statement
already emphasized by Reighard and Ward, that a knowledge ofs
the sources of nutrition of our food fishes, involves by necessity,
an exhaustive study of the cycle of matter in the lakes.

There are two ultimate sources of food for the fish, namely;
soil and air. Neither the fish, nor the animals upon which they
feed, can secure nourishment from these sources directly. Plants
must intervene to organize the mineral salts and carbon dioxide
into food for the animals. In the case of the plant plankton, we
have a large amount of organic matter that may be considered ar
food available for animals, which themselves in turn are either
directly or indrectly used as food by the fish. Thus there occurs
in the lake, a manufacturing of mineral salts and carbon dioxide
into plant plankton, and also, a manufacturing of plant plank-
ton indirectly into fish. It is thus evident, that each season’s
catch of fish means a withdrawal of so much organic matter from

90 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

the lake, and the sources of renewal of this organic matter, are
manifestly important. It has long been known that water plants
contain several essential food elements in greater proportion than
the water, and we may say that aquatic plants concentrate with-
in themselves nitrogen, potash, phosphoric acid. In the case of
the plankton these elements must come from the water and then
the plants die and are returned to solution. However, with the
larger attached plants, we have another possibility, that is, they
may take their mineral food from the substratum, and if they
do, we have in them, agents active in the transfer of mineral
food from the soil to the water. On the other hand, if the at-
tached plants do not absorb nourishment from the soil, they
must take it from the water, and their influence in this case
would be to withhold during all the growing season, matter that
would otherwise be available to the plant plankton.

The statement is common in all our text books of botany,
even those published during the present year, that aquatic plants
derive their nourishment from the water and not from the soil,
that the roots are not organs of absorption as in land plants, but
only holdfasts to anchor the plant. A review of the literature of
this subject, shows that this statement is based upon argument
and not experimental data. The anatomy of water plants has
received quite a little attention in the past, and many authors
have noted that the tissue systems for the conduction of water,
which in land plants are so well developed, are in aquatic plants
very rudimentary. Moreover, it has been observed that sub-
merged aquatics have no evaporating surface and hence there is
no necessity for an upward current in the plant. Again, the
entire surface of submerged plants is permeable to water and
the plant may easily secure its mineral food directly from the
surrounding water. Such has been the majority opinion and
argument up to the present time; but investigation now com-’
pleted though as yet unpublished, proves beyond a doubt, I
think, that most of our common aquatic plants are absolutely
dependent upon being rooted in the soil for optimum growth,and
few of them indeed can survive the growing season, if denied
attachment to the soil.

To consider now some of the evidence for the latter opinion.
Suppose we construct some large boxes and build a raft around

American Fisheries Society. 91

the top of them so that they will float about level with the sur-
face of the lake or shghtly submerged. In some of these boxes
we will make a deposit of soil six inches or more deep. This soil
is to be taken from the lake bottom in some locality where there
is an abundant growth of plants. In this we will plant a cer-
tain number of individuals of uniform size, of some one species
that have been carefully selected from specimens growing in the
lake. In the other box we will attach a like number of such
plants to wooden bars, and fasten these bars so that the plants in
the two boxes are in the same depth of water. We thus have for
comparison, two groups of plants, one of which is surrounded
by natural conditions, and the other has natural conditions ex-
cept that the soil is absent, and the plants can get only such
nourishment as is provided by the water. After a period of four
weeks very marked differences between the two groups of plants
may be noted. The plants rooted in soil look as strong and
healthy as those growing in the lake. The volume of vegetation
produced by the former group was twice that produced by the
latter group, while the suspended plants were stunted in growth
and manifested the ordinary signs of unfavorable environment.
If we now collect our two groups of plants, and after carefully
washing, obtain the dry weight, it will be found to be a third
more for the plants rooted in soil. It is thus evident, that soil is
necessary for the best growth of these plants. If now we com-
pare equal volumes of the fresh plants in our experiment, it will
appear that the dry weight of the suspended plants is greater
than that of those rooted in soil. This must mean that different
physiological processes have been operating in the two groups.
If a microscopic examination of the fresh plants be made, it will
be found that the tissues of the plants rooted in soil contain rela-
tively little starch, while those of the suspended plants are liter-
ally gorged with starch. Thus is explained our discovery con-
cerning the dry weight of equal volumes. It is the abnormal in-
erease in the amount of starch, that makes the suspended plants
weigh more. If now we compare the two groups with regard to
their chemical composition, we shall find that the plants which
were denied the soil, contain a smaller proportion of nitrogen, of
potash, and of phosphoric acid. To recall now the results of
this line of investigation, we may say that when the plants are

92 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

not allowed to root in the soil, and are limited to the lake water
for nourishment, an abnormal growth results, which is mani-
fested by diminished volume of vegetation and total dry weight;
also, by an excess of starch, and deficiency of nitrogen, potash
and phosphoric acid.

Considering now the question, are the roots merely organs of
attachment, or are they also for the purpose of absorption? It
is not a difficult matter to separate the roots of a plant from the
stem, so that solutions differmg in chemical composition, may
be offered to each at the same time. In this way lithium nitrate
may be offered to the roots, so that the lthium, if found later
by spectroscopic examination in the upper parts of the plant,
may be positively known to have been absorbed by the roots
and conducted upward into the stem. It is also possible to con-
struct an apparatus by which the amount of water absorbed by
a root in a given time can be measured. Both of these methods
have been employed, and there can be no doubt but that the
roots are organs of absorption. Moreover, the roots of most of
our common aquatics develop structures, the presence of which
is almost prima facie evidence that the organs bearing them are
for absorption. ‘These structures are the so-called root hairs,
and they occur on all of our terrestrial plants, with a few excep-
tions. Examination has now shown that they are common also
on the roots of aquatic plants. These hairs are simply ordinary
root cells which are protected from the outer cell layer of the
root, for the purpose of securing the maximum absorbing sur-
face with the least expenditure of tissue.

We may next enquire, what quality of soil is best suited to
support a good plant growth? Last summer here at the Hatch-
ery, three soils were tested. One was a loam from Squaw harbor
like ordinary garden soil, another was sandy with plant remains
scattered through it, and the third was clayey. The same species
Was grown at the same time in each soil under otherwise natural
conditions. The poorest growth occurred on the clay, the second
best on the sandy soil, and the best on the loam. Thus is con-
firmed experimentally the observation made from the study of
all the plant beds in the region of these islands, that other con-
ditions being favorable, the most abundant growth of aquatic
plants occurs on what would be called a good truck soil. Many

American Fisheries Society. 93

of the species will maintain a growth on any of these soils and
continue to reproduce each season, but it is only on the good
loamy soil that the dense aquatic meadows occur,

From a study of such meadows, some of the functions hith-
erto assigned to aquatic plants have been established, such as
protection to animals seeking refuge, a base of attachment for
the growth of Algae, and even as direct food for some animals.
Tt is in protected caves little disturbed by wave action that such
meadows occur, and the aeration of the water is an important
duty of the plants here. During the daytime all green plants
give off oxygen as a waste of product in the manufacture of
starch, and an excellent idea of what this amounts to may be
obtained by observing the almost constant stream of bubbles
that rise from the plants on a bright day. But perhaps the
most important part played by the larger aquatic plants is the
one only recently established, that of contributing to the
plankton food supply. One author has recently stated that
there is a direct relation between the quantity of plankton and
the proportion of nitrates in the water. During each season by
the changing winds and currents a large amount of plant debris
is carried out into the lake from the aquatic meadows, where
during the period of its slow oxidation, it is available as food
for the animal plankton and when oxidized, the mineral salts
taken from the soil are contributed to the water to be used by
the plant plankton in organizing more animal food. It is thus
apparent that in the economy of nature, water plants have the
same part to play with respect to organisms of a higher order,
as the terrestrial plants; that is, they are the organizers of inor-
ganic matter for the benefit of the higher organisms dependent
upon their activity.

It is quite probable that the waters poor in plankton will be
found to have a small growth of the attached aquatics. Certain
it is, at least, that in any explanation to account for a scarcity
of plankton in a given water, the relative abundance of the
aquatic plants would necessarily be considered.

Some species are much more dependent upon the soil than
others. Chara and Myriophyllum are not as dependent as
Vallisneria and Potamogeton perfoliatus. The two latter plants
would be excellent to plant in fish ponds, because they are so

94 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

dependent upon the soil and because they develop a large volume
of vegetation during the growing season.

To recapitulate, we have first the facts hitherto known, that
the larger aquatics are important as furnishers of shelter, as
aerating agents, as a base of attachment for the growth of Algae
and as direct food for some animals. Second, the fact first
established in this paper, that these plants are important agents,
through which the soil is made to contribute a goodly share to
the food supply of the lake.

DISCUSSION OF DR. POND'S PAPER.

Dr. Birge: Was the experiment tried of raising these plants
in boxes with earth and water, but with the roots removed? In
the experiment described there was only one arrangement given
—plants with roots and earth and plants without roots,—and
with the ordinary lake water, of course. If 6 inches of earth had
been placed in this box, it seems to me that a good deal of min-
eral salt might leach out of the earth, which the plants might
have absorbed through the leaves; and I would ask, was that ex-
periment tried, to see the difference.

Prof. Ward: I was only an observer of the experiment, but
it is evident that in one respect, at least, the statement of the
author has not been clearly understood. ‘The roots were not re-
moved from the plants, but the latter were very carefully select-
ed, so that there should be no chance of any kind of bruising or
breaking of the tissue to afford the shghtest ground for suppos-
ing they were not in perfect physiological condition. The ex-
periments were also tried in water so comparatively shallow that
while there might have been a difference under the conditions
which Dr. Birge mentions, I should rather imagine that there
would not be. So far as I know, the exact experiment which he
indicates of placing earth in the box but not in contact with the
roots of the plant, was not tried. It, however, may have been,
for Dr. Pond experimented very extensively and there were
many experiments made of which he gave no definite report.

Mr. J. J. Stranahan, of Georgia: If the plant myriophyl-
lum were used in a pond with poor soil and pure soft water, what
would the result be ?

Prof. Ward: I wish Dr. Pond were here. He experimented

American Fisheries Society. 95

three or four years on this matter and he has really found some
things of very great value, and I deeply regret that he cannot be
here to answer such questions himself.

Dr. Birge: Have you tried it yourself ?

Mr. Stranahan: Yes, but our myriophyllum does not thrive.
Our soil and water is not conducive to any kind of vegetable
growth.

Mr. F. N. Clark, Northville, Mich.: We frequently meet
this same difficulty at our meetings, the author of the paper not
being present and these questions coming up that no one can
answer. I think it would be well if the Secretary would note
those points and ask the author of this paper to present some-
thing on that line and perhaps others, as an addition to his
paper by way of discussion.

Dr. Birge: Why not have him answer any of these ques-
tions and have them printed.

Mr. Clark: That would be well, but we always have papers
where the authors are not present and most always questions
come up that no one can answer.

The President: Dr. Pond might add his answers to these
questions as a part of the discussion. I believe that is prac-
ticable.

Mr. Titecomb: I suggest that Mr. Stranahan relate the re-
sults of his experiments under his peculiar conditions.

Mr. Stranahan: We have made a good many experiments;
we have tried all sorts of fertilizers, we have tried a compost
made with cotton seed meal and with barnyard manure. and we
have succeeded in making our myriophyllum and other plants
grow well the first year, but they almost always die out and be-
come absent the second year.

Dr. Birge: Even if you continue the manuring ?

Mr. Stranahan: We have not continued it, because it is im-
possible to do it in a pond full of fish. We have also had con-
siderable correspondence with rice planters along the coast, and
find that they have never found a fertilizer which is practicable
for rice which is to be flooded, which is discouraging, because
vegetation is of very great importance as shown by the success
had by Leary at San Marcos. But there the soil was very rich
and black; the myriophyllum growing from the bottom of the

96 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

pond to the top in one dense mass, in 6 or 7 feet of water; and
there are more black bass produced there than at any other sta-
tion of the United States Fish Commission—90,000 to 100,000
im one year.

Mr. Dwight Lydell, of Mill Creek, Mich.: I have found that
the chara weed is better for pond fish than the potamogeton, as
stated in the paper.

Mr. Clark: We have threshed this over each year and been
in the same position ever since I have been a member of the asso-
ciation. At Wood’s Hole we passed a resolution that all papers
to be read by those in attendance should first be presented, that
the papers by persons not present should be offered, and then be
read as decided by the association. That resolution grew out of
this very discussion that we are now in, and on your minutes of
the proceedings at Wood’s Hole you will find a resolution that no
paper shall be read before this Society unless the author is there
to read it, except by special resolution.

I wish to correct one statement of Mr. Stranahan’s, where he
spoke regarding the product of black bass. I do this out of re-
spect for the superimtendent of the bass hatchery at Mill Creek.
The Mill Creek hatchery last year turned out over 1,000,000
bass.

Mr. Lydell: About 50,000 of those were fingerlings.

Mr. Titcomb: I hope no one here will refrain from asking
any question that comes up in connection with this paper. I
think if Mr. Pond is going to make an addendum to his paper
for publication, he should have our views, and read our questions.
It is a very important matter.

Mr. Clark: I have no objection. I simply state the resolu-
tion passed at Wood’s Hole.

American Fisheries Society. 9%

A SUCCESSFUL YEAR IN THE ARTIFICIAL PROP-
AGATION OF THE WHITEFISH.

BY FRANK N. CLARK.

As such unusual success has attended the efforts in the hand-
ling of whitefish during the past season, it is deemed that a few
brief notes relative thereto would not be amiss.

The whitefish egg taking of the season just closed has been
the most successful in Michigan, in the history of the United
States Fish Commission. Not only has the quantity taken
greatly exceeded that of any previous year, but also the quality
has far surpassed that of any of the earlier efforts. This may be
owing perhaps, in part, to the favorable weather conditions, im-
proved facilities, and expert manipulation, but in the main it
goes to show the wonderful results of the plants which have been
made in the past in the waters of the Great Lakes.

In the collection and hatching of whitefish at the present
time, two very important essentials are those of funds for carry-
ing on the work, and then of obtaining the fish. With these two
problems solved, the production of fry may be unlimited, and
perhaps it might be well to state right here that of the above two
mentioned factors, the former is a far more insurmountable bar-
rier than the latter.

In the early days of the work, back in the seventies, the first
successful take of whitefish eggs, with perhaps the exception of a
few obtained on the Detroit River by Mr. Seth Green and my
father, was made not three miles from where we are now holding
this meeting. The quantity at that time, was limited to the
amount obtained from the ripe fish which were found in the nets
from day to day. This plan was continued for a number of
years until it was discovered by experiment, that whitefish could
be held in crates and pounds until ripe, thereby greatly increas-
ing the production. This work of penning has been carried on
quite extensively and with every success, on the Detroit River
and at Monroe Piers, at the mouth of the Raisin River, Lake

Erie.

98 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Tt seems as though a no more forcible illustration of the gra-
tifying results of the whitefish operations can be given than that
of a comparison between the work of the past season and of 1896,
but five years before. There was practically no difference in the
methods employed, and the grounds operated were the same. In
1896 the total number of fish caught on the Detroit River was
11,263, while durimg the season recently completed 41,242 were
taken, not far from four times the number obtained but five
years previous under almost identical conditions.

Not only on the Detroit River, which is perhaps the best
point on the Great Lakes for the collection of whitefish eggs, has
the work been so highly successful, but at all other places where
an attempt has been made the results have been the
same. It is certain that the season of 1901 has been
by far the best on the Great Lakes, and the records
of both the United States and Canadian governments
have never been equaled by the unprecedented take of upwards
of 800,000,000 eggs. This large take resulted in the filling of
every hatchery on the Lakes to its utmost capacity, and at one
time it was thought necessary to plant a portion of the eggs on
the spawning grounds. Later, however, this obstacle was over-
come by holding part on trays for a short time. More auxiliary
stations adjacent to the spawning grounds should be provided
for the handling of the great surplus. This would do away
largely with the necessity of transporting the fry for such long
distances, which is not only very expensive, but at times rather
detrimental to their condition. These auxiliary hatcheries will.
no doubt, be provided for in the near future by the United States
government.

The following account may perhaps give a fair idea of some
of the details of the Detroit River work.

The collection of eggs was made from the field stations on
Belle Isle and Grassy Island, the former being located in the De-
triot River opposite the upper end of Detroit, and the latter about
eight miles down the river below the city. The first fishing was
done on the 16th of October and the work was continued until
December 3rd. During this time, 2,875 hauls of the see were
made and 41,242 fish captured, an average of between fourteen
and fifteen per haul, this latter being much better than usual.

American Fisheries Society. 99

Of these, 2,270 were undersized (weighing less than two pounds)
and were immediately returned to the river, thus making 38,972
the number retained. They were held in crates and pounds, the
former being made about twelve feet long, four feet wide, and
five feet deep, of slats in order to allow free circulation of water,
and the latter were of irregular size and shape, and built by driv-
ing boards into the bottom with a space between each one for
free passage of water. The best day’s fishing was on November
18th, when 2,568 fish were caught, and the best day’s egg-taking
was on November 29th, when 52,920,000 eges were obtained. Of
the fish held, 22,245 were males, and 16,727 females, and of the
latter, 12,529 were stripped, the remainder being spent, plugged,
or hard when operations ceased. The ege taking period extend-
ed from November 10th to December 11th, inclusive, during
which time 366,040,000 eggs were forwarded to the Detroit
Hatchery, thus making the average number per fish 29.215.

The number of eggs shipped to various pots was 2)1,800,-
000, leaving 164,240,000 in the hatchery. As the total hatch
was 135,000,000, it would appear that the percentage was a trifle
above 82, but in reality it is about 85, when allowance is made
for the fact that a part of the eggs shipped were eyed. The sea-
son was rather earlier than usual, as the fish were hatched be-
tween March 23rd and April 16th. The distribution continued
from March 30th to April 17th, and was made by means of a tug
and the regular transportation cars. The latter took 27,000,000
fry in five loads, three of 5,000,000 each and two of 6,900,000
each, the former to Charlevoix and the latter to Mackinae City.
The balance were deposited in the Detroit River and Lake St.
Clair.

Again let me emphatically state that there has just been com-
pleted the greatest known year’s work in the artificial propaga-
tion of the whitefish.

DISCUSSION OF MR. CLARK’S PAPER.

Before reading his paper Mr. Clark said: I wish to state in
connection with this short paper, that our good Secretary wrote
me, I think, early in January, asking me to prepare a paper—I
think he said something about whitefish or something in relation
to whitefish—and I wrote him that I did not believe I would

A

100 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

have time to give him anything and did not know that I had
anything new. That was the last I heard of it until the notices
came out, and I saw he had me down for a paper. So [ give you
these few notes. It is not a paper, but a few notes on our work
in connection more particularly with the whitefish. I do not
want you to think you are going to get a paper.

Secretary Peabody: It seemed perfectly safe to put you
down on the subject of whitefish, as being the greatest expert on
that subject in the country.

Mr. Clark: I do not think so. There are many other white-
fish experts in the country besides F. N. Clark.

The President: Was not the season an especially propitious
one ?

Mr. Clark: The water was very good, but the experience of
the United States Fish Commission on the Detroit river for the
three seasons we have been operating since the Michigan Fish
Commission turned it over to us, is that there has not been so
very much difference in that respect. I think that when the
Michigan Fish Commission operated they did have three or four
exceptionally severe seasons, when ice made in the river, so they
could not fish. We had no trouble of that kind, and I think we
are safe in anticipating a take of 300,000,000 or 400,000,000
eggs this coming season. It all depends on the temperature of
the water both with the fish and eggs. I do not think it was an
exceptional season. I[ think it was simply because Lake Erie has
more fish today than it ever had before. I think Mr. Downing or
Mr. Fox will bear me out in this statement judging by their
work at Monroe.

The President: It is borne out by the commercial reports
also, I think.

Mr. Clark: ’Yes, sir.

Mr. Gunckel: I never saw line fishing so good as it is out
off Monroe this season. I caught with a fly one whitefish weigh-
ing eighteen and one-half pounds. :

Mr. Stranahan: I would like to ask Mr. Clark, do you think
there are more whitefish in the lake than there ever was, away
back in the early days of fishing ?

Mr. Clark: I do not mean to be understood as saying that.
I mean that the imereased catch of whitefish in Lake Erie is

American Fisheries Society. 101

wholly due to the propagation and planting of fish in the De-
troit river and Lake Erie. I say it boldly because there is less
protection to the whitefish in Lake Erie and the Detroit river.
So, if it is not from our work, what is it from? The catch has
increased each year gradually from 12,000 until now we are
expecting to take 50,000 fish this fall on the Detroit river.

The President: That is the testimony of all of the fishermen
along our shores, that the depletion caused by the fine nets, ete.,
has been arrested.

Mr. 8. W. Downing, of Put-in-Bay: I would like to bear Mr.
Clark out in his last assertion, that the increase is undoubtedly
due to the propagation of the fish. We have steadily increased
in the number of eggs taken. Two years ago 235,000,090 eggs
were taken at Put-in-Bay. Next season 194,000,000, last season
335,000,000 eggs were taken. That in connection with Mr.
Clark’s station would make the total something over 700,000,-
000; and there is no question but what it is coming from the
artificial hatching of the fish. We put out from this station
alone this spring a little over 200,000,000 fry. Our total hatch
was 81.8 per cent. Mr. Clark beat me about 3 per cent on his
hatch.

Mr. Clark: Another fact bears out the results of our work.
They seldom used to catch any small fish—that is, what we call
underweight fish, those under two pounds. <A year ago last fall
we caught a little over 6,000, and last season over 2,00). Now,
ten or fifteen years previous to that, no mention was made of the
small fish, there not being enough to attract attention.

Mr. Lydell: It has been about fourteen years since I com-
menced taking charge of some of the river work, and at that
time we had between 250 and 300 jars in the Detroit hatchery,
and ran seven fishing grounds to fill those jars with eggs; and
now we have 1,035 jars and three fishing grounds are sufficient
to fill them—and more too. Last year I think we also filled the
Duluth house and the Soo house and all the houses of the United
States Fish Commission, easily, with three grounds.

Dr. T. H. Bean: (Formerly of the United States Fish Com-
mission, now of the World’s Fair at St. Louis). Jt has seemed
to me that there was a little skepticism about the remark by my
friend Gunckel about whitefish being caught on a hook, and I

102 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

thought perhaps it would be interesting to state something that
has occurred in my own experience in keeping whitefish in
aquaria. There is a whitefish which you know has been called
the Labrador whitefish, but which I cannot distinguish by any
essential characters from the common whitefish of the great
lakes. All the characteristics that have been assigned to them by
ichthyological writers prove to be transitory or non-existent, and
for that reason I still hold to the opinion expressed a few years
ago, that the Labrador whitefish and the common whitefish are
the same species.

Now, it has been supposed, I think very generally, that that

form of whitefish with the small mouth and the lower jaw
shorter than the upper will not take the hook and will not take
live bait. In the aquarium of New York City in 1897 we hada
lot of so-called Labrador whitefish from Canandaigua lake.
They were fed upon small fresh water shrimp, which were
shipped from Caledonia and other parts of the state. They fed
very readily upon them, but after a time it was difficult te
obtain that food, and then we began putting into the tanks small
salt water minnows, or mummichogs (killifish), and in a very
little while the Labrador whitefish were rising to them and
taking them the same as the trout did, and they continued to
feed on them for months at a time.

And another fact, in Canandaigua lake, fishermen catch those
same whitefish on baited hooks.

[ saw a little item in Forest & Stream, by a Canadian mem-
ber of the Fishery Commission, to the effect that the new white-
fish, which evidently is closely related to the common whitefish,
and I think Dr. Smith has identified it as Richardson’s white-
fish. is known up there to take the hook, and is so caught. I say
this in defense of my friend Commodore Gunckel, and as a mat-
ter of some interest, because I do not think it is generally known
that the common whitefish will take the hook.

Mr. Clark: I believe that Dr. Gunckel thought 1 would not
smile when he spoke of catching the eighteen pound whitefish
with a fly. I want to say that whitefish weighing two and one-
half or three pounds, which have been raised in our ponds, take
flies from the top of the water.

American Fisheries Society. 103

The President: That is the natural fly that lights on the
water ?

Mr. Clark: Yes, sir.

Mr. Gunckel: In looking over my records I find I did not
wear my glasses when I made my first statement. The fish that
T actually caught at the mouth of the river Raisin was a common
carp. (Laughter). But Judge Potter, for many years a fish
commissioner of the state of Ohio, told me probably twenty
times of the whitefish that he had caught off Nipegon—I have

forgotten the bait that he used—and I know when I go to Crys-
tal Lake in the northern part of Michigan, of some In-
dians who come from Frankfort to sell whitefish (and I believe
there are more whitefish to the square foot in that lake than in
any lake Mr. Clark has in Michigan), and they catch them with
hook and line. They bring in fifteen or twenty whitefish nearly
every summer that I go up there to fish. They must bite with
hook and line. All the propagation that you talk about leans
toward the commercial interests. About three-quarters of the
gentlemen present represent the angling fraternity of which I
am a proud member. I believe I belong to some fourteen differ-

ent angling clubs and societies in the United States—always
have and I am now growing old in the business and have the
reputation of being the biggest liar in the United States, and so
am entitled to recognition.

Mr. Titcomb: To substantiate Dr. Gunckel’s remarks—

Mr. Gunekel: Don’t get that “Doctor.”

Mr. Titcomb: I want to say that in Lake Winnepiseogee
the whitefish is commonly taken with hook and line; and in fur-
ther substantiation of Dr. Gunckel’s remark about this particu-
Jar whitefish which weighed so much, he took me aside here to-
day and told me about it, but explained that he not only had a
baited hook, but had a bated breath. (Laughter).

Mr. W. A. Palmer, Buchanan, Mich.: I would like to ask
Mr. Clark to what he attributes absence of whitefish about Michi-
gan City, St. Joe and Grand Haven, where they used to be so
plenty ?

Mr. Clark: Fishermen. I think there have been without
question millions upon millions of small fish caught in Lake
Michigan and other lakes—not so many in Lake Erie, because

104 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

they cannot get them. In Lake Michigan however, there has
been just as much fishing as in Lake Erie, while the former has
not been anywhere near so heavily planted, therefore to furnish
its quota many of the sh have been under weight. The fisher-
men being after every one they can get, regardless of its size, and
consequently the fish are being greatly reduced in numbers in
Lake Michigan. I think if we could plant fry in Lake Michigan
as we are doing in Lake Erie and Detroit river, you would see in
the course of five to fifteen vears, a great increase in the Lake
Michigan output. Lake Erie and the Detroit river have had at
least one-half of all the fry that have been hatched on the great
lakes.

Mr. Palmer: In other words, Lake Michigan and that
vicinity have not had any fry there.

Mr. Clark: Oh, no, I do not say that. They have had quite
a good plant every year. This vear we put in Lake Michigan
about 30,000,000, and I think very hkely Wisconsin must have
put in 20,000,000 or more.

The President: We did.

Mr. Clark: But 50,000,000 fry is not enough for Lake
Michigan. We should have 500,090,000.

The President: I would like to ask, is the whitefish a migra-
tory fish, or does he stay in the vicinity of his birth place, or
where he is planted. Do they rove around and colonize other
parts of the lake, or are they local ?

Mr. Clark: I cannot answer that question. I have been con-
nected with whitefish work for thirty years, and that is a ques-
tion that I cannot answer you. Perhaps our scientific men can,
but I cannot; however I can say that the whitefish are in the
Detroit river in the fall and I know that they are not there in
the spring, but whether they go a long distance or not | am un-
able to tell. We do not get, or we did not used to get, the same
colored fish in Lake Huron that we do in Lake Erie and the
Detroit river. I hardly think they ever go up through the St.
Clair river into Lake Huron, but still I cannot answer those
questions.

Mr. Palmer: <A large quantity of whitefish were caught this
season in the vicinity of Charlevoix, while at South Huron, for-
merly one of the best fishing grounds, there have not been any.

American Fisheries Society. 105

Mr. Clark: I can say in answer that for a term of years the
United States Fish Commission have not planted any whitefish
in Lake Michigan below Frankfort, and our reason for it is that
we do not believe the whitefish spawn below that point. We do
not know for certain, but are waiting for the Scientific Bureau
to make investigation. The only way we have of knowing where
whitefish spawn is by looking the fish over that are caught by
the fishermen at such points, and I do not think there have ever
been any eggs taken from south of a point near Frankfort across
the lake. Years ago we used to send men to St. Joseph, Michi-
gan City, and I think one year I had some men over on the other
side near Waukegan ; but we never were able to get any ripe fish
there, and that is the only way we know as to whether or not they
are spawning at that point. I think that after we have our
scientists do some dredging and working on that line, they will
be able to tell us. I believe I have stated that we do not know
where the spawning grounds are. As long as we have taken
eges off Alpena, ever since 1880, we get ripe fish at certain
points, but I am here to say that I do not know that that is the
spawning ground, because there have never been any eggs taken
up from the bottom.

Dr. Birge: That would indicate a very considerable distance
of migration. Whitefish are caught all through the southern
end of Lake Michigan and the schools must have migrated 80 or
100 miles there, if the fish did not spawn south of Frankfort.

Mr. Clark: I would not call 80 miles a great migration.

Dr. Birge: I would not think so either.

Mr. Clark: When we have this biological station some of
these questions will be settled, and I do not expect to see this
problem decided until a thorough investigation on that line is
made and this is what the practical fish culturists on our great
lakes are waiting for—something along that lime—and_ our
scientists must start it.

Prof. Reighard: I may, perhaps, throw a little light on the
question of the existence of local races of whitefish: Last sum-
mer the United States Fish Commission sent a man to Lake Erie
to study the local races of whitefish, and he worked at several
places on Lake Erie, by the statistical method, making very
accurate measurements and determinations of color of whitefish

106 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

in different regions, but was unable to find any local differences.
Now, in the case of some of the marine fishes, those local differ-
ences are very noticeable, and by making such studies it is possi-
ble to locate local races. The whitefish spawn in the western
end of the lake in the fall, and that would obliterate local races
by interbreeding.

On the other hand, this same man, Dr. Raymond Pearl. has
gone this year to the northern end of Lake Michigan and is at
Charlevoix now. He has been measuring the whitefish there and
he finds very distinct evidences that they form a different race.
This race is very markedly different in its measurements from
that of Lake Erie. Of course that is nothing more than the
fishermen have said for many years, that they could tell Lake
Erie whitefish from Lake Michigan whitefish, but so far as
scientific evidence goes it is all there is, I think.

The President: Is there not a whitefish called a bluefish ?

Mr. Clark: Yes, sir, but that is not the fish under discus-
sion.

I would lke to ask Prof. Reighard whether his investigator
at Charlevoix has examined a sufficient number of specimens to
know whether he may not have had some fish that were planted
there and had increased in size.

Prof. Reighard: That was one of the things had in mind in
sending him up there, but as far as I can learn he has no evi-
dence on that point. It ought to be possible to find by this
method trace of Lake Erie whitefish planted up there, but he has
not got them yet. That may come out when he reaches the final
discussion of his results.

Mr. Clark: This could lead into a great many questions we
would like to ask, but I do not know as we ought to take up the
time.

The President: It is a very interesting topic to us who are
situated on the great lakes.

American Fisheries Society. 107

THE BROOK TROUT DISEASE AND CEMENT PONDS.

BY M. C. MARSH.

At the preceding meeting of this society, in some remarks on
the brook trout disease, you may remember that it was pro-
nounced to be probably bacterial, but that this had not been
definitely established by the usual process applicable in such
eases. Since that time experiments on healthy trout at North-
ville have furnished substantial proof of its bacterial nature. It
is not necessary to go into these in detail here save to say that
they consisted of a series of inoculations into healthy trout of
pure cultures of bacteria taken from the blood of diseased trout.
Such inoculated trout developed the same symptoms and lesions
as those which had contracted the disease in the natural way, and
like them, they died. The experiments were controlled by dupli-
cate lots of healthy trout which were kept in the same water and
fed the same food as the others, and under identical conditions
save that they were not inoculated with the cultures. There was
no loss among these latter trout. The bacterial organism used in
these inoculations is now regarded as the cause of the brook trout
disease.

Cement ponds were proposed as a rational method of prevent-
ing this trouble with the brook trout: It was held that the germs
of disease menaced the trout in small ponds from two sources,—
the immediate surroundings of the pond, and the water supply.
Just what the relative importance of these two sources was could
not be stated with certainty at that time, but there were reason-
able grounds for believing that the former—the linings of the
ponds and the earth about them—was the greater of the two, and
that if this danger were removed that the disease might be pre-
vented. The cement ponds were directed against the one source
of infection alone—the localized or secondary source—and could
not protect against any infection which might flow down with
the water supply. There seemed to be a reasonable chance that
danger from the water supply was not great enough to cause the
epidemic every year, largely because the fry in the troughs had

108 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

seldom had the disease. Accordingly, two of these ponds were
built last fall at the Northville Station of the United States Fish
Commission. They had a foundation of concrete and a super-
ficial layer of cement on sides and bottom, so that they were solid
throughout and impervious. Nothing could enter these ponds
through the construction itself, but must come by way of the
water supply or directly from above. They were stocked with
brook trout without suspicion of disease, some from the Au Sable
tiver, secured by permission of the Michigan Fish Commission,
the rest from the trout farm of Mr. Hansen, at Osceola, Wis.

We have now had nearly a year’s experience with these ponds.
They have failed to prevent the disease. Most of the trout
thrived in a promising way until January, when they commenced
to die. ‘The dead had the suspicious marks or lesions of the
disease and from the blood pure cultures were obtained of the
same organism that had previously been found in the diseased
trout, before the cement ponds were built. It is the same disease
recurring. The Au Sable trout began to die very soon after they
were placed in the cement ponds. Now, a large per cent of the
Au Sable fish had sustained injuries chiefly of one sort, a bruised
snout from contact with the crates in which they were tempo-
rarily held. The injured snout is an open door for the entrance
of micro-organisms into the blood. The protecting skin is broken,
the tissue beneath is left raw and a bacterium drifting against
this exposed surface finds an easy lodgement and nourishment of
exactly the sort adapted to it. It immediately begins to multiply
and is carried into the circulation and finally brings about the
death of the trout. The rule may be laid down then that trout
with the skin intact have the best chance of resisting the imitial
attack and that those with wounds of any kind can be placed in
infected waters only with fatal results. The other trout were un-
injured fish and they resisted the disease for some months or
until the organisms had time to make their way through more
minute wounds which doubtless all fish receive in the natural
course of their existence, or by way of the intestinal tract having
been taken in when feeding; or they may possibly have penetrat-
ed slowly the unbroken tissues.

The cement ponds are, then, if this one year’s trial is a re-
liable index, as it probably is, a failure as far as their main pur-

American Fisheries Society. 109

pose is concerned, prevention of this disease. They demonstrate
this fact very clearly—that they are insufficient to deal with it
as exemplified at the Northville Station, and in so doing they
make a valuable contribution to knowledge of this disease, and
an important step is taken in attempts at prevention. For the
idea of excluding infection by an impervious construction fol-
lowed naturally from the nature of the disease and was one of
the very few practicable means of dealing with the problem. The
ponds accomplished this exclusion, for they have withstood the
severity of winter and are practically intact. They have pro-
tected the trout from infection contained in the earth about the
pond and this being insufficient the conclusion is forced that the
water itself brings into the pond the bacteria of disease and that
the springs that supply the station are their source. That these
bacteria arise in the springs is a matter of very serious import.
It throws the origin of disease back to a source over which we
have no control. It is impossible to disinfect these springs. Dis-
infection can occur only in the superficial layer of the bottom
while fresh infection is constantly arising from the depths. The
water cannot be filtered to a germ free condition on the necessary
scale for practical operations. The infection cannot be dug out.
Tt is a natural attribute of the supply springs and I do not see
any means of dealing with it which allows brook trout culture on
the present intensive plan, 1. e., many fish in a small space, and
at stations with infected water.

This does not compel the abandonment of the brook trout at
such stations, however; at least, not as yet. The next thing to be
recommended is culture in comparatively large natural ponds.
The chief advantage gained is the increase of space, diluting the
infection and separating the fish. The more natural conditions,
aside from space, doubtless have their influence also. There is
some past experience favorable enough to justify such a pond.
Mr. R. S. Johnson of the United States Fish Commission has
checked the disease in this way at his station at Manchester,
Iowa. It may be considered a sort of compromise with the dis-
ease because even if continuously successful, it cannot be expected
to produce as many trout to a given outlay of space as the small
pond system. It cannot eradicate all the conditions that cause
the disease, and it is possible, even probable, that with continued

110 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

use this large pond will lose such efficacy as it possesses. This is
a matter for experience to settle. Some of the old ponds at
Northville will probably be replaced by excavating a large basin
which shall be fed with cold spring water and contain natural
vegetation. It will be stocked with brook trout and the round of
fish cultural operations which involves the use of ponds will be
conducted in it. It is expected to reduce materially the losses
from disease, but whether as a permanent system it will give
satisfactory returns remains to be seen.

The question of the value of cement ponds as a construction
for small ponds in general, aside from any question of disease,
will I hope be tried out by the experience of the fish culturist. I
think they have made a favorable impression at the outset and
possibly continued use may show that their greater durability,
cleanliness, and sightliness, will more than compensate their

greater initial cost.
DISCUSSION OF MR. MARSH’S PAPER.

Dr. Birge: I should be glad if Prof. Marsh would say a
little as to the nature of the organism he describes, as to whether
it is a baccillus or a coccus.

Mr. Marsh: It appears as every form that a bacterium takes,
and when one sees it under the microscope in the tissues it is
plainly a bacillus; but when you isolate it on solid media outside
of the fish it is plainly a coccus, and yet it is the same thing.

Dr. Birge: How is it in liquid media?

Mr. Marsh: It is intermediate, a short rod.

Q. Does it form spores ?

A. No, it does not.

(). Have you succeeded at all in finding it in the water?

A. That is what I have been attempting to learn during my
last trip to Northville. I have been there about a week, but have
not got it yet.

(). Does it form a characteristic growth on plates ?

A. Yes, it does. The colony resembles a number of other
water organisms and is not so strongly characterized that you
can readily tell it from these.

(). Does it liquify ?
. It liquifies rapidly.

American Fisheries Society. 111

Q. Has any disease of fish previous to this case been traced
definitely to bacteria ?

A. Well, in Europe several bacteria have been described as
coming from fishes.

Dr. Birge: I know that.

Mr. Marsh: But the organism has not been proved to be the
cause of the disease. They merely mention it in that way. I
really do not know of any case where this relation has been estab-
lished, but you see, very little work has been done in that direc-
tion.

Dr. Birge: There was a time when I knew something about
this general line of subjects, but since I have been engaged
almost exclusively in executive work during the last four or five
years, I have not kept so closely in touch with this work as I
should have liked to do. Those who look at these matters from a
practical rather than a scientific point of view, ought to appre-
ciate that this work of Prof. Marsh’s is of very great scientific
interest. Although a vast number of water bacteria have been
described, yet very few, if any, diseases of water animals have
been shown to be attributable to such bacteria. Indeed when I
used to keep up with the literature, the statement used to be
made that there were no pathogenic water bacteria affecting
water animals, although there were some pathogenic bacteria
that could live in water for a certain length of time, but
that none of the various diseases that affect fish and other fresh
water animals were due to bacteria. On the other hand, that
there were many diseases due to the coccidia, a totally different
group of organisms, belonging, probably, to the animal side. It
is quite a triumph for American science to have demonstrated so
conclusively as Prof. Marsh has done, the relation between this
important disease and bacteria. It is a hopeless kind of thing,
however from the practical side, apparently, to demonstrate, be-
cause it seems impossible for us to do anything either to ward off
the attack or, I suspect, to cure it after it is started.

Prof. Marsh: I have no hope whatever of a cure, although a
year ago we tried formalin, but it was of no use.

Dr. Birge: How far are the springs in this case from the

pond ?

ial? Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Prof. Marsh: Mr. Clark, I think, will tell you the exact dis-
tance. It is a few rods, I think.

Dr. Birge: You speak of these organisms as being in the
springs. They ought not to be in the spring water, as it comes
out of the ground.

Mr. Clark: The springs that Prof. Marsh has spoken of
flow into the ponds, I should say, about 90 or 95 feet from the
source; but from the upper or main spring it is probably 300 to
350 feet or a little further to the ponds. The water runs in a
sort of an open, paved ditch and through one series of ponds. In
another series it comes down through a pipe into a little pond
and then passes underground, these two being all that are sup-
plied from the main spring. Mr. Marsh’s cultures are being
made from waters of both springs.

Mr. Marsh: When Dr. Birge speaks of its being strange that
bacteria should come from the water as the water comes from
the ground, it does seem rather peculiar; but that must be the
case, because the fry in the hatchery in the troughs now have the
disease, or take it, or have had it; and one can hardly imagine
how they could get it from the trough, and I do not think there
is any infection introduced on the way from the spring to the
trough. Whenever any trout are put in these spring waters they
take the disease, and the spring water itself, as it comes from the
ground, is much more to be suspected than the conduits through
which it is carried.

Dr. Birge: I have no doubt that the bacteria are in the
spring hole, but that they are in the water as it comes out of the
ground seems remarkable.

Mr. Marsh: I go as far as that, too. The bacteria are local-
ized in the spring and the only source of infection appears to be
the ground. We disinfected the spring so thoroughly with
chloride of lime that it looked as though we had killed every-
thing in it, but the disinfection did not improve the remarkable
condition.

Mr. Clark: But it pretty near killed some cattle several
miles away.

Dr. Birge: The légical conclusion from that statement is
that the baccillus is apparently tougher than a cow, (Laughter).

Mr. Marsh: It is strange, for if the infection comes from

American Fisheries Society. 113

the water why is it not more widespread and why does it not
appear in all springs? My idea is that it is a freak of nature
and a condition that we must simply accept.

Mr. Clark: I would mention one thing, perhaps, for Dr.
Birge’s information that Prof. Marsh did not state: The spring
that is flowing entirely into the cement pond does not touch the
air until it reaches this pond where the trouble exists. It com-
mences under the northwest corner of our new hatchery and
flows under the wall, through tile, and comes out near the lower
corner of the building in a crock and iron pipe; it is all under-
ground until entering this pond, and is the only source of water
to it. The pond is impervious no water being able to enter
through the sides or bottom. We even went so far as to tile-
drain a little spring away that is under the cement.

Dr. Birge: It is entirely possible that the bacteria should
have been introduced in these troughs. You say some trout be-
gan to die very soon after the water was introduced through
them.

Prof. Marsh: Yes. That was on account of the injured
snouts of the fish mentioned in my paper, which rendered the
fish liable to infection from any pathogenic organisms with
which the abraded surface came in contact.

Dr. Birge: How were those trout transported to the spring,
to your hatchery ?

Prof. Marsh: In the fish cans ordinarily used for that pur-
pose.

Q. Could not the germ have been in those cans. Had not
those cans been used where they could get the germ ?

A. Ido not know where they had been.

Q. Was the possibility of infection there ae eX-
cluded ?

A. No, it was not. It could not be excluded. Those cans
are a possible source of infection. There were other fish brought
from Osceola in ordinary fish cans; and it was a hard trip. They
are the ones which lived until the winter; but they were not in-
jured.

Dr. Birge: What you say of the injury is perfectly reason-

able; that that was the cause of the rapid death of the fish. In
8

114 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

that case one fish infected from the can would infect the entire
pond.

Prof. Marsh: The can is a possible source of infection.

Dr. Birge: But not a probable one?

A. No, because the cans are used constantly for that pur-
pose without producing infection.
(). You had the disease there before the fish were trans-
ported ?

A. Yes, but not in these cement ponds, of course.

Mr. Clark: There is one point that Prof. Marsh did not
bring up. The fry that died in the troughs last spring when he
was there were receiving water from the upper spring that had

never had a fish in it up to that time—later we put some in it—

but up to the time the fry commenced dying in the troughs in
the house, the water came from the upper spring, which never, in
all of its twenty-six vears had had a trout in it.

The President: What was the percentage for mortality in
the trough ?

Mr. Marsh: They all died, except sometimes there was a
little remainder that we called immune, but a very small per cent
of the whole—I cannot say just what, but not over from 1 to 5
per cent—they practically all died.

Mr. Clark: There is one point in this matter that bothers
me. Prof. Marsh has now almost come to the conclusion that
this infection of bacteria is in the water as it comes out of the
ground. Now, if that is a fact why was it not there and why did
not this peculiar disease affect our trout before a certain time,
not more than two years ago? Why have we not had some of
it during the whole twenty-four years previous to that time?
When we did have diseased trout (and we had an epidemic once
before when Prof. Gurley was there) it was not pronounced to
be the same disease.

Mr. Marsh: I cannot explain why it was there many years
ago, but it may be compared to volcanoes which erupt intermit-
tently. J think it is just some natural change in the earth below
which brings this organism into the water. It is some change in
the constituents of the water—that is the only explanation I can
make of the infection starting up as it did.

Dr. Birge: Is not there another possible explanation of it?

American Fisheries Society. 115

There are quite a number of bacteria just on the edge of being
pathogenic and which are ordinarily not pathogenic. That is
true of the colon bacillus. You get a particularly virulent group
of them and they will cause disease, while under other conditions
they do no harm; and it is perfectly conceivable that you have
got a pathogenic form of a bacillus which is ordinarily not patho-
genic; and then it is also possible that the resisting power of the
fish has been somewhat diminished; so that it may be both of
those conditions or either of them in combination which has
caused the infection.

Prof. Marsh: Do I understand you to mean that this organ-
ism may have been there all the time?

Dr. Birge: If it is a water organism I should conjecture
that it has been there all the time.

Prof. Marsh: Yes, but it has changed its habit—that is a
very reasonable supposition, but one can never find out about it,
to a certainty.

Dr. Birge: If you find this organism in the water it may
be entirely possible for you to find it in the water of other
hatcheries, but not developing in a pathogenic way.

Prot.) Marsh: Yes.

Dr. Birge: If you get it in the water here I think you ought
to look for it where the disease is not known.

Prot. Marsh: You mean attempt to find a harmless form of
it somewhere else.

Dr. Birge: Yes.

Mr. Lydell: Was there any vegetation in those springs
previous to this disease appearing there ?

Mr. Clark: Yes, all of our water there will grow vegetation,
principally of a certain kind of moss, but there is not any great
quantity.

The President: Would it form a scum on the top if allowed
to remain?

Mr. Clark: Oh, no sir, nothing of that kind—it is a grow-
ing vegetation of a limy nature, that is cleaned out from time

to time.

116 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

INBREEDING POND-REARED TROUT.
BY ARTHUR SYKES.

In submitting this paper the writer does not profess to speak
with authority on the subject under consideration nor desire to
pose as a discoverer or a pioneer. If it should appear that the
subject is already well understood and so simple as to be un-
worthy of consideration here, an apology for the writer may, per-
haps, be found in the fact that he has never heard the subject
discussed in any of its phases in relation to fish culture or read
anything on the subject emanating from fish culturists In any
journal or report, not excepting the reports of the American
Fisheries Society. Much has been said and written about
methods and results of propagation; but little thought, it seems,
has been given to the foundation on which we work or the qual-
ity of the material of which it is composed, i. e., the poteney and
vigor of the parent fish and the embryo.

So far as the writer has been able to ascertain the principles
underlying the breeding of domestic animals, here exploited,
have not been applied in fish culture excepting in a very limited
way; and no fish culturist has put those principles to a practical
and complete test. If, however, my knowledge of what has or is
being done is not complete or my surmises not entirely correct, it
is hoped that the attention now called to the subject may be of
use to some breeder; and that a thorough discussion of the sub-
jeet by the Society may be had for the benefit of those who, like
the writer, confess to a mediocre knowledge of an important sub-
ject while willing to contribute his mite.

The first stock for the pond culture of trout was doubtless
obtained from waters in which the fish was found in its primitive
state. It was with this stock that the protected propagation of
trout in ponds on a large scale was begun. The method of breed-
ing pursued, which is still in general practice, is as follows: ‘The
spawn is taken from the female fish of the breeding stock, large
and small indiscriminately. The eggs thus taken are fertilized
with milt obtained from the male fish of the stock with the same

American Fisheries Society. 117

lack of regard as to the size, vigor and color of the fish. In this
process, I repeat, little or no attention is paid to the size, vigor,
or color of the fish spawned. Everything is threshed out, so to
speak, that will produce eggs and everything is stripped that will
produce milt.

The eggs thus taken are laid down in hatching troughs and
incubated. The first of the season’s crop of fry is usually saved
for the use of the hatchery to increase and replenish the breeding
stock in the ponds. ‘The remainder of the crop is sold by the pri-
vate hatchery or planted in public streams by the state hatchery
as the case may be. The fry saved for the use of the hatchery is
transferred to ponds, and here protected from enemies without,
and as far as possible from cannibalism within. ‘This system has
been called protected propagation, and very properly, for you
will note that unlike their brook-reared cousins, they are pro-
tected from beginning to end.

In saving the first of the season’s crop for the hatchery ponds
the fish culturist, or many of them at least, take the first of two
steps in practice toward keeping the stock of trout in their ponds
from deteriorating in quality, size and color. The second step
consists of purchasing from time to time a few thousand eggs or
fry from some other hatchery where the fish are bred in exactly
the same haphazard way as a rule.

The first of the season’s crop of fry is saved as it is found to
be stronger, larger and perhaps more hardy than the fry hatched
later. The early hatched fry usually comes from the older fish,
hence has not been inbred as much as that hatched later. Fry is
purchased from other hatcheries for the infusion of new blood in
the breeding stock. This, with some variation in individual
cases, is, in a general way, the system of trout breeding in vogue.

The results of this system of breeding under the writer’s ob-
servation are, that the fish deteriorate in color, size, vigor and
productiveness. A considerable number of barren fish are found.
The markings of the fish are variable and indistinct. and the
color of the flesh changes from pink to white.

It is possible, perhaps probable, that all the defects noted
here in pond cultured trout are not due to what 4 consider a loose
system of breeding; but it has been established almost beyond
doubt that deterioration along the lines mentioned takes place in

118 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

breeding domestic fowl, animals and plants under a similar hap-
hazard system: and I deem it fair to assume that if we get simi-
lar results from a similar system that the same causes have pro-
duced those results.

Sir James Gibson-Maitland, Scotland’s greatest fish cultur-
ist, in speaking against the introduction of foreign trout into the
streams of Scotland said, “Civilization must breed its trout as its
eattle, or civilization will have no trout.” The truth of this
statement is evident to me, though I have no doubt he wrought
better than he knew.

The ordinary breeder of domestic animals considers it neces-
sary to introduce new blood into his yards from time to time by
selecting a male to breed to his stock. In making this selection
he does not choose a scrawny, undersized specimen, but obtains
the best his means and other circumstances permit. He saves the
best specimens of his flock to mate to the male thus selected, and
in this way he prevents degeneration of his stock and perhaps in-
creases their size and usefulness.

The fish culturist does not as a rule make a selection of his
stock with a view to increasing the size and hence the usefulness
of the individuals. His matings are haphazard and the results
of a corresponding nature. It is true that he introduces new
blood into his ponds, but of what avail is such new blood if it is
of the same quality as the old?

The careful and precise breeder of domestic animals selects
and breeds his stock to the end that he may improve them, and
to perpetuate the good qualities in the offspring from generation
to generation ; but the system practiced by the trout culturist has
for its only object the perpetuity of the species, and the results
indicate that he would ultimately fail even in this.

Among wild birds and animals, and I may say fishes, the law
of natural selection operates to insure indefinitely the continued
existence of the species until the environment changes in such
manner as to cut off its existence without regard to the natural
laws of breeding. In their primeval state, there is no question
but birds, animals and fishes inbreed closely; but the laws of
nature operate in such manner that only the strongest and most
vigorous of the offspring survive and reproduce, The weaklings

American Fisheries Society. 119

are destroved by the inclemencies of the weather or their natural
enemies.

The markings of the individuals of the same sex in most
species do not vary under the same environment in the wild
state. It is claimed that a dozen quail of the same sex taken
from as many different localities in the United States would
show little or no variation in the markings of their plumage;
and the species does not perceptibly vary in size at maturity. It
is probable that if a single pair of strong vigorous quail were
again released as in the time of Noah and were to multiply and
their progeny live through centuries in fields constantly rich
with food, yet so surrounded with natural enemies and subject to
such conditions as would tend to cut off the weaklings of the
progeny, they would increase in size as a species; and notwith-
standing inbreeding would be perpetuated indefinitely. If the
food supply was insufficient doubtless the species would decline
in size. If no conditions prevailed to cut off the weaklings and
inbreeding occurred for any extended period, the species would
dwindle away.

Nature’s laws provide for the indefinite existence of the spe-
cies and the environment largely determines its physical charac-
teristics.

The breeder of domestic animals and fowl conforms to
Nature’s laws by permitting only the largest, strongest and most
vigorous of his flock to reproduce. He fixes the environment in
such manner that the desired size is insured and thus maintains
or increases their size as a whole or a species from generation to
generation. He may inbreed closely for many years, perhaps in-
definitely, yet by careful selection not impair the size or vigor of
the individuals of his flock; but on the contrarv most certainly
add to their beauty and their usefulness. !n like manner, the
fish culturist can in my opinion, by careful selection of his breed-
ing stock produce a fish of uniform markings, of larger size, of
increased vigor and greater beauty and usefulness.

I have no doubt but many practical men will regard as vision-
ary and impractical the theories here advanced when applied to
fish culture in ponds; but with some knowledge of breeding of
domestic animals, after eleven years of service at a trout hatchery
and much of this time given to the practical workings thereof,

120 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

the writer is convineed that these theories can be applied in the
pond culture of trout and that they will mean something when
so applied. They will mean that the trout in our ponds will be
more vigorous and healthy: that they will be larger: that they
will produce more spawn; that a larger per cent of the spawn
will hatch: that a larger per cent of the fry will hve; that the
output of the hatcheries will be increased; that more trout will
be planted in our public streams; and that larger and handsomer
trout and more of them will be taken from those streams with
greater delight and satisfaction to the fisherman.

The system of breeding which I have sketched here would en-
tail but little extra expense or trouble on the trout culturist. The
only additional apparatus needed in the usual outfit for taking
spawn at a hatchery would be an extra tank to hold a few of the
finest specimens found in the ponds.

The usual procedure in taking spawn at a trout hatchery is to
confine the fish to a spawning pen or raceway and with a dip net
transfer a few at a time to a tub containing some water, from
whence they are handled by the spawn takers. The extra tank
mentioned should be located near by and supplied with water,
and whenever the spawn takers find a nice specimen of either sex,
strong in size, color and markings, such specimen should be
transferred to the tank mentioned. After the regular stock of
breeding trout has been handled over, the eggs may be taken
from the fish in the tank and fertilized by the best males saved
for the purpose; and the eggs thus obtained should be given a
separate place in the hatchery. The fry from these eggs should
be kept separate and finally transferred to the hatchery ponds to
form a part of the hatchery breeding stock. No other fry should
be saved for breeding purposes.

When it is thought desirable to introduce new blood, this
should be done by obtaining a number of mature specimens of
good size, color, ete., to be used in connection with the selected
breeders from the home stock rather than by purchasing a large

quantity of fry or eggs bred in the usual way.

The mature fish selected for the introduction of new blood
may or may not be wild fish. If the progeny is to be planted in

wild, unprotected streams, wild fish would be preferable for this

American Fisheries Society. 121

purpose; but in either case the specimens selected should be of
good size, color and markings.

I am convinced that the law of “Like begets like” applies in
the same manner and to the same extent in the propagation of
fish that it does in breeding domestic animals; and if it is desir
able and profitable that only the fittest be selected in breeding in
the one case, it is just as desirable and just as necessary that
such selection be made in the other.

We should aim to improve the quality of the fish in our ponds
and through them the quality of the fish planted in the streams.
That there is room for improvement here is indicated by the fact
that many expert fishermen claim to be able to tell from the
appearance of the brook trout they catch in our streams whether
the fish was planted from a hatchery or came from the wild
stock in the stream. I do not believe this is possible as a rule,
but it is quite likely that the old trout fisherman can see a differ-
ence in the color and markings of the hatchery trout which he
catches today as compared with the wild fish which he caught
twenty-five years ago.

If we are right in claiming that the quantity of trout which
our streams produce is dependent on our hatcheries, then we
must also be held responsible in a large measure for the quality;
and in this connection the fish culturist should always remember
that on the vigor of the parent stock depends, not only the qual-
ity of the offspring, but the quantity as well.

DISCUSSION OF MR. SYKES’ PAPER.

Mr. Titcomb: I heartily concur with the writer in all that
he has said about inbreeding and getting a good quality of fish
by introducing new stock, and I may perhaps say in that connec-
tion that the commercial fish culturists almost all do that in the
East. On the Massachusetts coast where the commercial hatch-
eries are so plentiful, they very frequently call upon us for the
eges of the wild trout and rear those to mix with their brood
stock, and thus obtain new blood. Some of the hatcheries intro-
duce new blood by that method every year. I think that this idea
ean be carried out beyond the commercial hatcheries and beyond
our brood stocks at any of our state hatcheries. I think
that the changing around of the stock of trout in our natural

122 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

ponds will tend to strongly invigorate the trout. In traveling
through the trout country of the Laurentian Mountains in
Canada I was very much surprised to find lakes teeming with
trout where the stock had apparently run down. I could not find
any other reason for it except in breeding. The ponds were of
large size, full of food, but the fish were small and the eggs of
very inferior quality. In fact, at one place where I was trying to
collect the spawn of the wild trout in the Laurentian Mountains,
we took something like 6,000 fish on the spawning beds, and in a
week’s time got less than 100,000 eggs from those fish. The
eggs were inferior and seemed to be diseased. The fish them-
selves were apparently all right—good eating, and rather thin,
notwithstanding the abundance of food. That idea of introduc-
ing new stock I think should be carried out very frequently in
connection with our work. | have carried out that idea, so far as
possible, in connection with the collection of eggs of the wild
trout from different waters. When returning a proper quota of
product of these eggs to the waters where we made our collec-
tions, instead of returning the product of the eggs that were col-
lected at any particular station, we took the hatch of eggs taken
from some other point, and each year changed them around, so
that at all of our collecting stations new blood was introduced
annually.

Dr. Birge: I would lke to ask whether any fish culturists
have tried this method Mr. Sykes speaks of of selecting the in-
dividual fish to breed from to keep up the stock of breeders.

Mr. Titcomb: I know to a certainty that one of the fish cul-
turists in Mr. Lane’s neighborhood selects the larger fry—that
is, when he sorts out his fry he takes the larger ones. Sometimes
vou will find, as you know, fry two inches long in with fry of the
same age or about an inch in length.

Another point we might consider is that the commercial fish
culturists are rearing trout for the market, and the market de-
mands a small fish. The result is that they are taking most of
their eggs from fish a year and a half old, what we cal! yearlings,
and those eggs are very inferior to the eggs of the fish a year
older. The United States Commission in obtaining eggs have
adopted a rule not to accept any eggs from fish less than two and
a half years old, for that reason, but the tendency of distributing

American Fisheries Society. 12:

WwW

these eggs from the younger fish all round the country, selling
them to state commissions and private hatcheries, is toward the
introduction of an inferior fish.

Mr. Lane: I would state for the benefit of the society that I
always manage to select my fish from the eighteen months’ old
fish, but I select them when they are fingerlings; that is, I will,
for instance, select them this fall from the fish hatched this
spring, and from those fish I take the stock to replenish my stock
with. As Mr. Titcomb says, I have introduced new eggs from
other hatcheries, but I never have thought that the inbreeding
ever hurt my fish at all. I have not seen any ill effects of it.
But I have only been at it seven years, and perhaps it would not
occur in that time.

Mr. Titcomb: Introducing eggs from other hatcheries coun-
terbalances the inbreeding.

Mr. Lane: I never thought that they did deteriorate by in-
breeding, because of putting in this new blood—that is what I
meant to infer, that the introducing of this new stock kept the
old stock up to the standard.

Mr.Titcomb: That is just the point he makes, that you
should do that.

Mr. Lane: That is what I have done. But I have saved the
stock on the very principle that you mentioned, that the market
does not require large fish. When I send them to New York for
food they do not want over half-pound fish; they will take them
as high as three-quarters of a pound, but from one-quarter to
one-half a pound is as big as they want; and in that way good,
nice fingerlings and two years old are plenty large enough. So
we do not keep fish until they are two and a half years old; we
cannot keep them to sell many eggs from, and that is the reason
that these commercial hatcheries sell them young and have noth-
ing but the eighteen months old fish to take the eggs from.

Mr. Clark: There is one point in this paper in which I do
not quite agree with Mr. Sykes, and that is in reference to the
color of the eggs of fish that are bred in and in. I had the im-
pression from the paper that the color of the eggs indicated that
the fish had been so bred.

Dr. Birge: I did not so understand it.

124 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

The President: He thought the markings became less dis-
tinct and clear.

Mr. Clark: . He spoke of the eggs.

Dr. Birge: I recall nothing of the sort. He mentioned se-
lecting fish of good colors.

American, Fisheries Society. |

raw)
Or

FEEDING: ITS EFFECT ON GROWTH AND
EGG PRODUCTION.

BY W. T. THOMPSON.

The relation of food to growth and production has ever been
a most interesting subject for speculation and experiment; not
alone to fish culturists or to the present generation, but to all
mankind and throughout all ages this problem, in its broader
sense, has appealed to each individual in a peculiarly personal
way. The farmer studies his soil, what food will best promote the
growth of his crops, and enable him to reap the largest harvest
from his fields. The stockman, that he may produce the best
quality of beef, mutton or pork in the shortest time, and with the
largest margin of profit. It is a subject pregnant with interest
to the gardener and the horticulturist. It appeals to the ma-
chinist and engine driver, what fuel will produce the most power
at the least expense? It is not absent from one single vocation.
It is a strongly pertinent query even in the home life, what foods
or combination of foods will promote the best growth and de-
velopment of the children; preserve the health and strength of
the adults; prolong the period of productiveness and usefulness
in the bread-winners ?

In the earliest dawn of history, we read of families, tribes
and even nations, migrating from place to place to secure better
and more abundant pasturage for their flocks and herds, there-
by increasing their own food supply. This was one of the very
first questions man was called on to grapple with. It still pre-
sents a splendid field for investigation and experiment. At no
time has it received a larger share of attention than it does to-
day. Scientists and chemists of the highest order are giving this
food problem their closest attention. The question of consti-
tuents, proportion, amount, ease of assimilation, ete., is still
puzzling the wisest minds.

My own study has not been limited to the circumscribed area
included by my topic. It has been my privilege and pleasure to
consider it in its broader relations to animal and plant life gen-

126 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

erally. Each germ, each embryo has its possibilities, whether it
ever attains to them or in what measure it falls short depends on
the surrounding conditions during the period of growth, whether
these be favorable or the reverse. Herein this same question of
food supply assumes a position of primary importance. The
Percheron and the Clydesdale, with their grand proportions,
their majestic bearing and their remarkable strength, trace back
to the same ancestry as the shaggy, diminutive Shetland. The
food conditions have been different. There is but little resemb-
lance between the luscious Northern Spy or Baldwin from our
highly fed and cultivated orchards, and the wild crab or seedling
growing by the wayside.

In the present paper I shall consider the food question in its
relation to fish life only from the standpoint of quantity. The
consideration of its quality, its proper combinations of elements
to produce the best results, being left for some later day, perhaps
for some later generation. We will assume that experience has,
to some extent, taught each fish culturist what food or foods are
the most economical and satisfactory under his own peculiar con-
ditions.

The results which I shall endeavor to bring to your attention
were not obtained in experimental work under peculiarly favor-
able conditions, but where the outcome of the regular work of
the Nashua Station, under charge of Superintendent Waldo F.
Hubbard, and obtained in spite of the usual drawbacks incident
to a first season’s work at any new station. ‘There was no inten-
tion of producing any abnormal growth of egg production,
merely to ascertain in a practical way the effect varying quanti-
ties of food would have on health and growth. Later the matter
of egg production was also included.

The lot of fish in question were brook trout, numbering about
5,000, hatched in the spring of 1900, and were reserved from the
fall distribution to be reared for breeders. Prior to this time.
they were all treated alike, fed generously on beef liver, which
diet was continued throughout the entire period. About the first
of October, 1900, they were sub-divided into four lots and placed
in winter quarters. At this time they averaged from one and a
half to two pounds per 100. Lot No. 1 received practically all
they would eat. Lot No. 2 about 80 per cent, while Lot No. 3

American Fisheries Society. 127

were fed 65 per cent, and Lot No. 4 only about 50 per cent of
their capacity. Lot No. 4 was in a larger pond where they se-
cured some natural food in addition to their daily rations. From
this time until the following August they were fed twice per day,
then but once till the commencement of the spawning season
(November) when they were fed but three times per week. No
markd difference was noted as to health amongst the various lots,
although the death rate, which was only nominal, was a_ trifle
higher amongst the smaller fish. In the matter of growth how-
ever the difference was most markedly in favor of those receiv-
ing the larger rations. A monthly record of the growth of Lot
No. 1 was kept for one year, as follows:

Weight per 100 fish:
Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mch. Apr. May June July Aug Sept. Oct
ies Ge 6 11. 124 ie 20° 28 34 45 55. “60

This included both males and females, the former being
naturally somewhat larger. One day during the spawning sea-
son ten representative females were selected from each lot and
weighed, prior to stripping, to ascertain the comparative growth:

Ten fish from

Lot No. 1. Lot No. 2. Lot No. 3. Lot No. 4.
Weighed 5% 3% 234 2

Spawning was practically over by December 18th, and the
few spawners remaining in the various lots were put together for
convenience, but these unripe fish are noted with their proper
lot in the spawning summary which follows:

SPAWNING SUMMARY TO DKC. 18, 1901, LEEDS Ae

Lot No.1| Lot No.2| Lot No.3| Lot No.4] Total
Females spawned,............ | Tata 351) 513 735| 1710
Barrentemales,;, oo: 0.2... none 20) 27) 55 102
Total Fem in spawning sum.. Tatal 371| 540 790} 1812
Per cent females spawning... 100 ie 95] 93 94
Per cent females barren,. ...| 0 5} Zz 6
YG ES italien... c-ckctsehe sie; .| 104,400) 199, 800 234,900 285,750 824,850
Average No. Eggs per fish,. 940 560 458 389 482
\Females unripe Dec. 18,... .. 16 51 39 oS 129
Total females including above, 127 422 579 213] 1941
Total males (lotsnot keptseparate)|..... Sil eacaeete abot: hm osetia 3102
Motalimalesand temales;,...:..).....-- [ogee vee ca le Notre aman elle eens tev 5043
STAGE CehetmaleSseia) Ves a. sms 8] 6 aler-ls etree a eetae as oat ace 38.5
i2tete GEE wT 5 os 6 Bi ee OI ICIP nol (ibeaciorere| recipe lie ciara, ; 61.5
Average size (inches) ......... 10-12/8%-10% 7-9) G-T)8 |e ea se ss
Aver. weight females only (02) 8.8) 5.6 4.4 SAN seers

128 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Now let us assume for the sake of comparison that Lot No.
+ is an average of the twenty-one months’ old brook trout reared
throughout the country. Certainly fish of this age weighing 3.2
ounces, probably 3.5 ounces with males included, (commercial
fish culturists begin to market their fish the following April
when they desire a standard weight of 5 ounces or three fish to
the pound) with 93 per cent yielding spawn, averaging 389 eggs
each, would seem to be up to the standard, and we obtain the fol-
lowing convincing showing as to the value of the extra food

supply:
|

Pextra "| Weight | Excess |* Chica '|wo. Begs| Excess | Gxeces “tothe
food We wt. 0Z. | weight Eges Eggs | Liq. oz.
Gta an at eal USE) hee do * Bolt ahumeee | 460
Monta eee BO Aad erie) Aa 765 ne rase 69 19! ~ 450
Noa es ie GOK, 526) 2t4) 275 560! 171 44| 408
Nowe koe 100} 8.8] 5.6) 175 940). 55il| 141 sz

A query naturally arises as to the exact source of this excess
ege production. Is it the direct result of the stimulation of the
ovaries, by the extra food supply, to such an extent as to increase
the number of embryos on the one hand, or on the other, is the
lesser nourished fish unable to develop and mature the full num-
ber of germs initiated? Courtesy to other contributors prompts
me to refrain from trespassing further on the very limited time
at the disposal of the society, by following up this branch of my
subject further than by the suggestion that it will afford the stu-
dent a very interesting and profitable field for further thought
during some leisure hour.

Before closing I wish to state very positively that I do not
advocate full feeding for adults. If range, temperature, and
conditions generally are favorable, nothing but the best of re-
sults will follow such a course with fish under two years of age.
The remarkable growth during this period coupled with the ex-
tensive demands made on the system in maturing the product of
the ovaries, can only be provided for by a most generous system
of feeding.

For the benefit of those who may wish to study this matter
more closely, I attach herewith a detailed record of our spawn-
ing operations for publication in the transactions of the Society.

American Fisheries Society.

DETAILED RECORD OF SPAWNING, NASHUA STATION.

129

|

LOT No.1 LOT No. 2 LOT No.3 LOT No. 4
Sa8| No.of | No.| No. | No No. | No.| No. | Total} Total
$22| Bees | of of of of) — |\Zof of Fish | Eggs
a | Taken |Fish| Eggs | Fish} Eggs | Fish| Eggs
AED a 4950} 35} 17100 104| 48600) 146 70650
48, ol icononoue sete 13} 8550 ) 4950) 81! 34650) 103) 48150
4, 4500} 15) 9000) 39) 22050) 68] 29700} 126) 65250
6| 4950) 18} 10800) 32) 15750) 78} 31950] 134| 63450
5} 3600) 16) 9000) 44) 18450 76) 31050) 141) 62100
9} (8100) 35) 20700) 41) 18000) 32} 14400! 117] 61200
7| $5850) 29} 17100} 66) 29700; 52} 17100} 154! 69750
10} 9000} 36; 19350) 48) 18900) 46; 15700) 140) 62950
11 8100) 28) 15300) 22; 10800) 23) 6750) 84) 40950
4| 4950} 17; 10800) 21) 17100) 27; 10350} 69} 43200
16} 18450) 43} 28350) 60) 27900; 30) 11250; 149] 85950
16} 13500) 35) 18000; 50) 17100) 44) 13950) 145) 62550
i 900} 16; 5400} 9} 3150; 20) 4950} 46) 14400
4, 4950| 14; 7650} 8) 3150) 10) 3650} 36] 19400
5} 4950) 10| 5400} 10} 2700) 17} 4500) 42] 17550
5} 4500) 6) 3600) 11 5400, 8] 2700) 30] 16200
GleeG7sOleero) 2700)" =5| 1350) 13) 3150), 29)" 13950
2 NSO) fi! BIE 1350) 6 1350} 19) 7200
111 |104,400| 351|199,800| 513) 234,900; 735] 285,750] 1,710|824,850

130 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

FISH CULTURE ON THE FARM.

BY J. J. STRANAHAN.

It is safe to presume that the members of the society will
think that this subject has been selected because the writer is
too lazy to prepare a paper along more scientific nes and if
this be the case, the presumption will be well founded, although
much of interest and value may be said on fish culture on the
farm, a subject that has been too long neglected by this associ-
ation, the United States and state fish commissions and by
fisheulturists generally.

With our public waters rapidly becoming depleted through
excessive fishing, in spite of the good work being done by the
hatcheries, where are we to look for the fish to fill the very
rapidly growing demand, if not through water farming? Of
course the output of ocean, lake and stream may be held in statu
quo or possibly increased to some extent by reasonable restrictive
laws and by the work of fishculturists, but with the rapid
increase of our population and the further growth of consump-
tion through improved transportation facilities, the limit has
doubtless already been reached and any permanent increase of
per capita supply must come through covering what is now
unproductive land with water, thus adding to the output of fish
beyond what natural waters would make it, and making many
fins grow where none at all grew before.

There are vast areas in all of the states, probably equal in
the aggregate to that of the Great Lakes, which now produce
virtually nothing and much of which might be made to furnish
abundance of fish, with comparatively little expense.

Not only would the conversion of this waste land into water
areas increase and equalize the rainfall to some extent, but it
wonld measurably decrease the liability to disastrous floods and
equalize the flow of streams. But this is only incidental to my
text and not really germane to the subject.

Fisheulture on the farm is, nine times out of ten, a failure,
and generally so because of three main causes, none of which,

American Fisheries Society. 131
owing to lack of space, can be fully treated here. We will take
first in order the failure to properly construct the embankments
which are to retain the water. Very briefly stated, the sods,
brush, grass and other rubbish should be cleaned away down to
the solid earth over the whole extent that is to be covered by
the embankment. Then a trench say two feet wide and as deep
should be plowed lengthwise throughout the whole ex-
tent that is to be covered by the embankment. The
earth of the embankment settles into this preventing
leaks which are almost sure to follow along the union
of the old and well packed earth and the new soil, if this
is not done. No brush, sods, stumps or other rubbish should be
permitted to enter the embankment. Use nothing but clear
earth and if the soil be gravely to the extent that it is likely to
permit the water to filter through the inner face of the embank-
ment, that is, the one next to the water, should be faced with a
foot of clay or other impervious soil. The plow and scraper
will be found the most economical, unless the lay of the ground
is such as to prevent, when wheel barrows will be necessary, and
the team should be kept on the embankment while going and
coming as much as possible, so that the earth will be packed as
much as possible and prevent sloughing when the water is let
on. If the embankment is made of proper width at the bottom

and the correct slant given to the sides—observe the slant given
by nature in your vicinity—you will have an embankment that
will last for generations and give you no trouble.

All ponds should be provided with a sluice or outflow
through which the ordinary discharge flows and through which
also you may discharge the water when you wish to draw down
your pond, a matter strictly indispensable to successful pond
culture. The sluice may be most economically made of two-inch
plank a foot wide and should be long enough to go clear through
the embankment, the outflow, or perpendicular part being
securely spiked to the horizontal part which runs through the
embankment and is situated low enough to draw the water
entirely out of the pond. The face of the upright, that is, the
side opening towards the pond, is, of course, left open, the box
being closed on three sides, the open side being left for the
discharge of the water. Two grooves should be provided by

132 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

nailing three strips onto each side plank of the upright. Into
the back groove boards an inch thick and three or four wide are
slipped, these retaining the water at its proper height, the sur-
plus being discharged over the top board, and these being
removed one at a time when you wish to lower or empty your
pond. Into the front groove the frame of your screen is slipped
from above. This should be covered with galvanized wire cloth
with about one-half inch mesh. This should be used only when
the pond is being emptied or lowered, for the few fry which will
escape ordinarily amounts to nothing, in fact, you are sure to
have too many after your first hatch in any event.

The second cause of failure is the selection of too high-toned
fish and the introduction of too many species. Not over two or
three species should be put into any pond of a few acres or less,
and the more desirable ones from your vicinity are likely to
prove the most successful. ‘To introduce brook trout, unless you
have a very large spring of cold water, will lead to failure, and
no matter how much water you have and how cold it is, you
would better leave the trout alone unless you know something of
their culture or wish to study their habits and make a pastime
of their cultivation. The same is true of the black bass, unless
you have a pond of several acres or wish to sacrifice a good
supply of fish for your table for the sport of capturing a few
bass with rod and line, which, after all, can be best accomplished
in some nearby public water, leaving your pond for the cultiva-
tion of those fish which will provide you the maximum of good
food with the minimum of trouble and expense. If black bass
is decided on, in nine cases out of ten, north or south—the
small-mouth is not indigenous to the south south of north
Georgia—the large-mouth species should be selected, the only
exception being where the pond is supplied with* an abundant
supply of cold water and where the bottom of the pond is gravely
or rocky throughout a considerable portion of its area. If the
bottom of the pond is soft, suitable for the growth of aquatic
vegetation, then the large-mouth should be introduced by all
means, if bass are to be selected at all.

The best all round fish for small ponds, north or south, is,
in the opinion of the writer, what is known as the marble or
mottled catfish in the north and the speckled cat in the south,

American Fisheries Society. 13:

Amewrus nebulosis, from nebulous, clouded, which is. easily
identified by its square tail, which is not forked in the slightest
degree, and by its mottled skin north, while in the south it is
covered with black specks on a light slate background. This is
an excellent fish, making a rapid growth for the first two years
in particular, cleanly in its feeding habits, being in no sense a
scavenger, almost omnivorous in its selection of food and grow-
ing to weight two or three pounds, often attaining to one pound
when a year old, when the range is ample and the food abundant.
This fish does not interfere with other species in the pond, either
through destroying the young or the eggs of the other. In fact,
any nest-builder, such as the rock bass, black bass, bream or sun-
fish will defend its nest and eggs against all comers, even if it
be a mud turtle of many times the weight of the fish. Taking it
all in all, the writer believes that this fish will produce a greater
weight of good food from a given area of water than any other
that swims.

Taking the country as a whole, the writer believes that what
is known as the blue-gill sunfish north and the bream south is
the next best fish for small ponds, although he would possibly
modify this statement to let in the rock bass where the water
supply is especially good and the considerable gravel entering
into the soil in the bottom of the pond, and it is possible that
this fish may prove a desirable pond fish in the south, it having
been acclimatized in Texas, where it is doing well in public
waters. The blue-gill, or bream, Lepomis pallidus, is of excel-
lent quality, dresses to waste but little, is a rapid grower and is
esteemed by many as next only to the speckled brook trout as a
pan fish, while my good friend and enthusiastic angler, Mr. C.
T. Hasbrook, of Cleveland, O., claims that when taken on a fly
with light tackle, he offers sport as a game fish second only to
the speckled beauty of the brooks. Probably Mr. Hasbrook is
the best posted gentleman in the world today on this fish, and
he considers it one of the most desirable for table as well as at
the end of a line. While it sometimes attains a weight of
three or four pounds in the south, a pound will be found to be
about the maximum for this fish in ordinary pond culture. Like
the speckled cat, it is not predaceous to any appreciable extent,
defending its own nest vigorously and leaving others to do the

134 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

same unmolested by him. It is omnivorous, eating almost any-
thing that you give it, provided the food is clean and that
decomposition has not set in, and finding much of its own food
in the pond in the shape of small crustacea, larvae of insects,
worms, ete. If rock bass are to be had in your vicinity and not
the blue-gill or bream, it would probably be best to introduce
them.

In stocking your pond, half a dozen pairs of each species are
a great plenty and even these will overstock your pond the first
year if two or three pairs of each bring off broods. It is by far
the better plan to collect adult fishes from near by waters for
stocking your pond. These will bring forth young two years
earher than the fry furnished by the United States or state
hatcheries, besides, being acclimatized, they are likely to do
better.

If black bass are to be introduced it is well to also put in
brook minnows, such as chubs, shiners, suckers, ete., but care
should be exercised that undesirable forms, such as pickerel, etc.,
do not slip in with them and lead to serious regrets later for it is
easier to keep out undesirable fishes than to eradicate them when
once established.

The third, and one of the most fruitful causes of failure in
fish-culture on the farm, is over production. The first year’s
hatch of the fishes above recommended with the numbers of
adults suggested, will overstock any ordinary pond of a few
acres. Just as soon as the fish are large enough, probably im the
fall of the year when they are hatched, the owner should begin
catching them for the table. They will not be very large but
sufficiently so to make a nice little pan fish and their quality will
be fine. The more you can get out and consume the better. At
the end of the spawning season of the second year your pond
should be drawn off and the surplus fish turned into the near by
stream or lake, thus paying back to nature the debt you owe her.

It is a hard matter to advise just how many fish of each spe-
cies should be returned to the pond, the natural inclination being
to make it too many. One hundred of your yearling black bass
and twice the number of bream and catfish is plenty for each

acre of water, and too many, unless you are pretty persistent in

American Fisheries Society. 135

catching them out, and not over that number of fry should be
retained to come on for the coming year’s supply.

To recapitulate: Make your embankment good and safe;
don’t try to breed too high-toned fish; look to it that your pond
does not beconie overstocked and, other things being equal, you
will sueceed.

DISCUSSION OF MR. STRANAHAN’S PAPER.

Mr. Titecomb: I think Mr. Stranahan has brought out one
very important point there. In the first place, this question of
fish culture on the farm is very important, and it is not taken
up enough in this country, and a great deal might be made of
it. I can see in my work in Washington that this form of fish
culture is growing very rapidly, especially in the west and south-
west.

But he brought out in the paper one other point which every
fish commissioner and culturist must appreciate, namely, the
fact that people who know nothing about what they want will
apply for some variety or species of fish that does not inhabit
their waters—they want something new. Somebody up in Con-
necticut will send down for Calico bass, for instance, when they
have black bass or trout. They may have all the fishes that are
desirable in their waters, but they want something entirely new.
It is a great mistake to try to get too many varieties of fish in a
pond. We had an application in New England in the past week
where they had black bass, pickerel, sunfish and yellow perch,
and they wanted us to introduce the rock bass. In miny opinion
they had as many varieties as the pond could well sustain, ard
it is a great mistake to try to get in too many varieties.

Mr. Lane: Mr. Wood in his paper in last year’s report said
something about the different kinds of parent trout that they
received eggs from, and I inferred that he preferred the wild
trout. I have found in one instance that I shipped some trout
eges to Pennsylvania, and 50 per cent or more of them died, and
the man wrote me that it was pretty near a total failure. But
out of the same lot and on the same day there were some shipped
into the state of Maine, and those I have been informed, hatched
out 94 per cent. They were the very same eggs exactly. I wish
T knew the cause of the trouble, but I think I have learned some-

136 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

thing in the discussions I have heard here on that point. Now,
I would like to know what difference there is between the wild
trout egg and a good, domesticated trout egg, for hatching
purposes. I do not know, but I should like to.

Mr. Titcomb: That subject I have studied. I have taken
every year for the last six or eight years, eggs of wild trout
from different ponds and streams and have been handling at the
same time the eggs of domesticated trout from commercial
hatcheries. The eggs from the wild trout in every instance
have proven to be the most hardy, and have produced the most
hardy fish; but I am not prepared to say that your fish are not
just as good for your waters. The longer I investigated this
question the more I was inclined to believe that possibly these
domesticated fish had become accustomed to a certain quality
of water. I think Dr. Bean has touched on this point in connec-
tion with the changes brought about by domestication. My
waters were all extremely cold in the winter, and these eggs of
the wild trout naturally were accustomed to this extremely cold
water. I think possibly that the eggs of the domesticated trout
introduced into our waters suffered very much as do the rainbow
trout introduced into our extremely cold waters. I do not think
it is all weakness in the fish, because in many instances these
domesticated eggs have been reported from other stations as
yielding a very large per cent of fry, and in some cases have
yielded well in fingerlings, also.

Mr. Lane: Does not the condition of the fish depend a
great deal on whether they are allowed to breed in and run out,
or whether new stock is introduced ?

Mr. Titeomb: Oh, yes, I think you want to introduce new
blood in your commercial hatcheries every year, and you cannot
do that better than by introducing the product of the wild eggs.

Mr. Lane: Whether the domesticated parent trout were
properly cared for is what I am trying to get at. I believe Dr.
Bean said that inbreeding would injure the quality of the eggs.

Mr. Titeomb: I think if you take a commercial hatchery
and rear trout year after year, and then take the product of
your own brood stock and rear them up, you will gradually
weaken your stock; but in these comparisons I was making
between wild and domesticated eggs, I would say that I received

American Fisheries Society. 137

domesticated eggs from four different commercial hatcheries
and compared them with the wild eggs, put them in the troughs
right beside the wild eggs, and gave them the same treatment.
No disease existed either with the wild eggs or domesticated
eggs.

138 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

SOME REMARKS ON THE RAINBOW TROUT, THE
TIME FOR PLANTING, ETC.

BY GEORGE A. SEAGLE.

The rainbow trout are unlike the brook trout in several re-
spects; they grow larger and inhabit larger and warmer streams,
and vary much more in form and color. heir rate of growth is
hardly equal to that of the brook trout under similar conditions,
but the brooks reach maturity earher. In domestication the rain-
bows can hardly be considered cannibalistic in their habits,
although occasionally one is observed in the act of swallowing
his smaller and weaker brother.. Their natural food consists
chiefly of worms, larvae, crustacea and the like, but in their wild
state necessity compels them to seek such food as may be found.
If they do not find their preference they must accept something
else, and in that way they get a taste of fish and the cannibalistic
habit is established.

Much has been said and written about the time, or season, for
planting trout in streams, and it seems to me that the success of
the work must depend largely upon this point. In my opinion
there is but one favorable season, and that is spring.

With the warming up of the waters the natural food makes
its appearance, and fish planted in the streams at that time need
not go hungry. They can select such food as their stomachs may
dictate—worms, larvae, or young minnows. Contrast these con-
ditions with those existing in the fall and winter months,and you
have all the argument necessary in favor of spring planting. In
the fall and winter the streams are practically barren of food,
nothing left in them except minnows, and they have become too
large to serve as food for the young trout. Therefore I would
plant trout in the spring and let them keep pace with their food,
and when cold weather comes on, and food becomes scarce, they
will be more able to cope with the situation before them.

It has been argued that small fry are too delicate to take care
of themselves in open waters, but if that be true how can we ex-
pect them to multiply in the streams? If fry from two to four

American Fisheries Society. 139

months old, and averaging from one to two inches in length, can-
not survive what may we expect of the eggs, and the alevins,
which have been deposited in the streams by the parent fish ?
Again, if the young trout were planted in the spring season
the output of the hatcheries could be more than doubled, and the
assignments to the streams could therefore be made much larger.
The saving in food would more than pay for the increased pro-
duction, and the cost of the distribution would be lessened.

DISCUSSION OF MR. SEAGLE’S PAPER.

Mr. Seagle: Before reading my paper I desire to say in
regard to it that | have expressed my views as to the matter in
hand as briefly as possible. I simply want to introduce it here
and have it discussed by the members of this association, and
see how many, if any, agree with me.

Mr. Titcomb: Do I infer from your paper that you would
plant all trout in the spring—brook trout as well as rainbow?

Mr. Seagle: Yes, sir, I would plant them as early as pos-
sible after the spring season opens, and the waters begin to warm
up.

Q. At what age after feeding—you feed for a while?

A. Yes, sir; our fish hatch from December 1st to March Ist,
and I would plant them in April and May. They are then two
to two and a half inches in length and in every respect, I think,
able to take care of themselves.

Mr. Peabody: How large do rainbow trout grow down
there ?

A. Six and a half pounds is as large as we have grown any
in our ponds; although they grow much larger in some sections
of the country, especially in the west.

The President: You are in the southwestern part of Vir-
ginia ?

Mr. Seagle: Yes.

Q. And your spring comes on a little earlier there than it
does up here ?

A. Yes, sir. April would be a favorable month for us, that
is, in most years. We usually have nice weather, especially after
the middle of April.

140 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Mr. Peabody: Do you have the brook trout in the same
streams with the rainbow trout ?

A. Not naturally so. We have streams that used to be
stocked with brook trout, but they are pretty well extinct now.

(). Do they thrive together, with you?

A. I think they would, except that brook trout, of course,
have more of the wild nature.

Dr. Birge: Has it been our experience, General Bryant, in
Wisconsin, that the brook trout and rainbow trout would thrive
in the same stream ?

The President: They have been planted in the same stream,
but I think the rainbow trout drift down to the larger streams
and the brook trout work up toward the springs. That has been
our experience. Our large rainbows are caught in the larger
streams like the Willow River.

Mr. Seagle: That has been our experience also. The brook
trout seek the upper waters or the colder part of the stream—
clear waters. They do not thrive so well in muddy streams.
Of course I do not mean to say that muddy streams are suitable
for any kind of trout.

Mr. Clark: Speaking of the brook and rainbow trout inhab-
iting the same stream; there probably is not a better example
of it than the Au Sable River in Michigan. Brook trout and
rainbow trout are both thoroughly established in that stream.
Of course, as you are all well aware, it was formerly the leading
grayling stream in that respect in the United States, but now
they are nearly all gone. On the Au Sable are found the rain-
bow trout,and more especially the larger ones, in below the brook
trout; but where brook trout fishing is good rainbows will be
taken, but they are of the smaller size. The fry of the rain-
bow trout and brook trout (I am speaking of fry until say July
and sometimes later) are found together—I think as late as
October, when we were catching parent fish there. We have
taken probably as many rainbow trout fry as we did brook
trout fry, with the net; so proving that they were right together.
It has therefore occurred to me that the larger rainbow trout go
down below simply because they are larger. | have seen these
large rainbow trout in the spring of the year when they were

American Fisheries Society. 141

spawning, about the middle of March, way up the stream as far
as they could go.

In speaking of the planting of fish in the spring: I do not
agree with the reader entirely. I think it depends on the age
and size of your fish. If you are going to plant fry, plant them
before they have been fed at all—in fact plant them just before
the sac is gone. If you are going to plant the others, do so after
they are partially grown.

Mr. Titcomb: I do not think it is possible today to have in
this society the discussions on this question that prevailed a
number of years ago and which caused the subject to be tabooed,
you might say. I think the fry men and fingerling men are
coming together to a certain extent. Now, I have watched for
the last twelve years the results from both fry and fingerlings,
and I am inclined to agree with Mr. Seagle ( I would not say
in the spring, just as he does) but, as Mr. Clark says, it depends
on the size of the fish; and what fish would be suitable to plant
in April in Mr. Seagle’s country could not be planted in Ver-
mont, for instance, until July; and we there have begun the
planting of fry after they have been fed two months, to thin
them out and give us more room; and we then kept up the
planting until they were three or four inches long. But the
results with the brook trout with us seemed to be better with
fingerlings; that is, with these fish that are of the age Mr. Sea-
gle speaks about, than with the fry just after the sac is absorbed
or just before. Then you take another variety, the land-locked
salmon. They were planted as fry in Vermont a number of
times without any results at all; then we raised them to finger-
lings and planted them in September and October in lakes, and
got remarkable results. So that while it might be profitable to
plant brook trout when they are quite young, my experience has
been that in introducing fish into lakes, except into streams that
are full of minnows, the fingerlings are far the best and produce
the best results. On the other hand, in our Vermont work, we
have planted the lake trout as fry just before the sac is absorbed
and before they have been fed, with quite as good results as
from planting them as fingerlings; and we have planted them
in a lake where there were no lake trout, with very remarkable
results. I think T spoke about it in the last meeting, where we

142 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

had introduced them in one lake, and in three years’ time they
were having splendid fishing for lake trout. So that we cannot
have any hidebound rule about this thing. I like to feed the
fish awhile, and I do not think we ought to plant them until they
have been fed two months, if we plant them after they have been
fed at all.

The President: You do not want to keep them until their
spirit of self reliance is all gone.

Mr. Titeomb: I do not think there is much harm keeping
them through the fall, but just as good results are obtained
from planting them earlier.

The President: Some years ago there was a large surplus
of male fish at the Madison hatchery, and we berated them in
a stream which was formerly a good trout stream—quite a num-
ber of hundred of them. They were fish reared in ponds and
are pretty good size, and we got returns from them after awhile,
people caught them, some months after they were deposited in
the river, and they were found to be pretty nearly starvd. They
did not know how to get a lying.

Mr. Titcomb: ‘Those were adult fish?

The President: Yes. Have you ever had any such expe-
rience ?

AS No; ‘sit:

The President: Those were the reports we got—there were
some of them caught, but they were mere shadows, unnourished,
starved.

Mr. Titcomb: Was there an abundance of fish in the stream
where they were placed?

The President: It had been a good trout stream in its day—
naturally—but it had been fished out.

Mr. Titecomb: I should infer that the food was gone, too.

The President: That might seem so, or that they did not
adapt themselves to the new environment.

Dr. Tarleton H. Bean: Is it not probable that the reason
no rule can be very well established for the distribution of ald
these trout and the young salmon, is that the differences between
them are rather complicated? Our lake trout and land-locked
salmon have different spawning habits from the brook trout and
the rainbow trout. The young brook trout feed largely at the

American Fisheries Society. 143

surface, whereas the rainbow trout is a bottom feeder, and there
are so many different lines of variation arising from the nature
of the fish and its habits, that you cannot fix a hard and fast
rule, but must be governed by experience and observation of the
actual results of planting. It would be of great advantage in
point of economy if a man could get rid of the fish early and get
the same results as he would obtain if he held them longer
before disposing of them; but you must not lose sight of the fact
that we are dealing with a pretty big range of territory and
habit when we talk of rainbow trout, brook trout, lake trout and
land-locked salmon. They are four just as clean-cut and dis-
tinct animals as you can very well associate in aquatic life, and
I do not believe we will ever arrive at a rule, except the rule of
the results which experience demonstrates.

Mr. Clark: Why do you call a rainbow trout a bottom
feeder? I never have been able to see a great deal of difference
between rainbow and brook trout in that respect. I have seen
them both take food from the bottom of the water; but the rain-
bow trout takes a fly quicker than the brook trout.

Dr. Bean: Because in their wild state, in the region from
which they were first obtained for artificial introduction, they
were observed to be bottom feeders; that is their original instinct,
but fish under domestication are not wild fish and may change
their nature. That should be carefully considered.

Mr. Clark: How about the wild state of the rainbow trout ?

Dr. Bean: We have no wild native rainbow trout.

Mr. Clark: The ones planted wild.

Dr. Bean: We have none. We have had generation after
generation of domesticated fish, fish brought up and taught new
tricks.

Mr. Clark: How about the rainbow trout eggs brought here
from the Pacific Coast, taken from wild fish and planted in our
streams here ?

Dr. Bean: How long will it take a fish to learn a new
habit ?

Mr. Clark: I do not see how they can get new habits when
they are hatched from wild eggs and brought from wild streams.

Dr. Bean: Whitefish from Canandaigua Lake learned to eat
killifish as quick as brook trout. Domestication works so many

144 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

and such sudden changes in fish life that you cannot estimate
the effects, except by experience.

Mr. Titeomb: Do not the rainbow trout on the Pacific
Coast in their natural habitat take the fly?

Dr. Bean: Yes, but it is known on the Pacific coast as a
bottom feeder more than anything else. They may be seen
boring right on the bottom, as cod do sometimes, standing on
their hedds and boring down. But it does not seem to do so
here.

To show how domestication may change the habits of a fish,
you all know about the experiment in France in the rearing of
the big Pacific salmon in fresh water. Two years ago I saw in
the aquarium of Paris at the Trocadero, fish hatched from the
eighth generation of eggs, the parents of which had been retained
in fresh water, and the fish never had access to anything but
fresh water. Now, there was a sudden change of habitat and
habit, and you would think it inexplicable almost, but they are
all good healthy fish, although it is the eighth generation from
eggs brought from the Pacific coast. It shows the wonderful
influence of domestication in altering habits.

Mr. Clark: I did not question that matter at all. I am well
aware that domestication changes fish naturally, but I could not
see how that eggs taken from wild fish on the Pacific Coast,
brought here, merely hatched on trays, and the fry be planted
in a wild stream here, could be said to be in the line of domes-
tication. That was the only point.

The President: There might be a change of environment
or external conditions, such as feeding, ete.

Mr. George F. Lane, Silver Lake, Mass.: There are four
weeks of their hfe when you do not feed them, and that in my
experience domesticates them considerably. :

Mr. H. D. Dean, of Neosho, Mo.: Why do not brook trout
survive and thrive with us? They do not, although the rain-
bow trout do. I cannot take the eggs from the fish raised at the
station and get any large percentage of returns from planting
them in our streams.

Mr. Clark: I do not know why Mr. Dean would say that
they do not thrive there, when I think at his station before he
was there, they made quite a spread in the growth of brook

American Fisheries Society. 145

trout in the first year; in fact they had fish nine inches long,
when we had some at the same age which were only six inches
long.

Mr. Dean: That is so at the station, but you cannot take
eggs from those fish and raise any percentage. What I meant
was fish that had been put out. We put fish in our springs and
they totally disappear.

The President: What is the quality of the water ?

Mr. Dean: There is some lime in it, but it is not extraor-
dinarily hard, although rather hard.

Mr. Titcomb: The brook trout won't live in the same waters
that you find plenty of rainbow trout in.

Mr. Dean: Yes, that is the point.

Mr. Titecomb: And those waters do not reach a high tem-
perature at any time?

Mr. Dean: The water temperature of almost all springs
in Missouri runs from 56 to 58 degrees Fahrenheit—one or two
run a little higher.

Mr. Peabody: It is not a question of food ?

Mr. Dean: No.

Mr. Titcomb: You may ask why can’t we raise rainbow
trout in New England. That is the fact with us. Where the
temperature of the water gets very low in the winter it seems
to debilitate the adult fish, and occasionally they will die just
at the season of the year when the ice is forming—it must be
colder then than after the ice has covered the spring. ‘The water
is full of little sparkling crystals of ice; and while we are able
to carry a stock of brood fish we get a very small percentage of
egos, and that is the case where we have obtained eggs from diff-
erent sources, so that we do not have weak fish from inbreeding :
and these rainbows have been introduced in New England and
in New York state, and in most cases have disappeared after a
short time. I have in mind one stream where rainbow trout were
introduced by accident. A gentleman had a private pond and
reared some rainbow trout and they got into this stream which
was a natural trout stream, but the lower end of it warmed up
too much in the summer for speckled trout. These rainbows
held their own in that stream for a number of years, but all the

best fishing was at the lower end in warm water, but they did
10

146 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

in fact at one time there were

breed there naturally for a time
three rainbow trout to one speckled trout

and yet today you
perhaps catch in that stream in the course of a season a dozen
rainbow trout, but the speckled trout still holds its own. ‘There
are lots of places in Vermont where we have introduced rainbow
trout, and they have entirely disappeared—just the reverse of
Mr. Dean’s experience in Missouri.

The President: Do you attribute it to the coldness of the
water as the winter comes on?

Mr. Titecomb: | cannot think of anything except the exceed-
ingly low temperatures, and perhaps the conditions im the spring
during the spawning season are unfavorable.

Mr. Peabody: We have had the same experience in Wis-
consin.

Mr. Dean: ‘The rainbow trout attains an enormous growth
in Colorado in the deep lakes.

Mr. Titcomb: With a deep water lake they can get any
temperature they want. They do not get anything below 40
degrees in those deep lakes in Colorado, even in the winter. We
get down 30 to 40 feet in our Vermont lakes in winter.

Dr. Birge: In Lake Mendota in 8) feet of water in the

winter you get a temperature of 1 1-2 degrees Centigrade—say
between 34 and 35 Fahrenheit.

Mr. Titcomb: A good deal of the water in these Vermont
lakes comes from springs in the lakes. The lakes form from two
to two and a half feet of ice on the surface. The temperature
in the summer gets up to 80 degrees, but they have the same
cool temperature on the bottom.

American Fisheries Society. 147

A FEW POINTS ON THE BLACK BASS—
FOR DISCUSSION.

BY J. B. LAMKIN.

In the spring of 1900 the bass at Cold Springs, Ga., Station,
commenced spawning on April 15th, in 1901 they were two
weeks earlier, beginning on March 31st, while this year, 1902,
they commenced March 10th, three weeks earlier than last year
and five weeks sooner than the year before. One would naturally
suggest that the temperature regulated this difference, but the
average March water temperatures for the three years are as fol-
lows: 1900. 61.25; 1901, 62.7; 1902, 58.5. Not much atten-
tion was paid to the two weeks difference last season, especially
as it was noticed that the March water temperature was shghtly
warmer than the previous year, but this season, with five weeks
difference in spawning and with a colder March water tempera-
ture of nearly three degrees over that of 1900 it naturally at-
tracts the attention of those interested in Fish Culture.

Another peculiarity in regard to the spawning, is that we
have fewer nests per capita each year. In 1900 we had more
than twice as many nests as fish in the ponds, and the spawning
period extended over several months, running into August. ast
year, 1901, although it was impossible to keep a complete record
of all nests, as the fish were transferred to larger ponds, it was
conceded by all the station force that much less nesting resulted,
and that the spawning period covered a shorter time, the fish not
spawning any after the middle of July. This year the scarcity
of nests has been very noticeable, and the principal spawning was
done in a batch, very little having occurred since April. In 1900
we only had twenty-eight breeding fish, in two ponds. In 1901,
eighty-seven breeding fish in three ponds. In 1902, 212 breed-
ing fish in five ponds, the majority of them being two and three
year olds. In 1900 and 1901 the breeding fish consisted entirely
of wild bass, collected from neighboring ponds and streams, a
portion having been brought up from Florida. This year two
and three year olds, which were raised at the station were added
to the brood stock.

148 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

These are facts recorded without any comment, and presented
to the society for the express purpose of bringing about discus-
sion, in order that some light may be thrown on the subject.
Perhaps the same thing occurs at other stations, but if it keeps
up at the same ratio, our bass will spawn in mid-winter next

season.
DISCUSSION OF MR. LAMKIN’S PAPER.

Mr. Titcomb: I suggest that it be noted on that paper that
it relates to the large-mouth bass entirely.

Dr. Birge: I suppose “having twice as many nests” means
that the bass spawn twice ?

Mr. Stranahan: Yes, sir, and some of them seven times.
We had one male that we called Brigham Young, because he
was like Brigham in fathering several different nests, and he
fathered two broods at the same time, one just hatched and the
other swimming up and taking food, some ten days older than
the first mentioned.

Mr. Clark: Does that mean twice as many nests as there
were males ?

Mr. Stranahan: No; it means twice as many as all of them,
males and females. Mr. Lamkin was conservative in just saying
twice.

Prof. Reighard: It would seem to me that the average
monthly temperature could have nothing to do with the time
when the fish spawn. It is a few warm days that bring on the
spawning, and if you get a few warm days early in March the
fish are apt to soften up and spawn, and if that does not happen
the next year until April they will not spawn until April. I do
not think the average monthly temperature would afford any ex-
planation of the phenomenon.

Mr. Clark: The same is true of our whitefish and lake trout.
Temperature is what controls the ripening or spawning of fish,
but it is not average temperature. Of course if the water keeps
very warm in the fall and the fish do not commence to run, after-
ward when it cools down a little they come on and immediately
begin to spawn, instead of waiting as is usually done. The cold
water fish need cold weather to ripen them, and the warm water

fish require warm weather.

American Fisheries Society. 149

Prof. Reighard: The males in all cases among these fishes
build a nest and the females come in and spawn. With the sun-
fish and dogfish these females go from one nest to another, so
that it is possible for, say, half a dozen females to furnish spawn
for a dozen or more nests. Then if cold weather comes on that
batch of fish may be hatched, and these same males may make
other nests—building again—then a new batch of females comes
in and fills, say, another dozen nests. So you may have more
nests built than you have male fish, even twice as many, but 2
single nest does not represent the product of a single female.

Dr. Birge: That is to say, the eggs are not all ripe at once?

Prof. Reighard: That may be.

Dr. Birge: Are not deposited ?

Prof. Reighard: Yes, sir—deposited within a day, perhaps,
the fish going from one nest to another, scattering these eggs
over the nests built by a number of males. I do not know
whether that is true of bass, but it is true of sunfish and dogfish.
You may in that way get more nests than fish.

Mr. Titcomb: TI should like to inquire in connection with
that whether this series of nests taken care of by a small num-
ber of males necessitated one male having the care of more than
one nest at a time. As I understand it, the male takes care of
the nest and the eggs, fans them. Now, in the case of Brigham
Young, how can he manage so many nests ?

Mr. Stranahan: That condition extended over the season of
nearly four months. He had only one nest at a time, and per-
haps I might state that in the sixth nest that he fathered the
eges were aborted and all died, and we were rather of the opin-
ion that he followed so soon after the brood that he had just left
that he had overdone himself. (Laughter).

Mr. Lydell: Prof. Reighard’s remarks are correct. The
female does not necessarily get rid of all her eggs at one and the
same time. The male fish takes her on the nest and when he is
through with her she must leave. If she is not finished she must
wait for the next fellow. She may have to visit three or four
nests before she gets through. That is not true of the finny
tribe alone. (Laughter). On several occasions that I know of
I have had the bass spawn the second time. The most I ever had
was at Cascade Springs. We had nineteen bass. (That was the

150 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

experimental stage of the work). Those nineteen bass every one
made a nest. There were something lke thirty or thirty-five
females and we collected the fry from those nests and shipped
them, and I packed up my traps and went back to Detroit sup-
posing the season was over with. I had been there nearly a week
when I got word from the man at the station to return, that the
bass were spawning, and we had nineteen nests just as nice as the
others were, nearly as many fish, and nearly two weeks apart.
This season I have had bass that have had two broods, and we
have one particular bass that has fathered two broods of fish
every season in the same place in the same corner of the pond.

The President: Our experience regarding the time of
spawning on one occasion surprised us. We were on one of the
little lakes at the head waters of the Flambeau, forty-five miles
from Lake Superior. The season was unusually cold, and we
were there on the 9th of July fishing in those lakes, and our
superintendent went to one of the lakes that was notably a bass
lake; the small-mouth bass were abundant, and he caught quite
a number, but was astonished to find that most of those he
caught had not spawned, although they were pregnant with
spawn. He seemed to think that unusual for that season of the
year; but our season had been very cold and backward there, and
that we considered the cause of such late spawning. Do you find
it so, Mr. Lydell?

Mr. Lydell: We had some bass spawn this year very late.
Prof. Reighard wanted to study the bass when they were spawn-
ing, and he had given it up, but after he had returned to Ann
Arbor seven or eight more beds were made, and we got quite a
few fry from them. I think if I drew my pond down today I
would find females that had not spawned. The female requires
the attention of the male before spawning, of course.

T have had as many failures in the black bass business as any
one. One vear at Mill Creek station [ had 100 beds with eggs
on them, and I did not produce 50,000 fry.

The President: We have had failures in our work. The
biggest failure we had was when we made a pen in a shallow
lake, where a sort of bed ran up very shallow; we fenced in a lot
of bass there by a good fence, and then used your screens. But
it went against us some way, and we made a distinct failure.

American Fisheries Society. 151

Mr. Clark: Is it not a fact that the experience of fish cul-
turists has been gained largely through failures? The success
of fish culture in the United States at the present time is due to
our failures. If we had not had discouragements in the early
life of the different classes of fish that we have been working on,
I do not think fish culture would be today where it is. I have
had failure upon failure all through my life, and still in the
main people call me a successful fish culturist.

The President: We have grown wise through a process of
elimination.

Mr. Lydell: Our Mill: Creek station two years ago was so
near a complete failure that the fish commission told me that if
they did not have their money in there they would not stay there
another minute, but I told them “You had better hang on;”
there are lots of things to work out. We have got to keep on
studying—don’t give it up. I had there that season one hun-
dred and some odd beds; we would have the fish all hatched on
the bed and then a thunder storm would come up in the mght
and the fish would all be dead the next morning, and I would lay
it to the thunder storm! The less a man commits himself on the
bass question the less he will have to take back in five or six years
from now, (laughter) because the conditions in different locali-
ties have a great deal to do with the matter.

Mr. Peabody: Which are the easiest for culture, the large-
mouth or the small-mouth bass ?

Mr. Lydell: Im my experience I have not found any very
great difference. I think you have got to be a great deal more
eareful in sorting your small-mouth bass than you have your
large-mouth bass. On one occasion we just dumped the large-
mouth bass promiscuously into the ponds, and only got five beds.
Therefore, I concluded that we had five females in the lot; but
they do not seem to trouble one another like the small-mouth
bass. We had one year a lot of small-mouth about twelve inches
long, and they were all males. They seemed to band together
like a lot of outlaws. They would go around the large pond,
come to a pair of bass spawning, and all dive into that nest, and
I have seen ten or fifteen of them just standing on their heads
and rooting the whole thing up; and ! drew the pond down in
the spawning season and took all those fish out and threw them

152 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

on the bank, fifty or sixty of them, and after that I got a few
nice beds of bass that same season.

Mr. Dean: In relation to the time of the spawning of the
bass, I would like to know if anyone has thought that possibly
the age of the bass might make a difference in the time of spawn-
ing. I did not know but Mr. Lankin might find that one reason.
I know the young rock bass spawn later than the older ones.

Mr. Lamkin: I don’t know.

American Fisheries Society. 153

DISCOURAGEMENTS IN BASS CULTURE.

BY H. D. DEAN.

This is a wide subject, too wide for the limited time at my
disposal, but I will endeavor to present a few facts which have
occurred during my five years experience at a bass station.

One of the greatest trials in fish culture, especially bass cul-
ture, is the fact that it takes a year to try an experiment, conse-
quently experience is acquired slowly and, while we are trying
our theories, the years shp by.

One year we may have a good crop of bass and the next sea-
son, under the same conditions, so far as we know, we have
almost a failure.

At the Neosho Station we have tried many schemes that
seemed feasible under the conditions existing at that station. At
first the breeders were placed in the ponds in March; the ponds
were drawn in July and the young fish transferred to hatching
troughs; the fish were taught to take artificial food and thus car-
ried until distribution which usually commenced about October
1st. Afterwards the troughs were placed outside where they
could be suppled with water from one of the ponds at a tem-
perature of from 65 to 77. This plan worked very well, but the
young fish did not grow very fast and it entailed a large amount
of work in feeding and caring for the fish. Again some of the
small fish about one-half inch long, were brought to the hatchery
and taught to take food and a good per centum raised, but they
were very small and it was concluded that it would not be prac-
tical to raise large numbers in this manner.

One year about six thousand fry three quarters of an inch
long, were seined from the spawning pond and transferred to a
small pond well filled with vegetable and animal life; two
months later this pond was drawn and a little over eight hun-
dred fine bass taken out. This result was too small to be of prac-
tical value.

Another year, two of the ponds were fitted with partitions so
the breeders could be placed in a small portion of the pond for

154. Thirty-First Annual Meeting

spawning and at schooling time the young could pass through
the screens into the main body of the pond. The water was too
low to give this plan a fair trial and the only thing learned was,
that the young fry were much larger and fewer in number than
usual.

This year the ponds were drawn in June, in hopes that more
fish could be saved. Over seven thousand were taken from one
pond and placed in another pond which was in good condition
and after thirty-six days this pond was drawn and but 2,650 fish

found. Some of these were very large—one was measured and
found to be six and one-half inches long and weighed two and
one-half ounces.

There are several other things that vitally affect the raising
of bass, vegetation, natural food, water temperature, supply, ete.
Sometimes it seems impossible to get vegetation to grow in a
pond and unless there is a good growth of plant life, there will be
no fish; that is, no great number and if there is a good growth of
water plants, then the prospects for fish are much better.

There are plenty of crayfish in the ponds at Neosho and a
fair quantity of other natural food. We also put in top-min-
nows and try to keep a good stock of food for the fish, but so far
have failed to raise fingerling bass in the numbers desired.

One thing that has hindered the work, has been the fact that
we have been almost constantly working at the ponds and
grounds to get them in shape for good work and we are now get-
ting them in that condition. The water supply, also, has been
deficient at times and that has affected the work.

[ have always been of the opinion, that the sooner the young
fish could be taken from the ponds and placed in small nursery
pools or troughs, where they can be constantly under supervision
and easily kept sorted, the more fish can be raised. Mr. Leary of
the Texas station, is working on this line with excellent results.
This plan means that there must be plenty of natural food for
the young fry until they can be taught to take the artificial food.

In fact the greatest failure in the raising of bass, is the
failure to raise natural food in sufficient quantities at the right
time, for the young fry. There is never any difficulty in getting
large numbers of eggs and fry, and if the fish were distributed
when they were schooling or even when one inch long, there

American Fisheries Society. 155

would not be much difficulty in sending them out in large num-
bers. But the great problem is to prevent their eating each
other before they are large enough to take artificial food.

If all the breeders in one pond would spawn at one time so
the young would be practically all one size, then the danger of
cannabalism would be much lessened. A superintendent of one
of the state commissions told me that he had accomplished this
by holding the breeders in spring water, at even temperature, all
winter, then placing them im the breeding ponds ten days or two
weeks before spawning, and they all spawned at once. Well this
sounded alluring and [ experimented with a few fish, with the
result of another failure to add to the list—these fish did not
spawn at all that year. But “Hope springs eternal” and next
year we hope to raise a large crop of large mouth black bass.

a
» [epre0e |
vs eaee >
? ;

, my Na : Vira

American Fisheries Society. L57

LIST OF MEMBERS.

ACTIVE.

Adams, BH. W., 114 Wall Street, New York.

Adams, Fred J., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Ainsworth, C. E., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Ainsworth, G. G., United States Fish Commission, Leadville,
Col.

Allen, A. D., Flora, Ore.

Allen, G. R., Roxbury, Vt.

Alexander, George L., Grayling, Mich.

Alexander, L. D., 50 Broadway, New York.

Anderson, J. F., 240 Eleventh Street, Jersey City, N. J.

Andrews, Barschall, Columbus, Ga.

Annin, James, Jr., Caledonia, N. Y.

Ashford, W. T., 711 Prudential Building, Atlanta, Ga.

Atkins, Chas. G., East Orland, Me.

Ayer, F.W ., Bangor, Me.

Babbitt, A. C., Williamsburg, Mich.

Babcock, John P., Fisheries Commissioner, Victoria, British
Columbia, Can.

Bailey, H. W., Newbury, Vt.

Baldwin, O. N., United States Fish Commission, San Mar-
cos, ‘Tex.

Ball, E. M., Leadville, Colo.

Barrett, W. W., Church’s Ferry, North Dak.

Bartlett, Dr. 8. P., Quincy, Il.

Bean, Hon. Tarleton H., at World’s Fair, St. Louis, Mo

Beeman, Henry W., New Preston, Conn.

Bell, Currie G., Bayfield, Wis.

Belmont, Hon. Perry, 19 Nassau Street, New York.

Bennett, Chas., Woonsocket, R. I.

Bennett, 8S. R., New Bedford, Mass.

Benton, Judge Henry T., Scale, Ala.

158 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

3enton, W. H., Bullochville, Ga.

Bickmore, Prof. A. S., Seventy-seventh Street and Eighth
Avenue, New York.

Birge, Prof. E. A., Madison, Wis.

Bissell, John H., Detroit, Mich.

Blackford, Hon. Eugene G., Fulton Market, New York.

Blakeslee, T. J., 353 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

Blatchford, E. W., Chicago, Ill. ;

Boardman, W. H., Central Falls, R. I.

300th, A., 36 State Street, Chicago, Il.

Booth, DeWitt C., Spearfish, South Dakota.

Bottemanne, C. J., Bergen op Zoom, Holland

Boudre, N. H., Plummerville, Ark.

Bowers, Hon. George M., United States Commissioner of
Fisheries, Washington, D. C.

Bower, Seymour, Detroit, Mich.

Bower, Ward T., Detroit, Mich.

Bowman, W. H., Rochester, N. Y.

Boyce, F. C., Carson City, Nev.

Bradley, Dr. E., 19 West Thirteenth Street. New York.

Brewer, W. C., Cleveland, O.

Brewster, C. E., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Brewster, W. K., Durand, Mich.

Bross, John L., Mill Creek, Mich.

Brown, George H., Jr., United States Fish Commission,
Washington, D. C.

Brown, George M., Saginaw, Mich.

Brush, Dr. E. F., Mount Vernon, N. Y.

Bryant, Gen. E. E., Madison, Wis.

Bulkley, H. S., Odessa, N. Y-

Bullard, C. G., Kalamazoo, Mich.

Bumpus, Dr. H. C., Rrovicence;-k--f:

Burham, E. I<., Northville, Mich.

Bush, C. P., Columbus, Ga.

Carlo, G. Postighone di, Naples, Italy.

Carter, KE. N., United States Fish Commission, St. Johns-
bury, Vt.

Chambers, A. E., Kalamazoo, Mich.

Chase, H. C., 1020 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

\

American Fisheries Society. 159

Cheney, A. N., Glens Falls, N. Y.

Clark, Frank N., Northville, Mich.

Clark, Fred, Mill Creek, Mich.

Cobb, E. W., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Cohen, N. H., Urbana, III.

Cole, Leon J., Ann Arbor, Mich.

Collins, Hon. J. C., Providence, R. I.

Cooper, E. A., Cold Spring Harbor, New York.

Corliss, C. S., Gloucester, Mass.

Coulter, A. L., Charlevoix, Mich.

Crook, Abel, 99 Nassau Street, New York.

Crosby, H. F., 30 Broad Street, New York.

Curtis, J. M., Cleveland, O.

WalesdiNe, Mork; ia.

Davis, E. A., Bethel, Vt.

Davis, Horace W., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Davis, Biel Palmyra, N.Y:

Davis, Hon. George B., Utica, Mich.

Dean, Herbert D., United States Fish Commission, Neosho,
Mo.

Demuth, H. C., 144 E. King Street, Lancaster, Pa

DeNyse, Washington I., Gravesend Beach, Borough of Brook-
yan NE

De Rocher, Jas. D., Nashua, N. H.

Dickerson, Freeman B., Detroit, Mich.

Dinsmore, A. H., Green Lake, Me.

Douredoure, B. L., 103 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Downing, 8. W., Put-in-Bay, O.

Doyle, .E. P., Port Richmond, N. Y.

Dublee, J. Clyde, Williamsport, Penn.

Dunlap, I. H., United States Fish Commission, Washington,
Dac.

Ebel, Hon. F. W., Harrisburg, Pa.

—Edwards, Vinal N., Woods Hole, Mass.
Ellis, J. Frank, United States Fish Commission, Washing-

ton. aD @:
Evarding & Farrell, Messrs., Portland, Ore.

A Everman, Prof. Barton W., United States Fish Commission.

Washington, D. C.

160 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Fearing, Hon. D. B., Newport, R. I.

Filkins, B. G., Northville, Mich.

Fox, Captain J. C., Put-in-Bay, O.

Frook, John E., Paris, Mich.

Frothingham, H. P., Mount Arlington, N. J.

Fullerton, Samuel F., St. Paul, Minn.

Gavitt, W. S., Lyons, N. Y.

Gebhardt, A. E., Secretary Oregon Fish and Game Associa-
tion, Salem, Ore.

Geer, Dr. EH. F., St. Paul, Minn.

Geer, EK. H., Hadlyme, Conn.

George, Hon. A. F., Swanton, Md.

Gilmore, Col. Chas., Swanton, Vt.

Gortz, A. F., Chicago, Ill.

Green, Dr. D. W., Ohio Fish and Game Commission, Day-
ton, O.

Greene, Myron, Franklin, Vt.

Griffith, 8S. L., Danby, Vt.

Gunekel, John E., Toledo, O.

Hagert, Edwin, 32 N. Sixth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Hahn, Captain E. E., Woods Hole, Mass.

Haley, Caleb, Fulton Market, New York.

Hamilton, Robert, Greenwich, N. Y.

Hampton, F. T., Hill City, Tenn.

Hamsdale, Frank, Madison, Wis.

Handy, L. B., South Wareham, Mass.

Hansen, G., Osceola Mills, Wis.

Harris, J. N., Fulton Market, New York.

Hartley, R. M., 627 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Henkel, C. P., Neosho, Mo.

Henshall, Dr. James A., Bozeman, Montana.

Hill, John L., 115 Broadway, New York.

Hogan, J. J., La Crosse, Wis.

Hogue, William F., Marion, Ala.

Holden, H. 8., Syracuse, N. Y.

Hoxie, Chas. A., Carolina, R. I.

Hoxie, J. W., Carolina, R. I.

Howell, John H., 124 Grover Street, Auburn, N. Y.

Hubbard, Waldo F., Nashua, N. H.

American Fisheries Society. 161

Hughes, Frank L., Ashland, N. H.

Hulff, J. H., Norfolk, Neb.

Hunsaker, W. J., Detroit, Mich.

Huntington, L. D., New Rochelle, N. Y.

Hurlbut, H. F., East Freetown, Mass.

Hutchinson, E. S., Washington, D. C.

James, Dr. Bushrod W., n. e. cor. Eighteenth and Green

Streets, Philadelphia, Pa.

Jennings, G. E., Fishing Gazette, 203 Broadway. New York.

Jensen, Peter, Escanaba, Mich.

Johnson, D. W., Hartwell, Ga.

Johnson, S. M., Union Wharf, Boston, Mass.

Jones, Alexander, Erwin, Tenn.

Jones, Col. James E., Director of Aquarium, Battery Park
New York City.

Jones, Dr. O. L., 116 West Seventy-second Street, New York.

Joseph, D., Columbus, Ga.

Joslin, Hon. C. D., Detroit, Mich.

Kashiwa, A. M., Seattle, Wash.

Kauffmann, 8. H., Evening Star, Washington, D. C.

Keller, H. N., California Fish Commission, Santa Monica,
Cal.

Kelly, P., 346 Sixth Avenue, New York.

Kennedy, Edwin M., Ohio Fish and Game Commission, Me-
Connellsville, O.

Kendall, Dr. William C., United States Fish Commission,
Washington, D. C.

Kenyon, A. W., Usquepaugh, R. I.

Kerr, Captain J. R., Pittsurgh, Pa.

Kiel, W. M., Tuxedo Park, N. Y.

Lamkin, J. Bayard, Bullochville, Ga.

Landers, E. T., Hopeville, Ga.

Lane, George F’., Silver Lake, Mass.

Lawton, Col. J. P., Columbus, Ga.

Leach, G. C., 1516 Locust Street, St. Louis, Mo.

Leary, John L., United States Fish Commission, San Mar-
cos, Tex.

LeGettee, K., Centenary, S. C.
i

162

Thirty-Pirst Annual Meeting

Lewis, Charles E., Chamber of Commerce, Minneapolis,

Minn.
Locke, E. F., Woods Hole, Mass.
Lovejoy, Samuel, Bullochyille, Ga.
Lydell, Dwight, Mill Creek, Mich.

McGowan, Hon. H. P., 108 Fulton Street, New York.

Mallory, Chas., Burling Slip, New York.

Mancha, H. H., Northville, Mich.

Manning, W. W., Marquette, Mich.

Mansfield, H. B., Lieutenant Commander United
Navy, 368 Hancock Stfeet, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Manton, Dr. W. P., Detroit, Mich.

Marks, H. H., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Marks, J. P., Paris, Mich.

Marsh, M. C., Washington, D. C.

Mathewson, G. 'T., Thompsonville, Conn.

May, W. L., Omaha, Neb.

States

Mead, Prof. A. D., Brown University, Providence, R. I.

Meehan, W. E., Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pa.
Merritt, F.. H. J., Altamont, Ni ¥-

Merrill, M. E., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Mershon, W. B., Saginaw, Mich.

Miller, Frank, Put-in-Bay, O.

Miller, Geo. F., Put-in-Bay, O.

Miller, W. S., Gallion, O.

Milliken, Dr. J. D., United States Fish Commission, Woods

Hole, Mass.
Mills, G. F., Carson City, Nev.
Mitchell, Prof. Irving M., Milwaukee, Wis.
Mitchell, John A., Columbus, Ga.
Monroe, Otis, Mill Creek, Mich.
Moody, G. C., Mill Creek, Mich.
Moore, Chas. H., Detroit, Mich.
Morgan, H. A., Baton Rouge, La.
Morrell, Daniel, Hartford, Conn.
Morse, Grant M., Portland, Mich.
Morton, W. P., Providence, R. I.
Mosher, Stafford, Fort Plain, N. Y.

American Fisheries Society. 163

‘ Mullett, R. M., United States Fish Commission, Washing-
ton... C:

Mussey, George D., Detroit, Mich.

Nash, Dr. 8. M., 63 West Forty-ninth Street, New York.

Neal, John R., 22 1-2 “T” Wharf, Boston, Mass.

Nevin, James, Madison, Wis.

North, Paul, Ohio Fish and Game Commission, Cleveland,
Ohio.

Oberfelder, R. 8., Sidney, Neb.

O’Brien, W. J., South Bend, Neb.

O’Connor, E. M., Savannah, Ga.

O’ Hage, Dr. Justus, St. Paul, Minn.

O’Malley, Henry, Baker, Washington.

Orr, W. J., Bay Port, Mich.

Osborn, Wm., Duluth, Minn.

Page, P. W., West Summit, N. J.

Palmer, W. mats Buchanan, Mich.

Parker, Dr. J. C., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Parker, W. H.., Lac la Peche, Quebee, Canada.

ee Tyee B., Ohio Fish and Game Commission, Cin-
eimnati, O.

Peabody, George F., Appleton, Wis.

Pearce, Caption T. C., United States Fish Commission,
Washington, D. C.

Peck, Hon. Stephen, Warren, R. I.

Pike, Robert G., Middletown, Conn.

Plumb, Charles, Mill Creek, Mich.

Powell, W. L., Harrisburg, Pa.

Powers, J. A., Lansingburg, N. Y.

Powers, John W., Big Rapids, Mich.

Prather, J. Hub, Lexington, Ky.

Prendergast, Charles F., 1420 Lincoln Street, Savannah, Ga.

Preston, Hon. John L., Port Huron, Mich.

Preston, Dr. Henry G., 98 Lafayette Square, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Proctor, Hon. Redfield, Proctor, Vt.

Rathbone, Wm. F., D. & H. R. R., Albany, N. Y.

Rathbun, Richard, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
DC:

164 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Ravenel, W. DeC., United States Fish Commission, Wash-
ington, D. C.

Reighard, Prof. Jacob E., University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, Mich.

Richards, G. H., Boston, Mass.

toberts, A. D., Woonsocket, R. I.

Robinson, W. E., Mackinaw City, Mich.

Robinson, A. H., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Rodgers, Frank A., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Rodgers, J. L., Ohio Fish and Game Commission, Columbus,

Giro:

Rogers, J. M., Chicago, Ill.

toot, Henry T., Providence, R. I.

Rosenberg, Albert, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Ruge, John G., Apalachicola, Fla.

Russell, Henry, Detroit, Mich.

Sampson, EH. R., care of New York Aquarium, Battery Park,
New York City.

Sanborn, F. G., 612-622 California Street, San Francisco,
Cal.

Saunders, Dr. H. G., Chattanooga, Tenn.

Scarborough, L. A., Columbus, Ga.

Schley, Dr. F. V., Columbus, Ga.

Schute, John A., Havana, III.

Schweikart, Walter, Detroit, Mich.

Neagle, Geo. A., Wytheville, Va.

Self, E. M., Bullochville, Ga.

Sellers, M. G., Philadelphia, Pa.

Sexton, Cramer, Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Sherwin, H. A., 100 Canal Street, Cleveland, O.

Simons, Max, Columbus, Ga.

Singleton, James H., Woonsocket, R. I.

Smith, Henry D., Appleton, Wis.

Smith, Jay, care of J. W. Marston & Co., Lewis Wharf, Bos-
ton, Mass.

Smith, L. H., Algona, Iowa.

Smith, Dr. Hugh M., United States Fish Commission, Wash-
ington, D. C.

Smith, Capt. J. A., Woods Hole, Mass.

American Fisheries Sociely. 165

Snyder, Dr. IF. B., Ashtabula, Ohio.

Solman, Alden, South Norwalk, Conn.

Southwick, J. M. K., Newport, R. I.

Spencer, L. B., Supt. Aquarium, 37 W. 128th Street, New
York City.

Spensley, Calvert, Mineral Point, Wis.

Springer, F. H., Columbus, Ga.

Starbuck, Alexander, Cincinnati, O.

Starr, W. J., Hau Claire, Wis.

Stelle, G. F., Chicago, I].

Sterling, J. E., Crisfield, Md.

Stewart, Chas. E., Westerly, R. I.

Stewart, A. T., Northville, Mich.

Stone, Livingston, Cape Vincent, N. Y.

Stranahan, J. J., Bullochville, Ga.

Stranahan, IF. A., Cleveland, O.

Stranahan, F. F., Cleveland, O.

Stranahan, H. B., Cleveland, O.

Suthers, Frank, Madison, Wis.

Sykes, Arthur, Madison, Wis.

Sykes, Henry, Bayfield, Wis.

Tawes, J. C., Crisfield, Md.

Taylor, A. R., 318 Main Street, Memphis, Tenn.

Thayer, W. W., 234 Joseph Campau Avenue, Detroit, Mich.

Thomas, Henry G., Stowe, Vt.

Thompson, Carl G., 78 Henry Street, Huntington, Ind.

Thompson, W. 'T., Nashua, N. H.

Thompson, W. P., 112 Bread Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Tinker, H. F., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Titcomb, John W., United States Commission of Fish and
Fisheries, Washington, D. C.

Townsend, Chas. H., United States Fish Commission, Wash-
ington, D. C.

Trumpour, D. A., Bay City, Mich.

Tubbs, Frank A., Neosho, Mo.

Tucker, Edmund St. George, Bedford Row, Halifax, N.S.

Tulian, Eugene A., Leadville, Colo.

Turner, J. C., Columbus, Ga.

166 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

VanDusen, Hon. H. G., Master Fish Warden of Oregon
Astoria, Ore.

I

Vineent, W. S., United States Commission of Fish and Fish-
eries, Washington, D. C.

“Vogelsang, Alexander T., Mills Building, San Francisco, Cal.

Walker, Bryant, Detroit, Mich.

Wallett, W. H., Put-in-Bay, O.

Walters, C. H., Cold ‘Spring Harbor,, N. Y.

Ward, Prof. H. B., Lincoln, Neb.

Webd, W. Seward, Forty-fourth Street and Vanderbilt
Avenue, New York.

Wentworth, Edwin, United States Fish Commission, Nashua,
Niele

Wentworth, Nathaniel, Hudson Centre, N. H.

Weed, W. R., Potsdam, N. Y.

Wetherhees W. ©: Port dem aiNeeve

Wheeler, Chas. Stetson, Hobart Building, San Francisco, Cal.

Whish, John D., Secretary, Forest, Fish and Game Commis-
sion, Albany, N. Y.

White, R. Tyson, 320 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Wilbur, H. O., 235 Third Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Wilbur, P. H., Little Compton, R. I.

Willard, Chas. W., Westerly, R. I.

Willetts, J. C., 40 Wall Street, New York.

Williams, J. A., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Wilson, C. H:, Glens Falls, N. Y.

Wilson, S. H., Cleveland, O.

Winn, Dennis, Nashua, N. H.

Wires, S. P., Lester Park, Duluth, Minn.

Wisner, J. Nelson, Jr., United States Fish Commission,
Washington, D. C.

Wood, C. C., Plymouth, Mass.

Woodruff, C. B., Columbus, Ga.

Wride, Geo. A., Grindstone City, Mich.

Zalsman, Philip G., Paris, Mich.

Zweighapt, S., Deer Park, Haines Falls, N. Y.

American Fisheries Society. 167

HONORARY.

Borodine, Nicholas, Delegate of the Russian Association of
Pisciculture and Fisheries, Uralsk, Russia.

Fish Protective Association of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1020
Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Lake St. Clair Shooting and Fishing Club, Detroit, Mich.

New York Association for the Protection of Fish and Game,
New York City.

Peck, Hon. Geo. W., Milwaukee, Wis.

South Side Sportsmen’s Club, Oakdale, L. I., N.Y.

Sweeny, Dr. R. O., Lester Park, Duluth, Minn.

The President of the United States.

The Governors of the Several States.

Woodmont Rod and Gun Club, Washington, D. C.

CORRESPONDING.

Apostolides, Prof. Nicoly Chr., Athens, Greece.

Armistead, J. J., Dumfries, Scotland.

Birbeck, Edward, Esq., M. P., London, England.

Brady, Thos. F., Esq., Inspector of Fisheries, Dublin Castle,
Dublin, Ireland.

Calderwood, W. L., Esq., Inspector of Salmon Fisheries,
Edinburgh, Scotland.

Feddersen, Arthur, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Feilding, J. B., Upper Downing, Holywell, North Wales.

Giglioli, Prof. Enrico H., Florence, Italy.

Ito, K., Member of Fisheries Department of Hokkaido and
President of the Fisheries Society of Northern Japan,
Sapporo, Japan.

Jaffe, S., Osnabruck, Germany.

Jue, Capt NR. N., President of the Society for the De-
velopment of Norwegian Fisheries, Bergen, Norway.
Landmark, A., Inspector of Norwegian Fresh Water Fish-

eries, Bergen, Norway.

Lundberg, Dr. Rudolph, Inspector of Fisheries. Stockholn,
Sweden.

Maccleay, William, President of the Fisheries Commission of
New South Wales, Sydney, N. 5. W.

168 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

Marston, R. B., Esq., Editor of the Fishing Gazette, London,
England.

Olsen, O. T., Grimsby, England.

Sars, Prof. G. O., Government Inspector of Fisheries, Chris-
tiania, Norway.

Senior, William, London, England.

Smitt, Prof. F. A., Stockholm, Sweden.

Sola, Don Francisco Garcia, Secretary of the Spanish Fish-
eries Society, Madrid, Spain.

Solsky, Baron N. de, Director of the Imperial Agricultural
Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Trybom, Dr. Filip, Stockholm, Sweden.

Walpole, Hon. Spencer, Governor of the Isle of Man.

Wattel, M. Raveret, Secretary of the Societe d’Acchmation,
Paris, France.

RECAPITULATION.

ACTIVE: aes,» balclavdn dan se(elidhsloeneetle b's ae aoe hea ene nee eee Bor
FROMORATY ” <a.5 cihehh ats s,s Sei eeedene eer acetone ee 54
Corresponding |... soe He RO ee 3 oe ee ee eee 24

Potal:niembership <2 .ky/ec cise dager ere 410

—

American Fisheries Society. 169

Ceol PUT ion.

(As amended to date).

ARTICLE I.
NAME AND OBJECTS.

The name of this Society shall be American Fisheries So-
ciety. Its objects shall be to promote the cause of fish culture;
to gather and diffuse information bearing upon its practical sue-
cess, and upon all matters relating to the fisheries; the uniting
and encouraging of all the interests of fish culture and the
fisheries, and the treatment of all questions regarding fish, of a
scientific and economic character.

ARTICLE II.
MEMBERS.

Any person shall, upon a two-thirds vote and the payment of
one dollar, become a member of this Society. In case members
do not pay their fees, which shall be one dollar per vear, after the
first year and are delinquent for two years, they shall be notified
by the Treasurer, and if the amount due is not paid within a
month thereafter, they shall be, without further notice, dropped
from the roll of membership. Any person can be made an honor-
ary or a corresponding member upon a two-thirds vote of the
members present at any regular meeting.

Any person shall, upon a two-thirds vote, and the payment of
$15.00, become a life member of this Society, and shall there-
after be exempt from all annual dues.

ARTICLE III.
OFFICERS.

The officers of this Society shall be a President and a Vice
President, who shall be ineligible for election to the same office

170 Thirty-First Annual Meeting

until a year after the expiration of their term; a Corresponding
Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer and an Hxecutive
Committee of seven, which with the officers before named, shall
form a council and transact such business as may be necessary
when the Society is not in session, four to constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE TY-
MEETINGS.
The regular meeting of the Society shall be held once a year,
the time and place being decided upon at the previous meeting
or, in default of such action, by the Executive Committee.

ARTICLE V.
ORDER OF BUSINESS.

1. Call to order by President.
2. Roll call of members.
3. Applications for membership.
4. Reports of officers.

a. President.

b. Secretary.

ce. Treasurer.

d. Standing Committees.

U

Committees appointed by the President.

~

a. Committee of five on nomination of officers for en-
suing year. |
b. Committee of three on time and place of next meet-
ing.
ce. Auditing committee of three.
6. Reading of papers and discussions of same.
(Note—a. In the reading of papers preference shall be
given to members present.

b. The President and two Secretaries are em-
powered to arrange the papers of the meetings
of the Society).

i. Miscellaneous business.

8. Adjournment.

American Fisheries Society. 171

ARTICLE VI.
CHANGING THE CONSTITUTION.
The Constitution of the Society may be amended. altered or
repealed by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any

regular meeting, provided at least fifteen members are present at
said meeting.

“pad eee

vg

%. $, National

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

|| AMERICAN FisHERIES

» |

SOCIETY

/

rg
hw . flee eS ,

NINETEEN HUNDRED THREE

=

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

AMERICAN
FISHERIES SOCIETY

ATES
Thirty-second Annual Meeting
une 21 22 AND: 23, /1903,

At Woods Hole, Mass.

———

~~

hs ~
On Ye

\
S is — Th. Lh
JS
APPLETON, WIS.
HE PUBLI ER

Officers for 1903-1904.

PP EOSVORIUL sheen Cene Frank N. CuarKk, Northville, Mich.

Vice-President........+5. Dr. TARLETON H. BEAN, St. Louis

Recording Secretary...... GEORGE F. PEasopy, Appleton, Wis.

Corresponding Secretary, W. De C. RAVENEL, Washington, D. C.

LERCUSUTEET.. wisctn oie ae eters C. W. WiLLaArD, Westerly, R. I.
eH

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

EK. W. Buatourorp, Chairman, Chicago, Il.
C. C. Woop, Plymouth, Mass.
R. D. Humes, San Francisco, Cal.
M. E. Merrix1, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
J. L. Leary, San Marcos, Tex.
E. A. Turtan, Leadville, Colo.

PAGE
TFS OTe NENW NLC TATE RS) ayn cccye felis Siete) aici cio.e o's oid islam se ere-« «4 ee chee) 8
PNOCEESSED VME TOSI GOT a aera aiscieresase sels SYsi seve sec sieve stlcusleca esa ¢ olarecs 11
Bee pO misOPBOCERECAY ES ache lus 6 Sec oun tinckawta es udeteaeetioe. 15
USSD Tn ©) Pd Nx CR ICU ao) Oa SO ee ee 16
Reponwotsl-rop rani Committee as cieis -« ocitiris sees osee nee ers 21
reportiot Conimittee on Nominations ....... ....0ccseeces sess 24
Scientific Proceedings : -
Barcle tte akan © tli Cyan lle cecisis sc.c sp wiels cta's clave @ sieisie o'cwiorarciees 47
INeadhAGe yee LOVAGenCe,Witanlyracyvericies aie. fc ciersinels ailerons 58
Henshall, Dr. James A., Bozeman, Mont................... 63
Atkins) Charles G.. Hast Orland, Me... 2.0 2. ..ccccecvce 71
Euibbard waldo kh. »Nashita, NE jasccces cee esee cece & 79
IB CATR P aw WES ING W, POEs Is Lic cared win ddicie peisis's #6 0/o/e win, aie comials 90
WOT is elie, Getto, Ni Ci. 5526) bos. d cuepesleisiels vieiersierece greys 98
Letter from Huntoon Oyster Company regarding Samples
OLESCCUIOVSCERS yeprpsye sel ie tavcieke ss) ccslcrelie oi) sleloiavele eters) aloerele 109
Wihish John Ds Albay Ne Wiss o<cicics occ ates se secs s 112
Wovejoy. samuel Binllockville, Gays (5.23. sicle > weleel-inlo ser 116
Stranalian ele tolloch valle, Gia... ce nc. «Mes elon cialeie «one « 126
Weave says, Sat NLA TCOS, DEX... secs cleieiay osicenik'e ae een 131
BairduMentoriad lob; XCLrCiSeS. 2).- sfeys) cers siti siee olsiere evi sie siecle ee ale 161
DISeiISSionionebaSsRESTHIIIEd. .)5.)c- soo eels «le/eisiele oe vclielne se 185
Marcher Nie © awWidSlimeton' IC... oe sicjejorclo'oteie vin) clulelelays « «1 6i0io 192
Thompson, Wi. L., Nashtia, N. i... .. cise ee cece resent 208
Wancepis ones Eis elit COL IN@D). . «cie oi lels's «inlele e sis)e sivielwisie 218
Tes tae tas NUS Sires etree eter ee wis ele ote role.eheis, 6 lofers o\uhaveToie eins esse inisie @isieee 221
235

Cire EON acu b o ic SBA e oe DIG CUE ee Cm Orca rick Tir

PART. I.

BUSINESS SESSIONS.

x 2 oP ly an . ae aM
a ee Sat oe. v1)
byiat ay
: ;
o ale
}
7s,
Mi
i
=U
‘
7 ¢
ry
{
a
y i
\ 7
~~ -_ ped ae ay sn ey ors
i fy ii. ‘1 - pt aa “
. “ cae e int |
a= ' i ° aot yt “ets = sae * a)
“ Py =p
.
r
or
¥
ea
‘| bj
Uy ia Hy

Transactions of the American Fisheries
Society.

Tuesday, July 21st, 1903.

Convention called to order at 12 m. by the President, Mr.
George M. Bowers, of Washington, D. C.
The registered attendance at the meetings of the Society is
as follows:
Allen, George R., Roxbury, Vt.
Atkins, Charles G., East Orland, Me.
Bean, Hon. Tarleton H., St. Louis, Mo.
Beeman, Henry W., New Preston, Conn.
Bentley, B. Court, Westerly, R. I.
Blatchford, E. W., Chicago, Il.
Boardman, W. H., Central Falls, R. I.
Bower, Seymour, Detroit, Mich.
Bowers, George M., Washington, D. C.
Bowman, W. F., Woods Hole, Mass.
Bryant, Edwin E., Madison, Wis.
Carter, E. N., St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Champlin, John H., Westerly, R. I.
Clark, Frank N., Northville, Mich.
Corliss, C. G., Gloucester, Mass.
Davis, E. A., Bethel, Vt.
Dean, H. D., Neosho, Mo.
Downing, S. W., Put-in-Bay, O.
Gorham, F. P., Woods Hole, Mass.
Graham, A. R., Berkeley, Mass.
Gray, George M., Woods Hole, Mass.
Green, Chester K., Washington, D. ee
Geer, E. Hart, Hadlyne, Conn.
Handy, L. B., South Wareham, Mass.
Harron, L. G., Washington, D. C.

8 Thirty-Second Annual Meetung

Henshall, J. A., Bozeman, Mont.
Hubbard, Waldo F., Nashua, N. H.
Buriburt, Sans East Freetown, Mass.
Jennings, G. E., New York, N. Y.
Jones, Alexander, Erwin, ‘Tenn.

Lane, George F., Silver Lake, Mass.
Leary, J. L., San Marcos, Tex.

Locke, E. F., Woods Hole, Mass.

Lydell, Dwight, Mill Creek, Mich.
Marsh, M. C., Washington, D. C.
Mathew son, G. T., Thompsonville, Conn.
Millikin, Dr. J. D., U. S. Fish Com., Woods Hole, Mass
Morton, William P., Providence, R. I.
Nevin, James, Madison, Wis.

Peabody, George F., Appleton, Wis.
Pike, Robert G., Middletown, Conn.
Race, E. E., Green Lake, Me.

Ravenel, W. DeC., Washington, D. C.
Robinson, Robert K., White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
Root, Henry T., Providence, R. I.
Seagle, George A., Wytheville, Va.
Smith, Capt. J. A., Woods Hole, Mass.
Stone, Livingston, Cape .Vincent, N. Y.
Thompson, W. T., Nashua, N. H.
Titcomb, John W., Washington, D. C.
Tulian, E. A., Leadville, Colo.
Waterhouse, Everett Marshall, Providence, R. I.
Whish, John D., Albany, N. Y.

White, R. Tyson, New York City.
Willard, C. W., Westerly, R. I.

Wires, 8S. P., Duluth, Minn.

Wood, C. C., Plymouth, Mass.

Worth, S. G., Edenton, N. C.

During the several sessions the following gentlemen were
elected to membership in the Society :

Atwood, Anthony, 75 Waterest Street, Plymouth, Mass.

Bastedo, 8. T., Toronto, Canada.

American Fisheries Society. 9

Beardsley, A. E., M. 8., Greeley, Colo.

Beason, W. H., Nashua, N. H:

Bennett, Charles P., Secretary of State, Providence, R. I.
Bense, W. E., Port Clinton, Ohio.

Bentley, B. Court, Westerly, R. I.

Bogle, C. M., Editor Pacific Fisherman, Seattle, Wash.
Bowman, W. F., Breakwater Hotel, Woods Hole, Mass.
Britton, F. H., St. Louis, Mo.

Campbell, 8. H., Laramie, Wyo.

Champlin, John H., Westerly, R. I,

Chandler, Horatio, Kingston, Mass.

Clark, Charles C., General Treasurer Office, Providence, R. I.
Clark, Walton F., Westerly, R. I.

Cone, Moses H., Flat Top Manor, Bowling Rock, N. C.
Degler, F. A., Cheat Bridge, Randolph County, W. Va.
Ferry, C. H., Room 1720 Old Colony Building, Chicago, IIl.
Goldsborough, E. L., U. 8. F. C., Washington, D. C.
Gordon, Jack, Paris, Tex.

Graham, A. R., Berkeley, Mass.

Grant, R. P., Clayton, N. J.

Gray, George M., Woods Hole, Mass.

Guard, J. E., Bullochville, Ga.

Harron, L. G., U. 8S. F. C., Washington, D. C.

Hayes, J. R., Detroit, Mich.

Hobart, T. D., Pampa, Gray County, Tex.

Hume, R. D., 421 Market Street, San Francisco, Cal.
Ingraham, E. W., Oil City, Pa.

Isaac, George H., U. S. F. C., Washington, D. C.
Jewett, Stephen S., Laconia, N. H.

Johnson, M. D., F. M., 117 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.
Johnson, George H., Riverside, R. I.

Johnson, R. 8., Manchester, Lowa.

Knight, Prof. A. P., Queens University, Kingston, Can.
Lambert, E. C., Manchester, N. H.

Lambson, G. N., U. S. F. C., Baird, Colo.

Latchford, Hon. F. R., Toronto, Canada.

Lewis, C. C., U. 8. F. C., Washington, D. C.

Mahone, A. H., White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

10 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Marshall, F. M., Washington, D. C.

McDonald, A. G., care A. Booth & Co., Detroit, Mich.
McDougal, J. M., Gunnison, Colo.

Parker, J. Fred, Assist. Secretary of State, Providence, R. I.
Purdum, James, K. P. P., Woods Hole, Mass.

lace, E. E., Green Lake, Me.

Randall, G. W., Plymouth, Mass.

Reed, C. A., Santa Cruz, Cal.

Rhodes, G. W., Lincoln, Neb.

Ripple, Robert, Woodruff, Wis.

Robinson, Robert IX., White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
Rooney, James, Ft. Stockton, Tex.

Sherwood, George H., American Museum, New York City.
Shurtleff, Merrill, Lancaster, N. H.

Simmons, Walter C., Providence, R. I.

Slade, George P., 309 Broadway, New York City.
Stevens, Arthur F., 227 West Grand Street, Elizabeth, N. J.
Stone, Arthur F., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Teal, J. N., Portland, Oregon.

Thomas, H. G., Stowe, Vt.

Thompson, Wiliam H., Alexandria Bay, N. Y.
Tucker, Dr. Ernest F., The Marquam, Portland, Oregon.
Turner, Avery, Amarillo, Tex.

Veeder, John J., Woods Hole, Mass.

Wallich, Claudius, U. S. F. C., Oregon City, Oregon.
Walsh, Joseph, Woods Hole, Mass.

Warner, 8S. M., Glen Farm, Dorset, Vt.

Waterhouse, Rev. E. M., Providence, R. I.

Wolf, Herman T., 489 The Bourse, Philadelphia, Pa.
Worth, 8S. G., Edenton, N. C.

Wride, George A., Grindstone City, Mich.

Wykoff, C. F., 280 Broadway, New York.

President Bowers: Gentlemen, you are now called to order.
The usual formalities will be dispensed with. I hardly think
under the conditions that it is necessary to have any one to in-
duct the present president into office, as in the absence of Gen.
Bryant it will be necessary to postpone that event at least.

American Fisheries Society. 1]

The President then read his address, which is as follows:

Washington, D. C., July 17, 1903.
Members of the American Fisheries Society :
Gentlemen :—

As President of this Society I greet you and wish you well,
and as the head of the Bureau of Fisheries I welcome you to
Woods Hole and this building where you are met. To address
you thus in dual capacity and in this place, made memorable by
former successful meetings and by its association with the name
which we all honor and to which we shall this year pay visible
and enduring tribute, is a compliment which I appreciate and
value.

It is an honor significant of the relations which have always
existed between this Society and the Fish Commission. The two
are twin brothers of the fisheries conditions of thirty-two years
ago and the enthusiasm and hopefulness with which they were
met. At that time it had become increasingly obvious that some
of our fisheries were being depleted to a degree which would soon
make futile their further pursuit for sport or profit. It was clear
that man had destructively disturbed nature’s pre-existing bal-
ance and that man alone would re-establish it. Both among those
directly interested in the fisheries by reason of the sport or pro-
fit derivable from them and in legislative bodies, the adoption
of systematic and vigorous measures for the restoration of the
fisheries was gaining advocates.

There was existent in the country at that time a little body of
progressive men, similar in character to that which now consti-
tutes the membership of this Society, who saw clearly and acted
wisely. Some of them, appreciating fully the value of an or-
ganization holding stated meetings for the exchange of experi-
ence and information, formed themselves into this Society which
has since its founding held a high place in the annals of Ameri-
can fish culture and all that makes for the good of the fisheries.
At the same time the general agitation of the subject and the
representations of Professor Baird secured from Congress the
appointment of a commissioner and a small appropriation for
the purpose of carrying on certain investigations upon the causes
of the decrease of fishes and remedies therefor. One of the earli-

12 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

est acts of this Society was to aid in procuring increased appro-
priations for this purpose, and from that time to this the Ameri-
can Fisheries Society and the United States Fish Commission
have been in close and mutually profitable relations.

It was fortunate for the Fish Commission that there was
available at the time of its inception a master mind whose
breadth, learning, and disinterestedness had the respect of all
interested in the work of rescuing the fisheries from the condi-
tions in which they were sinking. With a reputation already
world-wide, and securing and assuming as a labor of love the
burden of organizing and directing the new Commission, no
taint of self-seeking could be attributed to his efforts at that
time. Fish culture was not yet divested of its novelty and skep-
ticism was still unallayed. Scientific knowledge was less extend-
ed than now and but little accurate knowledge was attainable
concerning the fisheries and the conspicuous conditions upon
which they depended. To the acquirement of such information,
to the demonstration of the value of fish culture on a large scale,
the peculiar development and extension of improved methods,
Professor Baird devoted himself, and he was ably assisted by
this Society as a whole and by some of its members individually.
Professor Baird’s administration was long and able, and under
him the Commission passed through infancy to advanced knowl-
edge and sturdy manhood which received the respect and admi-
ration of the world.

Since the foundation of these two organizations the United
States has taken a conspicuous place in all matters relating to the
fisheries, and American methodsand investigations are recognized
as criteria for foreign emulation, study and profit. Hatcheries
have multiphed and improved and the fisheries work of the Fed-
eral Government has grown beyond the hopes and expectations of
its projectors. Congress has pursued a liberal policy, and while
all that has been asked for has not been granted, the experience
of the past five years indicates that the work which is being car-
ried on meets with the approval of Congress and their confidence
is expressed in increased appropriations. President Roosevelt’s
interest in all that pertains to the work in which this Society
and the Bureau of Fisheries is engaged is well known and is a
stimulus to governmental activities in these lines. Secretary

American Fisheries Society. 13

Cortelyou is also favorably disposed and it is assured that the
good work independently carried on under the Fish Commission
in the past will be continued and extended under its new status
as the Bureau of Fisheries of the Department of Commerce and
Labor.

During the past year the Fish Commission, in addition to its
usual extensive fish-cultural operations, is credited with import-
ant investigations in Hawaii, Alaska, and in the several parts of
the United States. Experiments are now under way, or about
to be undertaken, which it is believed will lead to the develop-
ment of practical methods of culture of sponges, terrapin, green
turtle, and frog, and improvement in the methods of oyster cul-
ture. At the present time there is in course of erection a station
to be devoted to the lobster and lobster culture, according to a
system developed jointly by the Fish Commission of the United
States and the Rhode Island State Fish Commission.

In the past thirty-two years much has been done but much re-
mains. The possibility for originating investigations in fish cul-
ture and its cognates are not yet exhausted. An accurate knowl-
edge of causes and diagnoses of the treatment of diseases which
attack fish in confinement is urgently needed, and, as you have
been made aware by the paper presented last year and the one an-
nounced for the present meeting, this problem is now being sys-
tematically attacked. Another need is the study of nutrition of
young fishes and the development of a more rational method of
feeding. Intensive production of the natural food of certain
species is in places almost a necessity and the discovery and de-
velopment of a cheap and practical system is highly desirable
A score of other desiderata might be mentioned and they will
suggest themselves to those of you who are practically engaged
in fish culture or research. It is a stimulus to such research and
investigations that this Society and these meetings are chiefly
valuable.

We have an interesting and instructive program, from the
consideration of which I shall no longer detain you. I trust that
this meeting will be pleasant and profitable and that we shall
go from it fortified to carry to greater perfection the various
works upon which we are severally engaged.

(The address was received with great applause. )

14 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

President: In the absence of the chairman and treasurer of
the committee in charge of the memorial services concerning the
unveiling of a memorial to Prof. Baird, I deem it proper at this
time that a committee should be appointed by the American
Fisheries Society to assume and take control of this whole mat-
ter. I therefore suggest that Mr. Frank N. Clark, and Mr. W. De
C. Ravenel, and Mr. E. F. Locke, be named as members of that
committee, subject to the approval of the Society.

Secretary: I have a letter from Mr. Blackford in which he
says: “I am so ill this week that I can hardly write intelligi-
bly,” and he apologizes for not being able to be present, and has
turned over the matter of the memorial services entirely to this
meeting, and encloses a check which might perhaps be consid-
ered later, for a balance that has inured.

President: I found, in looking over some memoranda of Dr.
Smith’s, that arrangements had been made with Prof. Brooks of
Johns Hopkins University to deliver this address,and I commun-
icated with Prof. Brooks a week or so ago, and he gave me to
understand that he would be here tomorrow. It would be neces-
sary, however, under a previous arrangement made with Dr.
Smith, for the Society to defray his expenses. I think that was
the arrangement.

Secretary: That is the understanding.

President: That is, out of the memorial fund already pro-
vided for?

Secretary: Yes, and whatever money is left will probably
inure to the coffers of the American Fisheries Society.

Mr. 'Titcomb: I move that we take up as the next business,
the naming of the various committees usually appointed, and
add to those of last year, a committee on program, the duty of
that committee to be to arrange for time of meetings, and the
time for recreation, which will go with the meetings hand in
hand. As many of you know, we can hold meetings while we
are on the boat, going to any place we wish to visit; and some
of the proprietors of commercial hatcheries here, desire the So-
ciety to visit their places.

Another committee I would suggest, is a committee on pa-
pers, who should receive the papers, ascertain just how many
there are besides those that are on the printed program, and ar-

American Fisheries Society. 15

range for the order of reading, so that it can be annouced in ad-
vance, giving those who have special interest in one line of work
an opportunity to be present at that meeting, if they cannot
attend all. In making these motions I request you to omit me
from any of those committees.

President: Your suggestion is a good one, but | had intended
that the committee just appointed should be the committee on
program, and if there be no objection it will be so considered.

Mr. Titcomb: That is entirely satisfactory.

President: In regard to the committee on papers, I will put
that motion.

(Unanimously carried).

The President appointed on that committee Mr. Titcomb
Dr. Bean, and Mr. Seymour Bower.

The following telegrams were received and greeted with ap-
plause :
Washington, D. C., July 21.
To Hon. George M. Bowers, President,

Society of Fisheries.
Accept for yourself and your associates my best wishes for a
most interesting and successful meeting.
GEORGE B. CORTELYOU, Secretary,
Department of Commerce and Labor.

Boston, Mass., July 21.
To Commissioner of Fisheries,

Woods Hole.
Will be at Woods Hole this afternoon. W. K. BROOKS.

The Secretary’s report was then called for.

Secretary: The Secretary’s report is embodied in the trans:
actions for the last vear, and the only report that the Secretary
has to make in addition is that during the year the work of the
Secretary has been very much helped by the United States Fish
Commission in furnishing a list of some 409 names of eligible
candidates for membership, to whom a circular letter has been
sent, and we have added approximately about fifty new members
who have sent in their request for membership, and usually with
a very grateful acknowledgement of the courtesy of the invitation
extended to them ; and some of them will be here I think. There
is nothing new that the Secretary has to report, except to turn

16 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

over to the Society a number of letters from different parts of

the country from those who acknowledge the value of this So-

ciety, its work and influence, and wish it Godspeed. I do not”
think there is anything else that the Secretary has to report.

The treasurer reports the amount of money received from these

new members.

(Secretary’s report accepted).

Treasurer’s report called for, which was presented as follows,
read, and at Mr. Willard’s request referred to the auditing com-
mittee, after being received :

To the American Fisheries Society
of the United States of America:
Gentlemen :—
I herewith submit my annual report as Treasurer from August

5th, 1902, to July 21st, 1903:

RECHIPTS.
Balance: inl TreaSUTY se hee t ctorotsieteieicvereione a) erence $101.14
Wearly, dues and admission) Teesiy iii erica 278.00
life membership: “GWES'..<avsisesere «cre sie ce eleeroerrversieusioreree 30.00
Interest: .on= balances’. 65%... a aleroie, <otsreteetotonereiouses 1.50
$410.64
EXPENDITURES.
1902.
Amey 12. INGw led Series sank nceupayaciecimere caereer ener Che eo
Aug, 12:) 300) stamped ‘envelopes= oc. «sme nlelecelereia 6.36
Aus 22. 100 stamped envelopesean ace eee eee 2.12
Oct) W105” 100 stamped jenvelopesSen.so asc. oe eee 2.12
Sept. 16. H. D. Goodwin, stenographer............ 102.00
Dec. 3. Post Publishing Co. (By Secretary)...... 152.60
Dees 13. 1G bs Peabodya-secretaryece steerer 27.83
19038.
May 227. RECEIDTSH a0.) d siterersd era eine ine ieee SUB
May-2. 00 stampedtrenwvielopessrci-eie siete erect 2.12
IUNE 2K | ReECCIDL DOOKS ands hixe. erento aes 5.75
June 29. 100 stamped envelopes.................:; 2.12
July 17. George F. Peabody, Secretary........... 43.47
$347.99
Balance Gash on Wands. exc iso crcre eetereree clone ienareiens 62.65
$410.64
Depository of funds, Manufacturers Trust Company, Provi-
dence, R. I. C. W. WILLARD, Treasurer.

Westerly, R. I., July 21st, 1903.

American Fisheries Society. Li

Secretary: I would like to bring up a matter now perhaps
for the meeting to decide upon. I think that whoever occupies
the position of secretary next year, should have an appropriation
for the expenses of the office. There is a great deal of clerical
work, and very few men have the time to give it, if they have
anything else to do, and my stenographer has spent so much
extra time at it, that I have paid her $25 extra each year, which
I am glad to contribute, but I think it is well that no one should
be burdened with that, and I think there should be as large an
appropriation as that to pay for the extra work, of which there
is a great deal. I have sent out nearly 250 letters relating to the
business of the Society. During the last year I had quite a large
correspondence, receiving letters constantly, and my stenogra-
pher has had that extra work, besides the editing of the report,
and it is quite a task too for the Secretary to collate all the ma-
terial, and do the proof reading and all that sort of thing, and
I would respectfully suggest and move that the Society appro-
priate a sum not less than $25 to the Secretary to pay his ex-
penses.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Secretary: It is understood that this is not retroactive, but
for the future.

President: That will be understood.

The President then appointed the following committees :

Committee of five on nomination of officers: Mr. Seymour
Bower, Dr. J. A. Henshall, Mr. E. N. Carter, Mr. R. T. White,
and Mr. John D. Whish.

Committee of three on time and place of next meeting: M2.
John W. Titcomb, Mr. W. P. Morton, and Mr. John L. Leary.

Auditing committee: Mr. 8. G. Worth, Mr. H. D. Dean, and
Mr. W. H. Boardman.

Mr. Titcomb: I can bring in some specimens of bass to
start the bass question, if you wish me to do so. I have no paper
on the subject.

Mr. F. N. Clark: Do not start the bass question now before
dinner. (Laughter).

If you will allow the committee on program to confer, we

will submit a program to you before you adjourn.
2

18 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Mr. Titcomb: The committee on time and place will be very
glad to hear from all those who are interested in that question,
24 any time after this meeting.

For the committee on papers, I will request all those who
have papers to submit them to us as soon as convenient, so that
the various subjects can be arranged to come together.

Mr. Charles G. Atkins: Do I understand that Mr. Titecomb
desires to have the manuscripts submitted ?

Mr. Titcomb: We would be glad to see them.

Mr. Clark: 'The program committee feel they have not time
to prepare a complete program at this time, and therefore beg
leave to submit the following partial report, in regard to the
program for today, and this evening will submit a full report of
the program for the several days doings, including the memorial
exercises. We suggest that the Society meet at 2 o’clock on the
Fish Hawk, and for an hour take up the papers on bass and dis-
cuss them, and that at 5 o’clock adjourn for evening dinner, to
meet again at 8 o’clock in this room for further discussion of the
bass papers (if they have not been completed), and then take up
the trout papers.

Report unanimously accepted.

Secretary: I suggest that the report be typewritten and
posted.

Mr. Clark: That will be done.

Recess until 2 p.m.

AFTERNOON SESSION, 2:30 O’CLOCK.

Same day, 2:30 p. m., meeting called to order by the Presi-
dent on board the Fish Commission steamer, Fish Hawk.

Roll was called and applications for membership read by Mr.
Willard.

Mr. Clark: I move that the names read be elected as mem-
bers of this Society.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Mr. Clark: The committee on program desire to suggest a
change in the program. You will remember, they suggested that
papers on the bass question be discussed here on the boat, and

American Fisheries Society. 19

as that is a very important subject the committee have decided
that on account of the difficulty of discussing these papers on
the deck of the boat, it will be better to change the program in
that respect, and that papers by Dr. Bartlett on “Angling for
Carp,” and Mr. Mead, of Providence, Rhode Island, on “Recent
Advancement in Lobster Culture,” be taken up now. We think
the question of bass could be better discussed later.

President: If there are no objections it will be taken as the
sense of the meeting that the proposed change of program is ac-
ceptable.

(No objections were offered).

Secretary: I would like to present the name of Mr. George
B. Cortelyou, Secretary of the Department of Commerce and La-
bor, to be made an honorary member of this Society.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried amid great ap-
plause.

The paper by Mr. S. P. Bartlett, of Quincy, Ill., on “Angling
for Carp and Some Hints as to the Best Mode of Cooking,” was
then read by the Secretary and discussion had upon it.

Mr. T. W. Willard then read a paper by Mr. A. D. Mead of
the Commission of Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island on the sub-
ject of “Recent Advances in Lobster Culture,” and the paper
was discussed.

Dr. James A. Henshall then read a paper on “Fish Food,”
which was discussed.

Mr. Charles G. Atkins then read a paper on “The Live-Food
Problem,” which was discussed.

At 4:30 p. m. recess was taken until 8 p. m. the same day.

EVENING SESSION, 8:00 O’CLOCK.

At 8 p. m., same day and place, July 21st, 1903, meeting
called to order by the President.
Applicants admitted to membership.

The Secretary then read a letter from Mr. J. E. Gunckel,
which is as follows:

20 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Toledo, O., July 20th, 1903.
Hon, George F. Peabody, Secretary.
Woods Hole, Mass.
My Dear Sir:—

I very deeply regret my inability to attend the 32nd annual
meeting of the American Fisheries Society.

Of all the associations that I belong to none seems to be nearer
to me than this society. I have learned to like the members and
their methods of cordiality. All I regret is that we haven’t more
truthful anglers among them. I have tried for many years to instill
this important addition to a fisherman’s life, to some of the mem-
bers, but they absolutely refuse to follow example. I know you will
have a splendid time and hope to meet you next year.

I enclose one dollar, annual dues for 1903-04.

This is my busy time of the year with excursions, being a rail-
road man I can’t go so far away from my territory.

Hope the members will not forget.
J. E. GUNCKEL.

Also letter from Mr. J. J. Stranahan, which is as follows:

Bullochville, Ga., July 28th, 1903.
Hon George F. Peabody, Secretary,
American Fisheries Society:
Dear Mr. Peabody :—

I have been so desperately busy that it has been impossible for
me to work up a list of new members this year. Will double last one
next year

I enclose check for $7.00 to pay for annual dues for

B. Andrews, Columbus, Ga., (think it is erroneously A. Andrews
in last year’s list).

E. M. Self, Bullochville, Ga.

Samuel Lovejoy, Bullochviiie, Ga.

J. J. Stranahan, Bullochville, Ga.

And membership fees for

J. E. Guard, Bullochville, Ga.

George H. Isaac, Washington, D. C.

C. C. Lewis, Washington, D. C.

I also enclose my paper on black bass. I have written Mr. John
W. Titcomb asking him to read it for me.

My heart and soul is with you all in this meeting and I hope
that it will be the best ever held by the society. The commissioner
very kindly ordered me to go to the meeting if I could be spared,
but it is just out of the question. Yours very truly,

J. J. STRANAHAN.

Also part of letter from Prof. Henry B. Ward:
Lincoln, Neb., July 16th, 1903.
Hon. George M. Bowers,
U.S. Fish Commission, Woods Hole, Mass.:

My Dear Commissioner Bowers:
I regret very much that personal matters will prevent my being

American Fisheries Society. 2]

present at the meeting of the Fisheries Society, but have sent a
paper, which I trust may be of some interest.
With regards, I remain very truly yours,
HENRY B. WARD.

The Program Committee then presented the following pro-

gram:
PROGRAM.

MEETINGS OF AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY.
WOODS HOLE, MASS., JULY,. 1905.

July 21.

12. m.—Assembly Room, Fish Commission Building. Rou-
tine business.

2 p. m.—Steamer Fish Hawk. Reading and discussion of
papers.

S p. m.—Assembly Room, Fish Commission Building. Fur-
ther reading of papers and discussion of same.

9:30 a. m.—Assembly Room, Fish Commission Building.
Reading and discussion of papers.

2:30 p. m.—Unveiling and dedication of memorial to Prof.
Spencer F. Baird.

8:00 p. m.—Assembly Room, Fish Commission Building.

Reading and discussion of papers.

July 23.
8:30 a. m.—Steamer Fish Hawk, which will leave Woods
Hole for Providence, R. [., at 7:30 a. m. Report of standing

and special committees.

Report accepted and adopted.

Mr. Titcomb: The Committee on Papers have to say that 1
was first suggested that we have the bass papers, but IT hear tha
a good many feel fatigued, and the bass papers are still coming
in, and it looked as if there would be a long discussion, and much
time taken in reading them; it has, therefore, been suggested
that several of the papers, which will not naturally take so much

time in discussion, be read this evening. Among those may be

22 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

mentioned one by Mr. Waldo F. Hubbard on Transportation of
Green Brook Trout and Salmon Eggs, relative to the compari-
son of the two species of eggs with reference to bearing trans-
portation or rough usage ; also a paper on the “Striped Bass” by
Mr. Daniel B. Fearing of Newport; and in connection with that
Mr. S. G. Worth of Edenton, N. C., will have something to say
about the success of his work in hatching striped bass for the
United States Fish Commission this last spring; also a paper
by Mr. John P. Whish of Albany on “Some Facts showing the
Commercial Value of Fish Culture in New York State ;” and
there are several other papers which will be ready in case those
do not take up all the time.

Paper by Mr. Waldo F. Hubbard on “Transportation of
Green Brook Trout and Salmon Eggs,” relative to the capacity
of the two species of eggs with reference to bearing transporta-
tion or rough usage, was then read and discussed.

Rey. E. M. Waterhouse of Providence, R. I., then read a pa-

per by Mr. D. B. Fearing of Newport, entitled, “Some Early
Notes on Striped Bass,” which was discussed.

Adjourned to same place July 22nd, 1903, 9:30 a. m.

Wednesday, July 22, 1903.

United States Fish Commission Building, July 22nd, 1903,
9:30 a. m., meeting called to order by the President.

Report of the Secretary in conjunction with the Baird Mem-
orial, presented.

Secretary: There is no regular report of the Baird Memorial
Committee, excepting a letter and statement from Mr. Black-
ford. He encloses a list of subscribers to the Baird Memorial
fund, a list of disbursements, and a check for $94.85, being the
balance on hand. This is to be used for the expenses of the
speakers, ete., at the unveiling. Mr. Blackford is so ill that he
cannot be here.

The President then read a letter from Mr. H. M. Smith: |

American Fisheries Society.

a
cow
Ny

Sendai, Japan, June 17th, 1903.
My Dear Mr. Bowers:

In regard to the Baird memorial exercises to be held during the
meeting of the Fisheries Society, I beg to advise you that I placed
all the papers and plans in the hands of Mr. E. G. Blackford, the
Treasurer. I did not hear from him before leaving Washington, but
I suppose he has gone ahead with preparations, contemplating the
attachment of the tablet and the covering of the stone with an
American flag, address by Prof. Brooks, and perhaps by Mr. Black-
ford and Mr. Blatchford, and unveiling of the boulder by Vinal Ed-
wards.

I hope the Fisheries Society, under your presidency, will have
its most successful meeting, and wish I could be there to help in any
possible way to that end.

I trust the new fiscal year will have opened auspiciously for you
personally and officially.

Before this reaches you I expect to be on the long homeward
journey, the end of which will be most gratifying.

With kindest regards to yourself and family, I am,

Yours sincerely, H. M. SMITH.
The Honorable George M. Bowers,
U.S. Fish Commissioner, and
President of the American Fisheries Society:

There are many people who will be at Woods Hole who never
saw Prof. Baird. Permit me to suggest that his portrait in the
Wasnington office (my room) be sent on and and hung in the resi-
dence.

Mr. Titcomb: The committee have to present first some
specimens of oysters from Puget Sound, and these were sent to
Mr. O’Mally, with a letter which he has authorized me to open,
and Dr. Graham, who is interested in the oyster culture here,
and who has been studying the question, has kindly consented
to read it, after which if you will ask him questions instead of
me, perhaps you will get more information.

Letter from Huntoon Oyster Company regarding samples of
native seed oysters taken from Samish Bay, Dagget County,
Washington, was read and discussed.

Mr. Titcomb: I move that the thanks of the Society be ren-
dered to the Huntoon Oyster Company through the Secretary
for submitting this exhibit, and suggest that if it is possible to
obtain a photograph of that webbing with the spat upon it, inas-
much as it seems to be an entirely new method of value to other

24 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

oyster culturists, one be taken for publication in the report with
the letter.

President: Do you think that should be done by the Fish-
eries Society ?

Mr. Titcomb: Either the Commission or the Society.

Secretary: I think the Commission had better do it, fur-
nish me the photograph and I will publish it.

President: That letter asks in a general way for informa-
tion, and | think it would be more proper to have the Fish Com-
mission do that than to have the expense placed upon the Ameri-
can Fisheries Society.

Resolution of thanks unanimously carried.

President: The next in order will be the report of the Com-
mittee on Nomination of Officers.

Mr. Bower: ‘The Committee on Nomination of Officers for
this Society for the ensuing year, after due consideration re-
spectfully and unanimously recommend the following candi-
dates :

For President—Frank N. Clark of Michigan.

For Vice President—Dr. Tarleton H. Bean of New York.

For Recording Secretary—George F. Peabody of Wisconsin.

For Corresponding Secretary—W. DeC. Ravenel of Wash-
ington.

C. W. Willard of Rhode Island.

For Treasurer

FOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
kk. W. Blatchford, Chairman, Ilhinois.
(. C. Wood, Massachusetts.
R. D. Hume, San Francisco.
M. EK. Merrill, Vermont.
J. HK. Leary, Texas.
Kk. A. Tulian, Colorado.

=

Mr. Titcomb: I move that the report of the committee be
accepted and adopted.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Report of Committee on Selection of Time and Place called
for.

Mr. Titcomb: The Committee will be glad to hear from any

American Fisheries Society. 25

who have suggestions as to places, and inasmuch as we are pretty
busy today, it was intended to hold a committee meeting tomor-
row on the Fish Hawk which will start at 7:30 a. m. promptly.

Mr. Henry T. Root, of Providence, R. I.: At the meeting at
Put-in-Bay last year, after it was decided that this meeting be
held at Woods Hole, the delegation from Rhode Island extended
an invitation to the Society to partake of a clam bake in Rhode
Island waters this year. That invitation was extended in good
faith and was accepted at that time, and we expect that every-
body that is here, and their friends, will go up there tomorrow
on the Fish Hawk, and partake of our clam bake. We have been
at the pains of sending up some 10 bushels of our own clams that
the Rhode Island Commission has raised, to give you a taste of
what we can do in the artificial propagation of clams. And we
haven’t any doubt at all but that you will have a good time.
Crescent Park is a typical resort of Rhode Island, has all the
paraphernalia of those shore resorts, and you can put in your
time to good advantage. The United States Fish Commission
has a very interesting exhibit there too, and we feel that you all
ought to come, and we shall be disappointed if you do not.
( Applause).

President: It is hardly necessary to put the motion to ac-
cept the invitation, as I am sure every one present will go and
take his wife and children, if he has them, if it is expected.

Mr. Root: It is expected. You will remember last year
that all said they would come and bring their wives, but I do not
think that they have done it. If we had known that you were
not going to bring your ladies we would have invited some for

you. (Applause).

Mr. John B. Whish, Secretary of the Forest Fish and Game
Commission of New York State, then read a paper on the sub-
ject of “Commercial Values. Some Notes on Studies of the Work
oft the Forest Fish and Game Commission of New York State,”
which was discussed.

A paper on the subject of “Fish on the Farm, What Species
to Select,” by Mr. Samuel Lovejoy, was read by Dr. Bean, and

«discussed.

26 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

The bass question was introduced by Mr. 'Titcomb, who read
a paper by Mr. J. J. Stranahan, which was discussed.

A paper was then read on the subject of the “Propagation of
Large-Mouth Bass at San Marcos Station,” by John L. Leary,
Superintendent, and the paper was discussed.

Adjourned until 2:30 p. m.

At 2:30 p. m., July 22d, 1903, the meeting was called to
order by the President at the Boulder in the grounds of the Fish
Commission at Woods Hole, and memorial exercises conducted,
whereupon the meeting adjourned to meet at 8 p. m. at the office
of the United States Fish Commission.

EVENING SESSION, 8:00 O’CLOCK.

Same day, 8 p. m., convention called to order at the office of
the Fish Commission by the President.

The Secretary then read a letter from Mr. Henry B. Ward:
Lincoln, Neb., July 17th, 1903.
My Dear Sir:—

Up to the present date I had expected to be at Woods Hole for
the meeting of the society, but some personal matters will make it
impossible for me to leave here next week. I take the liberty of
transmitting the title and will send you the manuscript in time to
be read. The paper is entitled “Some Notes on Fish Food,in the
Lakes of the Sierras.” I think that some observations made this
spring will prove of considerable interest, in view of the fact that
these lakes are without the usual supply of fish food, and yet have
successfully maintained trout planted there during recent years.

Regretting my inability to be present, and extending best wishes
to yourself and other members of the society, I remain,

Very truly yours, HENRY B. WARD.

Mr. George F. Peabody, Secretary American Fisheries Society,
Woods Hole, Mass.

The discussion on bass was then resumed.

A motion was then made by Dr. F. N. Clark, seconded and
unanimously carried that the President appoint a committee of
three to determine the question of when young bass shall be
called fry and when they shall be called fingerling, and frame a
definition not only for the United States Fish Commission, but
for all the state committees and private hatcheries, the commit-

American Fisheries Society.

we
~2

tee, however, which shall be from the American Fisheries So-
ciety, not to be confined exclusively to the terms fry and finger-
ling, but to be authorized to select or invent any suitable term.

The President appointed as such committee Mr. F. N. Clark,
Mr. Seymour Bower and Mr. W. DeC. Ravenel.

Mr. M. C. Marsh then read a paper on the subject of “A Fa-
tality Among Fishes in Water Containing an Excess of Dis-
solved Air,” which was discussed.

Mr. Titcomb: As there are only two more papers, Mr. Pres-
ident, I suggest that those be read tomorrow on the boat, and
that we now adjourn.

Adjourned to meet on Steamer Fish Hawk next day, Thurs-
day, July 23rd, 7:30 a. m.

Thursday, July 23, 1903.

On board Fish Hawk, July 23rd, 1903, 8 a. m., convention
called to order by the President.
Applicants for: membership duly elected.

The report of the committee on time and place was then
called for.

Mr. Titcomb: The Committee on Time and Place met last
evening to hear what any one had to offer for inducements as to
the time and place of the next meeting. No one appeared to
advocate any place in particular except Dr. Bean and Mr. Clark.
Mr. Clark extended the invitation for the city of Buffalo which
had been transmitted to him through circulars, as is customary
with quite a number of these cities which entertain conventions.
Mr. Peabody stated that he had received circulars from several
other cities in the same way—Cleveland, Detroit and others.
Dr. Bean advocated having the meeting during the exposition at
St. Louis, his chief argument being that at that time there will
be an international fisheries congress. The committee in taking
into consideration Dr. Bean’s suggestion, are unanimous in their
opinion that during an exposition like the one in St. Louis, the
Society would be lost during the meetings in the convention hall.

28 Thirty-Second Annual: Meeting

which would be tendered by the exposition people free. They
could carry on their discussions if they would stay there, but it
is feared that the members would want to be taking in the expo-
sition. Other than during the actual hours of discussion the
members would be scattered all over the city. There is no guar-
antee of any hotel accommodations—in fact there is practically
a guaranty that we could not get them, and we would have to
scatter around among the private houses. Now, the social in-
tercourse which we get at these meetings is very valuable. We
can hear Mr. Clark begin talking fish at 4 o’clock in the morn-
ing and we can hear him at 12 o’clock at night, after we go to
bed, and we learn a good deal outside of the reading of papers.
I think Dr. Bean’s arguments, some of them, are very strong,
but the committee believes that these meetings should be held
at some point where they can be quiet, out in the country, for
instance, or a place like this where there are some particular
reasons for assembling, and if possible where they can have ae-
cess to at least one fish cultural station, to investigate and dis-
cuss methods right at the point where the fish are propagated.

In the absence of any other invitation than that from the
exposition people, the committee recommend that the matter of
time and place of next meeting be left to the incoming President
and the Secretary of the Society, to be decided later on.

Motion made and seconded that the report of the committee
be accepted and adopted.

Mr. White moved that the matter be referred to the conven-
tion to determine as to the time and place of the next meeting.

(Declared out of order by the President).

Dr. Bean: I would like to have the privilege of saying a
few words about the proposition to meet at the time of holding
the exposition in St. Louis. The invitations which are extended
by the President of the Exposition Company, and the mayor, as
well as the President of the Board of Trade, give assurance that
this Society will be entertained in a hospitable manner, and that
there will be no difficulty about accommodations. Those of you
who know D. R. Francis will certainly know that he is a man
who keeps his word; on that score there need be no reluctance
on the part of any member of this Society in going to St. Louis.

American Fisheries Society. 29

I have lived there myself 19 months and I know it is easy to find
accommodations within reach of the exposition grounds. Of
course the hotel accommodations are scanty, I admit that. I do
not live at a hotel now, and one need not confine himself to hotel
accommodations in St. Louis. During the dedication: ceremo-
nies 100,000 people could have been accommodated in private
houses who did not avail themselves of the opportunity and went
away disgruntled because they could not get into the hotels. |
do not blame the people for not over-building. Chicago and
Buffalo had their fingers burned by over-speculation in that di-
rection. St. Louis is conservative, its financial standing is of the
highest, and there is no reason why they should build beyond
what the natural growth of the city will sustain.

Now, I want to say another word in another direction. The
United States Fish Commission is going to have at St. Louis the
finest display of fishery and fish culture that it has ever prepared
or that the world has ever seen. That is one feature that we wili
have at St. Louis, and only at St. Louis. We will certainly not
have it at Buffalo. The nations of the world are coming to St.
Louis and they are coming there bent on acquiring information
about the fisheries and fish culture of the United States. Repre-
sentative men will be there from all over the world. Now, gen-
tlemen, how will it appear if the force and the life of fish culture
in the United States, represented by the United States Fish
Commission and the American Fisheries Society, should be
omitted from that program to which we have invited our for-
eign representatives? It would be a shame and a disappoint-
ment, and I do not believe this society would feel that it had
done itself justice. The American Fisheries Society represents
today the activity of fish culture interests in our country. The
people who are coming are the best that Europe, India, Ceylon,
Australia, China and Japan, can produce. France and Germany
will be there, also Great Britain, Norway and Sweden. Now,
why should the United States be left out as far as its representa-
tion by the American Fisheries Society in connection with the
United States Fish Commission is concerned? That is about
all there is of fish culture. I do not mean, of course, to omit the
states, not by any means, but the states, too, will be there, 20 or
more of them will be represented in that little building over

30 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

which I have the pleasure of presiding, and still more of them
in other buildings. Now, would it do, do you think it would be
altogether creditable to us—we have labored long and earnestly
to advance the cause of fish culture—to stop right now and hid=
our light under a bushel and let the foreigners go away believing
that the state of Missouri, for instance, is all that there is of fish
culture? You will have there the fish culture station within
Forest Park which can be visited; the state of Missouri has a
fish car which I have not the slightest doubt will be placed at
your service if you wish to go to the Ozark to see how the rain-
bow trout is thriving, and you can study other fishes to your
heart’s content. Furthermore, you will gain more members in
St. Louis than in any other city of equal size, and I hope this
subject will be very fully considered before it is left in uncer-
tainty. (Applause). With due respect to this committee, we
have a large gathering of members, larger than we have ever seen
at our meetings before, and if it would be in order I would pro-
pose that this gathering here vote upon the place where we are
to go, and I make that as a motion.
Motion seconded.

President: There is a motion before the house, the adoption
of the report of the committee.

Mr. Titeomb: As chairman of the committee perhaps I
ought to explain still further the consideration given to Dr.
Bean’s argument. It is true that there will be an international
fisheries congress, and we understand that there will be repre-
sentatives from all over the world of the fishery interests, and
the states will undoubtedly have delegations to attend this inter-
national fisheries congress. The United States Fish Commis-
sion ordinarily sends representatives also to the International
Fisheries Congress; in Paris it had two representatives.

Now, the Fisheries Society would meet, of course, as a socie-
ty. This society would not run the International Fisheries Con-
gress. It is the privilege of every member of this Society to at-
tend that congress, and of course if the meetings were held there
and held on separate days so that it would be possible to do so,
the members would have a chance to talk fish a week instead of
three days. But I cannot see just how the Society as a society

American Fisheries Society. 31

ean hold its convention in connection with the International
Fisheries Congress on the same date and in the same meeting
without losing its identity.

President: Have the time and place of holding the National
Fisheries Congress been fixed ?

Mr. Titcomb: I understand not.

Dr. Bean: I believe not.

Mr. Titcomb: Then how can we determine the date of our
meeting.

Dr. Bean: The exposition has furnished one of its finest
buildings, the new library building of the University, which is
divided up into session rooms, capable of holding all the con-
gresses that may be there in any one day, and there is no reason
on earth why the Fisheries Society should be lost—in fact, it
could not be lost—it could not lose itself if it tried. Imagine
the Fisheries Society lost. We have heard of a lost salmon or «
lost carp, but never of a lost fisheries society, and I hope we
never will. (Applause).

Mr. Atkins: Allow me to say that it seems to me decidedly
better that we should not undertake at this meeting to determine
when or where we shall hold our next meeting. I think the prop-
osition of the committee to leave that to be determined by the
officers later, is a very wise one, and that we had better not un-
dertake here to fix the matter, because I at least on my part do
not feel sufficiently informed in relation to it as to what the facil-
ities will be at St. Louis and other places.

Dr. Bean: I understand that the incoming president has a
choice.

Mr. Clark: No, I want to correct that, not that I care to
have this left to the committee, but I wish to correct the doctor
right here. I have no choice, and so stated last evening before
the committee, and I think the doctor will bear me out, that per-
sonally I have no choice, I was simply doing that which 1
thought was my duty as a courtesy to a city that is entertaining
many conventions, the same as my own city of Detroit. The
secretary of the convention association of Buffalo, composed of
the city officials of Buffalo and many others (very fine gentle-
men), corresponded with me and urged that I take the matter
up. I had a great deal of correspondence with them and tried

Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

su)
ow

my best to have a member of that committee here, and after all
the correspondence and considering to a certain extent my posi-
tion in the American Fisheries Society as being one of the old
members, I felt it was due to that city and committee that
should present the name, but I took special pains last evening
to say it was not my personal choice. Am I not right?

Dr Bean: ~ Wes:

Mr. Titcomb: For the committee I wish to say that they
have some of the same reasons for recommending that we do not
meet at Buffalo which they have for recommending that we do
not meet in St. Louis. Buffalo would be a more comfortable city
in July than St. Louis. St. Louis will be very hot, probably, but
the committee believe that this Society should meet in some quiet
place, where there are no distractions whatever, where we can
have our meetings by ourselves and enjoy the country air and alk
that sort of thing, and if possible get at some fish cultural sta-
tion, or go to some point centrally located where it will be possi-
ble for us to take in the St. Louis exposition on the way.

Mr. Clark: Just one word more, if you will permit. The
members may think I want this thing left to the officers, but 1
do not. ‘The only reason | have not positively refused to allow it
to go that way is, that so long as I have been an active member
in the Fisheries Society, some twenty-seven or twenty-eight
years, | do not think I can call to mind a time when the recom-
mendations of the committee on time and place or officers were
turned down.

Mr. Atkins: I move that the committee be instructed to in-
vestigate this matter further and to report to the officers of the
Society at a later date in relation to the subject of the time and
place of the next meeting.

Dr. Bean: I would like an expression of opinion from the
members of this Society. I think we should accept or reject the
invitation of St. Louis. 1 have been sent here for the express
purpose of inviting the Society to meet at the exposition, and
they have given every assurance that the Society will be wel-
comed and well cared for, and I think that it is due to the expo-
sition that we have an expression of opinion of the membership:
present, and I would like to have it very much.

Secretary: I would like to say a word regarding the invita-

American Fisheries Society. BY

tion from the exposition and the mayor of the city, ete. Dr.
Bean is undoubtedly sincere and earnest, we all know that, and
these men who give this invitation are undoubtedly for the mo-
ment sincere and earnest, but they are going to be swallowed up
im thousands of invitations and of much larger societies than
this, and when we get there we simply would not be noticed.
Now, in Milwaukee—General Bryant will bear me out in that—
we had the mayor of the city, commercial societies and others
send us invitations and saying that they would make it pleasant
for us, yet we hardly saw anybody in Milwaukee—not that it is
necessary that we should be entertained, but yet it is something
to be in a place not so large but that we will be recognized in a
way.

Now, as to the accommodations at St. Louis in July. If we
are going to St. Louis we certainly should not go there in July,
because it is a very hot place, and not only that, but the city will
be thronged with people, and Mr. 'Titcomb’s point | think is very
well taken, that we ought to be in a place where we can meet to-
gether after the meetings to interchange thoughts and_ social
amenities, which we cannot do in a large city. We will have to
be scattered around at private houses and all that sort of thing,
and only meet at our regular sessions, and I fear very much that
the attractions for some of our friends here will be so great that
we may not be able to discover them at the meetings—I do not
know but what I would get lost myself in that case. (Laugh-
ter). Now, it seems to me that we ought to consider some quiet
place. J have had invitations as secretary from Cleveland, De-
troit, Niagara Falls and half a dozen of those places, which |
have not presented to the convention, because they are conven-
tional invitations and these are convention cities, and it is a pro-
fessional thing for them to attempt to get conventions there to
help out their hotels and one thing and another, and for that
reason, while I do not wish to have anything to do in deciding
this question, I do think it ought to be very carefully investi-
gated, and it seems to me the success of our meetings depends
very largely upon the location and the time, and we have, after
very careful investigation decided upon this time of year for
meeting. It seems to be an opportune time. Now, men who are

interested in schools and colleges, professors of biology, ete., such
3

-aPFfree: *-'eo

34 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

as General Bryant, for example, have this time of year as their
vacation period when they can come here, and I think it meets
the convenience of more men than any other season of the year.
I, therefore, think St. Louis should hardly be considered on that
account, and yet if it is the voice of the convention we will do
all we can to make the meeting a success.

General Bryant: I feel like supporting the motion, leaving
this to the officers to settle. It seems to be very generally un-
derstood that it would not be comfortable for us to go to St.
Louis in July. I spent a summer in St. Louis many years ago,
and I think you can find grease spots on the pavements yet
where I larded the lean earth (Laughter), and if you put it off
until September I cannot go. I have to go on the jail limits in
Madison at that time, for I am a professor at the University. I
want to come to these meetings. It has got to be part of my liv-
ing to attend the meetings of this Society. If you have them at
St. Louis I must be left out. Then, too, if you go to St. Louis
you would have to put a ball and chain on Brother Lydell to
keep him anywhere within reach. (Applause and laughter). I
appreciate Dr. Bean’s position entirely and I sympathize with
him, and I think I could risk a day or two at the International
Congress, but if I go there I want to go there as a delegate, rep-
resentative, or humble member to sit in that congress, not with
a divided duty, a split affection, and I do feel that we enjoy our-
selves better, we get into closer touch, than we would with all
our young lads running off for a Midway Plaisance (Laughter) ;
and that is my feeling about it, partly selfish and partly for the
interests of the Society. Now, if developments are such that our
officers shall think at a later day that that is a proper thing to
‘ do, why, we will all acquiesce in it. If they select some other
locality I have no doubt they will select one that will be very
congenial to us all, and for my single and humble self I should
prefer to leave it in that way. I hate awfully to disappoint Dr.
Bean, but I am afraid if we get down there in that great multi-
tude we would feel like a small boy at a circus.

Dr. Bean: It is not a question of disappointing Dr. Bean or
Doctor anybody, it is a question whether the American Fisheries
Society is big enough and strong enough to take its place as a
man in fishery matters. The other people are coming there, are

American Fisheries Society. 35

we going to stay away? Now, I really would like to have an
expression of opinion from the members here, and I wish that
Mr. White’s motion would be entertained.

President: In the absence of a substitute being offered, there
is only one question to be considered, whether or not the report
shall be accepted or rejected, and the question is on the commit-
tee’s report.

The motion to adopt the committee’s report was then unani-
mously carried.

Dr. Bean: This is to be left with two officers, the President
and Secretary ?

President: Yes, and St. Louis may stand a pretty good
chance yet.

Dr. Bean: If a vice-president were included possibly the
leaven would work. (Laughter).

Mr. Clark: With the consent of the committee and the mem-
bers of this association I would lke to make a motion that the
Vice-President, Dr. Bean, be added to that committee.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Mr. Clark: I want to say that I feel if I am not broad
enough, our secretary and Dr. Bean are able to take up this ques-
tion and settle it for the best interests of the society, even if Dr.
Bean is strongly committed to St. Louis, I feel that between us
we can convince Dr. Bean to the contrary, if it is thought best
to go to some other point, and I know that he is broad enough
to accept the situation.

President: Doctor, you are in it. (Great laughter and ap-
plause).

The auditing committee then presented its report, that the
committee had examined the report of the treasurer and found
the same to be correct.

Report accepted and adopted.

Mr. W. T. Thompson then read a paper on “The Golden
Trout,” which was discussed.

The President then read a paper by Mr. Henry D. Ward on
the subject of “Some Notes on Fish Food in the Lakes of the
Sierras.”

36 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Mr. Clark: [ would lke to express my appreciation to the
members of the American Fisheries Society in honoring me by
an election to the presidency, and I want to say, gentlemen, thai
I feel highly honored, I only fear that I have not the ability to
preside in an acceptable manner so that I may come near the de-
eree of success of my predecessors. I do not wish to take this
honor thinking that the members of the American Fisheries So-
ciety have honored me alone. It is not so. They have shown their
appreciation by honoring the practical superintendents of the
United States—that is what they have done. [t is not Frank
Clark alone, but it is the superintendents of the United States.

Now, members of the American Fisheries Society, I may not
have an opportunity of shaking hands with all of you before i
leave you, but I want to say again in thanking you for this honor
for myself and the practical fish culturists throughout the Unit-
ed States, superintendents and others, I want to say to you one

and all, good-bye till we meet again next vear at
(Laughter and applause).

President: I wish personally to congratulate you on the
success of your meeting. [ am sure that good results attained
here will inure to the benefit of the fisheries of the United States,
and you deserve the good will and the congratulations of every

man interested in fisheries. (Applause).

Secretary: | desire to offer the following resolution :

Resolved, Vhat the Society extends its hearty thanks to the
United States Fish Commission, to Mr. Locke of the Woods Hole
station, and to all others who have assisted in entertaining the
Society at its present meeting, for their many courtesies and
thoughtful attention, which have done so much toward making
this meeting one of the most delightful in the history of the
Society.

Motion seconded and unanimously carried.

Mr. Clark: I move that the thanks of this Society be ex-
tended to the officers for the last year, for their good hard work
in providing for this Society, and for the presiding and other
work that they have done at this meeting.

Mr. Blatchford put the motion.

Mr. Blatchford: All those in favor of that motion thanking

American Fisheries Society. 37

these faithful and honest men (1 think they are honest, the
Auditing Committee says so), will say aye.

Unanimously carried.

Mr. Blatchford: If there is any chap questions it let him
say, nay. (Applause and laughter).

Adjourned.

AFTERNOON SESSION, 2:00 O'CLOCK.

At 2 p. m. the steamer reached Crescent Park, near Provi-
dence, where the Rhode Island Fish Commission spread a mag-
nificent clam bake banquet in honor of the society. The gover-
nor of Rhode Island, his staff and many prominent officials of
the state and citizens of Providence were present, and the so
ciety was welcomed by the governor, who said:

In behalf of the state of Rhode Island I welcome the Ameri
can Fisheries Society of the United States.

At the conclusion of the banquet Mr. Root said:

It is a well known fact to you all that the United States
stands at the head of the fisheries of the world. Now, I wish to
impress upon you that a condition of that kind must require
great executive ability, organization and energy, that can be
found in searcely any other occupation, and I further wish to
state that we have with us today the most noted men in the fish-
eries industry of the world. (Applause). Now, we have such
men. here as you have all read about, such as Livingston Stone;
we have all read about Dr. Henshall and his bass rods and reels
we all know Dr. Atkins and Dr. Bean, the great expert on fish
anatomy. Now, to handle all this thing and get the position
that the United States has got, as I said before, requires great
executive ability, and a head must be wonderful that can handle
all this. We have today here twenty-one superintendents of the
hatcheries of the United States. I venture to say such a number
never got together before. Now, what I got up here to say was
simply to introduce to you the head of this great organization
the Hon. George M. Bowers, of Washington, D. C., Commis-
sioner of Fisheries of the United States. (Great applause ).

Mr. Bowers: Governor Garvin, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Owing to the lateness of the hour and the fact that quite a num-

AM O e e

38 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

ber of the members of my party are expected to return to Woods
Hole between the hours of half past four and five, I shall not
make any extended remarks. I congratulate you, Governor, on
the efficient, able representatives you have composing the mem-
bership of the Rhode Island State Commission. I congratulate
the state of Rhode Island upon the prominent position it has
attained in fisheries, and I have before in conjunction with the
members of the American Fisheries Society, accepted the hos-
pitality of your people, which we all appreciate, and I hope the
day is not far distant when one of our meetings may be held in
your state. (Applause).

Mr. Root: I wish to further state that the American Fish-
eries Society is thoroughly a United States organization, and
has got to have a head also. Commissioner Bowers is above all
of them, but we have a president of the American Fisheries
Society, a man that when he gets talking about fish will talk

from 4 o’clock in the morning till 11 o’clock at night—he cannot
talk on any other subject, but I want him to stand up so that
you can see him—Mr. Frank M. Clark of the Michigan State
Association. (Great applause ).

_ Mr. Clark: TI think I voice the sentiment of the American
Fisheries Society when your Governor of Rhode Island welcomes
them to this clam bake, in saying that they heartily thank you
for this entertainment. The American Fisheries Society ex-
tends over the whole United States, and this little state of
Rhode Island is entertaining us in this generous manner. I
have attended the American Fisheries Society meetings for
many years, and I have attended two entertainments given by
the Rhode Island people, and I assure you that I voice the sen-
timent of the American Fisheries Society when I say that we
have never in this broad United States received such entertain-
ment as we have received in the state of Rhode Island. (Ap-
plause). I wish to say, Mr. Toastmaster, that the American
Fisheries Society and all of its members again thank you for
this very generous entertainment. (Applause).

Mr. Root: Right here I wish to say that I think the state of

Rhode Island never profited more by any delegation that visited
its shore and partook of its clam bakes than it has from the peo-

American Fisheries Society. 30

ple we have here representing the American Fisheries Society.
I believe that if you could attend one of their meetings and hear
their discussions of papers, you would agree with me heartily,
and we consider it a great honor, Mr. President, of the Ameri-
ean Fisheries Society, that you have accepted our invitation to
come here.

Secretary: In behalf of the American Fisheries Society |
wish to offer the folowing resolution :

Resolved, That the Society offer its grateful acknowledge for
the courtesies extended by the state of Rhode Island Fish Com-
mission, for its generous hospitality that rounds up in a most
appetizing way one of the most, if not the most, successful meet-
ing ever held by the American Fisheries Society.

Motion seconded.

Secretary: Before that resolution is put I would like to say:
One year ago Mr. Root, President of the Rhode Island Commis-
sion, told me a fish story at our mecting at Put-In-Bay. He said
that one morning at a lake near by where he has a summer home
and lives, he caught sixty-eight bass that weighed 13 pound;
apiece, all wall-eyed black bass. I do not know that this is
accurate, because we have just enjoyed a large dinner, but it is
as near as I can get to it. Now, I repeated this story to a friend
in Chicago, and he said, “A lake in Rhode Island—there are no
lakes in Rhode Island—it is not big enough for a lake.” I wish
I had that gentleman here now. He would think Rhode Island
was as big as the state of Texas. (Great laughter and applause).

General Bryant: I rise to support this resolution. A politi-
eal friend of mine once said when he had felt the ingratitude of
men he had helped and favored in politics, and I was trying to
console him, with a rueful shake of his head, “Hungry men are
never grateful for last year’s dinners.” (Laughter). I want to
say that that is not the principle nor the characteristic of the
American Fisheries Society. We came here three years ago al
the invitation of your good people, and we had one of your clam
bakes, a feast so unique, so excellent, so noble, that it has lin-
gered in our memories for three years, and there is not a mem-
ber of this society that has not turned his thoughts towards
Rhode Island, with a grateful emotion, ever since, (great ay)-

=“ =”

>= *

LQ) Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

plause) and today that has been repeated, with added charms,
with added excellence, and upon us is heaped an added weight
of gratitude which will be carried all our years.

There is something about these Rhode Island clams that is
very remarkable, and it has opened my mind and let into it a
great flood of light. After we had dined here three years ago
and partaken of this nourishing food, there was not a member
of our society that did not feel such an expansion of his mental
power and his self-confidence, that he looked upon himself as
capable of being the governor of a state, member of congress and
chairman of a leading committee, or eyen a senator in the senate
of the United States (great applause and laughter) and after
having taken a second feast in this beautiful spot, | am free to
say that I feel perfectly competent now to be President of the
United States (great applause), and if you would only give

me a congress agreeable to my way of thinking I give bond that

| would revise the tariff, smash the trusts, regulate labor and
capital, and put them on a harmonious basis and save the goy-
ernment in the expense of administration two hundred and fifty
million of dollars, and at the same time we would double the
appropriation of the Fish Commission (great applause and
laughter), and give a special bonus to every state fish commis-
sion in the United States. (Great laughter). All of that we
could do if you fed us on clams. (Great laughter and ap-
plause). We lawyers read in the lighter literature of our pro-
fession, that a man could get admitted to the bar in England if
he entered the inns of court and ate so many dinners at the hos-
telry of the inn—I think about two dinners here would be equal
to a good college education. (Great laughter and applause).

But pleasantry aside, your Excellency and Gentlemen of the
Rhode Island Fish Commission, again in the name of the Ameri-
can Fisheries Society I want to extend to you our heartiest
thanks for this magnificent banquet you have given us, on this
beautiful spot, so lovely that we are loath to leave it, and to leave
you, and as we go away T want to voice the prayer of this society,
in praying that the good fish commission of the state of Rhode
Island may long be detained from that mansion of rest provided
for the American Fisheries Society in the realms of glory.
(Great laughter and applause). 1 hope they may long be de-

American Fisheries Society. tI

tained from it to be benefactors of mankind in this beautiful
state.

And I have another prayer to the executives of this state,
who may come and go—politics change

I want them to keep
those magnificent old spirits, Commissioner Root, Commissioner
Willard, Commissioner Boardman and the others I will not
name, in the posts of duty where they are accomplishing so much
good. (Applause).

Now, gentlemen, the Amercan Fisheries Society are a ver)
good people. Modesty forbids us telling how good we are, but
honesty compels us to admit it. (Laughter). This world is
made up of very bad people, bad people, good people, very good
people, extraordinarily good people and the American Fisheries
Society. (Great laughter and applause). Now, that may seem
a hard saying, it may seem boastful, but I call on you to remem-
ber that when our blessed Savior came on earth, one of the
miracles that he performed to testify his great power, the omni-
potence delegated to him, was to multiply the fishes in the sea.
That miracle, | say reverentially, Your Excellency, through the
aids of science, through the work of these noble men who con-
stitute the working force of this great society, we are accom-
plishing today. There is hardly a river in our myriads of
streams, there is not a coast on our illimitable line, that is not
blessed and multiplied by the work of the United States Fish
Commission, the State Commissions, the American Fisheries So-
ciety throwing in its moral force, its investigation, its uniting of
all the men engaged in this great work. They are not working
for fame, nor for fortune. They are working for the public
good, and years hence along this shore of your beautiful bay,
men. will rise up to call blessed the commissioners of fisheries
who during their brief span of life have labored faithfully with-
out fee, without salary, without compensation other than that
chiefest of all compensations, the consciousness of a good duty
well performed. (Applause).

And, gentlemen, again one and all, you people of Rhod»
Island, we shall carry to our distant homes the pleasantest re-
membrance of your kind welcome and the charming feast you
spread for us today when we came among you with appetites
saved up to enjoy it. Good-bye! (Great applause).

42 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

President Clark:. You have heard the resolution as offered
and supported by General Bryant in such an excellent manner.

The motion was then put and unanimously carried.

Secretary Peabody: I have another resolution to offer:

Resolved, That the American Fisheries Society gratefully
acknowledge the efforts of the Commissioner, Hon. George M.
Bowers, in making the meeting of this society a success, and also
acknowledge the courtesy and efforts in making the trip from
Woods Hole to this point a delightful one on the part of the offi-
cers of the United States Fish Commission steamer Fish Hawk.

Mr. Blatchford: I rise without taking any time to make any
remarks which I would like to do, very heartily to second that
resolution. (Applause).

Unanimously carried.

Adjourned sine die.

Deceased Members since last meeting:

Dr. LE. Bradley.

Gen. E. E. Bryant.

Dr. Busbrod W. Fames.

S. LZ. Griffith.

ae"

eae Nie

a?

a wn?
aa

ed] |

opr

= | rep ae Sa ees F
t

A a ack ~ F ¥ mia ort

A da CE eee Ce Ra

Pi

PART <I.

SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS.

ANGLING FOR CARP, AND SOME HINTS AS TO
BEST MODE OF COOKING.

BY S. P. BARTLETT.

In compliance with a request of the Corresponding Secretary,
I have the honor of offering a few suggestions as to the catching
of carp with hook and line, and some of the popular ways for
preparing them for the table.

The question has been asked me a great many times why it
was that carp cannot be taken with the hook and line. A great
many persons have told me that they have used all kinds of bait
and failed to get them to take it. These inquiries came to me as
a surprise from the fact that hundreds daily fish for carp with
hook and line on Quincy Bay and all along the Illinois river with
great success.

I have found the best bait to be a dough ball made by boiling
cornmeal to a good stiff mush, and then work the ordinary cotton
batting into it until it becomes hard and stiff, and then rolling
into little round pellets about the size of a marble. Bait pre-
pared in this way will not be easily dissolved by the water. 1
use the ordinary Carlisle hook fastened on the end of a good
strong line and three or four inches above the hook, attach quite
a heavy sinker which will take the line to the bottom and allow
the bait to flow up away from the bottom. Another good bait
is the ordianry ship stuff from the mills, boiled stiff and dough
rolled out in sheets, and then cut up into little spuares, perhaps
three-fourths of an inch square. Fried potatoes, sliced raw and
fried until they become stiff, not brittle, also is a fine bait. Any-
one conversant with the hook and line at all, will have no troubl
in catching carp if this bait is used as indicated.

On Quincy Bay, I have seen as many as two hundred people
fishing for carp along the shores, and nearly all of them get
good fair strings. The carp when hooked is a very vigorous
fighter, and care must be used that he does not break the hook or
break out the hook from his mouth. I would advise the use of
the landing net. They are daily taken on trout lines, using the

same kind of bait.
47

48 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Since your request for information as to the carp from an
angling standpoint, I have given the matter a great deal of at-
tention, and have been greatly surprised at the extent to which
carp are caught with hook and line. From Cairo to Dubuque on
the Mississippi river I have found shores at all the towns lined
with people fishing for carp, all catching them. One day last
week, from the lower end of Peoria, Illinois river, to water works
point, a distance of three miles, | counted 1,103 people fishing
with hook and line, and on investigation developed that a large
per cent of them were taking carp. The majority of those caught
weighing a pound and as heavy as five pounds, all of them proba-
bly used as food.

Permit me to introduce here a letter from one of the bes:
known sportsmen in the state:

Peoria, Ill., June 23, 1903.

Hon. S. P. Bartlett, Esq.,
Superintendent Fish Commission, Quincy, III.
Dear Sir:—

Carp fishing with hook and line has now taken its place with
bass and other kinds of fishing. All along the river in this locality
carp are being caught freely with hook and line this year, and to
say they are gamey, is not half expressing it. For the past month,
I have made it my business to go along the river and take notes of
this particular kind of fishing and talked with no less than 25 differ-
ent persons who were busy catching carp, and in every instance I
was told it was rare sport to hook a carp, as it was quite as much of
a trick to land one as it was to land a bass; dip nets were used gen-
erally to land the carp, as the activity of the fish when jerked out of
the water would tear the gills and free the fish quite often. The
bait used when fishing for carp is dough balls and partly boiled po-
tatoes, the latter being best in the opinion of the majority. The
carp will bite on worms quite freely also, and in two instances, I
found carp had been taken with minnows, something that has been
considered impossible heretofore, but in these two cases I am cer-
tain it was done, as I have the names of the parties who caught the
fish. An old German who lives here goes daily to the river with a
regular fiy casting pole and reel to fish for carp, of course, he ex-
changes the fly for the regulation hook, but he used his reel in land-
ing the carp, and says there is no finer sport than fishing for carp.
This man uses partly boiled potatoes altogether and is very succes-
ful in taking carp in numbers daily. I have caught a great many
carp myself with hook and line, using potatoes, dough balls and
worms, and found that the partly boiled potatoes worked best, as the
carp seemed to take that particular bait when they would not bite on

American Fisheries Society. 49)

any other. As for the sport of catching carp with hook and line, I
consider it equal to anything in the way of pleasure fishing, as the
fish is gamey and will fight as hard against being landed as bass or
other game fish and are to be handled with precaution on account of
their tender gills, which will often tear when hooked by an inexperi-
enced angler. In the past two years carp have become popular where
they were unpopular, because of the wearing away of the prejudice
that they were of no benefit to the angler on account of the belief
that they would not take a hook. Now it is different, as the very ones
who were so loud in their protest against the carp, have found great
sport in taking them with hook and line, and it is wonderful to hear
the change of sentiment as to the carp for food purposes. They are
a good fish now and fit for a king in comparison to what was said
of them while the prejudice still existed. To my mind the carp is
a good fish for food purposes and is fast finding favor in the west in
every way, now that the angler has found it is the coming fish for
sport. Just at present in the Illinois river, we have a world of all
kinds of game fish and no end of carp, which insures the angler his
full measure of sport until the end of time.
Most respectfully yours,’
M. D. HURLEY, Peoria, Ill.

NOW HOW ‘TO COOK THEM.

I feel sure that most of the prejudice to the carp as a table
fish is from the fact that they are too often taken from the warm
water, fried and broiled without preparation. ‘Their rapid
growth and the warm water they are taken from, has a tendency
to make them soft. I have found the best mode of preparing
them as follows: Kill as soon as caught, by bleeding, taking out
all of the blood. Skin, soak in salt water for several hours, then
parboil and bake, basting frequently. They are frequently
served here as a boiled fish, covered with proper dressing. It
takes but a slight stretch of the imagination to place on bill of
fare as anything from blue fish to buffalo. Today I had blue
fish served with my soup at one of the principal hotels and it
would have passed as such with the average man, tell-tale bones,
however, said carp.

[ give herewith a receipt of Swedish origin, given me by Dr.
Weiss of Ottawa, Il., President of the Fox River Fish and Game
Association, who assures me that the perfected product is equal
to the imported fish jelly that brings $1.00 per pound.

4

eee ee ee

50 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

CARP OMELET OR CARP JELLY. (Swedish).

“Take a six to eight pound carp; scale and skin. Leave head
and skin. Cut into small pieces and place in boiling water just
sufficient to cover and add salt, coarsely ground pepper, allspice
and a bay leaf or two. Boil about twenty minutes or until per-
fectly soft. Remove from the fire, remove pieces of fish from the
water, but preserve the water. Break the pieces so as to be able
to remove all of the bones thoroughly. Skin fins and head pieces.
Strain quid through a colander and if necessary add a cupful
of gelatine, previously dissolved, to this liquid. At the same
time add such other spices as may be desired. Add the original
pieces of fish to the lquid or gelatinized liquid. Stir and place
on ice until solidified.”

I was greatly surprised at a statement made by Mr. Cohen,
president of the Illinois State Fish Commission, to the effect
that he had seen carp on. menu of Waldorf Astoria hotel, New
York, and at a price per portion higher than fresh mackerel. |
was inclined to think he was telling me a fish story. In order to
verify, he wrote chef of that hotel and received a letter and copy
of bill of fare, which absolutely confirmed his statement.

In concluding this brief paper, I wish to say in explanation
that in some way I have been considered special champion of the
carp, and as such have been frequently misquoted.

I do not wish to be understood as saying that the carp com-
pare favorably with our whitefish, bass or other game fish, salt
or fresh. I want simply to repeat former statement, 1. e., that
the carp have in our western waters, filled a need, that nothing
else would or could do. They have taken the place of the buffalo,
now so rapidly decreased, and that they furnish good wholesome
food to thousands who could not afford to use the more expensive
fish, and who in a great measure depend on cheap fish for meat,
that they have and are paying thousands of dollars to thousands
of men in taking them for market, that they furnish equal sport
for the angler with game fish, and as a combination are yet to
have a place with other fishes, no one can doubt, and coming,

come to stay.

American Fisheries Societ y. 51

DISCUSSION OF MR. BARTLETT’S PAPER.

Secretary: I want to say before reading this paper that the
papers and discussions on carp of this Society have excited wide-
spread interest, and as Secretary I have received innumerabl
letters on the subject, some damning carp not with faint praise,
but most eloquently, and a few that favor the cultivation of
carp.

Mr. Titcomb: <A good many.

Secretary: Yes.

Mr. Clark: I have no doubt the members would like to hear
from Mr. Ravenel on the carp question.

Mr. W. De C. Ravenel of the United States Fish Commis-
sion, D. C.: I have nothing to say. I endorse the paper.

Secretary: | would like to hear Mr. E. W. Blatchford’s opin-
ion regarding carp—he has eaten them.

Mr. Blatchford, of Chicago: Mr. President: I think it is
twenty-eight years this summer since my first trip abroad; and
I took a leisurely trip on the Rhine and was served with a fish
for breakfast, I could not make out what it was. The waiter was
a German, and he gave me the German name for this fish. My
daughter, who was with me, spoke German fluently, and recog-
nized the fish as a carp. I was much interested in it. I had
heard about the carp, had read about it, but had never seen one
until then. I asked our landlord if he would get me some; |
wanted to see them; and he said, yes, that he would show me
some that afternoon, and I went down and saw them swimming
about in an enclosure. He said he had three ways of cooking
them, and one of them was very much like the description given
by my friend Bartlett, of Quincy; but they were a delicious fish,
and I came home and began to speak about carp; but I have met
few men or women here that did not turn up their noses at a
carp. But the carp have been developed by being placed in wa-
ters adapted to them. I believe you can find plenty of streams
in this state, and New York, and in the west, that would not be
fitted for carp; but I have lived in Quincy, my parents lived
there, and I know something about the interest that is taken in
fish there on the Mississippi river; and have heard of them in
Illinois, but I have never heard such an excellent statement as

_

Or
fa)

Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

that made by the gentleman from Peoria today. 1 am very glad
of it. I do not know of any man that I sympathized with more,
than with our honored secretary in the paper that he presented.
I do not know whether he sent me a copy of the paper which I
received—perhaps he is too modest to do it. He wrote a letter
to a Wisconsin paper, a column and a quarter long, and put the
carp right where it ought to be placed. I am not prepared to
make any extended remarks, but want to say just one more
thing: I enjoy these meetings and I regret that I could not be
at the meeting in Put-in-Bay or Milwaukee, because both those
years I was in England; but the last meeting I was at was held
here—and why are these meetings interesting to me, and why
ought they to be interesting to a great many more people than
attend them? (And it is our duty to let their value be known
and get them to attend them). ‘The reason is this: We are
working for a thing that has a clear and distinct element of
utility to our whole country. Now just take the facts presented
here by Mr. Peabody today, the number of people that are em-
ployed in this business, and the excellent food which they are
securing by it: I think that is a very valuable paper that Mr.
Bartlett has written. I do not know whether you all know him
or not. He is our state commissioner of fisheries in Illinois, and
he is a thorough student of whatever he takes hold of, and I do
not know of anyone whose words are more valuable than Mr.
Bartlett’s. Is not that your experience with him Mr. Secretary ?

Secretary: Yes, sir.

Mr. Blatchford: I feel that we should be thankful to have
such a paper as that brought before us. (Applause).

Mr. John D. Whish, of Albany: Speaking of the experience
we have had with carp in New York state, I should say we were
getting considerable information right here. In our state the
fish is regarded as a pig. The line fishermen do not like him.
and the net fishermen curse his existence. We are today con-
ducting experiments in various parts of the state, to find out
whether it is true or not that the carp in New York state destroy
game fish. The fishermen say that he does, and we have any
number of letters on file in the office of the Commission, com-
plaining about it; there is not a day that passes but we get an

application for permission to net him out of some water; but

American Fisheries Society. 53

that is an impossibility, because he is like the English sparrow,
here to stay. The fact however remains that our people are
prejudiced against the carp as a fish and want to get rid of him.
The county authorities of Erie county, two months ago, applied
for permission to net the carp out of the Niagara river. Of
course, anybody who knows anything about that river, knows he
could not be netted out of there in a million years, if he was in
there at all. But they got the permission and took out carp by
the wagon load. The fish were disposed of to Italians and Poles
at a low rate ; and they seem to be the only nationalities who can
cook the carp fit to eat. We are beginning to go a little slow
with these permits to net out carp however, for the reason that
the sentiment is veering around somewhat in its favor—that
much I am willing to admit; but further than that, it is doubt-
ful to my mind whether we will ever have a very great carp mar-
ket in the Empire state.

Secretary: I would lke to ask if the gentleman knows what
the market price is or has been during the past year in New Yort.
city, at wholesale ?

Mr. Whish: 1! do not know.

Secretary: I read the quotations every week in the Fishing
Gazette. During the cold months it varied from 9 to 10 cents a
pound at wholesale, and compared well in value with other first
class fish.

Mr. Whish: The complaints we received are from the inland
counties.

Mr. R. Tyson White: Many fishermen along the lower part
of Long Island and South Bay are making a living from carp,
selling them as fast as they catch them.

Mr. Clark: J do not wish to say very much on the carp ques-
tion, but the question of carp interfering with anglers and the
destruction of bass has been pretty thoroughly exploded by some
member of the United States Fish Commission Scientific corps
—I do not know who it was, that made some investigations in
Lake St. Clair; and I think if the people will take pains to read
what has been said in regard to that, they will find his conclu-
sions were that carp did not interfere with bass or perch. | do
not think the carp interferes in any manner with the eggs of
these fish. The only complaint that I hear from up around the

CC a,

—— —eQVueeGVreenaE se —_—— -— —

54 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Great Lakes, is from the duck hunters. They claim that the
carp are destroying the rice roots, and possibly you may find
that difficulty.

Secretary: It is so claimed.

Mr. Clark: I think the carp has come to stay in the Great
Lakes as a commercial fish, and I do not think they are hurting
the other fishes at all. We know in Michigan they are catching
them in Monroe and Maumee Bay, by the tons, and in the month
of June, while they were catching them, the Fishing Gazette
quoted them at 4 and 5 cents a pound wholesale.

Mr. J. L. Leary, San Marcos, Texas: As to his: destroying
the eggs or young fish, it is not a fact. My experience is that I
could not raise the crappy in clear water, and I adopted the plan
of putting so many carp in crappy ponds, and I raised some
crappy and no carp, showing that the young carp are all de-
stroyed by the crappy. The smallest sun fish can chase him
away, for the carp is a big coward; the carp is a rapid grower
and a good food fish. I have young mirror carp hatched last
March, a year ago, that today weigh 4 pounds. I have nothing
but mirror carp. I have kept up with the quoted prices; I
never pick up a paper that quotes the fish price in any market.
but what I look at carp and always find him selling at a good
fair price ; and in winter time he sells for possibly twice as much
as during the spring. I am a North Carolina fisherman, and in
fishing I caught carp in the sounds, and early in March I have
realized as much as 20 cents a pound for them in the New York
market

of course we did not catch many. I do not say they
are as good as Spanish mackerel, but they are good, neverthe-
less.

Mr. W. De C. Ravenel: How large ponds did you raise
crappy in?

Mr. Leary: A quarter of an acre. I have three ponds at
San Marcos, Texas, of three-quarters of an acre each. The other
fish destroy carp, but the carp do not destroy the other fish.
Take the San Marcos river for instance: I know lots of our
young carp escape during the floods, and several of the old carp,
my brood fish, were caught with dough balls in the river, this
spring. I believe he is a good and valuable fish and growing to
be more popular all the time. He is certainly an economical fel-

American Fisheries Society. 55

low, because he grows fast, and will furnish a large amount o!
food in a short time.

Mr. Charles G. Atkins, of East Orland, Me.: Can any o!
the gentlemen speak of the climatic influence on the growth of
carp; for instance, if there is a northern limit where they can-
not spread on account of cold? Iam from Maine and I am not
aware that they have established themselves at any point, and |
wonder if it is because the climate is unsuited to them. We
have tried to plant them in Maine, but have not succeeded as
yet. Is the climate there too severe, and does anyone know how
it is in Michigan or northern New York, for instance ?

Secretary: Carp thrive in Wisconsin, which has about the
same climate as Maine; we have the temperature as low as 30
below zero; and I know that in a certain marsh preserve where
it is water and mud, and it freezes, as we fancy, solid in winter,
and freezes all the other kinds of fish out, they thrive beauti-
fully, and I believe they are pretty near frozen stiff—there can-
not be any water left in there which is not frozen, and yet the
carp thrive.

Mr. Atkins: I have an idea that they are found in Norway
and Sweden, and if that is the fact they ought to thrive in Maine.

Mr. Titcomb: They exist in Vermont in two or three ponds:
but they are not of any value there, because we have other fish
which are more desirable, and people do not know how to catch
them. I do not think carp will obtain as large a growth in a
northern climate as in warmer waters; and in clear waters I do
not think you need fear any bad influence from their introduc-
tion. I do not mean that I am opposed to carp in proper waters
for them; | think that all the trouble that has arisen about the
carp has come from the indiscriminate distribution which was
made when they were first brought to this country; and today,
if properly distributed, they would do a great deal of good. The
United States Fish Commission is receiving daily application.
for carp, mostly from the western states, Kansas, Nebraska, and
out in that vicinity, where they have a great many warm water
ponds; and I have no doubt in some of those places where from
the description of the waters it is difficult to name any other fish
suitable for them, that the carp is about the only fish they can

raise in them.

56 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Mr. Whish: Perhaps I can supplement what I have already
said, by the suggestion, that in New York state the line fisher-
men do not like the carp. I might also note the fact that in the
three years during which I have been connected with the Com-
mission, there has not been a single application from anybody
for carp, and we do not raise them any longer in any of the
hatcheries.

Mr. Tarleton H. Bean, of St. Louis: I would like to say a
few words about this celebrated introduction of carp throughout
the United States. I have always been a champion of the carp,
but speaking now as a newspaper critic of the fish, I object to it
for a good many reasons.

In the first place it either has great big scales, or it has no
scales at all, and it is not in good taste for it to parade around in
that slpshod sort of way, neither one thing nor the other.

Another very strong objection to it (speaking now as a news-
paper man) is, that it has no teeth in its mouth, but carries them
like a comb, in its throat.

My friend Bartlett from Illinois has given you still another
serious objection to it, and that is, that it takes the dough, and
we need that in our business, especially we newspaper men.
(Great laughter and applause ).

But worst of all is a report sent to us by wire from Reading
the other day, and that is this: A couple of Philadeiphia girls
were out fishing on a pond near Reading and they hooked some-
thing (as the girls generally do, you know, when they go fishing,
(laughter); the first thing they knew they were in the water.
and of course several gentlemen rushed to the rescue and got
them out, and what do you suppose it was, Mr. Chairman—it
was a great big carp! (Laughter). Now when a carp comes to
taking away Philadelphia girls, and when it gets to be a ques-
tion between Philadelphia ladies and the carp, I think that the
carp had better go! (Great laughter and applause).

Speaking as a newspaper man, I have several other objections
to urge against the carp, but I must save them up. He has been
in this country so long he has got stuck up, feels important and
big; he has a whole lot of eggs, his family are very numerous, he
grows very fast, and people like to eat him, and I am afraid he
will drive the cod out of the market, and what will we do with-

-~2

American Fisheries Society. 5

out cod? Now I think the carp had better go down, down into
the water and stay there. (Great laughter and applause).

Mr. Seymour Bower: One of the objections made to the
carp is because he has got scales, but I think there is a way to get
around that—at least I heard of an experiment in that direction.
An old friend of mine, living on the banks of the Raisin, was in
the poultry business, and with rather indifferent success, and he
conceived the idea of raising carp in connection with poultry.
So he built a few ponds and diverted a stream from the river to
the ponds and got in a stock of carp. His scheme was that when
he dressed his carp he would feed the offal to the chickens, and
when he dressed his chickens he would feed the offal to the carp;
(laughter) and of course, each would sustain the other. It was
to be a sort of an endless chain arrangement, a kind of reciproc-
ity scheme that promised big dividends. I saw John a few years
after that and I said: “John, how did your combination hen-carp
enterprise come out?”
expected ; it worked first rate for a while, and I thought I had a

And he said, “it didn’t turn out just as I

fortune, and I would have had too, but those confounded chick-
ens lost their feathers, and grew a coat of scales, and the d—d
carp lost their scales and grew a heavy coat of feathers!” (Great
laughter and applause).

President: That is a case of hen-pecked carp. (Laughter).

Mr. Seymour Bower: In Michigan, down in Monroe county,
especially, where there was formerly a great deal of prejudice
against the carp, it now has many friends; because fishermen
have learned how to catch and hold them so as to make money
out of them, which they are now doing; and where formerly they
were cursing the carp, they are now sounding his praises.

RECENT ADVANCES IN LOBSTER CULTURE.

BY MR. A. D. MEAD

Of the Commission of Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island.

When this Society last met in Woods Hole in the summer of
1900, the Rhode Island Commission of Inland Fisheries, in col-
laboration with the United States Fish Commission, had just
begun a series of experiments in the propagation of lobsters,
which has been continued since that time with gratifying results.

It is perfectly obvious to anyone in the least acquainted with
the life history of the lobster, that its greatest need of protection
is during the first few weeks after hatching. The eggs them-
selves are very well protected by the female lobster until they are
hatched, and the young, after they begin their life at the bottom
of the sea, burrowing and hiding in holes and under rocks, are
comparatively secure. For about two weeks after hatching, how-
ever, they are compelled by nature to swim in the water, and dur-
ing this period their liability to destruction is not only greater
than at any other period of life, but apparently greater than
that of the young of other sea animals. Their size and bright
color make them conspicuous, they lack means of defence, and
the agility and, for that matter, the inclination, to avoid enemies.

One further circumstance make it particularly advisable to
protect them at this time, viz: that the transition from the pre-
carious swimming stages to the “lobsterling” stage, when they
begin life at the bottom, is abrupt. With the third moulting of
the skin, the form and habits of the fry suddenly change, and the
free swimming fry becomes in about five minutes a crawling lob-
sterling.

The difficulty of confinmg newly hatched fry, of feeding
them, and of preventing cannibalism, have baffled the many at-
tempts which have frequently been made to protect them through
this period. Every conceivable sort of car and enclosure has
been tried, with scant promise of success. The fry, left to them-
selves, are inevitably carried against the side of the enclosure, or
sink to the bottom, and perish.

The solution of this diffleulty is a simple one. ‘The water
58

American Fisheries Society. 59

must be kept constantly in motion so that the fry cannot sink,
and so that the particles of food may be kept suspended and
within the reach of the fry. This was suggested by the study of
the movement and habits of the fry in confinement at Wickford.
late in the season of 1900. Accordingly the last fry of that sea-
son (which, by the way, were a poor lot), were kept in motion
by means of an oar, and the great increase in the proportion
reared to the lobsterling stage was most encouraging.

In 1901 the stirring was done by means of slowly rotating
propellers, which were placed in the cars and moved by a gaso-
line engine. The percentage carried through the swimming
stages was raised, from a fraction of one per cent in the experi-
ments of previous years, to fifty per cent in some cases.

In 1902. this apparatus was improved and extended, but the
same principle was made use of, viz: that of stirring the propel-
lers, and the results were far ahead of any of those of previous
years.

In the first two years of the experiments, before the stirring
method was used, less than 100 fry were carried through to the
lobsterling stage. At Wickford the record of experiments is as
follows:

In 1900, when the stirring with an oar was first tried, the
yield was about 3,000.

In 1901, with the introduction of machinery, 10,000.

In 1902, with the improved machinery, 30,000.

The number of fry received during these years was dimin-
ished each year.

In 1900 the main problem before us was to devise an appara-
tus in which the lobster fry could be carried through the swim-
ming stages in large numbers and in good proportion, and this
problem has been solved. Incidentally, we might say that the
apparatus is also effective in hatching lobster eggs. In design-
ing the apparatus we have kept constantly in mind the possibility
of its installation in any protected estuary on any desired scale
and at a comparatively small cost. All that is required in th
way of an experiment station is a series of skeleton floats buoyed
up by barrels or otherwise; the floats may be coupled together
and strongly moored. The shafting for transmitting the power

60 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

from one float to another can be coupled with universal joints
and sliding shafts.

It will be surprising if better results cannot be obtained in
the future by means of improvements in the apparatus, and
through general experience, and I would like to indicate two
lines in which improvements should be hoped for. First, in per-
fecting the transmission machinery, and second, in protecting
the fry from parasites such as diatoms and microscopic fungi.

Inasmuch as the lobster is, to a considerable degree, a migrat-
ing animal, its cultivation by private enterprise will require its
confinement till it reaches the market size, and here several new
problems present themselves. Can it live in confinement through
the winter? How long does it require to reach the marketable
size ?

The first question has been satisfactorily answered by the ex-
periments of the Rhode Island Commission. We have kept «
considerable number of young lobsters through three successive
winters, by sinking them in small cars to a depth of about eight
feet in water which becomes quite fresh in the spring, and which
freezes at the surface in winter.

The question of the rate of growth has not as yet been fully
answered. In our experiments the most conspicuous feature of
erowth is its great variability; at any time after the first few
months, lobsters of the same age are, some of them, twice the
length of others. The largest specimens one year of age were
three inches; two years, six inches; and three years, eight inches.

The full account of our experiments, with descriptions and
pictures of the apparatus, is published in recent reports of the
Rhode Island Commission of Inland Fisheries.

DISCUSSION OF MR. MEAD’S PAPER.

Mr. Titcomb: I do not know whether I understood the wri-
ter fully. I wanted to inquire if he stated how many lobsters he
used to produce the 3,000 and 10,000 and 30,000 he speaks of
there.

Mr. Willard: It is not stated.

Mr. Clark: If I remember rightly, three years ago, when
the meeting of the American Fisheries Society was held at

American Fisheries Society. OL

Woods Hole, one of our trips was to Provincetown, to view the
successes in lobster culture of the Rhode Island Commission in
connection with the United States Commission. At that time
there was some experimenting going on in the way of rearing,
the same as this gentleman mentioned. Now am I to under-
stand that this paper brings the lobster rearing up to date? Is
that the idea—bringing that same experiment that we saw being
conducted at the Wickford up to date?

Mr. Willard: Yes, that is the idea.

Mr. Clark: Then I understand it is not very successful yet

Mr. Willard: I think considerable progress has been made,
as 30,000 were turned out last year, as against one hundred three
years ago.

Mr. Clark: I do not understand that that is 30,000 of the
partially grown lobster.

Mr. Willard: Yes.

Mr. Ravenel: It is an increase of from one hundred to
thirty thousand in three years. The point is to carry them
through the moulting to the lobster stage.

Mr. C. G. Corliss, of Gloucester, Mass.: It seems to me that
this experiment depends upon the number of try used to bring
forth this 30,000. That is the meat of the whole thing—of
course if they took a million fry and finally succeeded in raising
30,000, it is a question if that is a success. Of course they have
progressed as far as increasing the number is concerned; but
until we know how many they took to raise such number, we will
be uncertain as to whether it was really a success or not. |
would like to know how many fry they started with.

Mr. Willard: I regret that our specialist on the lobster is
not present; but we have shown a mark of progress in starting
in with 100 and arriving at 30,000 in three years, but whether it
is really a commercial success at the present time we could not
say. We think however, by further experiments and by im-
proved apparatus we can make the number much greater.

Mr. W. H. Boardman, of Central Falls, Rhode Island: Does
not Mr. Mead say in his paper that the increase was from 1 to 50
per cent?

Mr. Willard: Yes.

Mr. Boardman: Then that certainly is a great increase.

62 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Mr. Ravenel: He does not say that the increase is 50 per
cent. He says 50 per cent in some cases.

Mr. Boardman: I think the proportion is very large that he
raises now, that is, that there are very few of them that die.
That is a big increase in the percentage.

BLOOD AS FISH FOOD.

BY DR. JAMES A. HENSHALL.
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood.”—Leviticus xvii, 11.

Fresh blood, it may be said, is liquid flesh. It contains a
large amount of albumen, and lesser quantities of fibrine, fat,
and the salts of iron, lime, sodium, potassium, etc. It is food
in its most concentrated form. When freshly drawn and allowed
to stand it soon cools and separates into clots and the watery por-
tion called serum—the clots being formed of the bleod corpus-
cles and fibrine, and the serum containing the fats, salts, ete.

The separation of freshly-drawn blood into clots and serum
can be prevented by briskly stirring it for several minutes, after
which a film forms upon the surface, and by keeping it in a cool
place it will remain fresh and in good condition for several days

I first began experimenting with blood as fish food two or
three years ago, by using the blood from fresh liver, and putting
it into the horizontal aerating screens at the head of the hatching
troughs, and before the yolk-sac of the fry was absorbed. This
was continued until the fry were swimming and old enough to
be fed liver emulsion in the usual way.

It was owing to the problem of furnishing suitable food for
erayling fry that induced me to try fresh blood from the slaugh-
ter house ; and although the experiment is still in its infancy, the
results, so far, are most favorable and gratifying. ‘This season
it has been demonstrated that grayling fry, as soon as they begin
to swim, and when too small to take any other form of artificial
food, will readily take fresh blood distributed on the surface with
a feather.

In the feeding of trout fry, I have also substituted fresh
blood for water to dilute the liver emulsion, with the result that
they have done better than ever before, growing faster and
stronger, and with less mortality. I have furthermore diluted
with blood the mush for the adult stock fish. So far as we have
progressed with this manner of feeding both fish and fry, the re
sults are so encouraging as to warrant its continuance. The
food prepared in the manner stated seems to be better assimi-

63

64 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

lated, and certainly it is taken more eagerly than when mixed
with water.

It may be of interest to add that I fed the blood from fresh
liver to 100,000 whitefish fry, soon after hatching, and continued
its use for several weeks. ‘The experiment was quite successful,
as the food was eagerly taken and with evident benefit, for the
fry exhibited decided improvement in growth and activity. I
imagine that with fresh blood from the slaughter house the im-
provement would have been still more marked.

DISCUSSION OF DR. HENSHALL’S PAPER.

Dr. Henshall: This paper is very brief and is merely sug-
gestive: it relates to experiments with blood as fish food.

Mr. Willard: Do you mean the Lake White Fish?

Dr. Henshall: The Lake White Fish.

Mr. Whish: I do not desire to occupy too much time, but |
can say that the state of New York is paying about $500.00 a
month for fish food, and if blood can be obtained and used suc-
cessfully I should judge off-hand that the reduction in cost
would be about 50 per cent. Certainly some of the older mem-
bers here, who have had experience in feeding fish, ought to give
us some facts on this subject.

Mr. Titcomb: I have tried blood as fish food, and I agree
with Dr. Henshall that it is very good for fry in the very early
stages. It is usually very difficult to get it in the vicinity of
hatcheries, but where it is possible to get near a slaughter house,
it is a cheap and good food. Blood in the country slaughter
houses goes to waste, and all they require is that the fish cultur-
ist collect it himself or pay the expense of collecting it. You
stirred it while it was warm, did you not?

Dr. Henshall: Yes, sir.

Mr. Titcomb: You have to stir it while it is warm, to pre-
vent it coagulating ; but I have an idea that it could be used quite
extensively in the vicinity of slaughter houses. I hope the doc-
tor’s idea of using it on the grayling will solve a problem there
of rearing the grayling, which has not been solved, unless the
doctor has solved it this year.

Dr. Henshall: It is too early now to say much about it.

American Fisheries Societ y. 65

Mr. Clark: Do you say you have not solved that problem ?

Mr. Titcomb: Only for a small percentage.

Mr. Clark: I thought perhaps from your remark that you
meant to say that you did not rear them at all ?

Mr. Titcomb: Oh yes, we have reared some of them.

Dr. Henshall: The great difficulty has been coagulation.
But my butchers take it from the animal immediately after it
has been slaughtered, they catch the blood in a vessel and stir it
briskly while yet warm, producing a homogeneous mixture, and
preventing the objectionable separation into clots and serum.
By this process of briskly stirring for several minutes the blood
will become a homogeneous liquid with a film on top, and by
keeping it cool one can preserve it for several days. Where it is
convenient to try the experiment I wish you would do so next
season. I find that it is the only artificial food that I have suc-
ceeded in feeding to grayling at first. Heretofore we have had
to provide natural stream water wherein they could find natural
food. When first hatched they are only about the size of mos-
quito wigglers and should be fed the smallest food possible.

Mr. Clark: I should infer from the doctor’s paper and what
he says, that the one great object in using the blood is its cheap-
ness—not that it is any better than good beef liver.

Dr. Henshall: I think it is better.

Mr. Clark: We raised some grayling fry on liver. Perhaps
500 or 600 out of 5,000 or 10,000, and there was nothing fed but
beef liver, we have not fed anything but beef liver in our hatch-
eries. Some of the older.members will remember that I spoke of
it at our last meeting. These fry were grown to weigh from one
to two pounds, and never had anything but liver.

Dr. Henshall: But you had natural stream water.

Mr. Clark: Natural spring water, and the grayling were
raised in spring water.

Dr. Henshall: They would not grow in my spring water.

Mr. Clark: We raised them on liver exclusively, and some
of them were sent to the Pan American Exposition at Buffalo,
where Mr. Ravenel saw them. Of course the advantage in the
blood is perhaps this, that in starting the fry let it be brook
trout, grayling, white fish or anything else, it may be a little bet-
ter on account of being finer, and they might get a quicker start;

5

66 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

but whether it would be better food for the fish as they get older,
is perhaps questionable. Of course trymg the experiment might
determine.

Dr. Henshall: My point was that in diluting the liver emul-
sion the blood is thicker and better than water, and contains
much nutriment. © Stir the liver well with the blood. My spring
comes from under the Rocky Mountains, and there is neither air
nor food of any kind in it. Your spring water probably flows
from some little distance ?

Mr. Clark: Oh no, it does not. The trout we raise (and 1
have some of them in my pocket, and you have seen them) were
fed liver. Those trout have had nothing but raw beef liver—
except the little that they may have been able to get out of the
ponds where we put them about a month ago—and they have
been fed five months. I have the record right here.

Mr. Titcomb: I would like to inquire of Mr. Whish what he
feeds at his hatchery ?

Mr. Whish: Beef liver.

Mr. Titcomb: Did you ever try hog’s plucks ?

Mr. Whish: No, we have always used beef liver.

Mr. Titcomb: Very many culturists are using hog’s plucks
when it is possible to get them. Hog’s livers are about half the
cost of beef livers.

Dr. Henshall: I used sheep’s liver to a great extent, which
costs about one-fifth as much as beef liver. It does very well for
larger fish; but being soft does not grind so well, and is there-
fore, not quite so good as beef liver.

Mr. Clark: We feed hog’s liver from the time the fish are a
year old and on, but before that I do not like hog’s liver in the
water—it gives it a milky appearance all the time, and much of
it goes to waste. We pay 5 cents a piece for hog’s liver and 5
cents a pound for beef, and I think at this price that the beef
liver is more profitable, because we get better results for what we
pay. .

Mr. Atkins: I have been using at the Craig Brook Station
in Maine for several years mainly hog’s plucks. I use them not
because I have thought that they were better than other foods,
but because they are more readily attainable in good condition,
and are cheaper, and I will not undertake to say that they are

American Fisheries Society. 67

any better than some other foods, or perhaps as good; and the
only pomt I can urge in their favor is, that the fish appear to
grow well and be healthy on them, and that they are cheap. As
to the cost, I have here in my notebook the figures. Last year,
1902, between May and October, that is the principal season o*
our feeding, we had a stock of fish in which the number of fry
have averaged 447,000, that is to say, that is the mean be-
tween those we started with and those we closed with; and the
fish, one to four years old showed a mean of 5,400, and the
amount of hogs’ plucks (it was nearly all hogs’ plucks) used,
was 25,241 pounds; actually fed to the stock 16,408 pounds ; cost
$262.52. We fed 447,000 fry on the average from May to Octo-
ber, giving us a cost of four and one-half mills per fish, or per
1,000 fish, $4.56. I rather think that is the cheapest we have
ever succeeded in carrying any large number of fish through on.

Mr. Titcomb: Have you the cost when you fed beef livers,
in comparison ?

Mr. Atkins: No, sir, I have not figured this up.

Mr. Titcomb: Is it about twice as much?

Mr. Atkins: I would not dare to say off-hand—lI would have
to look that up.

Mr. Clark: Our expense bill will run from $15 to $18 a
month for 25,000 fish, ranging from one and one-half to four or
five years old, we feed beef liver to the smaller fish and to the
yearlings, the yearlings taking at least half.

Mr. T. H. Bean took the chair.

Mr. Titcomb: I think it is a very important question from
a financial standpoint, and the figures of course won’t lie. We
have these figures of Mr. Atkins, but we cannot compare them
with yours, because the hatcheries are not located where the
prices may range the same, but in comparison with the purchase
of beef livers which he used previously. Mr. Atkins has made a
great saving. Mr. George A. Seagle has made a saving at his
station at Wytheville, Va., using hogs’ liver, and Mr. W. F. Hub-
bard at Nashua, in his annual report this last year, gives a state-
ment of a saving of $200 or $300 in the course of a year on fish
food, without any evil results, apparently.

Mr. Willard: I understand that the American Fish Culture
Company, of Carolina, Rhode Island, one of the owners of one

68 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

of the largest commercial hatcheries in New York, is using hogs’
plucks almost exclusively at the present time, and they would
not do that unless it was more economical.

Mr. Seymour Bower: We feed sheeps’ plucks costing 5 cents
a piece and the net cost is about 2 cents a pound. We prefer
them to hogs’ liver, which is softer and runs more to waste.
Sheeps’ liver is almost as firm as beef liver, and is the next best
thing to it. It is also more economical, beef liver being very
high. During about five months of the year, or in the summer,
we alternate the regular food of the adult fish with what we call
Lane’s food, and Mr. Lane can tell you how it is made. There
are corn meal, shorts and animal meal in it. We like it very
well. It costs 1144 to 144 cents a pound, and the trout do well
when Lane’s food is fed alternately with liver.

Mr. Titeomb: Is that for the young fish ?

Mr. Bower: No, sir, for the yearlings and upward. We do
not feed Lane’s food to small fish—we feed nothing but liver to
the young fish. We think our larger fish are better off for not
being fed entirely on animal food.

Mr. Seymour Bower: I would like to ask Mr. Wood what he
feeds his fish at the present time, and what he thinks as to the
relative cost and merits of the kind or kinds of food that he is
using.

Mr. C. C. Wood: In the hatchery, at Plymouth, when we
are feeding meat, we prefer to feed sheeps’ plucks. We think
they are better suited to the fish and not as soft as the hogs’
plucks, and we get them from the West—they cost us 30 cents a
dozen delivered at our hatcheries, with no charge for packing or
anything of that kind, and that makes a pretty cheap food, and
it is cheaper than anything we can get at Plymouth, and we like
the sheeps’ plucks better than any meat food. We feed our small
fry on haddock spawn, and that makes excellent food; and we
have good luck in raising fry; later on, during the summer we
old cheap
fish that we grind up and feed the older trout. The sheeps’

feed old fish costing us say $2.50 to $3.00 a barrel

pluck, as I say, is the cheapest and best thing.
Mr. Atkins: From what point in the West do you get the

sheeps’ plucks ?

American Fisheries Society. 69

Mr. Wood: It is a Boston firm, and I have never been able
to pronounce it—S & S Company, on Commercial street, Boston.
Q. I suppose they get them from Chicago or western states ?

A. Yes, I have no doubt but what they do.

Mr. Seymour Bower: <A few years ago I think Mr. Wood
told me they bought their sheeps’ plucks for 3 cents a piece; but
I cannot find a place in the West where we can buy them for less
than 5 cents. We buy them direct from the refrigerator car of
Swift & Company, which runs through where our hatchery is
once a week. They are delivered in very nice shape, but that is
the lowest price they ever gave us. I do not understand the rea-
son for the difference in price. I guess we will have to order from
Boston.

Mr. Clark: It is on the principle that our manufacturers
sell goods in England cheaper than they do at home.

Mr. Bean: I believe Mr. Seagle has had experience in feed-
ing fishes, and I think we would like to hear from him.

Mr. Seagle: We feed our small trout fry, herring roe, and
have had some experience in feeding cod roe, but have not been
very successful with cod roe. The fish lived but did not grow
rapidly, and we quit it.

Mr. Bean: Did you ever try haddock roe ?

A. No, sir.

Mr. Bean: Mr. George P. Slade, treasurer of the South Side
Sportsman’s Club of Long Island, and a new member of our
society, is using haddock roe as food. His address is 309 Broad-
way, New York. He wrote me that the food proved to be ver}
cheap and excellent for the young fry; that the fish grow faster
and are less liable to disease than ever before. They had been
using liver entirely, but last year they began using haddock roe
and they are continuing it very successfully indeed. They get it
from Boston.

Mr. George F. Lane, of Silver Lake, Mass.: I do not know
that-I can give you anything further than I gave you three years
ago regarding the so-called Lane Food for fish. I have contin-
ued using that same food, as I told the Society at that time, with
very good success; and I think if there is any such thing as a
commercial fish tasting of the liver, that this feeding of the food

70 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

that I am given the credit of introducing, is a great benefit to
the fish that you are going to put on the market for a food fish.
Mr. Titcomb: What do you feed the young fish ?
Mr. Lane: Hog’s liver.

THE LIVE-FOOD PROBLEM.

BY CHAS. G. ATKINS.

I think I may safely say that no fish-culturist disputes that
live food would be better for fish than dead food if it could be
had of suitable kind, in sufficient quantity, and at a reasonable
cost. JI am not aware that there has been any positive determi-
nation of this question by accurate research, but in the absence
of such determination I think that we are justified in taking that
view. Each one of the species of the family of salmonidae which
form almost exclusively the subjects of fishfeeding work in
America is plainly by nature a feeder on living animals ; to such
an extent is this true that seldom will one of these fishes pay the
least attention to the most delicious morsel that does not have
that most evident characteristic of the traits of life-motion.

The possible sources of live food may be broadly divided into
two classes, first, aquatic animals; second, land animals.
Amongst the former are other fishes, water-insects, shrimps,
daphnids, and other crustacea, water-snails, etc. Amongst the
latter are all the aerial insects with such of their larvae as are
not aquatic, angleworms, ete.

Of the first group we may note that it comprises the entire
natural food of fishes; and it would seem that search for a live
food for the fish-culturist’s broods should be first conducted along
this line. What is there available amongst aquatic animals?
The number that might possibly be of some use is so very grea
that a bare list of their names would take more time in the read-
ing than I can afford in this address. I will therefore confine
myself to a very few.

Most prominent among aquatic animals for our present pur-
pose, are the small crustacea of fresh waters, the shrimps and
the entomostraca and among the entomastraca, especially the
daphnids or waterfleas. Some of these crustacea are present in
every fish pond, however small, and under favorable conditions,
which nature often gives them, they become very abundant. It
is on these minute creatures that young fishes of the salmon fam-
ily mainly feed in the spring and early summer. In many brooks

i

-~>
oO

Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

their influence on the growth of trout has been noted, and there
have been some instances in America of fish-culturists availing
themselves of their help in growing trout. In the transactions
of this Society for 1892 there were some interesting statements
from the personal experience of Mr. Fairbanks of Illinois on the
erowing of trout in ponds in which they were sustained solely by
the natural food which grew there spontaneously, consisting
mainly of freshwater shrimps; and the same matter has been dis-
cussed in some of the later transactions. I am not aware, how-
ever, that any attempt has been made to forward the multiplica-
tion of shrimps by any artificial help further than transplanting
them from one water to another.

The crustacea which have received most attention are those
belonging to the family of entomostraca called daphnids. Daph-
nids thrive in water containing much vegetable matter in a state
of decay. Not that they feed directly on such material, but on
the still smaller creatures that the decaying matter directly nour-
ishes. Decaying animal substances would seem to work in much
the same way, the multiplication of some of the entomostraca
being eventually much favored thereby.

Fish culturists have always been scheming to utilize these
aquatic food resources, but generally with unsatisfactory results.
One of the most ambitious of these schemes was that of Lugrin
and Du Roveray at Gremat, in eastern France, which was
brought to American attention in 1888 by the American consul
at Marseilles. His report and translation of a French report on
the subject were published in the transactions of this society for
1892. As the consul depicted it, Lugrin’s method was very sim-
ple and cheap and its results were marvellous. I quote his lan-
guage: “The process of Mr. Lugrin, which has been patented
in several countries, consists in spreading upon the bottom of
these tanks a material impregnated with the elements necessary
to produce spontaneously a limitless number of Daphnia, Cy-
clops, Limnaea, as well as fresh-water shrimps, and the larvae
of various Ephemera which form the natural aliment of trout
and other Salmonidae at all stages of their growth. Once con-
which

structed, and impregnated with this producing material
is of trifling cost, (This reproducing material, it appears from
the United States letters patent granted to the inventors, con-

American Fisheries Society. %3

sisted in nothing more nor less than the excrement dropped by
the fishes in the ponds ), these tanks go on with their work auto-
matically and indefinitely. The water, from two to three feet in
depth, being left undisturbed two or three weeks, is found peo-
pled with swarming myriads of minute organisms of the species
above named. Twenty thousand trout a year old, or three thou-
sand two years old, which last would average about one-half
pound in weight, are considered sufficient for a pasture of that
size (160 square yards, or 1-30 acre), and the avidity with which
they rush to occupy and ravage their new feeding ground is a
delight to the pisciculturist. If the propagation has been ordi-
narily abundant, these 20,000 young fry or 3,000 yearlings will
subsist royally in a tank of the size indicated for an entire month.
They will eat on an average twenty to twenty-five pounds of food
per day, or 600 to 800 pounds per month. When,at the close of
the month the tank has become depleted, the gate is opened and
the fish driven like a flock of sheep to a new and similar pasture.
The first tank, being closed and left in quiet, immediately begin=
the process of reproduction, and at the end of two or three weeks
is swarming again with the varied minute organic life which far
surpasses in value, as food for fish, anything that has been de-
vised by man.”

The accounts of Mr. Lugrin’s work attracted many visitors ;
and among them two eminent men in their departments, Prof.
Francis Day of England and Mr. Raveret-Wattel of France, are
on record as having, from personal inspection, reached the most
flattering conclusions as to the success of the method and the
great benefits that fisheulture would reap from it. But I regret
to have to say that their expectations have not been realized. The
method of Lugrin, though pushed by the inventor upon the at-
tention of fish-culturists in various countries, has not come into
use, and appears to have been found wanting. In 1901, ina
book on trout-breeding, we find this same Mr. Raveret-Wattel
writing thus about the feeding of the fry: “The food of trout
fry in captivity demands minute care and even that will not al-
ways avail to prevent heavy losses. One of the principal difficul-
ties is that no artificial food can replace the living prey forming
the food of fry that are hatched and live at liberty. When one
is raising a small number of fry it 1s sometimes possible to pro-

74 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

cure daphnids enough to feed them. In this case one catches
some of these minute crustaceans and with them stocks some
casks such as are used in kitchen-gardens. * * * * * * *
Unfortunately, the plentiful multiplication of daphnids is lim-
ited to water warmed by the heat of spring time and can only be
apphed to the feeding of trout fry in localities where this fish
spawns late. Elsewhere one must resort to the foods called arti-
ficial, such as curd; yolk of eggs hardened by boiling; sheep’s
brains; blood, coagulated or cooked; chopped liver of beef or
mutton; spleen, etc.” Plainly in France the use of daphnids has
not yet become an important practice in fish culture; and the
same may be said of other countries. At Craig Brook the breed-
ing of daphnids in fish ponds was tried about ten years ago and
there appeared at first a prospect of important success; but
though the little crustaceans were made astonishingly abundant,
the salmon fry introduced into the ponds soon exhausted the sup-
ply and it was found impossible to secure its renewal, even
though the fish were removed and the pond left to itself. It is
a matter of common observation that the season when daphnids
especially abound is always the spring and early summer, and it
is reasonable to attribute our failure in part to the progress of
the season. But Lugrin was able to show his visitors extremely
abundant stocks of daphnids and accompanying forms in_ his
ponds in October and again in winter when ice had to be broken
to make the examination. I have myself known daphnids to
come into a hatchery at Bucksport in winter with the supply-
water in such quantities as to clog the flannel screens to the ex-
tent of overflowing. In this case the hatchery had just been built
and the water supplying it came from a pond that covered a tract
of low land now for the first time overflowed. So, although it may
be true that the rule is with daphnids, to multiply and replenish
the waters in the spring and early summer, and to pass the rest
of the year in a dormant state, it seems to be quite within tho
limits of possibility that, if desirable, they could be produced for
fish food at all seasons. I say “if desirable” because it would
seem that the necessity of using such minute food as daphnids
would pass away each summer with the growth of the fish, 4
trout or salmon having by midsummer become large enough to
swallow comfortably an animal many times larger than an ordi-
nary daphnid.

~2
'

American Fisheries Society.

Of the many other aquatic forms that would be acceptable
food for young fish, I will take time to mention only the larvae
of mosquitoes and similar dipterous insects. In the summer of
1886 and again in 1888 at Craig Brook we practiced for some
weeks the feeding of mosquito larvae and pupae to young salmon.
At first they were obtained from pools in the neighboring swamps
and later from barrels of water that had been set up in conveni-
ent places for them, and in which the adult mosquitoes laid the
eggs. The fry ate the larvae with great avidity and throve well
on them, but other methods of feeding came to engross our atten-
tion and the experiments were not carried far enough to develop
any practical mode of operation. I, however, think it not im-
probable that some useful system of managing such larvae might
be devised.

Now let us turn to the other division of the subject, the use
of living land animals for fish food. First of all stand the larvae
of flies. Those that have thus far been tried are almost wholly
confined to the species that breed in animal matter, and espe-
cially the flesh-flies. At Craig Brook between 1886 and 1896
extensive trial was made of the production and use of these lar-
vae. In 1891, fry of trout and salmon to the number of 158,000
were fed with them exclusively through the most of the summer
In later years, when 200,000 fry of trout and salmon were fed
through the summer, maggots formed half their food. I have
heard of no other attempts at the production of these larvae in
America, that were developed beyond the tentative suspension
over a fishpond of a box of meat in which the maggots grew and
from which they crawled into the water. In Europe there have
been numerous experiments leading in some instances to the in-
vention of special apparatus for the purpose, but none appear to
have reached the stage of practical work. One of the most promi-
nent of these experimentors was Andreas Rakus, a practical fish-
culturist of Austrian Silesia, whose methods, including the cul-
ture of many other kinds of live food, were taken up by an engi-
neer, Von Scheidlin, who offered the secrets of the system for sale
to American fish-culturists. That part of the system relating to
flv-larvae became known as the “Von Scheidlin-Rakus method of
odorless production of maggots.” Von Scheidlin’s description of
it is as follows:

76 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

“To produce maggots cheaply and in great quantities upon
vegetables and beef-blood. Moisture, shade and warmth are the
fundamental conditions of the artificial production of insects as
fish food. Maggots are produced (by the wholesale) as follows:

“Take a wooden box 14 to 1 meter long, 44 to 4 meter wide
and 14 to 14 meter deep, wet the whole inside and strew it with
sawdust or dry turf-earth so that these shall remain clinging to
the walls, and then put in, from the bottom up, in layers of 6 to
10 centimeters, first sawdust or turf-earth, second sterilized
(scalded or roasted) bran, third coagulated blood in pieces, to-
gether with the serum and chopped up frogs or fish, fourth
chopped up plants or boiled mushrooms.. Then again in order,
first, second, third, fourth, until the top. Then put the box in
warm moist shade. In eight, twelve, twenty-four or thirty-six
hours the flies will have deposited their eggs in the mass, and the
moist warmth will have hatched them. Should a cold rainstorm
occur, then put the boxes in pits in the earth upon fermenting
horse manure, and surround them upon the outside with the
same, and cover them so that the cool rain water shall not pene-
trate and hinder the hatching of the eggs. When the fish are
being fed, the chest is to be emptied in standing water. In flow-
ing water the contents of the chest must be put in tinned wire
baskets having wide meshes, and loaded with stones and sunk t»
the bottom, otherwise the current will sweep them away.”

Perhaps climatic and other conditions are such as to render
this a cheap method of producing fish food; but in America the
collection of a sufficient quantity of mushrooms to play any im-
portant part in the mixture would be impracticable, and the
manual processes described would render it rather costly. I
doubt, moreover, whether this scheme was ever carried out on
more than an experimental scale.

The procedure with maggots at Craig Brook was in outline
as follows: Animal substances, which had been exposed to the
visits of the flies and received deposits of their eggs were put
away in boxes, where the eggs were allowed to hatch and the
maggots to grow until they had attained suitable size, when they
were taken out and fed to young fish in troughs or small ponds.

The material used was of various kinds. Butcher’s offal,
plucks or haslets, horses or other domestic animals dying by acci-

American Fisheries Society. rp

dent or slaughtered on account of old age, refuse fish, either
fresh or dried or salted, all these were used, as each became avail-
able. It was found that flies were much more readily attracted
by fresh than by very stale material, and therefore anything that
had already begun to decay was avoided; though, of course, in
every case decay soon set in. In case of dried and salted fish
they had first to be soaked in water, and even then the salted
fish did not prove so attractive to flies as the fresh material. Af-
ter the first experiments a house about 28 by 50 feet was built
especially for the purpose. This was fitted with ranges of shelves
on which were placed the growing-boxes. The boxes were in
pairs, one within another. The inner box, smaller by several
inches than the outer, had a wirecloth bottom and stood on four
legs which held it up from the bottom of the outer box. On the
wire bottom was spread a layer of hay, and on this was placed
the fly-blown meat, which was generally covered by a light layer
of dried loam to subdue the odor. Here the eggs hatched, the
young feasted and grew, and in a few days, having attained full
size, they crawled down through the hay and the wirecloth into
the outer box, whence they could be turned out into a pail and
carried to the fish.

The fry receiving this aliment were for the most part reared
in wooden troughs a foot wide. At first the maggots were placed
on small boards suspended over these troughs and left to craw!
off slowly into the water, but later they were strewn in with
spoons. They were always eagerly devoured and none escaped.
Full-grown maggots were found too large for salmon or trout
fry just beginning to feed, and though it was found possible to
feed them with half-grown or smaller maggots, the practice
finally adopted in the main was to feed liver for several weeks
at the start. The maggot-feeding generally began in June and
continued until October, when it was customary to liberate most
of the fry. It was, however, found possible to keep maggots on
hand in a cool cellar the most of the winter, dormant or slowly
growing.

Fish fed on maggots have invariably made a better growth
than those fed on liver or any other dead materials tried. Thus
in 1890 the average weight attained in October by 18,367 salmon
fry fed all summer on chopped meat was 45 grains; while 11,479

78 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

salmon-fry fed chopped meat until July 4 and maggots there-
after until October attained an average of 51 grains. In 1888
the average of some thousands of maggot-fed fish was 46 grains,
against 35 grains for a like number fed on chopped meat. In
1891 the disparity was still greater, 53 grains to 35 grains, as
an average of over 40,000 fish on each side.

Whether live food of this character will produce fish of better
quality than dead food is a question that should await investiga-
tion; I do not mean simply better quality for human consump-
tion, but better for the purposes of nature, making a healthier
fish—one more likely to survive in the struggle for existence, and
transmit desirable qualities to its offspring. From what has been
observed of the influence of various foods I think the presump-
tion fairly lies in favor of the superiority in this respect of this
class of fish food.

I regret that I can cite no investigation of the availability for
our purpose of the larvae of other than flesh-fles. ‘There are,
for instance, the house and stable flies, whose extreme abund-
ance suggests the possibility of breeding and using their young.
There are also species that breed in decaying seaweed, and re-
search in other vegetable matter would doubtless reveal many
other larvae, of which some might be available. A vegetarian
feeder would surely be welcomed, as bringing relief from the
disagreeable odors connected with flesh-eating larvae; but I do
not consider it improbable that means will yet be found to sup-
press those odors in good degree while retaining the flesh feeders.

Like many other branches of the fishcultural art, this one of
live food has received no thorough study, and presents a great
field for future investigation ; and as one offering the possibility
of discoveries of the very first importance I commend it to all of
you who have facilities for experimental work.

Te ae aes oe

Before reading his paper Mr. Atkins said: I took this sub-
ject by request, not that I felt myself in position to handle it as
well as I would like to have it handled. My experience has not
been sufficiently recent and up-to-date to expect that. I have
tried to present in this paper the result of my own observations
to some extent, and to glean a little from some other authorities,
and hope that the paper may prove of some interest to you.

TRANSPORTATION OF GREEN BROOK TROUT AND
SALMON EGGS, RELATIVE TO THE CAPACITY OF
THE TWO SPECIES OF EGGS TO BEAR TRANS-
PORTATION OR ROUGH USAGE.

BY WALDO F. HUBBARD.

This paper is written in the hopes of bringing out some dis-
cussion upon this subject, and that members of the Association
who have had experiences in this line may relate them. I do noi
claim to have made any new discoveries, and know that all of
the experiments tried by me have been tested by others. But |
do claim, as far as my observation and experience haye gone,
that brook trout eggs will bear transportation in the green stage
with less loss than salmon eggs of the same age. What 1 mean
by eggs in the green stage is eggs from one or two, to ten or
twelve days old. When I was stationed on the Pacific coast,
where I was for twenty-five years in connection with the salmon
work, field stations for the collection of salmon eggs were oper-
ated in connection with the main station, and it would have of-
ten been very desirable if the eggs could have been transferred
from these field stations to the main station while in the green
stage, and I, at several times, tried a number of experiments with
this object in view. As I remember, I shipped the green eggs of
different ages by various methods. Some I packed on cotton
flannel trays, others in moss, and others in glass jars of water,
and I decided, from these experiments, that the eggs could not
be successfully shipped until they were eyed, and they were
therefore left at the field stations until such period.

In 1899 I was transferred to New Hampshire, where I am
now stationed, and where the work consists principally in the
propagation of brook trout, though other species are also han-
dled. When I took up this work I gained the impression that
brook trout eggs were more delicate than salmon, and, therefore,
more difficult to handle, or transport. While in the northern
part of New Hampshire my attention was brought to the method
employed for several years by the New Hampshire Fish Com-
mission in transferring their trout eggs from the field stations,

79

80 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

to the hatchery at Colebrook. The field stations are located ten
or twelve miles from the hatchery, and the mode of procedure
was, to capture the fish and strip them on the fishing grounds.
The eggs, after being fertilized, and washed, were then placec
in glass fruit jars filled with water. The jars were filled gradu-
ally as the eggs were taken. ‘The work being usually done in the
morning and the eggs kept in the jars, with an occasional change
of water, till afternoon, when they were taken, by team, to the
hatchery; thus being in the jars at least five or six hours. I do
not know just what the loss, resulting from the transportation,
was, but understand it was very small.

In 1901 the United States Fish Commission was operating
a field station on Lake Sunapee, in connection with the Nashua,
N. H., station, where both salmon and trout eggs were taken,
and, as it would be quite a saving in expense, and avoid a consid-
erable risk, if the eggs could be transferred while in the green
stage, to the Nashua station, rather than be left at the field sta-
tion until eyed, I decided to make the attempt to ship them in
glass jars. The results were as follows:

On October 21, 1901, 15,000 brook trout eggs were taken
from the field station to Nashua. These eggs were taken from
the fish October 15, 17 and 20, therefore the oldest of them
would be six days old at the time of shipment. The following
day they were picked over and one hundred bad eggs, or about
two-thirds of one per cent was found to be the loss. On Novem-
ber 9th of the same year 20,000 salmon eggs were taken from the
station in the same manner to Nashua. ‘These eggs were taken
from the fish Nov. 5, 7 and 9, so at the time of shipment the old-
est of them were four days old. When they were picked over
3,200 eggs, or about 16 per cent was found to be the loss. The
following year, 1902, the same field station was operated and the
same experiments repeated, with the result that of 16,100 brook
trout eggs shipped to Nashua on October 24th, 330, or a little
over 2 per cent was found to be the loss. These eggs were taken
October 10, 16, 18, 22 and 24, so the first of them were fourteen
days old at the time of shipment. On November 11th, 23,000
salmon eges were shipped to Nashua, and the loss, when they
were picked over, was 5,875, or a little more than 25 per cent.
These eggs were taken Noy. 6, 7 and 10, and shipped on the

American Fisheries Society. 81

11th, so the oldest of them at the time of shipment were five
days. The eggs taken at the Lake Sunapee field station were ail
handled in the same manner. After being taken from the fish
they were placed in hatching troughs where they were kept for
several days, in one case as many as fourteen, and until they
were shipped to Nashua. At the time of shipment they were
placed in two-quart glass fruit jars, the jars being full of water.
The covers were then put on and the jars sealed tight. The eggs
were placed in the jars before 12 o’clock in the morning, and did
not arrive at the hatchery at Nashua till about 8 o’clock in the
evening, therefore being in the jars all of eight hours, during
which time they were not opened. The jars, containing the
eggs, were packed in a box of hay with ice enough in the top to
keep the temperature of the water down to about 40 degrees.

To recapitulate: ‘The experiments made by me in Oregon
resulted in demonstrating that it was not advisable to attempt
to move green salmon eggs. ‘The work done by the New Hamp-
shire Fish Commission shows that green brook trout eggs have
been transported by them, with small loss, for several years. The
result of experiments made at the Lake Sunapee field station
show the loss for 1901 in the transportation of green brook trout
eggs to have been about two-thirds of one per cent, and of salmon
eggs 16 per cent. In 1902 the loss of brook trout eggs was about
two per cent and of salmon eggs 25 per cent.

I understand from J. N. Wisner, Field Superintendent, now
in charge of the Clackamas, Oregon, station, and from J. W.
Berrian, foreman of the Rogue River, Oregon, station, that at
both places they have been successful in transporting freshly
taken salmon eggs, in cans while they were in the milt, and be-
fore they had been washed, for a mile or two, from the spawning
ground to the station, being perhaps two hours on the journey.
This, of course, demonstrates that freshly taken salmon eggs can
be transported successfully for an hour or two while they are in
the milt and before they have been washed, but has no bearing
on the question as to whether green salmon or trout eggs wil!
bear transportation with the least loss when they are from one
to twelve days old.

82 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

DISCUSSION OF MR. HUBBARD’S PAPER.

Mr. Titcomb: I want to inquire the temperature of the wa-
ter the eggs were held in previous to shipping.

Mr. Hubbard: I could not give it exactly. The water was
what we used in the hatching house.

Q. Pretty close to 32°?

A. Oh, no, it was above 40°.

Q. Then the eggs when they were six days old must have
been im a very delicate condition.

A. Well, they did not appear to be from the condition they
arrived in when they reached Nashua. I think that some of
them were in a delicate condition. There were a few eggs that
were there twelve to fourteen days old, that were in a delicate
condition.

Mr. Clark: At what temperature of water, did you say?

Mr. Hubbard: I cannot say just what the temperature was,
but it was over 40°.

Mr. Clark: I made a report six or eight years ago on the
same line with the brook trout, when we had a field station for
brook trout on the Au Sable river in Michigan, and I made some
pretty thorough experiments in transporting green brook trout
eggs, to arrive, if possible, at the exact time when they should
not be moved, and I think in that report you will find that at a
water temperature of 48° to 50° F. the brook trout eggs should
not be moved at eight days old. ‘These experiments were con-
ducted as follows: The eggs were all moved about 200 miles by
rail; we moved a certain portion of eggs, probably 50,000 to
100,000 each lot each day; they were taken, that is, within a
few hours, and then every day from that day on until they were
eighteen days old (of course eyed eggs). We found that on the
Sth day the greatest loss occurred. The critical stage is about
the eighth day, and we can move the eggs with perfect safety be-
fore reaching that period, and when that critical stage is reached
we do not allow even the trays to be taken out of the troughs.

Mr. Hubbard: How are the eggs shipped—on the trays, or
how ?

Mr. Clark: The last year we moved about 30 million eggs,
and most of them were moved on either flannel trays or chees?

American Fisheries Society. 83

cloth trays—I do not think it makes much difference what they
are moved on, whether flannel, cheese cloth or wire trays. If
you do not have any dead water around them and you have the
temperature right I do not think it makes a particle of differ-
ence—I would just as soon move them on a board, if that board
did not have anything about it that would contaminate or injure
the eggs.

Mr. Titcomb: I think Mr. Hubbard’s experiments are very
interesting ; but to carry them to a conclusion, in other words, to
determine whether the transportation of the green eggs by the
jar method, when they are from one to twelve days old is en-
tirely without injury, we have got at the same time to eye some
eggs right at the collecting station, and not only eye them there,
but follow the results through to the young fish. I think that
very frequently we get trout eggs to the eyed stage, they look all
right, and they hatch all right, and then we have weak fry, and
we do not know what the trouble is, and in many instances, I be-
lieve, although I have never followed a control experiment to
prove it, the weakness in the fry and the mortality among the
young fish are caused by a weakness in the egg, or possibly the
weakness goes back to the parent fish, but will not be noticeable
until the fish has begun to feed.

I just want to bring out in connection with this matter the
point that many of the superintendents who are making experi-
ments (and I place myself in the same category when I was
superintendent), do not carry the experiments far enough;
they do not have a test in comparison with the ordinary method.
I simply bring that out for consideration, and in connection
with your work another year, that you carry the experiments
still further. There is no question but that you can take the
green trout eggs and carry them long distances with very little
injury. You can carry them almost any way. You can take an
ordinary fish can and fill it half full of eggs and half full of
water and put it on the cars and carry it all day, if you do not
get your temperature too high. They get more or less aeration
from the motion of the cars, and will go through all right and
produce good fry.

Mr. James Nevin, of Madison: We always ship our eggs on
wire trays. We fill the top of the tray full of crushed ice, and

84 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

have no loss from carrying them any distance—whether one day,
ten days or two weeks old cuts no figure.

Mr. Atkins: We are in the habit of taking all our salmon
eggs two miles from the station, and we transfer them to the
station on wire cloth trays, to be developed. And all we have to.
do when we get them to the station is to take the whole bunch.
and set it right into the trough; and I have an idea that that
could be done many days afterwards with entire success, if we
are very careful to avoid jars. As long as we do not expose them
far enough to dry them up and do not jar them, we might carry
them almost any distance.

Mr. Clark mentioned one stage when he did not even take
his trays out. We look them over every week, take them out of
the trough, and handle them over, tray by tray; but we are care-
ful not to jar them, and we do not find that we meet with anv
loss In consequence.

The point I wish to bring out is this, and the experiment that
we tried, and I thought that we had it right, is, that in certain
stages, with certain kinds of eggs, under certain temperature
there is a vital time when we should not disturb the eggs. i
think we can kill them then; at other times I do not. My experi-
ence has been that this jarring does not affect. them either be-
fore that stage or after, and I think that a green egg, (that is,
provided it is hardened enough—I do not mean an egg that is
not hardened, but I mean an egg that is hardened) can be
moved with impunity. I would move an egg one, two or three
days old just as freely and with just as much jar as | would an
eyed egg. But at the vital stage, as I have stated, this can not
be done. I would like to ask Mr. Atkins if he has ever tried this
experiment with eggs along at different times, picking a tray out
and jouncing it in the water to clean it, as hard as he could?

Mr. Atkins: We have tried experiments similar to that.

Mr. Clark: Did you ever have a case like this: Take a tray
of eggs, jounce it and pretty nearly every egg will turn white
within a very few minutes ?

A. Yes.

Q. You do not think that those eggs were all unfertile eggs,
do you?

A. Oh, by no means—they were killed by the jar.

American Fisheries Society. 85

Q. Now, have you taken that same process and moved those
eggs rapidly in the water after they were eyed, and did you find
any trouble ?

A. No, not after they were eyed.

Q. Did you ever try them one day, three or four days old ?

A.. No, I never did.

Mr. Clark: Then try the experiment this winter, and see if
you do not arrive at a point when you should let them alone.

Mr. Atkins: There is a point when they are very delicate—
we of course know that—and if the eggs are to be taken out of
the troughs and handled at that time, it must be done very care-
fully indeed so as not to injure them.

Mr. Hubbard: Rainbow trout eggs we let lie for the first ten
days and then we can handle them.

Mr. Atkins: Our apparatus allows us to handle them at any
time.

Mr. Thompson: As being somewhat along the line of Mr.
Atkins’ remarks, I want to state that while I cannot give the
exact figures, I can say in a general way that the eggs from the
Sunapee Lake brook trout moved in the manner indicated by
Mr. Hubbard have always been amongst the best we have han-
dled at the Nashua Station. The fry hatched from them and
reared to the yearling stage being amongst our best and strongest
fish. This would definitely indicate that the embryos could not
have been greatly damaged by shipping in-the manner and ai
the period mentioned. After the first picking on arrival, there
was but small loss of eggs, ranking invariably well up with our
best lots; the fish were usually stronger than those hatched either
from the station eggs or those received from the Commercial
hatcheries.

There is one point I do not think was as well understood as
it should be: Not only were the eggs under discussion shipped
in fruit jars but after filling them to the top with water and
eggs, a rubber band was put on and the jar cover fastened down
so that it was absolutely air tight, the same as though preserving
fruit. You know the result if air gets in fruit jars. The jars
were then placed in the shipping boxes surrounded by packing to
keep them from breaking and with a light covering of ice to
regulate the temperature. For eight hours at least while in

86 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

transit to the station there was absolutely no possibility of their
receiving any air in addition to that enclosed in the jar.

Mr. Titcomb: What I mean by “comparison” is this: You
cannot compare them with the station eggs or the eggs you get
from the commercial hatcheries; you have got to make your com-
parison in order to ascertain the relative merit of transporting
those eggs green or young, by eyeing a part of them right where
they are taken, and then transporting the balance, getting the
comparisons from the same fish under the varying conditions.
Undoubtedly the wild trout of Sunapee Lake will yield a strong-
er trout than the station fish.

Mr. Thompson: I only mentioned that in a general way as
it has some shght bearing on the subject.

Mr. Hubbard: I might say that I have had such good sue-
cess with the jars from the beginning that I have not tried any
other way of shipment, as for instance, in trays.

Mr. Clark: How long have you kept the fish in the jars ?

Mr. Hubbard: About eight hours.

Mr. Clark: In our work on Detroit river, all our fish eggs
were moved from the field station to the hatchery, in cans. They
are sometimes taken in the afternoon and do not reach the hatch-
ery until the next forenoon, and are held in cans all that time.
The change of water while they are at the field station in tubs.
is made every hour.. When they are put in the cans it is not in-
tended that they shall be kept there longer than three hours.

Mr. Atkins: Is there no change made during that three
hours ?

Mr. Clark: No sir, except what little aeration there is in the
winter. I think in Mr. Hubbard’s experiment if the water is at
a proper temperature there would not be a particle of difficulty
in sending them in those cans, if you did not have too many
eggs for the amount of water.

Mr. Hubbard: They were in two-quart jars, which were
probably two-thirds full of eggs.

Mr. Clark: I think there is a point in the sealing business.
I conducted an experiment with fish along that line.

Mr. L. B. Handy, South Wareham, Mass.: I take the eggs.
pour them right into the pan, not letting them be in water over

American Fisheries Society. 87

half an hour, and turn them about 20,000 at a time on the tray,
and ship them.

Mr. Clark: Will they come up full size in thirty minutes ?

Mr. Handy: Yes, sir, all right. At 9 o’clock in the morning
I put them on the tray, and some of them are not taken off until
9 o’clock at night, and they have just a moist cloth over them.
I have moved six or seven million of them in the last four or five
years that way. When I take them in a jar I find I have a much
greater loss from dead water, etc., than by the method which |
employ. They do better with no water at all—perfectly dry—
than in the way suggested.

Mr. Clark: They must have clear water down our way.

General E. E. Bryant of Madison: I would like to inquire if
the deduction from the discussion would be that the mortality of
the eggs arises largely, or might arise, from two sources, one,
that when they are at a certain critical or sensitive stage, any
jarring or throwing them into contact, would impair the virility
of the egg; the other, the water becoming stale. Is not then the
method which should be resorted to that of the greatest care in
handling, to avoid any shock or jar, any bringing of the eggs
into forcible contact with each other, and keeping the tempera-
ture even and at the degree desired? We know when water be-
comes stale it becomes infested with myriads of microbes of a bad
character; and it would seem to me from the discussion here
(and I speak not from actual experience) that the shock or jar
was very detrimental to the egg. Is not the problem then to
avoid the least shock and to get the temperature right, and to
obtain purity of water, if you transport them in water? IT merely
throw these suggestions out for inquiry.

Mr. Atkins: It seems to me those are the two important
points, certainly, to avoid any excessive jar, and also to avoid
stale water. I should think that Mr. Hubbard would need, as
Mr. Clark says, to extend his observation on those eggs to the
hatching and the fry afterwards. I should suppose that it was
possible that eggs might be carried in water and show no imme-
diate injury, and show no trouble in hatching, and not until the
fish were considerably developed, and then show some weakness
as a result of the confinement in water allowed to get stale: but
of course Mr. Hubbard had an opportunity to see whether these

88 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

trout came out right and what character they were, and he can
tell us; and as I understand him he observed no injury whatever.

Mr. Hubbard: We had a chance to observe the trout after
they hatched, of course.

(). Those very same ones ?

A. Yes, sir, and they were some of the best fry in the hatch.
ery.

Mr. Atkins: That is pretty conclusive.

Mr. Hubbard: I wanted to find out in this discussion how
salmon or green trout eggs would bear transportation with the
least loss; I do not know if it is very important, but it is quite
interesting to me as I had not been able to find means to ship
green salmon eggs, and I was very much surprised to find when
I came here that the trout eggs would bear transportation with
less loss than the salmon eggs.

Dr. Henshall: I made some experiments with grayling eggs
when I first began the grayling work in Montana, in order to
find out the best time for shipping the eggs, and I have shipped
ereen eggs from the sub-station after shaking and washing them
well, for grayling eggs require much more washing than trout

eges, or they will adhere—and after the eggs had a good washing
and a chance to absorb all the moisture they would, they were
packed on trays in the usual way, and put in my refrigerator
cases and shipped to my hatchery with a loss of about 25 per
cent. The rest hatched out and made good fry. Those were per-
fectly green eggs, shipped the same day they were taken. I do
not know that I am in order, because I did not hear the original
paper, but you were speaking of salmon eggs and trout eggs, and
that is my experience with green grayling eggs. We now ship
them in less than five days after they are taken.

Mr. Clark: What was the water temperature for that five
days?

Dr. Henshall: About 52° F; the eye spots will show in six
to seven days, but the embryo is very lively in about five days,
and that is a good time to ship them, as they do just as well as
when the eye spot shows.

Mr. George F. Lane, Silver Lake, Mass.: My experience
with trout eggs at a temperature of 52° is that they should not

American Fisheries Socie ty. 89

be handled, after they have been in the hatching trough ten
days; if they are touched after the tenth day they are almost a
total loss. From the tenth to the twentieth day I do not think
they stand touching, according to my observation.

SOME EARLY NOTES ON STRIPED BASS.

BY D. B. FEARING.

In collecting data for a history of the striped bass, I have
come across a few remarks concerning him, amongst the early
New England writers that may be of interest to the members of
the American Fisheries Society :

The striped bass, as he is called here, received his scientific
name of lineatus, from Bloch, in the latter part of the High-
teenth Century.

William Wood in New England’s Prospect (London 1635)
gives “Suggig” as the Indian word for ‘“‘a Basse.”

Josiah Cotton, in his “Indian Vocabulary,” gives as the
equivalent of ‘ta bass,” “qunnammag.”

DeWitt Clinton, in a note to his introductory address, before
the Literary & Physiological Society of New York, delivered in
1814, states that “Basse is a Dutch word, signifying Perch.”

James Mease in a paper read before the same society, says
that “The largest rock fish, that is, those that weigh from twen-
ty-five to sixty pounds, are called ‘Greenheads; he also called
them ‘streaked basse.’ ”

Storer in his History of the Fisheries of Massachusetts says
that “the larger striped bass are called squid-hounds, from the
voraciousness with which they will take a squid, when used as
bait.”

There is a tradition that there were but ten species of fishes,
known to the Dutch when they discovered America; that when
they caught a shad, they named the fish “Elft,” or eleventh; the
bass, “T'walft,” or twelfth; and the drum, “Dertienen,” or thir-
teenth.

He is found as far north as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and as
far south as the Gulf of Mexico, on the Atlantic coast, and since
his introduction to Pacific waters, in 1879, he has become com-
mon around San Francisco. He is usually called striped bass
from New Jersey, north; from New Jersey, south, he is known
as the rock, rock fish or rock bass.

90

American Fisheries Society. 91

William Hubbard writes in his “History of New England,
from the year 162) to the year 1680” (Mass. Hist. Soc., Collec-
tions 2nd Series V): “In the year 1623 they had but one boat
left, and that none of the best, which then was the principal sup-
port of their lives, for that year it helped them for to improve a
net wherewith they took a multitude of bass, which was their
livelihood, all that summer. It is a fish not much inferiour to
a salmon, that comes upon the coast every summer, pressing into
most of the great creeks every tide. Few countries have such
an advantage. Sometimes fifteen hundred of them have been
stopped in a creek, and taken in one tide.”

Francis Higginson writing in 1629 says: “Whilst I was
writing this letter my wiffe brought me word that the fishers
had caught 1600 basse at one draught, which if they were in
England, were worth many a pound.”

In his “New England’s Plantation” or ‘A Short and True
Description of the Commodities and Discommodities of that
Country” (London 1630), he says, “There is a fish called a
Basse, a most sweet and wholesome Fish as ever I did eat, it is
altogether as good as our fresh Sammon, and the season of their
coming was begun when we came first to New England in June,
and so continued about three months space. Of this Fish our
Fishers take many hundreds together, which I have seene lying
on the shore to my admiration; yea, their Nets ordinarily take
more than they are able to hale to land, and for want of Boats
and Men they are constrained to let a many goe after they have
taken them, and yet sometimes they fill two Boats at a time with
them.”

I find in Thomas Prince, “A Chronological History of New
England in the Form of Annals” (Boston 1736), the following:
“In the Morning, some of the natives stand at a Distance look-
ing at us, but come not near till they had been a while in view;
and then one of ’em holding out a Bass towards us, we sent a
Man with a Bisket and change ’em. After which they supply
us with Bass, giving a Bass for a Bisket, and are very friendly.”

William Wood in “New England’s Prospect” (London
1635), says: “The Basse is one of the best fishes in the Coun-
try, and though men are soon wearied with other fish, yet are
they never with Basse ; it is a delicate, fine, fat, fast fish, having

92 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

a bone in his head which contains a saucerfull of marrow sweete
and good, pleasant to the pallate, and wholesome to the stom-
acke. When there be great store of them, we onely eate the
heads, and salt up the bodies for Winter, which exceedes Ling or
Haberdine. Of these fishes some be three and some foure foote
long, some bigger, some lesser, at some tides a man may catch a
dozen or twenty of these in three houres, the way to catch them
is with hooke and line; The Fisherman taking a great Cod-line,
to which he fasteneth a peece of Lobster, and throwes it into the
Sea, the fish biting at it he pulls her to him, and knocks her on
the head with a sticke. These are at one time of the yeare (when
Alewives passe up the Rivers) to be catched in Rivers, in Lob-
ster time at the Rockies, in Macrill time in the Seas. When
they used to tide it in and out to the Rivers and Creekes, the
Enghsh at the top of an high water does crosse the Creeks with
long Seanes or Basse netts which stop in the fish; and the water
ebbing from them they are left on the dry ground sometimes two
or three thousand at a set, which are salted up against Winter,
or distributed to such as have present occasion either to spend
them in their houses, or use them for their ground. They drie
them to keepe for Winter, erecting scaffolds in the hot sunshine,
making fires likewise underneath them, by whose smoake the
flies are expelled till the substance remaine hard and drie. In
this manner they dry Basse and other fishes without salt, cutting
them very thin to dry suddenly, before the flies spoyle them, or
the raine moist them having a speciall care to hang them in their
smoaky houses, in the night and dankish weather.”

Thomas Morton in his “New English Canaan, or New Ca-
naan, Containing an Abstract of New England” (Amsterdam
1637), says: “The Basse is an excellent Fish, both fresh and
Salte one hundred whereof salted (at a market) have yielded 5 p
They are so large, the head of one will give a good eater a din-
ner, and for daintiness of diet, they excell the Marybones of
Beefe. There are such multitudes, that I have seene stopped into
the river close adjoining to my house with a sand at one tide, so
many as will loade a ship of a 100 Tonnes. Other places have
greater quantities in so much, as wagers have bin layed, that one
should not throw a stone in the water, but that hee should hit a
fish. I my selfe at the turning of the tyde, have seene such mul-

American Fisheries Socie ty. 93

titudes passe out of a pound, that it seemed to mee, that one
might goe over their backs drishod.”

As early as 1639 the Colonists seemed aware of the danger of
an extinction of their bass fishing, for it was ordered “At the
Generall Courte, houlden at Boston, the 22th of the 3th M°,
called May, 1639 .

“And it is forbidden to all men, after the 20th of the next
month, to imploy any codd or basse fish for manuring of ground,
upon paine that every pson, being a fisherman, that shall sell or
imploy any such fish for that end, shall loose the said priviledg
of exemption from public charges, & that both all fishermen, or
others who shall use any of the said fish for that purpose, shall
forfect for every hundred of such fish so imployed for manuring
of ground twenty shillings & so pportionably for a lesser or
greater number ; pvided, that it shall bee lawful to use the heads
& offal of such fish for corne, this order notwithstanding.”

Edward E. Bourne tells us in his “History of Wells and Ken-
nebunk” (Portland 1875), “Bass and shad were also very plenty
in Mousam river. They were taken in weirs which were built im
different places. The most noted place was near the mouth of
the river, a few rods above Hart’s rocks, or near the old dam ot
1792. But soon after the settlement was initiated at Kenne-
bunk, the bass came to the conclusion that it was unsafe to at-
tempt navigation in this river, and discontinued their visits to
ic aye

Writing of Plymouth in 1643 Samuel Davis in his “Notes on
Plymouth, Massachusetts: in the Mass. Hist. Soc., Collections,
2nd Series III. (Boston 1815), says: “There is a creek at each
of these places (on the headland called Sayquish), where bass
were formerly seined ; a point there, is still called “stage point,”
where Mr. William Paddy, about the year 1643, and Mr. John
Hewes erected fishing stages, with leave of the colonists. Places
where bass frequented would be called “Suckake,” hence the
“Skekets” at Cape Cod; the word is derived, as we conceive, from
“Kicous,” the Algonkin generic term for fish ; hence, in the Nar-
raganset, bass are called “missuckeke,” “much fish,” or “great
fish,” as they are, comparatively, of the lakes; thus from “Ke-
nonge,” another generic term. “Hence we think, “Suckicag,”
the name of Hartford, Conn. It is, doubtless, the little bass

94 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

creek, there, which is intended, ‘‘Muskeget,” too, an island near
Nantucket, may indicate bass, for fish, we have “Miskenonge,”
“creat fish,” applied to the pike of the lakes; and it is also a
river, on the map, not far from Montreal.”

De Vries in his “Short Historical and Journal Notes of sev-
eral Voyages made in the four parts of the World, namely, Ku-
rope, Africa, Asia and America” (Hoorn, 1655), translated by
Henry C. Murphy, in his “Voyages from Holland to America
1632-1644” (published New York, 1853), gives us a different
derivation of the name “twalft” for the striped bass. He says,
“there is a species of fish which by our people is called the twelve,
and which has scales like a salmon, and on each side six black
streaks, which I suppose is the reason they call it twelve. It is
the size of a codfish, very delicate, and good tasted for eating ;
the head is the best as it is full of brains like a lamb’s head. The
fish comes from the sea into the river in the Spring about the
last of March and April and continues until the last of May. It
is caught in large quantities and dried by the Indians, for at this
time the squaws are engaged in sowing their maize, and cultivat-
ing the land, and the men go a fishing in order to assist their
wives a little by their draughts of fish. Sometimes they catch
them with seines from seventy to eighty fathoms in length,
which they braid themselves, and on which, in place of lead, they
hang stones, and instead of the corks which we put on them they
fasten small sticks of an ell in length, round and sharp at the
end. Over the purse, they have a figure made of wood, resemb-
ling the devil, and when the fish swim into the net and come to
the purse, so that the figure begins to move, they begin to ery
out and call upon the Mannetoe, that is, the devil, to give them
many fish. They catch great quantities of this fish; which they
also catch in little set-nets, six or seven fathoms long, braided
like a herring net. They set them on sticks into the river, one,
and one and a half fathoms deep.”

John Josselyn in “An Account of Two Voyages to New Eng-
land” (1638, 1663), published (London 1675), says: “The
Basse is a salt water fish too, but not an end (sic) taken in Riv-
ers where they spawn, there hath been 3000 Basse taken at a set;
one writes that the fat in the bone of a Basses head is his braines
which is a lye.”

American Fisheries Socie ty. 95

The Gazette, New York, November 14, 1758, mentions a law
which was passed, to prohibit the selling or bringing certain fish
called bass or twalft to the City in the months of December, Jan-
uary, and February. In consequence of the great decrease of
that kind of fish, and of their being unsound and unwholesome
in those months. “The penalty for such offence” was forty shil-
lings lawful money of New York, “ and a forfect of such fish.”
And if it be a negro, mulatto or Indian slave, shall receive such
corporal punishment at the public whipping post as the mayor,
recorder or aldermen shall think fit, unless the master or mis-
tress shall pay the above fine.

The inhabitants of Marshfield, Mass., in 1762, also endeavy-
ored to regulate the catching of bass for, in that year, “At a town
meeting was presented a petition of a number of the inhabitants
respecting the catching B AS S§S in the North River, so called in
the winter season, which petitioners applied to the General Court
to prevent, was laid before the town and after due consideration
thereupon, the vote was put to know the mind of the town wheth-
er an act may be passed in the General Court for the preserva-
tion of those fish and prevent their being thus taken in the win-
ter season, and it passed in the affirmative.”

Jeremy Belknap, in the “History of New Hampshire” (Bos-
ton 1792), writes: “The bass was formerly taken in great
plenty, in the river Pascataqua; but by the injudicious use of
nets, in the winter, this fishery was almost destroyed. After the
mischief was done, a law was made against it; but the bass have
never since resorted to this river in any great numbers. It is
said by some, that fish which are spawned in rivers, and descend
to the sea, return to those rivers, only where they are spawned.
If this principle be true, the breed might be renewed by bringing
some of the bass, which are caught in Merrimack river, alive,
over the land, to the nearest part of the waters of Piscataqua, a
distance not more than twelve miles. This must be done before
the spawning season, and might very easily be accomplished.”

“There was also, till within thirty years, a good bass fishery
(at Exeter, New Hampshire), through the whole course of the
river. But very great numbers having been imprudently, o1
rather wantonly taken in one season, they almost totally left it.
For several years past, they have been returning to their old

96 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

haunts, though in small numbers. Could people be restrained
from taking them through the ice, it is thought that the river
might again be replenished with them, and the fishery restored.
The legislature has passed an. act for their preservation ; but,
through the inattention of those, whose duty it is to guard the
laws from violation, it is feared that the generous intention will
be frustrated.”

Thus writes Samuel Tenney in a “Topographical Description
of Exeter in New Hampshire, in Massachusetts.” Historical
Society Document Collections, Ist Series (Boston 1795) IV.

Charles Brooks in his “History of the Town of Medford”
(Boston 1855), has the following anecdote :

“In 1776, a negro named Prince, was at work on the bank of
the river (Mystic) opposite the shallow where the ford was, a
few rods above the bridge, when he saw an enormous bass swim-
ming very slowly up the river. The tide was inconveniently low
for the bass, but conveniently low for the negro. Plunge went
Prince for the fish, and caught him! No sooner was he out of
water than a desperate spring, such as fishes can give, released
him from his captor; and back he falls into his native element ;
Quick as a steel-trap, Prince springs upon him again, and again
clutches him and hfts him up. The fish struggles; and Prince
and fish fall together. Again Prince rises, with his prize in his
arms, and then brings him ashore. It weighed 65 pounds.
Prince thought that such a wonderful fish should be presented
to the Commander of the American forces then stationed on
Winter Hill. His master thought so too. Accordingly Prince
dressed himself in his best clothes, and taking the fish in a cart,
presented it to the Commander, and told the history of its cap-
ture; And the Commander gave him sia cents!”

An Albany newspaper of June 10, 1852, says: “A bass of
uncommon size, taken in our river, was yesterday brought to our
market. Its weight was 55 pounds. We believe this is the larg-
est fish ever caught in the Hudson, the sturgeon alone excepted.
It was bought by Mr. Jared Skinner for four dollars and fifty
cents.”

The largest bass, of which I can find any authentic record,
taken with a rod and reel, weighed seventy pounds. ‘This bass
was caught by Mr. William Post, at Graves Point, Newport,

American Fisheries Society. 97

R. 1., July 5th, 1873. It was in very poor condition, long, thin,
and emaciated. If it had been in good condition, it, undoubt-
edly, would have weighed close to one hundred pounds.

The largest average catch of striped bass, taken with a rod
and reel, of which I can find any authentic record, is ten bass,
weighing 58, 56, 54, 53, 51, 50, 49, 46, 42 and 36 pounds respec-
tively, or a total of 495 pounds; making an average of 4914
pounds. This catch of striped bass was made on the 29th of Au-
gust, 1881, between 6 and 11 o’clock a. m., with a heavy sea, and
a rising tide, by Mr. Seth Barton French of New York, and Mr.
John Whipple of Newport. It is with pleasure that I present to
the American Fisheries Society reproductions of photographs of
the large bass mentioned above, and also of the large catch of
bass taken at the time mentioned.

Authenticated catches of bass weighing 125 pounds have
been made in the Chesapeake, seine fishing. Several bass weigh-
ing over a hundred pounds have been taken with a hand line.

Probably the most successful introduction of a fish to waters
previously foreign to it, has been the introduction of striped bass
into Californian waters.

In the report of the United States Commission of Fish and
Fisheries, for the year ending June 30th, 1893, we find the fol-
lowing:

The introduction of striped bass was accomplished in 1879,
when about one hundred and fifty fish a few inches long, taken
from the Shrewsbury river in New Jersey, were successfully
carried across the continent, and deposited at the mouth of the
Sacramento river by an agent of the United States Fish Com-
mission, co-operating with the California commission. About
six months later an example seven or eight inches in length was
reported from Monterey, or one hundred miles south of the lo-
eality where planted, and in eleven months another specimen
twelve and one-half inches long and weighing one pound, was
caught in San Francisco harbor. This very rapid growth indi
cates the special adaptability of the waters of the region to this
fish. In 1882 another plant consisting of three hundred fish
was made in the same region by the California authorities. As
a result of these two small deposits, the species soon became dis-
tributed along the entire coast of California. Its occurrence,

:

98 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

however, in the other states of the region, has not yet been deter-
mined.

Mr. James 8. Turner, Secretary of the San Francisco Striped
Bass Club, writes me, under date of December 17th, 1902, “last
year more than one million pounds of striped bass were sold in
the San Francisco markets.”

In confirmation of this statement, the Hon. George M. Bow-
ers, United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, writes
me under date of January 20th, 1903, “Statistics gathered for
1900 show 1,251,000 pounds in the San Francisco markets in
that year.”

With such phenomenal results achieved by nature alone in
California, why should not our own coasts once more be made to
teem with schools of striped bass as of yore ?

Mr. E. M. Waterhouse (who read Mr. Fearing’s paper) : Mr.
Fearing will be unable to come until later in the Convention and
therefore he has asked me to read his paper. He took me away
from the important matter of catching shrimp bait to do this for
him.

Mr. Titcomb: Mr. Worth has collected some interesting ma-
terial relative to the striped bass in North Carolina waters, and
I think it would be proper to hear from him.

Mr. S. G. Worth of Edenton, N. C.: I have collected quite
a good deal of interesting material relative to the hatching of
the striped bass in North Carolina waters within the last three
or four months; but I have been unable to digest that matter and
get it into report form. I can submit it, however, in some kind
of systematic shape now; so what I have to say tonight is, of
course, off-hand.

Something that seems to me to be quite an interesting point
is that the spawning habits of this fish first attracted considera-
ble attention on the Albemarle Sound while the United States
Fish Commission was operating in those waters. It was known
before that time that the striped bass laid its eggs in North Caro-
lina and that it had been successfully hatched in that state 1
think by Superintendent Green, who is present at this meeting.
But when the United States Fish Commission ran upon this spe-

American Fisheries Society. 99

cles spawning at the fisheries at the headwaters of Albemarle
Sound and brought in tubs and buckets full of eggs, they were
amazed at the quantity and also at the successful hatching whick
resulted, and considerable attention was attracted to the subject,
and it was talked about in Fish Commission circles a good deal.
Cases of sporadic spawning of that kind have been noticed on
those waters once in a great many years, as they have been in the
waters of the Susquehanna river about Havre de Grace. Now
had it not been for freshets occurring in the headwaters of those
rivers I do not think the Fish Commission would have found
those fishes spawning there at all. My observations at Weldon
this year led me to believe that those fish were pushed off from
the falls, where they naturally lay their eggs, by excessively
muddy and cold water, resulting from hail storms and abnorm-
ally cold rain fall; so that in that way these fish were pushed out
of a locality which the Fish Commission was not frequenting,
and came under notice.

About ten or eleven years ago there was an extraordinary re-
port that came up from Edenton, North Carolina, about a catch
of striped bass in sturgeon nets. The fishermen in that locality
informed me, I being one of their acquaintances, of having put
out some sturgeon eleven inch mesh gill nets and catching great
quantities of enormous striped bass which were in spawning con-
dition; and it happened at that particular time that I was in 1
position to make a recommendation, and Superintendent Leary,
who is now present, was sent down to Edenton to the headwaters
of Albemarle Sound with a field plant, jars, etc., in order
to take advantage of any second catch of those fish which might
be made; but he was disappointed, and my inference is that it
happened to be a favorable year in the Roanoke river for the fish
to lay their eggs, and they were not pushed out of these upper
waters by cold muddy freshets; consequently he was unable to
get any eggs there.

This year on the 15th of April, a party under the direction of
the United States Fish Commission office, I being in charge, went
to Weldon and pitched a camp there composed of three canvas
tents, and an examination was made into those spawning
grounds with results that are extremely gratifying. At Wel-
don, which is about 140 miles from the lighthouse, at the mouth

100 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

of the river, or head of Albemarle Sound, the fall in the river
is very great, perhaps fifty feet perpendicular in a distance about
six miles; and it seems as if the striped bass make for those rap-
ids on which they deposit their eggs. They go up there in the
months of March and April, and if there is water enough they
distribute themselves over the falls this distance of five or six
miles. While they are in those falls they are practically inacces-
sible to fishermen. ‘he river in this distance of five or six miles,
where this fifty feet of fall takes place, is very rapid, and is full
of islands, boulders, rocks, etc., and the current is so strong that
it is apparently dangerous to go in there even when the river is
at moderate stages, and when it is high it is really very danger-
ous; and these fish get up in these numerous channels that pass
between the islands, and are inaccessible until the water begins
to fall. When it falls to a certain stage the fishermen use finger
traps and begin to take those fishes. They are swept out by the
current on the finger boards and are captured. As soon as the
river falls somewhat lower the fish become uneasy on account of
the ight covering of water on the falls, and drop below the foot
of the falls at Weldon, and from that point down 2 miles there
is fishing carried on with dip nets; they are after the manner of
the shadskim nets; they are there called drag nets; and thes¢
nets are rigged on a bow, and one man sits in the bow of the boat
and the other in the stern, paddling, and they float down the
river one or two miles and then turn back. ‘There are quite a
number of boats engaged in this business, and they catch very
considerable numbers of fish there.

With an inadequate crew of men this season—of course not
knowing what our needs were there we cut things down as close
as possible to determine what was there—from the 6th day of
May for a week following we encountered the spawning fish, and
I was amazed at the great quantity of eggs that we obtained from
the individual fish, and also at the enormous field which seems
opened up there for practical work by the United States Fish
Commission.

Although the fish were extraordinarily numerous at Weldon
this year they got into those Falls and the fishermen were unsuc-
cessful in eatching them, so that financially it was a very poor

American Fisheries Society. 101

year with them, as I have testimonials to prove in the form of
letters—being the worst season in five years.

During this week beginning May 6th, we obtained and sub-
jected to hatching process in hatching jars, 9,000,000 eggs in
round numbers; they were estimated on the basis of 25,000 eges
per quart.

I was personally on this river and had the pleasure of taking
the eggs from the first fish that was handled this year, which was
by estimation a 20-pound fish. I took those eggs myself, im-
pregnated them, washed the milt off of them, and watered them
until they were brought up, carried them to the hatchery six
miles through the canal from Roanoke Rapids to Weldon, saw
them measured and put up in the jars, and they measured sixty
liquid quarts, which on the basis of twenty-five thousand to the
quart, would be 1,500,000 eggs, from that one fish! My recol-
lection is that during that week there were twelve fish stripped.
and the average production from those twelve fish was ove1
700,000 eggs per fish. That is correct data, on the basis of
25,000 eggs per quart.

There are one or two other points that I will mention. J
wish to call attention particularly to one feature of the fishery at
that point, which is in the nature of the spawning habits of that
fish. For twenty years and more I have heard of the rock fish
fight at Weldon, and although I had taken eggs there in two pre:
vious seasons about twenty years ago, I never witnessed a rock
fight until this year; and this season I saw hundreds of fights, as
they term them. When these female fish are in spawning condi-
tion the male fish gather around them in great numbers. ‘There
will be one big fish, which may weigh five to fifty pounds, as one
of them did, which I took eggs from, and she will be surrounded
by twenty, thirty or fifty small fish, and sometimes the fishermen
will run one of their nets under and catch one of these large fish.
and thirty or more of the small fish, and what seemed to be an
interesting point in connection with that, is that the small fish
appear to be the only male fish that mate with the female. They
are known there as perch rock, because they are the size of a
perch, and by actual weight they do not weigh as much as two
pounds apiece, and yet they seem to represent practically about
all there is in the way of male fishes. Those rock fights were in-

102 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

teresting. The fishes showed themselves on top of the water and
flurried the water and made noises that would attract your at-
tention, so that you would turn around to see the water breaking
a hundred yards away. I thought before that that there was 2
good deal of imagination in it, but I know that it is a fact, and
any one can witness it, and when that is going on it is the spawn-
ing season, which follows right on the heels of the shad spawn-
ing. The rock fish eggs are manipulated practically the same
way as shad eggs, except that a lower tank head is required, and
the eggs hatch in a period of thirty-six hours.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Titcomb: Won’t you explain the measurement of sixty
quarts of eggs out of the twenty pound fish, the way they come
up.

Mr. Worth: I had extraordinarily large spawning pans—|
think they must have been sixteen inches in diameter—I had
bought them at Weldon where the market is lmited and had to
take anything I could find. I took the eggs in fifteen pans, and
ordinarily I should say that I could have taken in those fifteen
pans the eggs from forty-five shad, easily, and yet from that on»
fish the eggs were so numerous that I had to take three more
pans and spread the eggs out so as to hold them.

When the eggs are taken they are extremely small and of the
most beautiful green I ever saw, and they are quite sticky. |
poured water on them continuously while they were water hard-
ening in order to keep them from clinging together.

The fish actually hatched and liberated from those 9,000,000
eggs amounted in round numbers to about 3,000,000 of fish; but
our weakest point at Weldon was in the hatchery, where we were
not properly equipped—we were short of men and the men in
there did not know too much about the business. I had selected

them on account of their grit rather than their experience. I
think if it had been our second year and with the same condi-
tions that we would have gotten 30,000,000 of eggs, and I believe
that we are going to get an average of 75,000,000 or 100,000,000
egos per season at about the same expense or a little less than
running one of our shad hatcheries.

As for the transportation of the fry, it seems as if they would

American Fisheries Society. 103

stand any amount of it, but it is going to be a very brief season
of work. It seems like swarms of flying ants or swarming bees—
it all comes on at once.

Mr. Titcomb: I wanted to have the point of the size of the
eggs before they come up, brought out—would not one or two of
the pans hold the eggs from that twenty pound fish before the
water was apphed ?

Mr. Worth: Yes, I think so easily—I think that one of
them would, I am sure of it.

Mr. Clark: Are the fry free swimmers the same as shad or
whitefish ?

Mr. Worth: Yes, sir, and not more than three-sixteenth of
an inch when they hatch.

Mr. Clark: They do not have a large sac?

Mr. Worth: They have a decided sac—they have so much
that they look queer, but yet they are free swimmers.

Mr. Clark: They break right out of the shell and swim
away?

Mr. Worth: Yes.

Mr. Titcomb: Won’t you explain in the spawning process in
the rock fights how this blood is produced which colors the wa-
ters ?

Mr. Worth: It is assumed by all the fishermen that operate
on the river that it is caused by the gashes made by the fishes fin-
ning one another in their attempt to get nearer to the spawning
female fish. It causes a bloody stain in the water which I did
not myself witness, but I know it has taken place, from the great
number of persons who told me about it, and that the water was
actually discolored with their red blood.

Mr. Titcomb: Do you think you could hold those unripe
females in a large pool until ripe ?

Mr. Worth: I think it is worth trying, but we made no ex-
periment of the kind. The facilities for trying it are extraordin-
arily good there.

Mr. Titcomb: Well, if it is possible, you might figure on a
thousand million eggs as quickly as a less number, couldn’t you?

Mr. Worth: Yes. It is one of the richest egg fields that [
know of.

Mr. Clark: What is the time of year of spawning ?

104 Thirty-Sccond Annual Meeting

Mr. Worth: About full moon, the first week in May, just
after the shad.

Mr. Clark: Is the water pretty warm ?

Mr. Worth: Yes, the water is about 70° F.

Mr. Clark: Are you not a little afraid in regard to the pen-
ning of the females that you might meet with the same difficulty
that we found in attempting to pen the shad.

Mr. Worth: Very possibly.

Mr. Titcomb: What was the temperature at that time ?

Mr. Worth: About 70° in the river.

Mr. Waterhouse: What is the method of transportation? It
is not mentioned in the paper whether the fish are carried in jars
cr cans as trout fry are, or how have you transported them ?

Mr. Worth: I do not know of any having been carried in
cans at all. It has been done I presume, because quite a numbei
were hatched on Battery Island on one occasion. They can be
carried just like shad fry, and without difficulty, for I have held
them for days in Fish Commission cans with but slight change
of water.

Mr. Jones, of Erwin, Tenn.: The canning of rock bass was
tried by the Fish Commission at Battery Station about two years
before Mr. Ravenell was appointed superintendent, which was
during the days when we had a large seine, and we tried to pen
the bass and shad, and it proved a complete failure in both cases.
The fish became scarred up, and fungused, and the whole experi-
ment was a failure.

Mr. Clark: In the penning at Havre de Grace, we could hold
the male fish but not the female. Only three were ever stripped,
and they were practically ripe when they were put in the pen.

Mr. Titcomb: What I wanted to suggest about the penning
was to hold them back by some arrangement similar to that
used on the Pacific Coast with the salmon. I am aware that it
would be entirely a gamble, because the river rises very quickly,
but if it happened that during the short period of spawning, or
perhaps a week or two longer, in order to get your fish, the river
did not rise, by the use of salmon racks one would have a pool
there very large in area, quite deep, with very swift live water
running into it. I was wondering if it was possible in some
such case as that to hold the rock fish for a week or two and get

American Fisheries Socvety. 105

those unripe females, because a very large proportion of them are
caught and killed.

Mr. Clark: I think experiments in penning wild fish show
that the suecess has been obtained only in the case of cold water
fishes. Now with the pike perch I do not think there has ever
been any real successful penning, that is holding them any length
of time, and I do not think the Michigan Fish Commission ever
had any success along those hnes. If you will experiment I think
you will find that in the case of pretty nearly all the cold water
spawning fishes you can hold and collect their eggs, but with the
warm water fishes I think you will have difficulty.

Mr. Jones, of Erwin, Tenn.: I will say that I too stripped a
twenty pound bass and hatched the eggs successfully. As well as
J remember we got something over a million of eggs. They came
into the station rather unexpectedly and we constructed an appa-
ratus for hatching them. We constructed a box similar to the
old Chester cod boxes, with the tidal motion; and in the absence
of suitable jars «we used the ten gallon aquaria at Havre de Grace.
We hatched the eggs and retained them at the station for about
a week after they were hatched, and transported them for a dis-
tance of about six miles above the station, in regular transporta-
tion cans. We were, I suppose, about an hour on the trip; and
they transported very nicely with no loss at all, so far as I could
“SUC.

Mr. Ravenel: I have been very much interested in Mr.
Worth’s observations, and if his statements as to the spawning
grounds are correct and verified by experience, he has solved a
very important problem in fish culture. As Superintendent of
Battery Station from 1886 to 1894, and having direct charge of
the station for several years afterwards, I made everyeffort to col-
lect striped bass eggs in that vicinity where there was a most
valuable fishery. I have seen 5,000 striped bass in one house in
Havre de Grace apparently nearly ripe but only a few spawners
were taken in that region, viz., head waters of the Chesapeake
Bay during the period mentioned. Just after the shad season is
over the boats there catch tons daily; we have never been able to
understand why it was that the ripe fish were not found, though
an occasional spawner was picked up at some of the fishing
shores earlier in the season. The theory presented by Mr. Worth

106 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

is very attractive ; and it would appear as though those sporadic
spawners had been forced down by unnatural conditions up the
river. If they do spawn in the Rapids, then I think that on the
Susquehanna we will look for them up towards Port Deposit,
Columbia, and the number of eggs available would be unlimited.
I remember the eggs that Mr. Jones referred to, also the first
ripe striped bass stripped at Havre de Grace in 1886 and 1887, I
think we got 3,000,000 or 4,000,000 eggs—it was a sixty-five
pound fish. The eggs were hatched and part of the fry were sent
to some point in New York state, I don’t remember where just
now, but the records of the Commission will show it. Those fry
were shipped in shad cans, just as the shad fry are sent.

Mr. Leary: Our fishermen have fished with pound nets in
Albemarle Sound. They usually leave the nets in the water for
a week and lift them on Saturday. Now if that can be done it
seems to me that they might be held in a pen of some sort of ma-
terial for quite a while. I know that to be a fact, that once a
week they lift their nets and take the fish out and sell them. I
have seen as many as 600 taken at one lft of the net.

Mr. Worth: I think we should have a barrier or fence to
stop the fishes arranged so that they would not know that they
were confined. Of course it is one of those things that is worth
trying, as it would cost very little to do it. The water is so swift
running that a man standing in it has difficulty in keeping his
feet even where the water was only two feet deep.

Mr. Bean: I do not know whether the keeping of striped
bass in aquaria for a term of years would have very much bear-
ing upon this problem of spawning or not; but it is a fact very
well known to many persons that the striped bass is one of the
fish that can be kept easily and will grow, thrive and remain
there free from parasites, fungus and disease of every kind—in
fact it is one of the very best fish of the fresh waters for aquar-
ium purposes. It has been kept in confinement for a long term
of years. I know of some bass which must have been kept in
New York City as long as eight years, which are in good health,
feeding all the time when a fish will feed, (except in winter,
when they are in a sort of torpid condition) ; yet I do not know
whether any one has made any observation on the spawning of
those fish. Perhaps they never have spawned in those aquaria.

American Fisheries Society. 107

The fact is, they can be kept in confinement with the greatest
ease. Now, if they can be kept in a small pool, twenty-eight feet
long and three feet deep, what difficulty could be presented in
keeping them in a larger enclosure.

Mr. Ravenel: Are they kept in a fresh water pool ?

Mr. Bean: The water is made alternately fresh and salt;
they have been kept in fresh water as far north as this latitude ;
and they have been kept in Thunder Bolt Bay, South Carolina,
and fed and reared to a great size.

Mr. Clark: It is not the fact of holding these fish and keep-
ing the fish themselves in good condition that is important. The
point is, will they develop the eggs. Now we keep the grayling
in a pond for years and years, but has anybody ever domesticated
the grayling and made a business of taking eggs from graylings
in ponds? I know I have tried it a good while, but without suc-
cess. It is not a question of holding the fish. There is no trouble
about holding a great many fish, but the question is, can you pen
those wild fish and have the development of the eggs go on until
the ripe stage? For instance, last fall with our white fish why
did we have a greater number of plugged fish than ever. before ?
We had the greatest number ever known, either by Mr. Bower or
Mr. Downing or Mr. Stranahan at his station.

Mr. Bryant: What do you mean by “plugged” fish ?

Mr. Clark: Those that you do not get any eggs from. That
is, the development has stopped and the vent is plugged. That
is the common term. Last year the water was warm, and that 1s
the reason we had so many plugged fish. There is no trouble in
keeping the striped bass in good health and all that, but the ques-
tion is when these fish are penned will they go on and develop ?

Mr. Titcomb: You do not understand the kind of penning we
propose to do. In this case in the river between the two falls is
where the fish lie and spawn anyway; only part of them will go
on through. Now what we want to do is to put a rack across in
these Rapids. What is the reason they cannot live down there ?
They do not know they are penned until they get up against the
rack—they hardly know they are confined.

Mr. Clark: I do not wish to throw any cold water on this
project of trying to pen the fish; I recommend that it be tried.
It should not only be tried in the way Mr. Titcomb suggests, but

108 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

you should try the actual penning in crates. It is well worth try-
ing—but I do not think you will be successful—but that is my
say so—F do not know anything about it.

Dr. Henshall: I want to refer to a remark Mr. Clark made
about the grayling. I have about thirty graylings four ‘years old
which were stripped this spring—they were nearly all males, but
the few females were stripped of their eggs which were fertilized
and hatched.

Mr. Clark: Then that is the first time it was ever done?

Dr. Henshall: It is only a few, but it is enough to swear by.
(Laughter).

Mr. Clark: Did you have any percentage of good fertilized

eggs—have you a record of all those things ?

folo)
Et aes,
Mr. Titecomb: Is that in your report?
A es.

Mr. Clark: Then it is the first time it was ever done with
domesticated graylings.

Mr. Leary: Penning fish has a tendency to prevent spawn-
ing; they get excited and go round and round; but try the pen-
ning with some material that does not hurt the fish. If you put
them in board boxes you will not get anything out of them—use
something light and flexible that will not injure the fish.

LETTER FROM HUNTOON OYSTER COMPANY RE-
GARDING SAMPLES OF SEED OYSTERS TAKEN
FROM OYSTER BEDS AT SAMISH BAY, DAGGET
COUNTY, WASHINGTON.

The Honorable George M. Bowers, U. S. Fish Commission,
Fairhaven, Washington, July 10th, 1903.

Mr. Henry O’Malley, Woods Hole, Mass.:

Dear Sir:—

By Great Northern Express (prepaid) we are today sending you
as per above address, two boxes of samples, taken from our oyster
beds at Samish Bay—an arm of Bellingham Bay, Skagit County,
Washington.

This sample is submitted to show not only the great fertility and
richness in native oyster seed of the waters of lower Bellingham,
Bay, Skagit County, Washington, but to illustrate the method em-
ployed by the Huntoon Oyster Company in securing seedlings with
which to stock their beds. Material used is cast-off Salmon netting.
This particular piece was clipped July 9th, 1903, from a large sec-
tion deposited in the water on August 20th, 1902. Scrap tin, bark,
shells, gravel and other means for taking seed have been tested, but
the results of the netting have been the most satisfactory, so far.

Both boxes are marked for “exhibition” and should be taken
care of promptly on their arrival. We have packed them in moss
as you suggested, but the journey is a long one and the specimens
should not be allowed to remain in boxes till the exhibition opens
up some ten or twelve days hence. The flat box contains a choice
sample of our native oysters, as we caught them in the seed form,
the clean webbing having been placed in the waters over our beds
August 20th, 1902, so you must agree with us that their showing of
growth is something wonderful, ten months after the plain “catcher”
was set for spat.

The “catcher” used is cast-off or discarded salmon fishing ma-
terial and we are fortunate in getting it here at a nominal cost, and
its advantages over gravel, sand, bark or brush are many. The De-
partment at one time recommended that we try scrap tin, but that
did not seem to do particularly well for us. We are the only people
who have tried to take seed with the webbing, but others will follow
us this year. We are now spreading our webbing for July and Au-
gust spat and shall have out over fifty acres, we believe.

We also send you specimen of native oysters taken on shells
(clam shells) and on bark. The aCcvantages of the webbing are that

we can take the webbing with the seed thereon right to the beds we
109 :

110 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

wish to stock and there shake the young seedlings off on that par-
ticular ground without the great labor of picking, and then the web
is all ready to place back in position for taking more seed. We pro-
pose to let the young seedlings remain on the webbing for a year
and then by their weight they are easy to shake off and are large
enough to grow and do well. For convenience in transplanting the
webbing is the best scheme we have yet tried.

We are placing on our beds this year lots of shingles dipped in

lime and cement and setting them up in pairs, “cone” shape, and
shall see if that is as good a method as the webbing. Webbing
covers the ground very quickly and completely and at one-tenth the
cost of gravel. Gravel and shells, when they become dirty and moss-
covered, will not catch spat, but we can take the webbing out and
clean it and save all the cost of restocking with gravel. We also
show some of our two and three-year-old natives and also two and
three-year-old eastern oysters. The Eastern specimens we show
were grown on our beds from seed we bought in Connecticut.

We are very hopeful that -we shall secure a catch of spat from

American Fisheries Society. a ala

the Eastern oysters this year and we find many evidences that we
have now a set of young Eastern oysters on our beds from last
year’s spawning.

If we succeed in this propagation of the Eastern oysters in our
waters we feel that a great stride has been made in the industry.
We are making special efforts along the line of securing seed from
our Eastern oysters. The Huntoon Oyster Company was the first to
plant Eastern seed in the waters of this end of Puget Sound, and
they have done very well for us—have grown and fattened splen-
didly.

I am mailing you some maps of the Puget Sound country which
will be of assistance to you in fixing locations of your Mount Baker
plant as well as points on the Sound, when you come to talk with
your fellow delegates at the meeting you are about to take part in.
We will be very glad to have you make us a call on your way back
to the Mount Baker Station, and if any of the Department’s repre-
sentatives are out this way we will be very glad to show them what
we have and what we are doing.

‘If there should be any tests that the Department would like
made we will be glad to have their suggestions, and if they send
any seed to us for making experiments we will follow directions
closely and report on the results. Yours truly,

CYRUS GATES,
Huntoon Oyster Co.
Duplicate of this letter sent to Baker, Whatcom County, Wash.

COMMERCIAL VALUES.

Some Notes of a Study of the Work of the Forest, Fish and Game
Commission of New York State.

JOHN D. WHISH, SECRETARY OF COMMISSION.

Mr. President and Gentlemen :—

It gives me great pleasure to stand here as a member of the
American Fisheries Society, bringing the official greetings of the
Commission having charge of the Forest, Fish and Game inter-
ests of the state of New York. Some time ago our courteous and
energetic secretary suggested that certain computations which
we had been making would be interesting to this meeting and L
trust you will find them so. You all know, as practical men, that
while some of us are studying the problem of black bass propaga-
tion, or endeavoring to find a way to keep the lobster from be-
coming extinct, others must handle the no less serious problem
of providing funds to carry on the work. Somebody must appear
before the Legislative Committee and argue for the appropria-
tion ; somebody must be prepared to explain to the satisfaction of
the inquiring tax-payer just what the people will get for their
money, if the required sum is provided.

Over in York state we have a business man for governor, and
he has appointed experienced business men as heads of the state
departments, as far as possible. Therefore we have the question
of income going hand in hand with the question of outlay, and
this seems to be particularly the case in matters connected with
the forest, fish and game interests. The result has been the con-
fusion of our enemies as one or two practical illustrations will
prove. Let me first call your attention to the forests, since these —
shelter and maintain the waters we stock with fish from our
hatcheries... The Commission of which I have the honor to be the
secretary, administers for the people a vast woodland estate com-
prising over 3,000,000 acres in the famous Adirondack region,
over 80,000 acres in the historic Catskill mountains, and in addi-
tion an extensive pleasure ground on the St. Lawrence river
called the International Park. Last year we compiled some sta-
tistics calculated to show the money value to the state of these

112

American Fisheries Society. 113

investments, and this was the result: We found that the rail-
roads carried nearly 200,000 visitors to the Adirondacks and
over 80,000 to the Catskills, who paid for railroad fares about
$875,000. ‘They spent in the Adirondack region alone for board,
lodging and the various et ceteras of tourist life, over $5,000,000.
Their comfort required the employment there of more than
13,000 persons who were paid wages amounting to nearly a
millon dollars. So you will see that our forest preserves are
beyond attack as a profitable investment.

Now a few words on similar lines with respect to our hatchery
system. It is a certainty that the majority of those who spend
the large sums I have mentioned to pass a few weeks each year in
the forests, go there to hunt and fish,—the most of them to fish.
When the springtime stirs the blood, the busy men of our great
cities recall the remark of the apostle of old, and seizing rod
and creel say to inquiring friends “I go afishing.” Most of the
great army of summer visitors have the same ambition, and it is
to restore to the inland waters the variety of fish necessary to
meet this enormous demand that our extensive system of fish cul-
ture has been developed. Thirty-five years ago the people de-
manded that something be done to replenish the waters of New
York state with fish. The result was a Commission, a $10,000
appropriation, and one hatchery under the direction of the
famous Seth Green. They got quick returns for their invest-
ment and now we have a satisfactory system of eight hatcheries,
several stripping stations and a distributing car, a plant which
at a nominal inventory value is worth $112,000. The cost of
running this plant, everything included, averages about $55,000
yearly. Let us see what the people get for their money.

Taking the last fiscal year which ended with the month of
September, 1902, the returns from the hatcheries show that they
raised and distributed a total of 128,672,516 fish of all varieties.
(I may say in passing that the total has shown a considerable de-
crease for the past three years because of our adopting the policy
of distributing less fry and more fingerlings and yearlings, a
plan which gives much satisfaction and produces quicker re-
sults). Of the grand total distribution, 3,756,000 were trout fry
of the various species ; 984,150 were trout fingerlingsand 284,366
were trout yearlings. The actual value of this product of our

8

114 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

hatcheries, estimated on a basis of the prices actually charged by
several of the leading commercial fish farms of New England, is:
Fry at $3.00 per M, $11,268.00; fingerlings at $20.00 per M,
€19,683.00 ; yearlings at $75.00 per M, $21,327.45, in all $52,-
278.00. If you add to this the cost of delivery which is estimat-
ed at fully half the value of the fish, the total is $78,278.00,
which the people would have had to pay to stock their streams
with trout if there were no state hatchery system. This item of
itself shows a good return on the investment and the annual ap-
propriation.

Now what of the remaining 123,648,000 fish of various varie-
ties? In this total were 10,000 adult black bass taken from the
wide waters of the canal when the ditch was emptied in the Fall.
These certainly are worth the highest price charged for adult
trout, and are figured at $1,000. The remainder figured at the
minimum price for fry, after deducting 14,000 adult rock bass,
would be worth at least $123,624.00, making the total value of
the product of our hatcheries for 1902, without considering the
question of cost of distribution, $176,902.00. It may well be
doubted if any other work paid for out of public money can make
a better showing.

We are unforunately not yet able to estimate the actual cash
value of our inland lake fisheries, but statistics are now being
carefully collected to show what these return. Thanks to the
United States Commission we have been able to verify our figures
on the Hudson river fisheries and find their average yearly value
to be about $150,000. With these figures before them, we do not
think any legislative committee can be justified in hesitating
about making a reasonable appropriation, and it was to remove
any such possible hesitation in the future that the figures were
compiled. (Applause).

DISCUSSION,

Mr. Root: Is your Association the one that is propagating
forest trees from seed ?

Mr. Whish: Yes, sir.

Mr. Root: I heard that part of your report and was very
much pleased with it. I think that there is a work that has not
been taken up before; that the New York Commission are doing

American Fisheries Society. 115

a tremendous work in that line—in taking seeds from forest
trees and sowing them and thereby renewing the forests. It is
a part that certainly struck me as a great work; and I hope all
the gentlemen will read that report, for that matter alone, if for
nothing else.

Mr. Whish: We find that where there is no forest there is
no water. Where I used to fish for trout twenty-five years ago
in the Adirondack regions, the sections have been lumbered, and
there is no longer any trout stream in the dry season. This last
year we lost thousands and thousands of fish because the streams
dried up. We had a force of men in the woods and whereever
we heard of streams drying up, they would go and net the trout
out and put them in other waters. That is one reason why we
are trying to restore forest lands, on account of our water sup-
ply. <A learned work has been written lately to show that there
is no relation between the forestry and water. In New York
state we think the author is mistaken.

Mr. Titcomb: We certainly do, that is right.

FISH ON THE FARM—WHAT SPECIES TO SELECT.

SAMUEL LOVEJOY.

Living in the red hills of Georgia and never haying seen over
a quarter of an acre of water is why I select the above subject.
The pond should be placed on a stream or supphed from a good
spring so as to have a constant supply of water. Side hill ditches
should be cut around the pond so as to keep off the surface water
during heavy rains, which would soon fill in the pond with clay
or sand, although the occasional letting in of muddy water is
beneficial, being healthful to the fish, and supplying fertility in
which many ponds are deficient.

The area should not be smaller than one-fourth of an acre,
though I have seen ponds do well with one-eighth of an acre and
even less, where conditions were favorable. ‘The dam should be
built well with base ten or twelve feet if six feet high, tapering
up to four feet at top. I have noticed a good many ponds in our
section where the builder left all the brush in the pond, which is
a great mistake, as it furnishes hiding places for fish enemies
and makes it bad in case it is desired to capture the fish with
nets. The pond should be cleared of all trees, brush, and planted
with aquatic plants, not too dense. All ponds should be provid-
ed with an overflow or sluice, so as to draw the water entirelv
out of the pond when desired.

The speckled or mottled catfish, Amiurus nebulosis, is very
productive, not cannibalistic at all, consumes any good whole-
some food, is easily kept and weighs from one-half to three-
fourths of a pound when one year old. I have seen it taken at
three or four years old weighing from three to five pounds. {t
is an excellent fish for the table and market.

The blue-gill bream, Lepomis pallidus, does well in both
northern and southern waters. It is very prolific, a rapid grower,
a vigorous biter at the hook, nice for both table and market. [is
abdominal cavity and head are very small and it, therefore,
dresses to waste but little. It is splendid fish for small ponds.
It will live and do well in water temperature up to 100°.

The third best fish, in my opinion, for small ponds south 1,

116

American Fisherves Society. Lal

the warmouth bass, C galosus. It grows to much larger sizs
than the bream, thick and fleshy, with large mouth, and is to
some extent cannibalistic, but not enough so to make it objec
tionable. It will eat a few of its own young, but not enough to
miss them—just enough to make the balance grow well.

The average weight of the warmouth bass is about one pound,
though I have seen them weighing as high as five pounds. They
are very easy to raise; will do well in water with a temperature
at 100°. I have seen them taken from stagnant water. The
warmouth bass resembles the rock bass, with red spots on eyes
fore and aft, not as with the rock bass with red spots top and
bottom of eye. These three fish are the very best for small ponds
and will satisfy any one at the table or market.

One of the greatest mistakes is made in overstocking the
ponds and then allowing them to remain so. | have seen ponds
stocked with 500 fish and after they are two years old left to re-
main in the ponds. This is a mistake, after the fish begins to
spawn the adults should be taken out as fast as possible so as to
allow the young to grow.

Look well to the arranging of the pond and embankment.
Then stock your small ponds with the three aforesaid fish and
you will succeed.

DISCUSSION OF SAMUEL LOVEJOY’S PAPER.

Dr. Bean (during the reading of the paper): We look on
the Warmouth bass as a small fish. The writer of the paper has
seen them weighing as high as five pounds, and there is no rea-
son to doubt it; because I have seen rock bass myself from a Vir
ginia river that weighed over three pounds, but we look on the
bass in the region in which it is native, western New York for
example, and the Great Lake region—as a half-pound fish.

Mr. Titcomb: That is one of the most important subjects
we have got before us in this country, I believe, today—I mean
the question of fish farming or pond culture in states where they
do not have the lakes and streams which we have in New Eng-
land—out through the west, for example, and the southwest.
The Commission is receiving inquiries upon this subject almost
every day, about how to construct ponds, and what to stock them
with. The main difficulty in writing a paper or preparing any

118 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

literature for reply to these inquiries rests in the fact that condi-
tions differ so in different parts of the country. If we could get
up a paper which would be applicable to all parts of the country,
where people want to put in artificial ponds of from half an acre
to fifteen or twenty acres in extent, or even larger, it would be
one of the most valuable pamphlets for the use of the people at
large throughout the country that could possibly be prepared ;
and in considering that we have to take local conditions into con-
sideration, it is very desirable that we have papers just like the
one that Mr. Lovejoy has written, from each state, to show the
local conditions.

The main trouble with most people who construct these arti-
ficial ponds comes from the fact that they most always choose a
ravine or some place that they can throw a dam across, and think
they have got a pond, and the following spring they stock it and
it goes out, and they are discouraged.

Dr. Bean: I would like to add a few words on that subject,
because it so happens that my attention has been most forcibly
called to the lack of good common market fish in a number of in-
land cities. For instance, in Indianapolis, not very long ago 1
was at a Lumber Convention at the best hotel in the city, and or-
dered what I supposed would be easily obtained at Indianapolis,
because the state is so rich in that fish, a yellow perch, from the
bill of fare. Well, the fish was simply uneatable. Now the same
experience will be had by any one who goes to St. Louis, for in-
stance, and attempts to order the fish which are indigenous to
that state, the crappy, the bass, the Jack salmon, so-called, which
is the pike perch, and other common fishes. You simply cannot
get them except at the highest priced restaurants in the city.
Now, there is no reason why such a state of things should exist,
and I presume this is true of almost all the great cities of the
United States, barring Boston, New York and a few other cities,
which are noted for their fine fish markets; but it is a fact, as Mr.
Titcomb has well said, that the ignorance about the methods of
supplying the market with fish, and good fish, is deplorable.
There is no excuse for it, as far as I can see, except that the peo-
ple do not know how to get these fish. They have them, and it
would be so easy to instruct them as to the methods. For exam-
ple, we will take a gentleman who lived in Covington, Kentucky,

American Fisheries Society. 119

during the time of the Cincinnati Exposition—I have no doubt
that Dr. Henshall will remember him—Joe Schlosser—he was a
German who learned his fish culture in Germany. He came to
Covington and settled in a region where nature made it easy for
him to construct ponds, and the work was done at very small
cost, because he was fortunate enough to have the graders who
were making public improvements put their waste just where he
wanted it to make his dams. He had his ponds at different levels
and in connection with them he had a great ice-house. He could
put his ice into the different floors of his ice-house almost with-
out expense. ‘Then he used those ponds for the rearing of Jack
salmon, carp, bass, crappy, and a half dozen of other well-known
and excellent table fish. He allowed people to come there and
catch what they wanted at a reasonable fixed price. He was al-
ways ready to supply large quantities of fish and ice as well. I
merely mention this to show that even on a large scale, as Mr.
Schlosser conducted his business, it can be made extremely pro-
fitable. But the great want is this little bit of information, and
I trust that the Federal and State Commissions will publish in-
structions for making ponds, and give us pictures of the fish
that can be reared in those ponds, and describe their food. Of
course I know that the United States Commission and some Fish:
Commissions have done a great deal of this work, but there is
not enough of it, because if there were we would not have to go
to Indianapolis to get a yellow perch and then not be able to eat
te

Dr. Henshall: I want to endorse every word in the pape:
just read, and to commend every one of the fishes mentioned. 1
am very well acquainted with them. When I was President of
the Ohio Fish Commission years ago I introduced the marbled
catfish. We turned the carp out and substituted the marbled
catfish. It is a fish that grows fast, is very good for the table,
and will live in any pond that the carp will, and the carp will
live in any kind of water, stagnant or otherwise.

Mr. Titcomb: Is it what we call the speckled or channel cat-
fish in Mississippi ?

Dr. Henshall: No, it is the nebulosus. In regard to the
Warmouth, I have taken them up to three pounds in southern
waters. It belongs to the sunfish family, and is more nearly

120 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

allied to the black bass than any other fish, of that family. It
will take fly well, takes almost any kind of bait, and is an excel-
lent table fish. The blue gill exists from Canada to Florida—is
another good fish and grows as large and round as a breakfast

plate. It has a smaller mouth, will take the fly and is pretty

gamey. Both the northern and southern crappies—the calico
bass of the north, and the newlight of the south, are excellent
pond fish. I do not know that they are excelled by any fish for
ponds. All through Kentucky and portions of Ohio they exist
naturally and have been transplanted to other ponds and always
do well, and furnish a great deal of good food and fine sport.

Mr. Titcomb: For the information of those who may not
understand about it, I would say that the Federal Commission
propagates and distributes all of vhese species of pond fishes that
have been mentioned. I will ask Dr. Bean about the wall-eyed
pike and Jack salmon in the artificial ponds: how small a pond
can the Jack salmon be grown in?

Mr. Bean: Mr. Schlosser’s ponds were large wide ponds and
very deep in some parts—they had twenty odd feet of water in
some places.

Mr. Titeomb: What area?

Dr. Bean: Oh they were from two to five or six acres. 1 was
surprised to find Jack salmon in those waters, but there was a
fine water supply—in some parts from springs, but largely from
surface water also.

Mr. Titcomb: Did the Jack salmon reach a good size in
~ those small ponds ?

Mr. Bean: Yes, sir, three, four and five pound fish.

Mr. Titcomb: Was there any quantity of them?

Dr. Bean: Yes, we had a lot of them. It was a surprise to
me, and I think I reported upon it at the time in the Commis-
sion reports for about 1888—I know I did—because those things
always caught my eye. If there were fish around that were good
and I thought the people ought to know about them, I always
reported them.

Mr. Titcomb: It is interesting to know that we can raise
Jack salmon in small artificial ponds.

Dr. Henshall: The Jack salmon or wall-eyed pike is native
to the upper Ohio and requires rather deep water, but the ponds

American Fisheries Society. 121

referred to were large enough and deep enough; but you will find
many wall-eyed pike in the shallow waters of the upper Ohio, as
you will find them in the Muskingum and Scioto rivers. I have
seen the preserved heads of immense fish from the Ohio river,
but they don’t exist there now. The Kentucky river used to be
famous for them, but since dams have been put in that river, the
Jarge fish have disappeared. You wiil find in the upper Ohio
and tributaries, today plenty of wall-eyed pike. In regard to
ponds, I only know them in the pond Dr. Bean speaks of, and |
can endorse what he says in relation to that.

Mr. Seymour Bower: I would lke to endorse all that has
been said by the Doctor and others on this paper, which I con-
sider very valuable. It does not cover very much ground, but it
is right to the point, and it is certainly very suggestive. I think
that most of the states pay hardly enough attention to the propa-
gation and distribution of the common fishes. In our state we
have hundreds and hundreds of small ponds and lakes, mostly
private waters of a quarter to one-half an acre and up to three
and four acres in extent. We have many applications for fish for
such ponds. Years ago we took care of them with carp—there
was quite a furore over carp twenty years ago. Almost every
farmer had a carp pond in his front yard, back yard or barn
yard, or somewhere; but there is little demand for carp now. It
seems to me this paper is valuable because it gives information
indicating how the owners of these small ponds may produce
good fish at a very small expense. Of course in our state we can-
not supply such fish ourselves, because we are prohibited from
furnishing fish for private ponds, except carp, which we do not
propagate, but it seems to me that our Commission and others
might easily build some ponds of their own for experimental
purposes, so that they could at least give out the necessary infor-
mation. I venture to say we have, accumulated in our offices,
from 500 to 1,000 or more applications received during the past
four years, for catfish, sunfish, rock bass and perch, and other
common varieties that we do not propagate.

Secretary: I have found a couple of papers that relate t>
the article of Mr. Bartlett of Illinois on the carp. He alluded
to having written to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, having hear¢
that they serve carp, to find out if it was a fact, and he had an

122 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

electrotype of the letter made and sent on, and I will read it in
order to verify his article.

NEw (ORM CABCE ADORESS BOLGT NEw YORK
PHTLaDE Pria CABLE ADDRESS SOLUT Fe LAGE enin

Che Mahorf-Motovia,

Fifth Yoserave, au and ja Sheets
and Ushor Const,

THE ASTORIA

we ost Magy Wothe be hee ee ;
< s ;
Yee
Goer. Le. fet. Commernciteor
ee |
is And We Oo Lote, bitemeolh oro
ee DATE , oS gladly Sine yo
| ; /
& Be wheres be lacing the pok

thar OV 2A The c = oe. or ot totty~— Beri07t ee,
7

Secretary: Here is the menu for Wednesday, April 16th,
and I call attention to the item “carp, Rhine wine sauce,” this

American Fisheries Society. 1

Cafe Luncheon.

CAPE CODS 35 LYNNHAVENS 35 SLUEPOINTS 25
Radishes 20 Bigluga Caviare 1 50 Spiced Cantaloupe 30 Sardines 35 Stuffed Olives 96
Lyon Sausage 50 Celery 50 30 Pickled Beets 30 Thon Mariné40 Anchovy Salad 0
Rive California Olives 25 Pearl Onions 25 Spring Onions 25 Pin-Money Pickles 20

Cream Parmentier 50 30 Sagou 35 20
Petite Marmite 50 Chicken Sroth per 30 Croite au pot 40 Tomato Soup 40 25
Chicken Broth. Bellevue 60 per cup 30 Clam Broth per cup 25 Pea Soup 35 23
Strained Gobo 75 = =Ȥ GUhicken Okra 6035 Mock Turtled) Julienne 40
Green Turtle 1 00 j Mongol 40

Oyster Crabs 1 00 60 Shad Roe 40 Soft Shell Crabs 1 00 Shad 80
English Sole 1 00 ‘ Brook Trout 1 00
Carp, Rhine Wine sauce 65 40 Snuelts, Melba 75 40 Kingfish, Bonne-femme 85 60
Bluetish. Itahan sauce 70 40 Baked Halibut with cream 70
Fresh Mackerel, Maitre d°Hotel 65 Weakfish sauté with butter 65 40

€ggs Monseigneur 50

Brolled Mushrooms 1 00 _ Terrapin 3 00
Lamb Chops, Fremeuse 70 40 Fried Calf’s Brains, Tomato sauce 65 40
Ham with spinach 65 40 Aiguillettes of Filet, Poivrade sauce 85 30
Navarin of Mutton, Patisisane 65 40 Croquettes Panachées with green peas 65 40

Roset Lamb 65 40 Roast Squab Chicken 1 2% ‘Roast Chicken 200 100°
Roast Turkey 1 00 80 Roast Mutton 60 35 Roast. Beef 60 40

Broiled Turkey 3-00 half 1 50 Breiled Chicken 2 00 half 1 60 Squab Chicken 1 25 76
Broiled Pullet 3 00 half £ 50 Squab 80 - Duckling 2 00 half 1.00
~ Squab Guinea Hen 173 108
Canvas Back 4 00 Rail Birds 100. Red Head 3 50 Ruddy 2 00 Plover %6
Mallard 1 50 ‘Brant Duck 1 50 Snipe 75

Potatoes Pont-Neuf 30 20 —— New Asparagus 1 00° _ Okra, German style 50
Beets 80 Spinach 40+ Sweet Potatoes 30° Cauliflower 60 Boiled Potatoes 25 16
Fried Egg Plant 4025 | Succotash 40 Squash 40 Fresh Artichoke 60
French Asparagus 1 26 Onions 4025 Plain Rice 20 Stuffed Tomatoes 60
Braised Lettuce 60 ‘Bermuda Potatoes 30 20 Lima Beans 50
Mashed Turnips 40 Fresh String Beans 75 Sweet Red Peppers 50
Stewed Tomatoes Ju Oyster BAY Asparagus 75 Cépes 60

Game Pie 1 00 60 _ Brook Trout in jelly 1 OC Chaudtroid de volaille 1 25°
Lamb 6640 “Tenderloin of Beef 125 75 Squab Chicken 1 25 75 Chicken 200 1 00
Piokled Pig’s Fest 40 Pickled Lamb’s Tongue 50 30 ‘Boned Turkey 100 60
Orab, Ravigotte50 Ham 5030 Virginia Ham 75 Westphalia Ham 75 40
Spring Lamb 1 ,00 Squab 80 Duckling 2 00 1 00

Watercress 40 25 Lettuce and Grapefruit 60 35 Waldorf 60 40 Lobster 1 00 60
Chicken 1 00 60 Riussian100 Romaine 6035 Dandelion 40 Monk’s Beard 40 25
Celery 50 30 Cold Slaw, Egg dressing 40 | Cucumber 60 35 Tomato 60 35
Cotery Knobs 40 25 Lettuce 5030 ~—-Fetticus 40 35 Chicory 50 30 Escarole 5) 30

SS
Gorgonzola $8 20 Gruyére 2515 Edam 30 20 Brie 30 20 | Neufchatel 35
ream Gerveis 95. quefort 80.20 Philadelphia Cream 2515 Port Salut 30 20
en Dairy 25 15 Camembert 30 20 American 20 15
Cheddar 80 20 Stilton 40 25 Canadian 25 Pont l’Evéque 30 20
Btrawberries 60 80 King Tangerinee 25 Oranges 25 15
Bananas 20 Apples36 Malaga Grapes 50 30 Pears 6035 Grapefruit 50 30
Cassava Pudding 40 25 Kuemmet Omelette Souffiée 50 - Peach Pie 20
Lemon Custard Pie 20 Chocolate Baba 30

Assorted Eclairs 25 Savarin 25 Baba 25 Charlotte Russe 25 Caramel Custard 30
Waldorf Jelly 25 Bar-le-duc Strawberries 40 Fruit Cake 25 Astoria Jelly 25
Assorted Cakes 25 Strawberry Short Cake 50
Barle-duc Jelly 40 Apple Pie 20 Pound Cake 25

Apricot, finenpple, Raspberry, Lemon or Orange Water Ice 26
Strawberry, Vanilla, Coffee, Chocolate or Pistache Ice Cream 26 Mixed 80
Toed Coffee 20 After Dinner Coffee Cup 15 Café Parfait 25 Butter Milk 10

; Half Portions are served in Café and to one Person only,
JOHANNIS-LITHIA 40 20
THE WALDORF-ASTORIA Wednesday, April 16, 1902

124 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

is on the menu for Wednesday, April 16th. They value carp in
New York evidently. (Applause).

Mr. Clark: I think that should go in the proceedings with
his report.

Secretary: Certainly.

Mr. Root: I think they put the carp so high that nobody
will order it. (Laughter).

Mr. Seymour Bower: Perhaps it was the Rhinewine sauce
that carried the order.

there cannot

Secretary: It is an electrotype—it is genuine
be any question about it.

President: The date of the menu containing the carp is
April 16th, 1902.

Mr. Seymour Bower: Referring back to the remarks of Mr.
Whish, during the session of the Legislature last winter we had
occasion to collect some information along the same line, and I
recall one item that I would like to have incorporated in the pro-
ceedings. We addressed a letter to the Superintendent of a cer-
tain railroad asking him what he considered the value of the
fishing industry to his road, and he wrote us quite a lengthy let-
ter, stating that their management considered (and he went in-
to the details) that it brought them between $200,000 and $300,-
000 a year for railroad fares alone—that is on one single road
in our state, on account of the fishing and fishing resorts in
northern Michigan.

Mr. Clark: We have half a dozen other roads equally as en-
thusiastic.

Mr. Whish: The foxy farmer of the Catskill region has dis-
covered that a stream which has been stocked with fish is a valu-
able commodity, and he is fencing it off and leasing it to gentle-
men who want private preserves, and the railroad companies are
making the greatest kind of a kick about it. Just before I came
away I received a letter from the attorney of one of the largest
roads running in there, saying that something would have to be
done to stop this. That is what our railroads think of the value
of stocking waters. It is the law that wherever a stream has
been stocked by the state of New York it cannot be included in

American Fisheries Society. 125:

a private park, the water must be open to public fishing. That
question is now being tested, and we are waiting very anxiously
to see what the Supreme Court of the United States will say
about it, because that is where it will eventually be carried.

THREE MAIN POINTS NECESSARY TO SUCCESSFUL
BASS CULTURE.

BY J. J. STRANAHAN.

From comparative failure during the two former years of
active operations at the Cold Spring, Ga., station of the United
States Fish Commission, what might probably be considered a
success was attained this year through the radical changes made
in three important particulars, and it will be my purposes to
confine this paper mainly to these points, which I consider car-
dinal, in fact, indispensable to successful pond culture and more
especially to the production of young black bass.

As will be seen by reference to former papers and remarks
presented by the writer to this association, he has been strongly
in favor of distributing what has now come to be known as “baby
fingerling” black bass. In his annual report two years ago and
in special reports to the Commissioner for the past two years he
has continually and persistently urged this course, giving as his
reasons that all fish so distributed are so much clear gain, as
there will be all or more fry left in the ponds after all of these
possible have been taken out and distributed that the pond will
furnish food for up to the fingerling stage. In these special and
annual reports he cited the complete success attending the
distribution. of small-mouth fry by the Ohio State Commission
fifteen years ago, where streams in which this fish were not
indigenous became abundantly stocked through the planting of
comparatively small numbers of fry.

Of course the conclusions arrived at at the meeting of this
association at Put-in-Bay last year, when the Commissioner and
his assistant in charge of the division of fish culture were both
present, practically settled this question, for, if I remember
aright, there was not a dissenting voice after the papers and dis-
cussion of the subject were finished, the admirable paper by Mr.
Lydell, of the Michigan Commission, making the question prac-
tically a closed matter.

It is not, therefore, with a view of changing the opinion of

any one that I give the following results at this station this year
128

American Fisheries Society. 12%

but rather for the purpose of comparison and to let you all know
how we are getting on down in this “neck of the woods.” Up to
this date, July 18th, 1903, we have distributed during this cal-
endar year 125,420 black bass, of which about 90,000 were baby
fingerlings, 1,000 fry and the rest fingerings. We were badlv
crippled in our messenger service owing to the shad work in the
early part of the season, or we would have distributed 50,000
more bass than we have and this is the reason also why more fry
have not been sent out. When we had adequate messenger sery-
ice baby fingerlings came along as fast as we could dispose of
them. In passing I would state that the fry shipped as well
as the older fish, although they were sent only about 150 miles.
Now, after this distribution of 125,420 bass, we have in the sta-
tion ponds today more fingerlings than we ever had at this sea-
son of the year, or, in the opinion of the attaches of the station.
more than was ever before in our ponds at one time.

In coneluding on this point I will say that had we twice or
three times as many brood fish as we have, there being now 199
adult large mouth black bass in the station ponds, four in num-
ber, with a total area of three acres, and with sufficient messen-
ger service so that we could have commenced early shipping fry,
we could have easily added from one to two hundred thousand to
our output this year, for with this plan of distribution there is
no necessity of restricting the numbers of brood fish as would be
necessary where only fingerlings are to be produced.

Our baby fingerlings carried practically as well as the finger-
lings, in fact in one particular, much better, for by using ice
moderately to maintain fairly even temperatures we have been
able to ship 1,000 in a ten-gallon can, holding them thus forty-
eight hours even in southern Georgia and Alabama in the month
of July. Without a single exception, so far as I have been able
to find out from our messengers, the applicants have been well
pleased with the fish delivered to them, and this is pretty well
attested by the large number of new applicants from the terri-
tory first covered which have been sent to the Commissioner,
much of Georgia having been covered a second time and a new
lot still being in reserve.

My next point is the absolute elimination of all fishes from
the brood ponds except the species that you wish to propagate.

Ww

Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Even the top minnow, viviparous, which we had supposed to be
the least harmful, was found by actual observation to be very
destructive to black bass fry. Our best success this year has been
where the minnows were the fewest, an effort having been made
last fall to clean them all out. This will be repeated the coming
fall, and not a living thing in the fish species, aside from the
brood fish, will be left in the bass ponds, if it be possible to ab-
solutely annihilate it. Our experience a year ago satisfied us
that this should be done. Where we had the most minnows we
produced the fewest young bass. Mr. Lydell, in his remarks at
the close of the reading of his paper at Put-in-Bay, it will be re-
membered, advocated this course strongly, saying that he did
not know of a minnow which would not devour bass fry when
small.

The third point that I would wish to make is not so apparens
as the other two, but if you wish to turn out a good lot of finger-
lings it is especially necessary, and that is persistent and regula
feeding during the breeding season. ‘This is more essential south
than north, for here our breeding season lasts over four months.
beginning this year on March 1st, when the first eggs were iden-
tified positively, although there were several nests well out from
shore on the last day of February, and several nests with gooil
lots of eggs being seen on them the early part of July, this long
season being caused, I believe, by the females spawning several
times in a season, as we know they do here, while they likely
deposit all of their eggs at one time in the north. If the fish
are fed every other day about all they want and especially well
when a rise in temperature follows a cold spell, when the fish
will be found to have ravenous appetites, often rushing into a
brood of fry and securing a mouthful in spite of the efforts of
the parent fish to prevent it, cannibalism will be reduced to a
minimum, so far as the adults are concerned.

During the rest of the year the brood fish should be fed
enough to keep them in healthy, growing condition or they will
not produce good results, and the feed should be mainly fish

we use almost entirely cut mullet from the sea shore—our expe-
rience last year, when tadpoles were mainly used, having demon-
strated that fish in some form is the best. Of course a change

of diet is beneficial and we now give our breeding bass an ocea-

American Fisheries Society. 129

sional ration of frog tadpoles which they devour greedily, but
this section being very poor in fish life our range in this direec-
tion is exceedingly limited. Mr. Seymour Bower, superintend-
ent of the Michigan stations, than whom there is no better au-
thority, says that black bass fed persistently on liver will not pro-
duce fertile eggs.

If I were to add another point necessary to success, I would
take up the question of cover. Several of our ponds are so poor
in bottom soil that the ordinary vegetation of ponds in the vi-
cinity will not hve. We have tried fertilization with no success,
the fertilizers all washing out the fist year and the vegetation
dying. An experiment was last fall made with one of our larg-
est ponds, EH, in which we had utterly failed to make myrriophyl-
lum and other like plants grow. About one-third of its area was
planted to what is known south as parrot feather, which I have
been informed belongs to the same family with myrriphyllum,
the writer not knowing its scientific name, it making a muen
more vigorous growth than any other aquatic plant that I know
of and growing such a swamp as to be very undesirable in ponds
with fertile bottoms. In this sterile pond the parrot feather
proved to be just the thing, making just sufficient cover to thor-
oughly protect both fry and fingerlings. This pond was a com-
parative failure last year, while this season it has~ produced
abundantly and it is believed that there are 10,000 fingerlings
in it at this time. The dense portions of the parrot feather 1s
alive with fingerlings and has been all the season, the men get-
ting good hauls with the seine by skirting the borders of the
vegetation. Another pond of the same size and nearly as sterile,
B, has produced as many broods of the baby fingerlings size as
the one just referred to, but being almost devoid of vegetation it
produced but very few fingerlings, and, when drawn down the
other day, less than 200 fingerlings were secured, while a single
haul of the seine along the borders of the parrot feather in EK on
the same day resulted in the capture of over 300 fine fingerlings.
It is needless to say that every pond with sterile bottom will be
thickly set to parrot feather this season, in fact, we are now at
it as fast as time from other work will permit.

To recapitulate: Ship all the baby fingerlings, secured just
before the broods break up, with us one to one and_ one-half

9

130 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

inches long, that you possibly can; keep all fish except the kind
you wish to propagate entirely out of your ponds; feed enough
to keep your parent fish healthy throughout the year and keep
them full during breeding season in order to prevent them from
devouring large numbers of what will make your fingerlings ;
see that you have abundant cover to hide your fry, baby finger-
lings and fingerlings, and to make a good home for your adults
and all else will come to you.

DISCUSSION OF MR. STRANAHAN’S PAPER.

Mr. Lydell: I consider that a very valuable paper and very
interesting, and I wish to say that every word that Mr. Strana-
han has said in there I believe in. I do not see anything in the
paper to criticise.

Mr. Seymour Bower: I had some correspondence with Mr.
Stranahan on the subject of feeding adult bass on liver, and
what I intended to say was we had no success in feeding them
on liver continuously. We do feed liver to the adult bass after
the spawning season and feed it more or less all summer, but in
the fall of the year we feed minnows, and again in the spring.
We found when we fed them on liver the year round the eggs
would all blast; and while we think it is all right to feed liver a
part of the year we believe they need the flesh of fish in the fall
and spring in our latitude in order to make them healthy and of
good vitality.

Mr. Clark: I would like to ask if we are to take up the dis-
cussion of the bass question now or after all the papers are pre-
sented ?

President: That is with the meeting. My own impression
is that it would probably be better to read the papers first and
then enter into a general discussion.

Mr. Clark: It is an important question to me because IT am

an infant in the bass business—I am just commencing—and

there are some questions I want to ask. I have been in the busi-
ness thirty odd years, but I am still a primary school man.

PROPAGATION OF LARGE-MOUTH BLACK BASS AT
SAN MARCOS STATION.

BY J. L. LEARY.

Seven years ago when I was ordered to San Marcos, Texas,
to superintend the construction of a bass station very little had
been accomplished in the way of propagating the black bass. Dr.
Henshall had published his book and named him the king of
hard fighters, and Mr. W. F. Page, then superintendent of Neo-
sho station, had written his pamphlet for the Fish Commission
and had made a beginning in the propagation of bass, as had
also Mr. J. J. Stranahan. In fact the five ponds first construct-
ed at San Marcos station, if I have been rightly informed, were
planned by Mr. Page, and were the first ponds of the station
stocked with this fish. I had previously suggested and found
them entirely too small for the work to be accomplished.

Having fished for many years in the Albemarle Sound of
North Carolina, where this great inland body of water and its
tributaries are the natural home of the large-mouth bass, I was
not only well acquainted with their habits of spawning, but
knew that the schools of young fish after hatching would seek
the shallow flats covered with rush and other water plants to
bask in the sunshine and prey on the myriads of insect life that
are here produced.

I at once conceived the idea that to make a success of pond
culture one must conform as closely to nature as possible, artifi-
cially constructing the ponds to resemble the natural haunts of
the bass. Therefore I suggested that we build our ponds not less
than one-half an acre, and while the ponds be made deep at the
draw-off they have a large area of shallow water. My sugges-
tions along this line were adopted and what success I have had is
due to making my ponds conform as near to nature as possible.

Now as to stocking ponds with brood fish, the best method, if
possible to do so, is to secure good native fish, selecting always
the best. This I have done at San Marcos station; however, I
have now a fair supply of my own raising. Since I have more
pond room for the past three seasons I have carried over each

131

132 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

year about one hundred of my best and earliest fish. ‘This selec-
tion of choice fish should be made in the spring, when it is possi-
ble to do so, and all poor fish liberated. I find fish weighing
from two to three pounds preferable for brood purposes. During
the winter all my ponds are laid bare and the accumulation of
water plants, mosses, etc., taken out and hauled away, leaving
the ponds exposed to the air for from six to ten weeks. My brood
stock in the meantime are held in very small ponds built for nur-
sery ponds and well fed until ponds are filled and ready to re-
ceive them. Then I plant twenty-four fish, twelve pair as near
as can be selected, to the half acre of water. This, after experi:
menting, I have found to be about the right number to obtain
good results. I wish it understood that I have no direct way
to distinguish sex, except general appearances, but from the fact
that our ponds produce thousands of fish it is quite evident that
we get them stocked with a fair share of males and females. In
spawning the bass follows its natural instincts and will nest on
the banks of ponds in from twelve inches to three feet of water.
I have, however, tried several kinds of artificial nests, the most
successful being a wheelbarrow load of gravel placed around the
ponds at intervals of from forty to fifty feet, near the banks and
ina variety of depths of water. Many fish take to these gravel
piles and they seem to be acceptable to the fish and answer the
purpose for which they were designed. This gives each pair of
fish plenty of room. Being thus isolated they disturb each other
but little and only now and then do we see a fish that is scarred
from fighting. My bass commence nesting from the 8th to 15th
of February and now and then we have a nest late in June.
This has occurred only two or three times in the past six years,
and usually with very poor results. I further find that the great
loss of young fish is just after hatching, say the first five or six
days, before the school becomes active and just after the food
sack is absorbed. After this period, provided the water is well
supplied with food, the loss is small until the fish attain at least
two inches in length and for this reason I never transfer to nur-
sery or shipping ponds fish under one and one-half inches, then
they can take food such as chopped fish and crawfish. This food
is prepared in the following manner:

If fish, it is skinned.and all large bones removed ; if crawfish,

American Fisheries Society. 133

only the tails are used. This flesh is then placed on a chopping
board and chopped very fine. Then it is run through a plate
having perforations of 1-32 of an inch. ‘This screening is then
mixed with water to the consistency of cream and fed to the
small fish. As they increase in size minnows, young carp, and
mud shad (Dorosoma cepedianum). ‘The fry of this latter fish
is the finest food for young bass I know of and all pond cultural
stations should have a pond provided to rear this class of young
fish.

{ give experiments made with young bass several years ago
to determine the most suitable sizes to transfer from brood to
nursery ponds and since then no fish have been transferred under
one and one-fourth inches in length, they are then fish and can
be held with some certainty of getting a fair per cent distributed.

First Experiment.—t,000 young bass one and one-half inches
long were placed in a pool six by sixteen feet and one and one-
half feet deep. At the end of one month the loss by death was
126, and by cannibalism 139, the greatest loss from death was
during the first two weeks. The largest number that died any
one day was twelve. These fish were fed on the flesh of perch
prepared as above described.

Second Experiment.—1,009 fry just after food sack was ab-
sorbed were placed in a pool six by sixteen feet and one and one-
half feet deep, supplied with small insects gathered in moss from
river, and many water fleas (Daphnia). After the third day
they commenced to die, the greatest loss was seventy-one in one
day, and at the end of the month there remained, in round num-
bers, 200, and these were not in good condition.

Third Experiment.—1,500 young bass from two to two and
one-half inches in length were placed in a section of pond six-
teen by fifty feet. This pond had a fine growth of water plants
(Myriophyllum) and in it were great quantities of insect life.
These fish at the end of the month were in fine condition; 1,240
were shipped out and distributed. ‘The result showed a loss of
260, and ten of these died from effects of handling during trans-
ferring. The 250 lost I attributed to cannibalism.

Fourth Eaperiment.—5,000 fry (number estimated) were
placed in section of pond sixteen by sixty feet. At the end ot
one month 750 were found. This pond was well supphed with

134 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

water plants and apparently full of insect life. This was rather
an extravagant experiment, but the result of the combined exper-
iments shows conclusively that young black bass should not be
transferred from brood ponds during the fry stage. During my
feeding of the small fish I tried maggots which were readily
taken. bs

When transferring young fish not only should great care be
exercised but very soft material should be used in making the
seine. I find bobbinet in every way satisfactory. I get two bolts,
twelve yards to the bolt and three yards wide. ‘This I rig into
a seine nine by sixty feet. The twelve feet taken up gives plenty
of bag. The top line is well supplied with floats and the bottom
line quite heavily leaded to make it sink quickly. On the bottom
line about six feet apart I place a cedar float one and one-fourth
inches in diameter and five inches long. The purpose of this
float on the bottom line is to keep the seine from rolling in ponds
full of water plants. With this seine I can surround an entire
school and in the bag of such a net very few fish can escape. We
have landed as many as 6,000 at one haul.

These fish are placed in nursery pools and held for shipment.
being fed as above described. Nothing but fish are distributed
from San Marcos station, varying in size from two to six inches
in length and the results from our plants have been satisfactory.

My black bass have done splendidly this season and I still
adhere to my plan of plenty of room with an abundance of food
if one wishes to be successful with the black bass.

DISCUSSION OF MR. LEARY’S PAPER.

At the beginning of the paper Mr. Leary said: I speak ot
the Fish Commission because I do not know of any others that
had commenced the propagation of black bass before that time.

I can further state that the brood stock should be well fed
after the season of spawning up to the time they commence to
spawn again. ! believe we get healthier eggs and better fry in
that way. You keep your fish in fine condition during the entire
season after spawning. (Applause).

Mt. Atkins: Do you feed during the spawning season ?

Mr. Leary: Occasionally I do, about once a week during the
spawning season.

American Fisheries Society. 135

Mr. Atkins: How often in other parts of the year?

Mr. Leary: I feed usually twice a week.

Q. Do you think they require less during the spawning sea-
son

A. Ido. Proof of that is that during the spawning season
bass are hard to catch even with the most tempting bait.

Mr. Atkins: I have an idea that possibly it might be worth
while to withhold food entirely from them at that season.

Mr. Leary: Possibly it might, but the bass that are not nest-
ing want a little feeding, and those are the fellows that get it.

Mr. Titcomb: What is the length of your spawning season ?

Mr. Leary: From about the 8th of February until June—
occasionally, as I say, we find a nest in June, but the larger num-
ber of nests have always been found in the month of April.

Mr. Titcomb: Wont you explain about the food which you
collected for your young fish?

Mr. Leary: The crawfish we collect by seming the pools and
an adjoining creek known as Purgatory, and we have secured
as many as a barrel at a time, and we carry them home and store
them in one of our nursery pools, keep them alive, and all the
dead fish we have at that time, or left over from feeding the
bass from the Blanco river, mud shad and mullet, we throw in
to the crawfish. In feeding we break the tails off the crawfish,
skin them and prepare them by chopping very fine and screening,
feeding only the tails to the young fish, and the residue of the
fish we throw in to the old bass, which they readily take.

Mr. Titcomb: Don’t you also collect a lot of small snails ?

Mr. Leary: No, because we have an abundance of snails in
the ponds—especially at this season of the year when they are
throwing off spat and little particles of jelly-like stuff which the
fish like, but I do take from the holes of the Blanco river that
I can seine, a mud shad, and sucking mullet, we call them down
there, I take them home and chop them up. I skin and take the
bones out of all the fish that I chop and feed to my fingerling
bass.

Mr. Titcomb: You don’t cook any food for your fish ?

Mr. Leary: I do not. I tried liver and they do not take it

readily—of course we want to give them what they like most.
Mr. Titcomb: Did you ever try mush and crawfish mixed ?

136 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Mr. Leary: I am of the opinion that mush in any form is
not good for bass, in fact they will not take it.

General Bryant: Your fish feed the year around ?

Mr. Leary: Yes—it is warm the year round.

Mr. Beeman: What method do you have in handling your
Iry?

Mr. Leary: I do not handle any because I have had such
poor luck in transferring fry that I let them alone until they
are about three-fourths to an inch and a quarter long. If fry is
going to be handled at all they must be taken from the pond as
soon as they rise before the food sac is absorbed, and planted,
and if it is suitable water a fair per cent may live.

Mr. Beeman: How do you get them away from the old fish
after they are hatched ?

Mr. Leary: It isa very easy matter to take a school of young
fish, because they school in a body before and after the sac is
absorbed.

Mr. Beeman: Do you allow the old fish and young to remain
in the same pond together ?

Mr. Leary: Up to the time they are three-fourths of an inch
long—up to that time the parent fish take care of them.

Mr. E. N. Carter: Do you have any trouble from young
bass getting down in the moss?

Mr. Leary: We have a few bass in St. Johnsbury that dive
down to the moss, but after using the seine several times the
moss will be rolled smooth.

Mr. Carter: Don’t you kill any young bass in that way?

Mr. Leary: Very few.

Mr. Carter: How long is the moss?

Mr. Leary: Our moss grows any length there. If the pond
is fifteen feet deep it will reach the top. Of course you don’t
seine the bottom, but your fish after they get to be an inch or
three-fourths will school for the top—on a bright sunshiny day
after 11 o’clock they will school at the top.

Mr. Lydell: Are these rollers you used, wooden rollers ”

Mr. Leary: They are such as are used on net lines.

Mr. Lydell: Then you have to provide lead enough ww sink
the rollers ?

American Fisheries Society. 137

Mr. Leary: Yes, but the roller sinks readily. At the same
time it lifts the net least bit when it strikes anything.

Mr. Lydell: We use an iron ring about eight to ten inches
in diameter, and attach one about every four feet to the lead
line— it answers the same purpose and acts as a sinker at the
same time, and our lines do not roll at all.

Mr. Leary: I got a gentleman who owned a mudd: cattle
tank to allow me to put crappy in there with the privilege of
having part of the game fish. I sent out to seine the pond, and
they said the pond was so full of mud they could not get the fish.
I said I would go out the next day and | could catch the fish.
They did not think I could do it; I said “I will show you;” I
said “get me a few empty beer bottles’—not full bottles you
know—I dare not take a full bottle of beer. (Laughter). I
got these bottles, put corks in and tied them at intervals.

Mr. Lydell: Would you not have caught more fish if there
had been something in the bottles? (Laughter).

Mr. Leary: I expect I would—I just tied those beer bottles
at intervals along that bottom lne and got plenty of fish.

Mr. Clark: ‘The last papers are certainly very interesting,
and this is a subject that has interested me very much, as I am
seeking information on the bass question. We have at Northville
a natural place for bass ponds, and we can make any number of
nice bass ponds in connection with our trout work. Mr. Bower
and Mr. Lydell both say that nature has done for us what they
have hunted for nearly a year to find. Some few months ago,
or in the winter perhaps, I received instructions from my chief
in Washington to prepare for the culture of bass, and was asked
to suggest plans for the ponds. I made same sort of sketches
and they were forwarded to Washington, and the architect and
engineer prepared plans which were forwarded to me to work
upon in the building the ponds. You have been talking about
the food and the size of your bass, and what you are going to
distribute, ete., and I am not up to that, although I might say
in passing, I did hatch bass fifteen or twenty years ago, just
hatched a few, but not to make a business of it; so that I do not
claim to be a bass man at all, and I am an infant in the matter.
Now the question that I want to know is, are your bass ponds
right? Is the bass pond at Mill Creek where Mr. Lydell and Mr.

138 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Bower are, right; are the ponds at Neosho right, and all these
ponds that have been made? Before I undertake this work for
the United States Fish Commission I want to know that what
I am going to build is the best up to that date. You have got
your ponds all built; IT am just commencing, and I want to pro-
fit by any experience that you may have. Some say they want
to be so deep in such a part, and the spawning area wants to h2
so deep. Now the question I want to get at is, what is right. [
can make those ponds practically any depth from one foot to
fifteen; now do I want fifteen feet of water, eight feet or six or
four for those fish after they come down off the spawning area ”
And do I want forty or fifty feet of spawning area on the sidex
of the pond, or do | want less or more? I have the plans here
as they are drawn up. I want to have those things fixed right
so that I can build at Northville up to date bass ponds. If you
people know of something better that you have got, suggest it.
and I will have it prepared. I have got five ponds drawn out here
on these plans, and those provide, as they were drawn up by the
architect and engineer, for a certain depth—of course nothing
definite—but I presume drawn something after the style of the
San Marcos or possibly the Neosho ponds. But of course they
knew nothing about the Mill Creek Hatchery or the Michigan
State Commission.

Now this plan provides for a depth of from nothing to two:
and one-half to three feet in the spawning area, and not to ex-
ceed five feet, I think it is, in the deepest part. Now the ques-
tion arises, is five feet deep enough ?

Mr. Leary: Not in your climate.

Mr. Clark: What is the depth of your pond in what we cali
the “kettle?”

Mr. Leary: In your climate it would have to be deep. My
climate is warm and we have no ice. I have one pond of an acre
and a quarter nine feet deep at the drawoff, and it goes to noth-
ing. The shallowest point at the drawoff of any of my ponds is
five feet.

Mr. Clark: That-is in some other pond ?

Mr. Leary: Yes, the largest pond I have is nine feet deep
at the drawoff ; 100 feet from there it is six feet, 100 feet further

American Fisheries Society. 13¢

it is four feet, and 100 feet further it is nothing. At the point
last mentioned is my inlet pipe.

Mr. Clark: The point I wish to raise is this: If you could
have any depth you want, which I can, up to fifteen feet, what
would you make the depth of this kettle ?

Mr. Leary: I would make the depth of that kettle as great
as I could in your chmate, providing that I could draw the water
out of that pond. If you can make it ten or fifteen feet and
draw the water off, make it so; but you want to have your ponds
so that you can draw them off and clean them.

Mr. Clark: The forty feet of spawning area you would have
from three feet to nothing.

Mr. Leary: Yes, sir.

Mr. Titcomb: Forty feet margin?

Mr. Leary: Yes, more if you want to. The center of this
pond runs down from six feet then to four feet and nothing and
comes off either way to nothing. The object of having all that
shallow water is that it warms up early in the season and pro-
duces a large amount of insect life that the bass feed on, and it
produces an early growth of plants, providing shelter and feed-
ing grounds for the fry.

Mr. Clark: I would like to ask the other bass men if what
Mr. Leary has said they concur in, especially as to the depths ?

Dr. Henshall: I would not recommend anything more than
twelve feet in your climate.

Mr. Clark: I will take care of the climate.

Mr. Leary: I think you want more than ten or twelve fee:
for hibernation.

Mr. Clark: Do we want a good depth of water, or compara-
tively shallow water, for the bass? The climate is another ques-
tion. We know what we have to provide for, and the question is,
how much depth of water do they require ?

Dr. Henshall: Not less than twelve feet.

Mr. Clark: Is that the general opinion of the bass men
here ?

Mr. Lydell: I am not prepared to state, because we have
not a pond with more than six feet of water in it; but we are
getting good results from it, and we are further north than
Northville. I think ten or twelve feet will do all right; but our

140 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

pond is only six feet deep, and when we draw it down as low as
possible we still have two feet left. We cannot draw the water out
of our ponds, because we have not the drainage,and when we draw
them that way we seine off everything; and I think perhaps it is
. Ay 2)
beneficial in one way: we do not run all the food out our ponds.
When we draw a pond down the food is still in there, and then
we seine out every minnow; and I do not know but what it !s

well to leave some water in the pond—although I have not any
pond that I can draw clear down; but I know by not drawing
them clear down we have lots of vegetation left, and it starts up
quicker than it otherwise would.

Mr. Clark: I do not think there is any question but what
Mr. Lydell would, if he could, have every pond so that he could
draw every drop of water out, not that perhaps he would want
to do it every winter, as Mr. Leary does, but it is preferable to
have the pond so that you can draw the water all out for repairs
or otherwise.

But the main point it seems to me in regard to this matter
is, what is the depth—should the bass have fifteen or six feet.
Now would Mr. Lydell, if he could, have twelve to fifteen feet
of water in his pond?

Mr. Lydell: Yes, sir.

Mr. Clark: Would Mr. Dean?

Mr. Dean: Yes,’sir.

Mr. Clark (to Mr. Beeman): What would you say?

Mr. Beeman: Our ponds have a depth of eight feet over the
kettle, and they worked very successfully last winter.

Mr. Clark: Would you have it deeper if you could?

Mr. Beeman: I do not see any absolute need for it.

Mr. Lydell: Do you think the depth of the pond has any-
thing to do with the successful propagation of bass ?

Mr. Leary: No, except you want to keep the water from
freezing at the bottom; and in a warm climate to have no dead
water for big fish to go in. You can have it three feet or 100
feet deep if you can draw the ponds off, but it is necessary to
draw them off and get everything out of them. Clmatic condi-
tions must be taken into consideration. Aquatic plants grow
very profusely wth me, but not so with you, but you can have
the water any depth you please, provided you can draw your

American Fisheries Society. 141

ponds off and have depth enough to protect from extreme heat
and cold.

Mr. Clark: Then I understand that even with the large-
mouth bass you would prefer to have the water deep enough so
that it will be cool for those fish ?

Mr. Leary: Yes, sir, so that they can resort to it occasion-
ally.

Mr. Clark: Most of you people have been handling the
large-mouth bass. My instructions from Washington are that I
am to handle no large-mouth bass whatever, but all small-mouth,
and I have to prepare for the handling, catching and distribu-
tion of the small-mouth bass exclusively. Now naturally we have
got to the right ground—we have got something perhaps that
none of you have. Into every one of those ponds after they are
completed I will have my creek water running with a summer
temperature of 75° to 80° F., and by turning a valve I can turn
in spring water at a temperature of 53° into any pond; and in
case the river water is roily at spawning time, I can shut off the
creek water, turn the valve from the spring water and put in
what is necessary to tide the fish over.

Mr. Leary: You have an ideal location.

Mr. Clark: That is what they tell me, that it is an ideal
place, so far as that is concerned; but before making the mis-
takes that you people have all made, I want to be started right
I have made mistakes in fish culture, gentlemen, and many of
you are today profiting by the mistakes I have made (laughter),
and I propose to step in and profit by the mistakes you have
made.

Mr. Waterhouse: I think natural conditions should be imi-
tated as closely as possible. I have discovered no good bass
ponds where there is good fishing, where there is not good depth
of water, ten or twelve feet at least in the deeper parts, for hiber-
nation, and plenty of shore water besides for spawning purposes,
and furnishing a good growth of plant life, and it seems to me
in every case where I have had good fishing I had to get a good
depth of water—that is a natural condition.

Mr. Beeman: I would like to inquire what the temperature
of that spring water is which you propose to supply your pon]
with in case of roily water ?

142 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Mr. Clark: I do not propose to give the bass a temperature
of 53° when spawning; but the idea of spring water is to have
clear water and perhaps to put in enough of the spring water to
take care of the fish, but not to lower the temperature of the
water too much; the temperature of the spring water is 50°.

Mr. Beeman: My impression was you intended to close off
your main supply and turn in spring water in case of disturb-
ances ¢

Mr. Clark: Yes, in case of roily water—that I wouid lower
the temperature of the water and destroy the eggs—is that what
you are getting at?

Mr. Beeman: Yes.

Mr. Clark: I would not do that.

Mr. Beeman: In case you had a storm of three or four days”
duration, would not the spring water lower the temperature of
those waters to the danger point ?

Mr. Clark: You will notice that the ponds are so arranged
that I can, if necessary, obviate any such difficulty as that. The
spring water will be put into one pond and that will be exposed
of course to the sun and the warm air, and if the worst comes to
worse I would only lose perhaps a little in this particular pond
where they had spawned. Then the water would go into the
other pond at a warmer temperature, probably 70° F. I would
not put in a sufficiently large quantity to cool the whole thing—

in fact I could not do that—I have not enough spring water.
So that the matter of regulating the temperature there I can
handle all right, and I can give them clear water. There is no
reason why when these ponds are completed there should ever be
any roily water in them, if we do not want it there.

Mr. Beeman: The reason I made this inquiry is, I had a
little experience at our pond this summer. We were troubled
some with roily water there, and in attempting to get around
that we shut down entirely. Our ponds were so constructed that
I was able to run about four hours with very little fall of surface
water, but that was not long enough to prevent roily water com-
ing in; because we had a storm of three or four days’ duration.
During that time our bass all spawned for the third time and we
lost all the eggs, the temperature of the water falling to 59°.
Now the air temperature a good deal of the time is about 50°, so

American Fisheries Society. 143

you could not depend upon the air temperature keeping the tem-
perature of your ponds up to 70°. If your air temperature is
low the temperature of your water would fall.

Mr. Clark: Certainly—if we have a snow storm in June or
July up in our country, why, we do not expect “to keep a high
temperature.

Mr. Beeman: ‘Those conditions did not quite prevail at our
hatchery, but I was informed that they did have snow in Boston
at that time. But it is possible to have a week’s storm where
the air temperature would be from 50° to 60°. Under such eir-
cumstances the spring water would reduce the temperature of
the ponds to a danger point, and that is the point I desire to
get at.

Mr. Seymour Bower: I think Mr. Clark’s idea is to admit
just sufficient water to hold the pond up, merely to offset evapo-
ration. In warm weather the pond exposure will maintain the
temperature; it will go down in cold weather, of course. The
idea of admitting spring water is merely to maintain the level
of the ponds. If the weather is warm you can use the spring all
right.

Mr. Clark: I wish to state right here that this idea of the
spring water is not original with me—I got this from Mr. Ly-
dell—I do not want to steal some other man’s thunder. When
I visited Mr. Lydell’s place he told Mr. Bower and Mr. Bower
told me the same thing, that if they only had sufficient spring
water there they would be all right; that if they could turn in
spring water to these ponds, in some of these roily times it would
help them out; and when they went to my place I showed them
what I could do and they said, “do it by all means,” and that is
where I got my idea of having the spring water piped over there.
It may lie there two or three years and never be used to any great
extent, but when I have it there it will hold the levels up, and
there will be no trouble during a storm of two or three days.
How convenient it will be to put on just a little water to keep
your pond water going along in just the same condition! Of
course if the temperature goes down we cannot help it.

Mr. Lydell: As I understand it, these gentlemen are breed-
ing large-mouth bass, and as Mr. Clark has been instructed to
breed only small-mouth bass, he will find he has a different prop-

144 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

osition, and will have plenty of chance for experimenting. I do
not find any trouble in breeding the large-mouth bass, but the
small-mouth bass I find afford considerable opportunity for ex-
perimenting; it is not perfected by any means, and Mr. Clark
will find that the conditions in his locality will be different thar
they are at Mill Creek, and he has got to work the problem out
for himself, because the conditions are different where he is and
where we are.

Mr. Titecomb: I am going to suggest this, inasmuch as Mr.
Clark has five ponds to build, that he try all the depths from six
up to fifteen feet, say six, ten, twelve and fifteen, or eight, ten,
twelve and fifteen, and see what his results are, and then we will
have an actual experiment on different depths.

Mr. Clark: That is a good idea; and if a deep pond was
found to be preferable, the other ponds could be very easily deep-
ened.

Dr. Henshall: 'The deep pond is not so sensitive to changes
of temperature as a shallow pond, and therefore I should think
the deep pond would be better.

Mr. Clark: I have the information I came here for, and
that is a general idea of the depth of the pond. I might say that
there was a little question of difference in this matter between
myself and the Washington people, and we thought it was better
to see what the bass people said at this meeting, and I am welt
satisfied that the general idea is, as far as you have gone, that
the deeper the ponds are, the better, but the suggestion of Mr.
Titcomb of course, is something which would afford some dis-
tinct advantages, and we shall take it up.

Mr. Titcomb: I want to get from Mr. Beeman an account
of his work. He has been doing some work with small-mouth
black bass, and from what conversation I have had with him I
should say that he has learned a good deal about their habits,
and I think we can get some valuable information from him.

Mr. Beeman: I came here with the intention of listening.
not of saying anything. In fact I do not think it is just my
forte to address a meeting, but if there is anything that I can
offer of benefit to the Society I shall be pleased to give it. I have
had some correspondence with some of the gentlemen here and
conversation with them in regard to the amount of bass we pro-

American Fisheries Society. 145

duced. At the time I removed the fry from the spawning boxes
I had no time to count them. The only way that I could get at
the number was to transfer them to a tank that I had built at
the north end of the hatchery, and after the first hatch were
placed in this tank I had several persons who came there give
me what in their opinion was the space occupied by a single fish.
The distance was placed at about one cubic inch. After figuring
up the capacity of this tank I was somewhat surprised at the re-
sult: 1f gave me 414,720 cubic inches, which, according to the
calculations would give the number of small-mouth bass fry that
I had on hand. Since talking with some gentlemen here they
think it is an utter impossibility, as I had only twenty-four
breeding fish in my pond at that time; about one-third of them
were males, the other two-thirds were females; but I do not wish
to make this statement as absolute

I cannot say that it is the
exact number of fish, because undoubtedly it is not; but it gave
me some idea of what we might have.

Mr. Clark: These were all small-mouth bass ?

Mr. Beeman: Yes.

Mr. Lydell: What size were they?

Mr. Beeman: At that time those that I retained in the nur-
sery ponds were one and one-eighth to two inches in length.

Mr. Clark: I mean adults.

Mr. Beeman: They ranged from one and one-half to four
pounds each. The females were the largest. Most of my females
were from two and one-half to three and one-half pounds—one
or two specimens were nearly four.

Mr. Lydell: We made an accurate count of the roe in a fe-
male small-mouth bass weighing one and three-fourths pounds
at, Mill Creek station this year, and there were 5,000 and some
odd eggs in the fish. They were counted by Professor Reighard
and myself.

Mr. Beeman: Probably the calculation I have given is not
exactly correct; it may be overestimated, but when the bass
spawned the second time I counted up the results of one nest,
and it produced 6,210 fry; this was a second spawning and there
were nowhere near the number of eggs deposited at the second
spawning that there were at the first. In fact I observed four
cases in the first spawning, where two females spawned in the

10

146 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

same nest with the same male, the second female entering the
nest inside of twenty-four hours after the first female, and her
eggs were deposited apparently right on top of the first eggs.

Mr. Clark: What do you mean by first and second spawn-
ing?

Mr. Beeman: I mean after the male bass had cleaned up the
gravel in his nest and selected a mate and this pair had gone in,
and the female had spawned, she left, and the male remained
on the nest, and inside of twenty-four hours I observed another
different female was there with this male bass and spawned
there. Four instances of this kind I observed at our hatchery
this year.

Mr. Lydell: I found the same condition in the large-mouth
bass this year. We had two lots of eggs, one lot hatched and
there were three or four days before the other came off, and you
could distinguish the difference between the two schools of fry.

Mr. Beeman: There was no distinction between the size of
the fry, because the eggs were deposited within twenty-four
hours of each other, and when the fry rose from those boxes i¢
was a sight to behold. They were so thick you could not see the
gravel in the bottom of the boxes.

Mr. Leary: Don’t you think it was the same female?

Mr. Beeman: No, sir, there was such a wide difference in
size it was easy to distinguish. [am certain that they were dif-
ferent females for that reason.

Mr. Lydell: You are certain that the first lot of eggs laid
were not disturbed ?

Mr. Beeman: 'They were not disturbed.

Mr. Lydell: I have had them this year lay one lot of eggs
and the male would immediately destroy the eggs, and there
would be another spawning with another female, and on exami-
nation the eggs were found to be bad.

Mr. Beeman: We had the same fish spawn the third time.

Mr. Titcomb: How long a period was covered by the spawn-
ing season from the first fish which spawned to the last one?

Mr. Beeman: The first bed to be taken and spawned on was
May 10th, on Sunday morning. Now these are notes that |
took, and I have not had an opportunity to refer to them—lI just
kept a diary noting down some of the interesting things I ob-

American Fisheries Society. 14%

served there. I think it was about four days from the time the
first bass spawned until the first spawning was completed.

Mr. Lydell: No bass spawned after that time?

Mr. Beeman: No, sir, not during the first spawning.

Mr. Titcomb: What was the total period ?

Mr. Beeman: In the temperature of the water there the eggs
apparently hatched in between four and five days. 'The temper-
ature when the first eggs were deposited was 64° F.

Mr. Titcomb: What is the period covered by the three
spawnings ?

Mr. Beeman: I will look it up.

Secretary: Have you distributed any black bass?

Mr. Beeman: In our lake, yes.

Secretary: About how many have you distributed in your
lake ?

Mr. Beeman: I distributed the entire two hatches with the
exception of about 16,000 which I retained in the hatchery, at-
tempting to raise them up to fingerlings. I held these fry in a
tank and supplied them with small crustacea for a week ; I plant-
ed them after they were removed about a week from the spawn-
ing boxes. The second hatching I held in the tank for two weeks
and they about doubled their size fed on the crustacea. At that
time the crustacea coming in from the river began to fail, and
as I had overstocked my nursery pond, having more small bass
there than the natural food supply would raise, I was obliged tu
clean the second crop out of the tank and put them in the lake.
About two weeks ago I found the demand in our ponds so great
I could not get crustacea enough, so I took out 6,000 an inch and
a half long and planted them in the lake—this reduced the num-
ber in the nursery ponds so I could keep up with their demands
for the crustacea.

Mr. Titcomb: How did you collect crustacea ?

Mr. Beeman: I used a net made of cheese-cloth placed on
an iron frame three feet square, and these nets were placed in
the river where there was a gentle current, which drew the cy-
clops and daphnia into these nets. They were allowed to remain
there for a space of five or ten minutes, and then they were
taken out, and as they were drawn out then I reversed the nets
and rinsed them off in a tub which contained water, and that

148 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

removed the small crustacea from the nets. After repeating
that operation five or six times I would have sufficient crustacea
to take to the hatchery.

Mr. Lydell: How many of these fry did you distribute alto-
gether ?

Mr. Beeman: ‘The way I base my calculation, 426,000, bui
it may be overestimated.

Mr. Nevin: Did these same bass spawn three different times
im succession ?

Mr. Beeman: Yes, there were no other bass in the pond and
we had three different spawnings two or three weeks apart. The
second spawning took place almost immediately after the fry
from first spawning was cleared up.

Mr. Ravenel: Did you keep a record of the total number of
nests at any one time?

Mr. Beeman: During the first spawning nine boxes were
spawned in; three of those boxes were lost; consequently there
were only six productive boxes.

Mr. Ravenel: In the second spawning how many boxes were
there ?

Mr. Beeman: In the second spawning there were [ think
eight boxes, and five were productive.

Mr. Ravenel: How was it with the third spawning ?

Mr. Beeman: ‘The second spawning was much smaller than
the first, very few eggs deposited compared with the first spawn-
ing. In the third spawning eight boxes were spawned in, six
almost at one time. After three days’ duration one male de-
serted its nest and went immediately to another nest near by.
made up his nest and selected a female and she spawned again
in that nest. The next day another male deserted his nest and
went to another box and spawned there with another female,
but at the end of three days’ time, after the eggs were deposited,
all of the males deserted their nests and the third spawning was
a total loss.

Mr. Ravenel: You had a total of twenty-four nests occupied
during the three spawnings ?

Mr. Beeman: Yes, sir.

Mr. Lydell: I think this second and third spawning is in-
teresting. In the first spawning I have known of two males

American Fisheries Society. 149

using one female. Professor Reighard ‘and myself this ’ year
watched the fish. <A pair of bass was in a bed spawning and we
watched them. He got half through, got a nice lot of eggs, and
another male came in and he had a scrap with the gentleman
and took the female away from him and took her to another nest
and spawned with her there. There were two nests of eggs from
one female.

In our experimental station near Grand Rapids when we
first started, our superimtendent sent me there, and we had in
that pond thirty-eight or forty fish, and there were nineteen nests
made that were productive, and I cleaned them up, shipped the
eggs and took up my apparatus and went to Detroit, and abou:
a week after that Superintendent Bower ordered me back to the
station, saying that the bass were spawning again, and I got
nineteen more nests that were productive, and shipped those.

Mr. Leary: I wrote Mr. Ravenel that I had bass. that
spawned twice and he said that it could not be possible. I told
him it was possible because I had a blind bass among the fish,
and she was the only one I had that was blind, and I know that
bass spawned twice.

Mr. Titcomb: Was that.a female or a male ?

Mr. Waterhouse: Was the fry blind? (Laughter).

Mr. Leary: I cannot tell the difference positively.

Mr. Ravenel: The reason I made the inquiry from Mr. Bee-
man was because the question has been discussed a great deal]
and it is believed that they spawned twice. Except the case re-
ferred to by Mr. Leary, which I regard as authentic, we never
have had any definite proof that bass spawned twice. I wanted
to prove whether he had a sufficient number of nests at different
periods to indicate that the bass had actually spawned more than
once.

Mr. Lydell: I know the male bass will spawn twice. I
think the blind bass the gentleman speaks of was excusable,
for he could not see what he was doing anyhow. (Laughter).

Secretary: I would like to ask Mr. Beeman how many fry
he has planted and how many fingerlings, and how many he has
on hand.

Mr. Beeman: I planted all of the fry produced there except
about 16,000, as near as I could estimate it, which were put into

150 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

the nursery ponds. About two weeks ago I took from those nur-
sery ponds about 6,000 of the fish there, then an inch and a half
long, and planted them in the lake. I did this to reduce the
number, because I was unable to get crustacea enough to feed
them at that time so that they would thrive. I have about 10,000
there at the present time.

Secretary: These are small-mouth bass?

Mr. Beeman: Yes, they are all small-mouth bass.

Secretary: Then you have had considerable success in rais-
ing small-mouth bass ?

Mr. Beeman: It would seem so thus far.

Mr. Lydell: What is the source of your water supply ?

Mr. Beeman: At present from our mill-dam 1,700 feet from
Lake Waramoug. ‘The original design was to get our supply
from the lake far enough from the shore to avoid disturbances,
but the lake was so high last fall we could not accomplish it.
So we stopped our pipe about half way to the lake in our mill-
dam, which takes its supply of water directly from the lake; so
that we are practically getting the same water we would get from
the lake, except we get some roily disturbances in time of storm.

Mr. Lydell: What designs of beds are you using?

Mr. Beeman: Acting on the suggestion in Mr. Lydell’s pa-
per read at Put-inBay, I am using a nest box enclosed on three
sides. Near the surface and extending down about four inches
is an opening all around this box which is enclosed with fine
wire netting, which gives a little circulation of water througn
the top of the box. The fourth or open side is so arranged that
I can slide a screen in there. When the fry are ready to arise |
slip this sereen in place and corral them right tn this box. The
only objection I have found to the box is that the water is liable
to become stagnant or get a little thick there.

Mr. Lydell: Did the fish show the result of the stagnant
water ?

Mr. Beeman: They did. The fish began to suffer a little,
coming to the surface and gasping.

Mr. Lydell: Were they suffering from hunger or stagnant
water ?

Mr. Beeman: I should judge from the closeness of the water
in the box, for the reason that after bailing from the outside sev-

American Fisheries Society. 151

eral pails full of water which when poured into the box cleared
up the water, they were all right, and showed no signs of dis-
tress.

Mr. Lydell: You ought to have that little stream from Mill
Creek running into these boxes. (Laughter).

Mr. Clark: I would like to ask if your screen was all around
this box, why you did not keep the screen clean, then you will
have your circulation of water all right.

Mr. Beeman: I used the common wire mosquito netting for
a screen, and yet the little bass would go through it; it is not
fine enough, and the moment I cleaned up the screen some of
the bass would escape.

Mr. Nevin: Cheesecloth will answer the purpose.

Mr. Beeman: I used that on the front. An improvement
suggested itself to me in this manner. On the side opposite the
open side I would suggest someone try leaving an opening there
of a foot in width extending from the top to the bottom of the
box, or down to the gravel, and during the time that the eggs
are deposited and the parent fish caring for them, I would slide
a board in that place instead of a screen, and just before the fry
rise I would remove the board and put in a screen there. Also
the screen in front of the box. This would give a lttle circula-
tion of water through the box.

Mr. Clark: That is a good idea, but I cannot conceive why
your wire around here, being put there for the purpose of giy-
ing you a circulation of water, should not be kept clean.

Mr. Beeman: That would be all right if the wire netting is
fine enough. Another point: this wire was placed from the sur-
face of water down about four inches. The rest of the way down
it was enclosed with boards perfectly tight. So, while the water
might circulate a little at the top of the box it remained some--
what stagnant at the bottom.

Mr. Nevins: Put your wire netting down within a foot of
the bottom.

Mr. Beeman: The idea in constructing a box on three sides
is, to give the fish ample protection, and furthermore to handle
the fry after they rise, because the school quickly scatter and it
is hard to capture them. So that you have got it in a nutshell;
if you have the boxes so that you can screen them in. You have

152 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

only to supply a perfect circulation ; 1 accomplished that. by dip-
ping a little water from outside and pouring it in, and it worked
all right. If you intend to breed the small-mouth bass I suggest
that you have on your spawning shoals even depth of two feet,
because if you build these boxes perhaps two feet seven or eight
inches high, they may not hold your fry when they rise. The
top of these boxes must project above the water, otherwise the
fry will come right over the top.

Secretary: This discussion it seems to me has a great deal
of interest, because Mr. Beeman is purely an amateur who took
up this matter quite recently. He resides on Lake Waramoug,
-Conn., from which bass were nearly exhausted, and he and oth-
ers living on the lake wanted to restore the supply, and they
started in in an amateur way to raise bass, and he got his infor-
mation through the men of this Society who have experimented
in this line. I think he corresponded with Mr. Lydell, Mr. Tit-
comb, and different men of the Society whose names he gathered
from the reports of our proceedings; and therefore he is an ama-
teur and goes into the work without any prejudices or precon-
ceived opinions; and I think his experience and his opinions are
very refreshing on that account, because he has not made a lot
of mistakes heretofore. What he makes now he is free and frank
to acknowledge, and he may have discovered something, and L
rather think that he has succeeded in raising small-mouth bass
in quantities which it has been stated is an almost unknown
thing as yet. I believe Mr. Lydell has said that the raising of
small-mouth bass has not been very successful.

Mr. Lydell: Not so bad as that. (Laughter).

Mr. Beeman: I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness
to Mr. Seymour Bower of Michigan who gave me valuable infor-
mation as regards the construction of the pond, and also to Mr.
Lydell, but at that time Mr. Bower did not give me very much
information on how to handle the bass. He said that there was
little known on the subject.

Mr. Bower: You will remember you agreed to visit our Mill
Creek station last season, and I said I would give you all the
information I could, but you did not show up. (Laughter).

Mr. Beeman: The reason is that I was too busy at home
with our own hatchery. We commenced the work a year ago

American Fisheries Society. 153

this last spring and did not complete the ponds entirely; but
we got them far enough along so that we collected our bass and
wintered them in the ponds. They were caught with the hook
and line in the different lakes last fall, with the exception of
ten that.I,took through the ice early in. March. In the spring
following there was a lot of unfinished work to do,-and I began
at it immediately, as soon as the season would allow me to do
so, we finished up the work around the pond on a Saturday
night, and just about daylight on Sunday morning the bass be-
gan to spawn, so you see we did not lose very much time.

In addition to the work of constructing the ponds I have had
to make all the paraphernalia in connection with it myself, and
tend to the fish. Up to the present time I have done all of this
with only the assistance for the last two weeks of my son, since
the bass began to spawn.

Mr. Lydell: I will bet you did not work over eight hours a
day.

Mr. Beeman: While I handled this vast amount of fry my
work has averaged fourteen to twenty-one hours a day. In the
first hatching and transferring I was obliged to use cheesecloth
to strain the water at outlet of tank, and in collecting the crus-
tacea I got some sediment in the water which clogged the
screens, and I found that the tank would overflow every two or
three hours, and I was obliged to stay up all night and watch the
tank. But the idea suggested itself to me after losing two or
three nights sleep, of using a screen of very fine wire cloth, and
feeding my fry through the day with crustacea, and just at the
close of the work I slipped in the wire screens and shut down a
part of the water supply. I was running a supply from a two-
inch pipe with a fall of fifteen inches, and the fry would drift
up against the screen during the night, and this current of wa-
ter was sufficient to draw them from the bottom up against the
screens; but by closing down one-half of the supply, the currenc
was regulated, so that I did not have any further trouble, and L
put in the wirecloth screens and went to bed.

Mr. Glark: What is the depth of your tank ?

Mr. Beeman: The tank itself is about three feet deep, and
contains two and one-half feet of water.

Mr. Clark: What is its width ?

154 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Mr. Beeman: Its width is six feet and length sixteen inches-

Mr. Clark: And did you have a screen right straight across
Lee

Mr. Beeman: No, in two divisions on the lower end.

Mr. Clark: Did you have just a straight plain screen too?

Mr. Beeman: I had a frame in the wall: The tank was
constructed of cement and stone. I had a frame in the wall
about twenty inches square, and two screen frames on the six
foot end of the tank.

Mr. Clark: I will show you how to build a screen that wont
clog up unless your water is roily.

Mr. Beeman: ‘This wire answered the purpose all right.

General Bryant: What was the entire length of time of the
spawning season from the first to the last spawning ?

Mr. Beeman: I attempted to look that up, but my memor-
anda are not very clear. In the first spawning the eggs were
deposited May 10th, and those three spawnings occupied a period
of seven weeks. It was my intention and desire not to say any-
thing before the meeting at this time, but I was drawn into it.
I intended to make a very close observation of the habits of the
bass another year, get down some fine points, and perhaps write
a paper then on the subject, get all this data together, and sift
out the worthless and get in the valuable.

Mr. Titcomb: We hope you will do that.

Mr. Beeman: ‘There is one interesting thing that I would
like to investigate, and that is the development of the egg. We
lost a lot of our eggs this year, and the only reason I can assign
for it is the low temperature. The water fell to 59°. Will that
temperature kill bass eggs?

Mr. Lydell: I have had 58° kill them—they died anyhow.

Mr. Beeman: One of the investigations I wish to pursue
next summer is to take one nest of eggs and with a microscope
make an examination of them as soon as they are deposited, to
see if I can discover the germ, and how it appears when the egg
is first impregnated. Possibly an observation of once a day un-
til the eggs are hatched would give one a pretty clear idea of
how a fertile egg appeared, and by examining a nest that failed
you might get some idea of how you lost the eggs.

Mr. Titcomb: You can tell when your eggs are eyed.

American Fisheries Society. 155

Mr. Beeman: The bass all deserted the nests within three
days’ time after the eggs were deposited. Now the question is,
were the eggs fertile, or had they never been fertilized. I made
some examination with a microscope of some just deposited,
some two days old, some three days old, but I failed to discover
any germs in them, although the size of the egg makes it difficult
to get a clear vision of it through a powerful microscope.

Mr. Nevin: Did your bass hatch in six days in a tempera-
ture of 60°?

Mr. Beeman: No, between four and five days, and not in a
temperature of 60°; they did not spawn until 64°, and at the
time the bass hatched the temperature was nearly 70°, it was
beautiful weather, clear every day, and I could observe every-
thing that took place through two of the spawning periods.

Mr. Seymour Bower: I do not want to discourage Mr. Bee-
man or anybody else engaged in the propagation of small-mouth
bass, but speaking of raising bass from the standpoint of an
amateur leads me to say this, that some six or seven years ago
when we started out in the Fish Commission purely as amateurs,
we had the best success in proportion to the number of adult
fish in our stock ponds that we have ever had, and it was almost
wholly guesswork. It was probably pure luck—I do not know
what else to call it. Since then we have not had as large a pro-
portion of beds that were productive in any one season—of
course we have hatched a great many more bass, but in propor-
tion to the number of fish, stock fish, we have never equaled our
first season.

To determine whether the eggs are fertilized or unfertil-
ized this present season we have employed Professor Reighard
at our Mill Creek bass station; he is recognized as one of the
most eminent zoologists in this country, and he has been there
ever since the beginning of the spawning season, and is there ac
the present time. I asked him how he accounted for it that so
many beds were non-productive, and whether he considered the
eggs were fertilized or not, and he said, so far as he has been
able to determine, that the eggs were fertilized, and that he
could not account for the fact of their not hatching in any other
way, except that there was a lack of vitality, either in the parent
fish or in the eggs themselves. There was not sufficient vitality

156 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

to carry them through to the hatching point, but so far as he
had examined the spawn, and he had examined a great many
eges from non-productive beds, he had found them all fertilized,
and I thing Professor Reighard would not make that statement
unless he was certain of it, because my experience is that scien-
tists are very careful about making any statements that they
may have later to take back.

Mr. Beeman: It occurred to me that there were three condi-
tions, as you say, that might cause failure, first, bad weather,
and second, low temperature of the water, and third, that in the
third spawning the bass lose some of their vitality. If there had
been a continuance of the nice weather and the second hatching
had produced well and the third failed, you might suppose that
it was owing to the reduced condition of the fish, through long
continued spawning efforts.

Mr. Bower: Speaking about the bass spawning twice, | do
not think the point is established that the female will spawn at
two different intervals. I think it is settled that the male bass
will officiate on several occasions; in fact he is almost human in
that respect, I guess (laughter), but in the single case that Mr.
Leary speaks of, of the blind female, I would hke to ask him
how long the spawning intervals were.

Mr. Leary: It was several weeks. She spawned on the same
nest, but it was after the first spawning was hatched entirely and
carried over.

Mr. Bower: Are you sure the blind fish was a female fish ?

Mr. Leary: I am almost positive.

Mr. Bower: It seems to me that is quite impossible—in fact
we know that the female bass will sometimes spawn on two nests,
but the one spawning follows the other almost immediately.

Mr. Beeman: I have noticed it on several occasions during
that season and since then.

Mr. Bower: Mr. Beeman speaks of the second and third
spawning; I want to inquire whether he refers to the male or
female fish or both ?

Mr. Beeman: The females I was not able to identify so
readily as I was the males. Some of the males I had marked,
and of course I was able to identify them every time. These
males all cleared up their nests three different times, and two

American Fisheries Society. Waa
of them for the fourth time. But what led me to think that it
was possible for the female bass to spawn more than once was
from a httle discovery I made on a dead bass. One morning |
found a dead bass in the pond—the only case of dead fish I had
seen since the original stock had been put in there, and I was
anxious to know if I could identify the male or female by out-
side appearance. This fish appeared to be plump, and | decided
in my mind it was a female, but to be sure I opened her. She
had eggs in her, it was a female, and close examination of those
eggs disclosed that perhaps one-half of them was pretty fully
developed, another portion not so much developed, and still an-
other portion a little more retarded. Now, if that should be the
case when a bass first spawns, there might be a portion of her
eggs ripe and ready to spawn and it might require a little period
for the second batch to ripen, and likewise with the third batch.

Mr. Titcomb: I think Mr. Beeman’s experience with the
polygamous habits of another species there would perhaps con-
firm some of the observations about the habits of the bass.
(Laughter).

Mr. Beeman: If the Society desire it I will take pleasure in
giving an account of the incident referred to, regarding the com-
mon roach or sunfish. While I was gathering the crustacea for
the small-mouth bass, my nets were placed in our mill-dam just
back from the overflow where I got the right current of water.
In passing out on this dam right at the crossing, a roach came
up there and cleared up his bed the same as the bass; cleared off
the sand and dirt, leaving the gravel in the center of the nest
the same as bass do in their wild state. The first female to enter
the nest was the little roach that you would suppose too small
to spawn, she was in the act of spawning. This bed was so
placed that I was able to get very close to it; they did not seem
to mind my presence at all; I was able to observe the operation
very closely ; I threw a plank across from the corner of the wall.
running at right angles with the dam, got out on the plank, and
my face was within a foot of the fish. This little female was
depositing her spawn there; perhaps she continued a space of
two or three minutes. While I was watching her, another female
of a larger size came into the nest: I could see plainly her sides
very much distended with spawn; the male undertook to drive

158 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

this second female out of the nest, but she persisted in her efforts
to stay there; she overcame his efforts to drive her out, and
finally he turned on the little one which had been spawning and
drove her out, and immediately began to give his attention to
the second female. This continued on for a time and to my sur-
prise a third female larger than either of the other two came
into the nest. After the male had gone through the same tactics
as before, that is, attempting to drive this intruder out, the fe-
male that was at that time spawning with him was driven out,
and the third female began to spawn in that nest. After a time
the little female No. 1 roach came back again, and the larger one
left and the small one began again to deposit her eggs. After
time No. 2 came back, driving out No. 1, and No. 3 female came
back in turn. As my time could not be devoted entirely to ob-
serving the whole rigmarole, and I had seen enough to satisfy me
that there were some things in nature that we do not quite un-
derstand, I left and went about my work; but of course I was
passing back and forth often and every time I passed I’ observed
the operation which was continued for about four hours, that is,
spawning with one another of the females. During the spawn-
ing time I was so close to the nest that I could see the eggs when
they were discharged from the female; they were discharged
right against and directly underneath the vent of the male, the
male remaining perfectly upright and the female turned at right
angles to the male. They were driven out with force enough
to impel them four or five inches into the water beyond, and
then they settled on the gravel. I could not tell how many eggs
were deposited. Hach time the female turned on her side there
appeared to be a muscular contraction of the abdomen which
drove the eggs out with quite a little force; but as near as J
could judge there were about fifty discharged each time when she
turned on her side.

Mr. Titcomb: What was the effect on the male?

Mr. Beeman: At noon the male was pretty well exhausted—
he was trying to fan the eggs. (Great laughter). |

The eggs hatched on the fourth day. At this time the male
began to take in its mouth sand from just outside of the nest,
dropping it right on the fry. This he contined to do until the
newly hatched fry were completely covered. Then he immedi-

American Fisheries Society. 159

ately began to make a new nest just at one side of the buried fry.
When the new nest was ready, the females came in and spawned
a second time. The male then gave his attention to their eggs,
driving away intruders. In due time the buried fry came up
out of the sand and started out in life on their own hook, while
the male remained on duty.

Secretary: Since the meeting at Woods Hole, Mr. Beeman
writes as follows regarding the subject of bass spawning:

“Since my return from the meeting of the American Fisher-
ies Society at Woods Hole, Mass., I have taken time to look over
my memoranda of what took place at our hatchery during the
spawning season. I find that the three spawning periods ex-
tended over a period of seven weeks. The first eggs were depos-
ited on May 10th, and the last nest was deserted on June 28th.
The third spawning was a total loss. Water temperature at the
time fell to 59°, and may have been responsible for the loss.
Had this last spawning hatched the period would have been ex:
tended some two weeks, had the fry fully developed. There were
twenty-four breeding bass in ponds, eight of which were males.
One was a small bass of about one-half pound which did not
select a nest or spawn so far as I am able to discover, so I am un-
certain as regards its sex.

“This would leave fifteen females, which gave twenty-eight
separate deposits of spawn during the three spawning periods.
As I am unable to identify all of the females I cannot say posi-
tively that they all spawned even once, but from the fact that
there was twenty-eight separate deposits of eggs during the
three periods, it clearly shows that the greater part of the fe-
males spawned at least twice.

“As I was able to identify some of the males, I find that two
of them actually gave their attention to five females each dur-
ing the spawning period of forty-nine days.

“Another peculiar and interesting thing in connection with
the spawning habits of the small-mouth black bass was observed
during the first spawning period. On May 11th two
males had selected boxes Nos. 2 and 3, and were each
giving their attention to a female in their respective
boxes. Male in box No. 2 about two and one-half
pounds. His mate about same weight. Male in box No.

160 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

3 about three-fourths pound. His mate four pounds. In
due time both females deposited their eggs, and when I left
the hatchery for the night, both males were fanning the eggs 1n
their respective boxes. Karly next morning found male in box
No. 2 had apparently driven off small male in box No. 3, and
was giving his attention to both boxes. ‘These boxes were about
forty feet apart. For two days this male could be seen going
back and forth fanning the eggs in the two boxes, remaining in
each box for two or three minutes. About this time, the small
bass of uncertain sex, which I have before referred to, found
that while male No. 2 was fanning eggs in that box, that box
No. 3 was without protection, so he immediately began to devour
the eggs there. When male No. 2 returned to box No. 3, he
immediately drove off the intruder. Then entering the box
would fan eggs. Then a short time after he would return to
box No. 2 again. During this interval the robber bass would
enter box No. 3 and continue his destructive work, until again
driven out by the return of male from box No. 2.

“During the day the robber devoured all of the spawn in box
No. 3. After this, male in box No. 2 gave his entire attention to
his own box and gave us a fine school of fry.

“My conclusions were that all of the males should be as near
of a size as possible. Then no one would be able to drive off an-
other and take possession of his nest.”

BAIRD MEMORIAL EXERCISES.

The American Fisheries Society meeting was called to order
July 22nd, 1903, at 2:30 p. m., on the grounds of the United
States Fish Commission at Woods Hole, Mass., for the purpose
of conducting memorial exercises in honor of Spencer Fullerton
Baird.

The meeting was called to order by the President, who spoke
as follows:

At a meeting of the American Fisheries Society a resolution
was passed suggesting the erection of a tablet to the memory of
Prof. Spencer F. Baird, an appropriate tribute and recognition
of his distinguished labors in behalf of fish and fisheries and
biological science. A committee was appointed to raise the nec-
essary funds, and as that committee has faithfully performed
its duty we are here today to dedicate this memorial. It is cer-
tainly especially fitting that such a tablet should be erected at
Woods Hole, the scene of so many of his scientific achievements,
and where his life’s labors ended.

The Rey. Mr. Fisher offered the following prayer:

Almighty God, the giver of every good and perfect gift,
we are gathered here today to do honor to the memory
of thy servant who was instrumental in founding this
institution. With sincere and humble gratitude to Thee
we call to mind the noble gifts of mind and_ heart
with which he was endowed. We thank Thee for his love of
science and for his illustrious labors for the advancement
of human knowledge. We return thanks for the sim-
plicity and gentleness and loveliness of his character, for the no-
bility of his purpose in life, and above all for his christian faith.
We pray that the remembrance of his devotion to his profession,
and his holy and pure example may inspire us with a like devo-
tion to truth and a like desire and purpose to lead the way
among our fellowmen to a higher and more complete under-
standing of the revelation of Thy thoughts and purposes in the
world of nature. Help us to be imitators of that which is good
so that through our lives he, who is dead, may yet speak to the

i 161

162 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

world. Grant this our Heavenly Father through Thine only
Son, Jesus Christ. And now in the exercises before us we ask
Thee to direct us in all our doings with Thy most gracious favor,

SPENCHR FULLERTON BAIRD.

and to favor us with Thy continual love, that in all that we do
we may glorify Thy holy name for Jesus Christ our Lord.

President: The tablet will now be unveiled by Miss Rose
McDonald, Miss Eleanor Bowers and Mr. Vinol N. Edwards.

The tablet presented by the Society was then unveiled.

American Fisheries Society. 163

The President then read the inscription on the tablet, as fol-

lows:

“5
Sc
|
¥
.
“e]

“In Memory of Spencer Fullerton Baird, United States
Commissioner of Fisheries, 1871-1887, The American Fisherie-

164 Lhirty-Second Annual Meeting

Society places this tablet in appreciation of his inestimable ser-
vices to ichthyology, pisciculture and the fisheries. 1902.”

President: It gives me pleasure to present to you Mr. E. W.
Blatchford, who has been selected to deliver one of the addresses
on this occasion.

Memorial Address at the unveiling of the Tablet erected to
the memory of Professor Spencer Fullerton Baird, by E. W.
Blatchford, LL. D. Woods Hole, Mass., July 22, 1903.

Mr. President, and Members of the United States Commission
of Fish and Fisheries, and of the American Fisheries Society,
Faculty and Students of the Marine Biological Laboratory .
Ladies and Gentlemen: It is three years since I had the

honor of urging upon the American Fisheries Society, in re-

sponse to resolutions presented by Dr. Smith, the erection of a

monument to the memory of Professor Baird, and the appropri-

ateness that such memorial should be located here, the scene of
much of his most successful and distinguished scientific labor.

The proposition met with an enthusiastic response, both from

your society and afterwards from the United States Commis-

sion, which promptly assigned this most eligible point. A com-
mittee in charge of the work was appointed by the society with

Dr. Hugh M. Smith as chairman. Under his thoughtful and

efficient direction the plans were perfected, a granite boulder of

worthy dimensions was found on the adjacent island of Nonna-
messet, was brought and placed in position, and a commemora-
tive tablet of bronze was designed and executed. To unveil this
tablet do we meet here at this hour. Your committee would ex-
press their regret that the prosecution of important scientific in-
vestigations by the Government in the western Pacific Ocean
prevents the presence with us of our honored chairman, Dr.

Smith. He sends me his regrets that he cannot unite with us on

this day, which was, on his suggestion, postponed a year that we

might have with us the members of the American Fisheries So-
ciety.
It is due to this audience, as it is to myself, that I state that

a friendship with Professor Baird of some thirty years was the

argument that induced me to take part in these exercises. The

time allotted will admit of but a shght sketch of some of this

American Fisheries Society. 165

valuable life. For data in its preparation I am indebted largely
to the memorial tribute of his esteemed friends and associate,
George Browne Goode, and to other sources as well.

“Spencer Fullerton Baird was born in Reading, Pennsylva-
nia, February 3, 1823. His ancestry on the one side was Eng-
lish, upon the other Scotch and German. His great grand-
father on the mother’s side was the Reverend Ehhu Spencer, of
Trenton, New Jersey, one of the war preachers of the Revolu-
tion, whose patriotic eloquence was so influential that a price
was set on his head by the British government. His father,
Samuel Baird, who died when his son was ten years old, was a
lawyer, a man of fine culture, a strong thinker, a close observer,
and a lover of nature and of out-of-door pursuits. His traits
were inherited by his children, but especially by his sons Spencer
and William. The early education of Spencer was obtained at
a Quaker boarding school at Port Deposit, Maryland, and at the
Reading grammar school. In 1836 he entered Dickinson Col-
lege, and was graduated at the age of seventeen. After leaving
college, his time for several years was devoted to studies in gen-
eral natural history, to long pedestrian excursions for the pur-
pose of observing animals and plants and collecting specimens,
and to the organization of a private cabinet of natural history,
which a few years later became the nucleus of the museum of
the Smithsonian Institution. The inheritance of a love of na-
ture and a taste for scientific classification, the companionship of
a brother similarly gifted, tended to the development of the
young naturalist, and a still more important element was th»
encouragement of a judicious mother by whom he was permitted
to devote the five years immediately following his graduation to
his own plans instead of being pushed at once into a profession.
In 1841, at the age of eighteen, we find him making an ornitho-
logical excursion through the mountains of Pennsylvania, walk-
ing 400 miles in twenty-one days, the last 60 miles between day-
light and rest. The following year he walked more than 2,200
miles. His fine physique and consequent capacity for work were
doubtless due in part to his outdoor life during these years.

“During this period he published a number of original pa-
pers on natural history. He also read medicine with a physician,
attending a winter course of lectures at the College of Physi-

166 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

cians and Surgeons in New York in 1842.” His medical cours +
was never formally completed, although in 1848 he received the
degree of M. D., honoris causa, from the Philadelphia Medical
College. In 1845 he was chosen “professor of natural history”
in Dickinson College, which I find included the strange combi-
nation of ‘teaching the seniors in physiology, the sophomores
in geometry, and the fresmen in zoology.” His summers, how-
ever, were devoted to extended collecting expeditions—to the
Adirondacks in 1847, to Ohio in 1848 to collect, in company
with Dr. Kirtland, from the original localities of the types, the
fishes described by him in his work on the fishes of Ohio, to the
mountains of Virginia in 1849, and to Lakes Champlain and
Ontario in 1850. I may say that at that very time Dr. Kirtland
discovered on the bank of the great lakes the bird which has
since borne his name. In 1848 he declined a call to the profes-
sorship of natural science in the University of Vermont. In
1849 he undertook his first extensive hterary work, translating,
and editing the text for the “Iconographic Encyclopedia,” an
English version of Heck’s Bilder-Atlas published in connection
with Brockhaus’ Conversations-Levikon.

A large field now opened before Professor Baird. On the
urgent recommendation of the late George P. Marsh he was
elected an officer of the Smithsonian, and on July 5, 1850, he
accepted the position of assistant secretary of this institution,
and on October 3, at the age of twenty-seven years, he entered
upon his life work, pursued with indefatigable earnestness in
connection with that beneficent national foundation. Its aim,
as well as the key to the consecrated life of Professor Baird, 1s
found in the motto of the institution and of its generous
founder, James Smithson, “The increase and diffusion of useful
knowledge among men.” One evening I was sitting with Pro-
fessor Baird before an open fire in his private library at Washing-
ton, and said, “A friend in Chicago has had a motto placed over
his library mantel and I would like to see one over yours.”
“What is it?” he quickly asked, and I suggested “as typical of
your own life work”—‘The increase and diffusion of useful
knowledge among men.” He brought with him to Washington
methods of work developed in his own personal experience,
which became at once the methods of the establishment.” His

American Fisheries Society. 167

scientific enterprise, however, was not unknown to the Smith-
sonian authorities, for we find that “the first grant made by the
institution for scientific exploration and field research was in
1848 to Spencer F’. Baird, of Carlisle, for the exploration of the
bone caves and the local natural history of southeastern Penn-
sylvania.” The thorough preparation and influential position
in the world of science with which he entered upon these duties
is evidenced by the friendships and partnerships he had during
these early years already formed with leading naturalists on
both continents, and the system of exchanges which in connec-
tion with his private enterprises he had developed with Euro-
pean and American correspondents.

I have spoken of his connection with the eminent Dr. NKirt-
land in 1848. ‘Ten years before that he had met Audobon and
had felt the stimulus of his friendship, proved by Audobon’s
gift to his young friend in 1842 of the greater part of his collec-
tion of birds, and most of his types of new species. It was a
keen disappointment to both that the illness of Baird prevented
his accompanying Audobon as his secretary on his six months’
trip to the Yellowstone Park in 1840. The early correspond-
ence with such men as George N. Lawrence in 1841; with Cas-
sin and John G. Morris in 1843, and with Brewer, and Halde-
man in 1845 influenced Baird’s after life. In 1847 he met Agas-
siz just arrived from Switzerland in company with Desor and
Girard. How natural was the sympathy immediately developed
between these congenial spirits is shown by the fact that within
a year was projected the work of Agassiz and Baird on ‘The
Freshwater Fishes of the United States.” “In 1843 he trans-
lated Ehrenberg’s ‘Corals of the Red Sea’ for Prof. J. D. Dana,
then preparing his reports for the United States exploring ex-
pedition, and in 1846 we find him in Boston consulting the li-
braries of Amos Binney and the Boston Society of Natural Sci-
ences for preparing a “Synonymy of North American Birds.”

Before this audience I need not dwell upon the signal influ-
ence of Professor Baird in the encouragement of scientific enter-
prise from the time of his entering upon his official connection
with the Smithsonian. The Department of Explorations from
the start was under his charge. What that meant of laborious
but euthusiastie work in organization of the extensive govern-

168 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

ment expeditions, selecting commanders, nominating collectors,
employing artists, and often editing the zoological portions ot
the reports, with the immense home and foreign correspondence
involved, can only be estimated by an examination of the volumi-
nous and systematic records of the institution.

Thus have I gathered what seems a very meager sketch of
the development of the life of Professor Baird up to the time
when in 1874 the office of Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries
was established, to which office he promptly received the appoint-
ment. And what a wealth of knowledge, study, observation, ad-
ministrative ability he brought to this most attractive field of
research and public utility. There is no need that time be given
here to detail the work of the United States Fish Commission.
With its three-fold object you are familiar—first, the systematic
investigation of the waters of the United States and the biologi-
eal and physical problems which they present; second, “the in-
vestigation of the methods of fisheries, and the statistics of pro-
duction and commerce of fishery products; and third, the intro-
duction and multiplication of useful food fishes throughout the
country.” This annual gathering bespeaks the intelligent inter-
est which from all portions of our country centers in this beneti-
cent work.

It remains that I briefly sketch a few traits of the noble man
who organized this work and in whose memory we are met at
this hour. ‘Though these have been often dwelt upon by those in
intimate official connection with him, the occasion demands a
few reminiscences, in which you will pardon some allusions of
a personal character.

It was in connection with the organization and admuinistra-
tion of the Chicago Academy of Sciences about 1868 that my
acquaintance with Professor Baird first began. 1 had become
interested in him through his papers on birds, but still more
through my friend, his eminent predecessor in the Smithsonian,
Professor Henry; and also through the glowing enconiums of
Professor Agassiz, both of whom had visited our city. The first
impression made when I came in contact with him was of a man
of indefatigable activity of body and mind. This impression
was correct, and subsequent acquaintance, whether in the Smith-
sonian, or in his own home in Washington, or in his summer

American Fisheries Society. 169

quarters at Woods Hole, when surely recreation should have
been secured, corroborated that first estimate. What a proof of
tireless devotion is given n the bibliography of his publications
prepared by Dr. Goode, issued in 1883. This list embraces 1,063
titles, of which 73 relate to mammals, 80 to birds, 43 to reptiles,
431 to fishes, 61 to invertebrates, 16 to plants, 88 to geographical
distribution, 46 to geology, mineralogy, and paleontology, 45 to
anthropology, 31 to industry and art, and 109 to exploration and
travel. I know of no such evidence of tireless devotion in exist-
ence, where you consider the number of the contributions, the
breadth of research involved, the thoroughness of treatment, and
also take account of the constant burdens carried by the writer
in administration of three great organizations—the Smithsonian
Institution, its ward, the National Museum, and the Fish Com-
mission. And to such a life did the world bear abundant testi-
mony. Almost every civilized country paid him honor. Hon-
orary degrees came to him from the universities and colleges of
our own land, and I know of no prominent scientific society but
what claimed him in its honorary membership: All realized in-
debtedness due to one who was a perennial spring of enthusiasm
in departments of scientific effort so varied. Mention should be
made of testimonials bestowed by foreign countries. In 1875 he
received the decoration of Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order
of St. Olaf from the King of Norway and Sweden. In 1878 he
was awarded the silver medal of the Acclimatization Society of
Melbourne, and in 1879 the gold medal of the Societe d’ Acclima-
tion of France. He bore corresponding, or honorary member-
ships in zoological or botanical societies in London, New South
Wales, Vienna, Lisbon, New Zealand, Batavia, Buda-Pesth,
Cherbourg, Jena, Halle, Nuremberg, Quebec, Berlin.

“Tt was a touching tribute to Professor Baird’s services that
was received soon after his death from Yizo, the most northerly
island of the Japanese Archipelago, in the form of a little vol-
ume beautifully printed upon silk, containing his portrait and
the story of his character.” Perhaps Germany more than any
other country recognized the importance of his services to fish
culture. In 1880 at the first great International Fishery Exhi-
tion held in Berlin, the magnificent silver trophy which was the
first prize was awarded to him by the Emperor William. It has

170 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

been stated that while Professor Baird’s portrait hung over the
entrance to the American section at Berlin, the Iammerherr von
Behr, the president of the German Fishery Union, the most in-
fluential fishery organization in the world, never passed unde
it without taking off his hat in honor of the “first fish-culturist
of the world,” as he delighted to call him. The nomenclature of
zoology contains many memorials of his connection with its his-
tory. A partial enumeration shows that over twenty-five species-
and one genus of fishes bear his name, and that not less than
forty species have been named in his honor. ‘These will for all
time be monuments to his memory as lasting as the institutions
which he founded.

To his friends who know him best and miss him most it:
seems pleasanter to dwell upon the recognition which his labors
received than upon the labors themselves, his devotion to which
so shortened his life.

Time forbids any analysis of the character of Professor
Baird. Indeed the occasion, and my personal relations to him to:
whose memory we consecrate this hour favors no critical senti
ment. I may briefly present a few characteristics which memory
brings before me. And first there stands out his modesty, al-
Ways impressive whether in personal contact or in his writings.
Although constantly before the public he seemed never to car
for public recognition. Throughout a long hfe given to the pub-
lic service, I find but one instance where he was induced to take
the platform in a public place. This occurred a few months be-
fore his death when Harvard University conferred upon him
the degree of LL. D., as “an eminent promoter of science.”

“No man was more easily approached than Professor Baird.
His reception of young persons, especially those with an inchina-
tion to natural history, was particularly charming, at once re-
lieving them from embarrassment and captivating them by his-
unassuming manners, his geniality, and frankness.” I wish
there were time to present instances of these traits. They irradi-
ate through his whole life. His unfailing geniality was prover-
bial. These characteristics secured for him the favorable consid-
eration of congressional committees when presenting his re-
quests for money to be used in the expanding work of the Fish.
Commission or the National Museum.

American Fisheries Society. 1

-~2
le

May I mention one other very marked trait in Professor
Baird? His aversion to personal controversy, so decided that
under no circumstances could he be drawn into one, and this
when as a pioneer in scientific research his views always frankly
expressed called out frequent criticism. One who knew him well
writes: “One of his striking characteristics was that he would
never quarrel, and never have anything to do with the quarrels
of others. He was always for peace.”

But the earthly end of this noble life drew on. Nature could
not longer endure the strain which for nigh half a century unre-
mitting, unselfish devotion to the promotion of science had made
upon mind and body. For many months before the end, Profes-
sor Baird knew that the closing shadows were gathering. ‘The
public realized it when with startled sorrow early in 1887, at his
request the Regents of the Smithsonian authorized the appoint-
ment of Professors Langley and Goode as assistants. The aid
came too late. In the early summer he returned to Woods Hole,
vainly hoping its pure air and cool breezes might still permit
some participation in his loved Fish Commission work, and this
satisfaction was to some extent granted him. His life was now
restricted, and with many results of his hfe work about him, he
calmly waited the highest summons. In this period of weakness
it was his pleasure, placed in a wheel-chair, to be moved around
the pier, past the vessels he had built for research, and through
the laboratory where many were at work in biologic inyestiga-
tions. For everyone he had words of good cheer, well knowing
they were words of farewell. His thoughts were with his work
up to the very last. On that last morning one of his most faith-
ful assistants, one who is now honored by us all for the valuabl+
work he is doing for the Fish Commission, called upon him, as
was his daily habit, in the early morning, when Professor Baird
said to him: “I wish you would set a trap off Butler’s Point
(indicating the exact location), I think you may secure some:
thing there.” He left immediately in his boat, and went about
the work. While setting the poles for attaching the net, he
glanced over to the Fish Commission Building and saw that the
flag had been placed at half-mast. He rapidly rowed back and
found his chief lying in the present office—gone! The end came
when after a brief period of unconsciousness he breathed his last

172 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

on August 19, 1887. “Of all the tributes to his character none
was more eloquent than one at the funeral services, which were
held in the Fish Commission building. The simple burial ser-
vice had been read, when the clergyman recited these words
from the Sermon on the Mount: “‘Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called the children of God.”

President: The next address will be delivered by Prof. Will-
iam C. Brooks of Johns Hopkins University, a warm personal
friend of Prof. Baird during his last years.

Prof. Brooks said: Mr. President, and Members of the
American Fisheries Society: I thank you for this opportunity
to speak of the work of that great scientific investigatoy, Spencer
Fullerton Baird. The subject is a most inspiring one, but I
know I shall have your sympathy when I say that it is also an
overwhelming one. The field of Prof. Baird’s productive activ-
ity was so wide and so diversified that no one can venture to
present it or try to present it in a comprehensive view, and even
if abandoning that attempt we pick out some one of all Prof.
Baird’s services to science and to his country and to the world,
we find then that anyone who will adequately treat one of these
subordinate divisions of Prof. Baird’s work, must give to it long
preparation, and must also give to it peculiar fitness and train-
ing for the work.

One must be an ornithologist, and an ichthyologist, and an
explorer of the deep sea, and he must have in his mind the whole
history of these departments of biological science, if he is to
speak of the contributions to these varied aspects of natural
knowledge which we owe to his earnestness and industry and
scientific insight.

One must search the records of the Smithsonian before he
can venture to speak of the results of his long service to this in-
stitution as its secretary, and one must know its later history, in
order to understand the permanent influence of his administra-
tion.

One must know how the collections which he brought to-
ecther overflowed its crowded cellars and dimly lighted corri-
dors, until he laid the foundation of the National Museum, and

American Fisheries Society. 173

established it so firmly, and made such wise and skillful pro-
vision for its growth and improvement that it has quickly out-
grown the generous limits of the home which he provided, and
must soon be cared for in a still more stately and commodious
building.

One must know the history of the National Academy of Sci-
ences, to understand his part in the organization of this body of
eminent men to be the advisors of our government on those af-
fairs of state which call for the experience and technical knowl-
edge and judgment of scientific experts.

No one who has not seen the work of the United States Fish
Commission, in all its details, upon land and sea; its work of
exploration in our streams and lakes, and along our sea-coast,
and in the depths of ocean; its success in protecting and presery-
ing and increasing the aquatic supply of human food; the con-
tribution it has made to the peace of nations by protecting anil
defending our fisheries from international complication; its
work of biological research in the laboratory and the museum—
no one who has not seen and studied and reflected upon all this
until he has come to understand it in all its interrelations with
economics, and biology, and education and statesmanship, and
intellectual development, can venture to speak of this, the
greatest of Prof. Baird’s creations.

Finally, no one who did not enjoy the hfe-long confidence
and friendship of Prof. Baird can take the liberty of telling of
the sweetness and grand simplicity of his nature, of his quick and
lively sympathies, of the magnanimity and disinteredness and
directness of thought which were shown in his every word ani
act. I knew him but little, and only near the end of his days,
and while I was able to perceive how much these qualities, which
so endeared him to all who knew him better, contributed to the
success of his great undertakings, I have no right to talk of him
from this personal standpoint.

You are all as familiar with his great achievements as I am.
You know that he increased the efficiency of the Smithsonian
Institution for the diffusion of knowledge. You know that he
conceived the plan for a National Museum, and put it into exe-
cution. You know that he was one of the founders of the Na-
tional Academy of Science, and that he was prominent in its

174 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

councils. You know that this laboratory, is his work, and that
he was the father of the Fish Commission, and that all its diver-
sified lines of activity were clearly and definitely outhned by
him and that they have become the accepted standard and model
for similar undertakings, the world over.

I should have found it a pleasant task to have made some
one of these great achievements the subject of this address. I
should have found profit and instruction in discovering the ob-
stacles and difficulties which Professor Baird overcame, and in
studying the tact and wisdom with which he planned and exe-
cuted all his undertakings. It would have been a congenial occu-
pation to haye seen and mastered all the ramifications of the
activity of one of these great creations of his genius; its growth
from the foundations which he laid, along the lines which he so
clearly foresaw and provided for; but I regret that 1t has not
been in my power to handle any of these topics toda; , for the
high honor of the opportunity to speak of the work of this great
naturalist and many-sided man of science, came to me, only a
few days ago, far from books of reference, and means of inquiry,
at a little laboratory which I had set up at a remote point, in
order to complete, in a cool climate, a biological research for
which I had gathered the material, in the early part of the sum-
mer, at the new laboratory of the United States Fish Commis-
sion, at Beaufort, North Carolina.

After the completion of the central station at Woods Hole,
it was Prof. Baird’s plan, announced many years ago, to pro-
mote the study of marine biology by the erection of laboratories
at. points upon our sea coast selected for their natural advan-
tages; and I cannot too highly commend the wisdom which has
led his successors to select Beaufort for the first step in the
movement to give effect to his intention.

The new laboratory, which was opened last summer, is a
earefully and skillfully planned and beautifully constructed
building: and it is, in all things, a model and an object lesson,
for I have never seen a more conyenient and comfortable and
attractive laboratory.

It stands alone upon a little island close to the town of Beau-
fort, and it is within easy reach of the fauna of the North Caro-
lina sea-coast, In all its wonderful richness and variety and in-

Jt

American Fisheries Society. he

exhaustible abundance. It is thoroughly equipped with every-
thing that the investigator can ask, and with all the comforts
that he needs to make his hfe a pleasant one in the southern
summer.

I cannot describe to one who has not lived and worked in
this laboratory the care and thought and intelligent foresight
that have been shown by those who have had it in their charge
to put the plans of Professor Baird into practice, and to foresee
and provide for all the needs of the investigator.

I have myself spent many summers at Beaufort with scanty
facilities, and under many hardships and privations, and I had
come to consider them the necessary incidents of summer work
in the waters of North Carolina, so that I was lost in amazement
to find myself surrounded with comforts and conveniences at
the new laboratory, as I reflected that the investigator who works
there in future years will have no thought of Beaufort, except
as a place where every advantage is to be enjoyed without any
discomfort.

They will owe these good things, as I have myself owed many
opportunities to Professor Baird; so, reluctant as I was to lay
aside my own work when my invitation came, I felt that it was
not only a privilege but a duty to leave my microscope and my
embryos, and to come here today to bear witness to my own great
debts to him and to remind the younger generation of natural-
ists how much they owe to him.

As I have not been able to refer to the publications in which
the story of his great achievements is recorded I cannot enter
into a specific account of any of his great works, so I must try,
as well as I can, to look at them from a more general stand-
point.

It is in all modesty that I undertake this task, for the hfe
and works of a great man like Professor Baird teach many les-
sons to many men, telling each one only that which he is best
prepared to hear and to understand. I am well aware that he
who ventures to read to others the lesson of such a life may only
sueceed in laying bare, to some one of deeper penetration, his
own inability to grasp its truest and best meaning.

Professor Baird’s public life began at a time when the scien-
tific bureaus of the government, which have grown and multi-

176 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

plied with such rapidity in our day, and have become so promi-
nent, and complicated, and important, were in the air, although
they had, as yet, hardly begun their existence in tangible form.

There was need for a leader and an organizer; for a man
who, while well trained in some branch of science, and thus
qualified to distinguish the mere pretender from the true inves-
tigator, was also endowed with the breadth of view and the cath-
olicity of interest which fit one for generous admiration for suc-
cess in other fields, and lead him to do all in his power to pro-
mote it.

A man was needed who could inspire the confidence of his
colleagues and contemporaries, sympathize with and encourag2
the young, reconcile the rivalries and jealousies of his fellow
workers; and thus bring it about that as the various scientifie
bureaus of the government began to be organized and equipped
for their duties, they grew up in a spirit of friendly co-operation
and mutual aid.

There was need for a man whose integrity and unselfishness
of purpose and earnestness and simplicity of character, and
clearness and directness of thought and speech and action wer»
so evident and so universally known and esteemed, that he could
command a friendly hearing from the seat of government, and
gain the intelligent interest and support of congress for new
and expensive plans to extend the scope and increase the
efficiency of our scientific bureaus.

Professor Baird was eminently fitted for this peculiar and
difficult field of usefulness. He had many able and eminent
allies and fellow workers, and while he must not have all the
credit for the wisdom with which the scientific work of our goy-
ernment was organized and co-ordinated, it is nevertheless a fac
that there are few scientific bureaus which do not still exhibit
the impression of his hand, while some of them are his alone.

My own acquaintance with him began in the later years of
his life, at the time when he was fully occupied in developing
the plans and in laying the foundations upon which such stately
edifices have been reared ; so I am unable to speak of his younger
days; but I cannot believe that he willingly turned aside from
his earlier studies of ornithology and general natural history, or

~?

American Fisheries Society. i

that he abandoned these pursuits for the weary and vexatious
work of administration without a struggle.

He perceived the needs and the opportunities of his day, and
he knew his own ability to make a wise use of these opportuni-
ties, and he entered into the work which lay nearest his hand
with all the enthusiasm and energy of his kindly and disinter-
ested nature.

The institutions with which the name of Professor Baird is
associated and the works to the encouragement and promotion
of which his life was devoted, exhibit a three-fold purpose: to
promote the progress of natural knowledge through researches
in laboratories and in museums, and through explorations and
discoveries, and through the reward of membership in the Na-
tional Academy of Science; to diffuse and distribute it among
men by means of publications and museums and exhibitions;
and to advance its application to the material needs of mankind
through the protection and regulation and development of the
bounty of nature. We are too apt to look at these three aspects
of science as three distinct and independent fields each of which
may be successfully cultivated out of all relation to the others.
Thoughtful scientific investigators, who ought to know better,
are not always free from a feeling of superiority to those who
devote themselves to its diffusion, or to its practical application ;
and, some, who are less thoughtful, have been heard to speak in
disparaging terms of the mere popularizer, and of bread and
butter science. Some of them have even been known to boast
that the object of their own researches is so far removed from
the possibility of practical application that it can never, by any
possibility, be put to any conceivable use whatever.

I am not able to say anything about the secret reflections of
those who have grown rich through the practical application of
scientific discoveries, but I have an impression, that their respect
for the investigator who, while he may earn his bread, has but
a small share of the world’s butter, is not very great, and that
they do not always look upon him as one whose life has been
altogether successful.

No one has ever been more free from every trace of this little-
ness of mind than Professor Baird. To him the promotion of
science, and its diffusion, and its practical application, were not

12

178 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

three independent ends which could be attained by different
means. He was as well aware as Francis Bacon that it is only
in the co-ordination of these three aims, and in the maintenance
of a just and equal balance between them, that science finds its
true inspiration, and its very life. It may be that the naturalist
is better prepared than other men of science to perceive this.
The practical application of natural history to the material needs
of mankind is not, commonly, of the sort for which men pay
money. It is like the rain and sunshine. It is not thought of as
enriching any, because it enriches all. It is, no doubt, for this
reason, that there is more mutual respect and regard and good
fellowship between those who devote themselves to research and
those who are occupied with its practical application in this
province, than there is in other branches of science.

As Professor Baird was a naturalist, he was better fitted
than most men of science for diffusing and applying natural
knowledge, as well as encouraging it and contributing to its ad-
vancement: and all his undertakings bear witness to the sound-
ness of his judgment as to the balance which should be main-
tained, in a bureau of our government supported by the people
of our country, between these three purposes, and the way in
which success in the accomplishment of each of them should be
made to contribute to the sound and healthful progress of the
others. This is, in my opinion, one of the most instructive les-
sons of his life and work, and it is nowhere more clearly illus-
trated than in the organization and operation of the Fish Com-
mission. It is because of the wisdom and foresight with which
the Fish Commission has been so organized and conducted as to
bring this about that it has come to be looked upon, by foreign
governments as a model to be studied and copied.

The purpose for which it is maintained by our citizens is the
improvement of our fisheries, and it has seemed to some that
deep-sea explorations and research in laboratories are no part
of its duty to the public, but Professor Baird knew that progres:
in the expansion and improvement of the economic work would
soon come to an end without the aid of the student of pure sci-
ence, and that the Commission would quickly degenerate into a
mere clerical routine and mechanical round of perfunctory duties
without the inspiration of scientific discovery.

American Fisheries Society. 179

All men prize the fruit, but he understood that the tree will
soon be barren if we visit it only at the harvest; that we must
dig about it and water it, and cherish the blossoms and the green
leaves, else there.will soon be no fruit to be gathered.

But I have no thought of coming before you today as a cham-
pion of pure science; nor do the people of America need to be
informed that it is the fountain head from which all the arts
that enrich our civilization are supplied. So I ask your leave to
devote the rest of my time to the examination of a criticism
which has been made of the practical work of the Fish Commis-
sion—an objection which, because of its plausibility, and be-
cause of the eminence of the authority who has been its most
prominent advocate, has had great weight with many of the
thoughtful and reflective, and has received the endorsement of
many naturalists.

You all know that Huxley beheved, and took many public
occasions to declare, that marine fishes like the cod and the
mackerel inhabit the ocean in such innumerable multitudes, and
are so prolific, that the utmost efforts of man can have no practi-
cal effect upon their numbers, because they are exposed to the
ravages of so many natural enemies that the destruction caused
by man is not worthy of consideration in comparison. He is
therefore led to believe that efforts to maintain them in their
natural abundance or to add to their numbers by artificial propa-
gation are misdirected and useless. Respect for Huxley’s expe-
rience and good sense and sound judgment has led many to
think that this opinion is sound and well warranted and when
we reflect that innumerable millions of young mackerel and cod
are born in a state of nature for each one that can be reared arti-
ficially, and that millions are born for each one that lives
through the perils of infancy and survives to maturity, there
does seem to be reason for doubting whether the efforts of man
to affect the supply of marine fishes by artificial means can have
any effect ; for man’s addition to their numbers is only as a drop
of water in the ocean, and the chances of survival of any young
fishes that are hatched by human aid and then cast into the
ocean to share the perils of those that are born naturally can
only be as one in millions.

Yet, with all deference to Huxley, I venture to assert that it

180 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

is he who has made a mistake, and failed to comprehend the
problem of the life of marine food-fishes, and not Professor
Baird and his successors, and that the burden of error is on his
shoulders and not on those of the Fish Commission.

Marine food-fishes are enormously prolific because they are
exposed to so many dangers and enemies. Natural selection has,
in course of ages, brought about such an adjustment between
the natural destruction of the individuals of each species and
their birth-rate, that the number of mature individuals of the
species is about equal to the resources of the natural supply of
food, and remains constant on the whole, so long as the natura!
conditions of their life remain unchanged. But when a new dis-
ease, or a new rival, or a new enemy, which has not been pro-
vided for and guarded against by natural selection, invades their
home and comes to stay, the destructive effect of this new ele-
ment in their lives soon shows itself, even when its ravages are
so slight, as compared with the total number of violent deaths,
that it seems to be trivial and unimportant. Man is the most
resistless and insatiable of destroyers. ‘The fear of him and the
dread of him is upon all the beasts of the field, and upon the
birds of the air, and upon all the fishes of the sea, and upon
everything that moveth upon earth, but he is not a part of that
order of nature to which the birth-rate of marine animals has
been adjusted. As a navigator and a sea-fisherman he is too new
to have given natural selection time to have produced any com-
pensating adjustment; and the quickness with which he invents
hew weapons of destruction, and improves himself in their use,
far outstrips the movement of this slow process of modification ;
for the time he has needed to progress from the bone fish-hook
and the hurdle of rushes to the steam fishing vessel is as noth-
ing in the long history of species. It is, no doubt, true that the
whole number of mackerel and cod and herring which he de-
stroys is as nothing, when we compare it with the slaughter
wrought by blue-fish and porpoises and dog-fish, and other sea-
robbers, but this slaughter is provided for in the birth-rate, while
that which he works is not. While a number of food-fishes
greater beyond all computation than man destroys has been de-
stroved by natural enemies each year for ages without any effect
upon their abundance, every one knows that when man turns his

American Fisheries Society. 181

energy and intelligence and inventive skill to the work of de-
struction he quickly brings about a very notable decrease in the
supply. It is because the slaughter caused by man is infinitesi-
mal that an infinitesimal increase in the birth rate is all that is
needed to make it good, and this infinitesimal imerease in the
birth-rate it is, fortunately, within the power of man to bring
about by artificial propagation. Instead of showing that efforts
to maintain sea-fisheries by artificial propagation are misdirected
and useless, the well known facts to which Huxley calls our at-
tention, turn out when carefully considered and thoroughly un-
derstood, to afford the clearest proof of the prudence and wisdom
and foresight and scientific knowledge of Spencer Fullerton
Baird, the founder of and father of the United States Fish Com-
mission.

President: We have with us today two members of the
American Fisheries Society who are among the early appoimtees
of Prof. Baird, both of them, as is well known, have made splen-
did reputations for themselves in connection with the United
States Fish Commission. It gives me pleasure to present to this
audience Mr. Frank N. Clark, of Northville, Michigan, who will
address you.

Mr. Clark: Mr. President and Fellow Members of the
American Fisheries Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is with
a feeling of the deepest sadness that I undertake to tell to you
my feelings towards the man whom this memorial tablet repre
sents. It is true that I was connected with Professor Baird in
the early stages of the Fish Commission. My association with
him was from time to time, and during a period of about fifteen
years when the Fish Commission was not what it is today, when
the practical men of the Fish Commission were working in all
manners and ways, as you might say, to get the Fish Commis-
sion started, and none of those practical men had a warmer
friend in all the work than Professor Baird. He was an inspira-
tion to them to do all they could in helping to establish the F’sh
Commission. I might tell you all that I feel and all that Pro-
fessor Baird did for me, but my heart is too full to express it,
even had I the ability to do so. Professor Baird was an inspira-
tion in his talk, and many a talk have T had with him on the
practical side of fish culture. Discouragements would arrive,

182 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

and through his talk and through his correspondence new inspi-
ration was given. My friends, not having had time to prepare
anything, as I was only spoken to to say a word in regard to this
matter, I will now leave you.

President: The other gentleman I referred to a few minutes
ago is Mr. Livingstone Stone, of Vermont, who will now say
a few words.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President and Members of the Fisheries
Society and Ladies and Gentlemen: I do not feel that I can add
anything to the very able and interesting addresses which you
have already heard, but at the same time I do not feel as if I
could wholly decline to say anything on this occasion, for I am
one of the few living early appointees of Professor Baird, who
were appointed when the United States Fish Commission was
started. It was my privilege to know Professor Baird from
about the time the Fish Commission was inaugurated until the
time of his death. It was also my privilege to be in somewhat
close relations with him up to the time of his death. It is just
thirty-one years ago this month, and almost thirty-one vears ago
this very day, that I was appointed by Professor Baird to be his
deputy commissioner for the Pacific Coast, but if I should at-
tempt to say anything at this time without preparation I should
certainly not feel equal to the occasion; I should feel very far
from equal to the occasion; however, just before I left home f
happened to come across a copy of the Forest and Stream which
had something in it which I wrote some time after Professor
Baird’s death, and although I think it is hardly fair or proper to
inflict a printed page upon this gathering today, or upon any
oceasion, I feel sure that it would be much more satisfactory to
you if I should read this quotation from Forest and Stream, than
if I should try to make any fragmentary remarks without prepa-
ration. So with your kind permission I will read one or two
extracts, but I will not take much of your time.

“The mere mention of Prof. Baird’s name strikes a chord of
dear memories in the hearts of all who knew him. No man of
our time has left a purer memory, a more stainless name or a
more animated or enduring influence over his special field of
labor than Prof. Baird. He was loved by those who knew him

when he was living: he is revered by those who have survived

American Fisheries Society. 183

him. Prof. Baird lived in a higher plane of life and breathed a
purer atmosphere than most men. Quiet and unassuming, with
a nature as gentle as a child’s, his natural superiority never
failed to show itself when he was with other men, not even
among the distinguished men who gathered in the winter at the
national capital. Yet he was thoughtful and considerate of his
subordinates, and always ready to give his meed of praise of any
work well done by his humblest employee. Prof. Baird had the
enviable gift not only of endearing everyone to him who came in
contact with him, but of inspiring them with his own enthusiasm
and energy. This made congressmen vote him all the appropria-
tions that he asked for; for it was a common saying at Wash-
ington that congress gave Prof. Baird everything that he wanted.
Like a good general, he had the personal welfare of his men at
heart while he was Fish Commissioner, and they in turn wanted
to do everything in their power for him, which doubtless, was
one of the secrets of his great success.

It is a fact that his employees in the Fish Commission would
voluntarily work a great deal harder for Prof. Baird than they
would for themselves. This fact is accountable for another say-
ing at Washington at that time, that Prof. Baird’s men were the
busiest workers of all the departments. It was the imspiration
of this patient, disinterested, tireless, kind-hearted and lovable
man whose work they were doing that made them work so well,
and also made their work a pleasure.

It is unnecessary to say that Prof. Baird possessed extraor-
dinary mental endowments, but I perhaps may mention one or
two, as they are so rare. He had a quickness of apprehension
that sometimes seemed supernatural. For instance he would
glance down a printed page and comprehend in a moment what
would take others several minutes to read.

He had a marvelous memory, not only retentive of everything
intrusted to it, but quick to call up anything that was wanted
when it was wanted—a quality which most of us know well how
to appreciate. His mind was also of the clearest type. No com-
plications ever seemed to confuse him; he never became involved
during his conversation, no matter what were the intricacies of
the subject. His mind, like his placid temper, never seemed to be
ruffled or disturbed. Extraordinary as his mental faculties were,

184 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

he had evidently added to their efficiency by severe discipline.
for he possessed that infallible mark of a well-trained mind, of
having all of his great and diversified stores of knowledge classi-
fied and grouped together in his brain according to subjects, sc
that he could call up his whole knowledge of any subject at a
moment’s notice. Another remarkable thing about Prof. Baird’s
mental composition was that with a thoughtful, scientific cast
of mind were united qualities of the most practical character.
Prof. Baird was a scientific man by nature. He loved science
and scientific studies; but at the same time no man had a
sounder judgment or a clearer head in the management of prac-
tical affairs than he did. It is very rare to see scientific and
practical qualities of mind united in such an eminent degree as
they were in Prof. Baird’s.

Prof. Baird was gifted with still another unusual mental
endowment which reminds one strongly of one of the traits of
the first Napoleon. With that comprehensiveness of mind which
takes in the broad features and large general outlines of a great
enterprise, he combined, as Napoleon did, a capacity for clos
and thorough attention to all the details of a subject down to the
minutest item necessary to success. This combination, as we all
know, 1s a rare one.

Prof. Baird has been called a plain man. He was a plain
man indeed, but one who was made after Nature’s largest pat-
tern of man. He was large in mental calibre, and large in physi-
cal frame; large in his broad sympathies and in his wide scope
of vision; large in his comprehensive grasp of great aims, and
large in his capacity for great undertakings; large in everything
but small in nothing.

President: This closes our exercises, and on behalf of
the American Fisheries Society I want to thank you for your
presence here this afternoon and your courteous attention.

DISCUSSION ON BASS RESUMED.

Mr. Dean: I wish to refer to one or two points on this sub-
ject. We were talking about places where bass were hatched
under good natural conditions. Both stations talked about the
most have an immense growth of vegetation in their ponds; and
I would like to know how to produce that growth. When it
does not grow naturally what cause is there for it? There is a
question there I have not been able to solve so far, and on that
question hinges the question of natural food largely, and also
the question of producing bass. I do not believe there is any
trouble about producing bass if you have the natural food and
the moss, but if you do not have those you cannot get very many
bass unless you put them out as fry. Is it a question of soil,
water, temperature or what? Mr. Leary says he hauls his ponds
down in winter and leaves them dry from six to ten weeks; Mr.
Lydell says he never hauls his pond down, and both claim to
have an immense crop of vegetation. Some years we have plenty
and other years apparently under the same conditions there is
absolutely no vegetation.

Mr. Titcomb: Do you haul your pond down ?

A. Occasionally.

Q. Do you leave it bare in the winter?

A. Sometimes, not always.

(). Does not that kill your vegetation ?

Mr. Clark: What is your theory in regard to the matter?

Mr. Dean: I have had so many theories and had them upset
that I do not know as I have any now.

Mr. Titcomb: Have you had this lack of vegetation on the
years following that when you did not draw the pond down.

Mr. Dean: After we draw the pond down for repairs vegeta-
tion does not always come up the first season, but the next year
we get a good crop nearly every time. This year, for instance,
one pond was full of vegetation in the spring and we hauled it
down to take out the breeders and any other fish we did not want
there. We mowed the vegetation in order not to disturb the

roots, and afterward filled up the pond, and it was filled up as
185

186 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

soon as possible—I do not think it was dry a day, but the vegeta-
tion all died except a little around the inlet.

Mr. Titcomb: Don’t you think the vegetation was killed in
that case by hauling the pond down ?

Mr. Dean: I don’t know.

Mr. Riley: Did you ever try to pull it down in October ?

Mr. Dean: No, in the spring, in March after the vegetation
comes out; then the conferva comes in very thick and yet this
pond which we call No. 14 discharged all its water in the pond
below which is No. 7, and No. 7 has almost no conferva in it, yet
the discharge from No. 14 which was full of conferva goes into
No. 7 and does not produce any there to amount to anything.

Mr. Titcomb: Do you think March is the proper time to
draw it down ?

Mr. Dean: I would rather do it in February, but I could not
do it then this year—I think it ought to be done a little while
before the fish spawn.

General Bryant: What do you draw it down for, to secure a
complete change of water ?

Mr. Dean: No, sir, to arrange your spawners for the season’s
work, and to get out any undesirable fish that there may be in
the pond.

Mr. Titcomb: It seems to me that Mr. Dean has answered
his own question. He has drawn his pond down at an improper
time.

Mr. Leary: Draw it down in October. As soon as your bass
is distributed take your old fish, put them in a nursery pond and
draw your brooding ponds down.

Mr. Dean: If we put our breeders in the pond the first of
January by the first of July the pond would be so full of craw-
fish there could not anything grow.

Mr. Lydell: I do not see any other way for superintendents
to work that out except to do so independently. Conditions
differ at all different bass stations. We have no trouble at our
stations as far as vegetation is concerned. We cannot draw the
water all out of our ponds and there is always a foot or so in
them.

Mr. Ravenel: How old are your ponds?

Mr. Lydell: Five years. The only way, as I say, is for the

American Fisheries Society.. 187

superintendents to work the problem out themselves according
to conditions of the country. The conditions even in different
parts of the same state will vary.

There was some talk this afternoon when the specimens were
being distributed in regard to what was fry and what were finger-
lings. I have brought some specimens here. The age is not
given for some of them, and Mr. Clark, of Northville, thought
that those that I called fry were pretty large for fry, and I would
like to exhibit these specimens here as showing what we ship as
fry and what we ship as fingerlings. Of one size which I show
you here we shipped this season 636,000.

(Mr. Lydell here exhibited a specimen somewhat less than an
inch in length).

Mr. Titecomb: How do you count them ?

Mr. Lydell: Two thousand or whatever we ship in a can
and those are estimated, and these are what we ship as finger:
lings, both the large and small-mouth.

(Exhibiting the same specimen referred to).

We ship lots larger and some smaller.

President: I would like to ask Mr. Clark what he ealls
those ?

Mr. Clark: I do not call them fry.

Mr. Lydell: Perhaps we have 15,000 more of that kind to
ship. What we ought to get at is where we are going to estab-
lish the fry and where the fingerlings. We ought to determine
what to call them.

Mr. Leary: In your paper of last year you described fry as
those just risen from the nest, and mentioned baby fingerlings
three-quarters of an inch long to an inch long.

Mr. Lydell: Those fry are the small-mouth bass, but these
are the large-mouth. I did not bring any of the small-mouth
fry along this year, because I had them at the society meeting
last year. You are correct about the statement.

Mr. Titcomb: Those are the smallest fry you ship?

Mr. Lydell: Yes, of the large-mouth fry.

Mr. Clark: I cannot conceive of the idea of any kind of fish,
whether bass, trout or what it be, being planted and called a
fry when it is a full-fledged fish. Now, I have never made a busi-
ness of hatching and planting bass. I have examined some little

188 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

bass under the microscope, and I have taken bass even a con-
siderable smaller than the specimens and looked at the outside
of them under the microscope, and 1 cannot see any difference
between a fish of that size and just a little smaller, and a full
grown bass three or four inches long. They are the same. They
are a full-fledged fish in shape. You have got the color here in
the large mouth of the black striped bass, and I do not see why
those fish should be called fry. Now, a trout in the condition of

the specimen of course would be longer and larger—we would
not call it a fry, and why should we call the specimen a fry? We
eall a trout fry about the time the sac is absorbed, and a little
while after; but a two and a half to three months old trout we
would not call a fry—it is not a fry, it is a partially grown fish.
Now, that is just the case here. This is what I argued last year,
that in my judgment it is just as well to plant those fish as it is
to plant your two, four or six inch fish, exactly, excepting that
you have protected them that much longer from their enemies—
that is my idea of the fry and the fingerlings.

Mr. Lydell: I have here some large-mouth fry; but as we
shipped them out that way I do not know what else you could
call them. You would not call them fingerling, and therefore,
we call them fry.

Secretary: Is there any difference between the large-mouth
and small-mouth fry ?

Mr. Lydell: We have shipped all of our small-mouth bass
when they first rise from the bed, three or four days old, or else
we do not ship them until they are fingerlings.

Seeretary: Why should you distinguish between the two—
one is a fry as long as the other.

Mr. Lydell: The large-mouth is a great deal larger than the
small-mouth when shipped.

Mr. Clark: Of course Mr. Lydell would not advocate the
shipment of the specimen ?

Mr. Lydell: Oh no.

Mr. Clark: And you claim those are fry, as I under-
stand it.

Mr. Lydell: Yes.

Mr. Ravenel: How much larger are your small-mouth
shipped as fry than the specimen ?

American Fisheries Society. 189

Mr. Lydell: About six times as large.

Mr. Seymour Bower: I think it is misleading to call these
specimens fingerlings. I have called them advanced fry to dis-
tinguish them from larger or smaller fish. The term advance]
fry or baby fingerlings might be used, but to cail them finger-
lings is misleading.

Mr. Clark: This matter of the bass fry and bass fingerling
might possibly lead to as much discussion as years and years ago
when hardly any of you were at the meeting, when we had the
trout fingerling and fry discussion. I fought and fought and
bled over that ground—I did not die—I am still here. (Laugh-
ter). Most of the rest of them, poor fellows, are dead, but I am
still on earth. Now, I would suggest and if necessary make a
motion, (of course you will not consider m2 in that motion) that
a committee of three of the American Fisheries Society be
appointed to settle the question of when the young bass shall be
called a fry and when they shall be called fingerlings, for future
definition, not only for the Fish Commission, but for all the
state commissions and private hatcheries.

Mr. Seymour Bower: I do not think the committee should
be confined to the terms fry and fingering—they might wish to
recommend or coin a new term for small bass midway in size
between fry and fingerlings.

Mr. Clark: Certainly.

General Bryant: Have the committee establish a standard of
weights and measures? (Laughter).

Mr. Lydell: Last year I called them baby fingerling in my
report to the Michigan Fish Commission, and I was not satisfied
with that, and so this year I just shipped them out as fry until
they were fingerling.

Motion unanimously carried and Mr. F. M. Clark, Mr. Sey-
mour Bower and W. DeC. Ravenel appointed as such committee.

Mr. Beeman: In regard to the question of fry and finger-
ling, our bass when they arose from the bed were black in color
and they continued black until they were about an inch long:
then they changed and grew lighter in color and took on the
natural color of the adult. It strikes me that there would be an
opportunity to draw the line, and that after they change the

190 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

color and take on the color of the old fish would be the time to
call them fingerlings.

Mr. Bower: ‘That would do very well with the small-mouth,
but not the large-mouth bass.

Mr. Beeman: I would confine it to that.

Mr. Lydell: It seems to me we are all satisfied in regard to
the small-mouth bass, but the large-mouth is what we are trying
to get at, but everybody is satisfied that bass planted at that age
are nearly as good as they are when twice as long. So I do not
think the matter will develop anything very serious.

Mr. Atkins: I would like to suggest that the committee be
authorized to consider the question of the name yearling. As I
understand, it has been the custom to call fish six or seven
months old, yearlings. I have never done it myself. In order to
keep out of difficulty I have always stated the age of my fish in
but I have not

months—six, four or two as the case might be
adopted the name fingerling, because I could not determine jusi
what it did mean, and therefore avoided using it. It would be a
convenient term, and when this committee has decided what it
means I shall be glad to adopt it. I think according to the dic-
tionary and the usage in the nomenclature of other animals, no
animal is called a yearling until it is a year old, and then it is a
yearling until it is two years old; and it seems to me it would be
entirely proper to adopt that standard with fish.

Mr. Seymour Bower: Would the gentleman consider the
beginning of the year the time the egg is laid, or the time the
fish hatches ?

Mr. Atkins: The time the fish hatches.

Mr. Ravenel: That question has been raised very often in
connection with the preparation of the United States Fish Com-
mission reports. The difficulty arises from the fact that some
fish are spring spawners and others are fall spawners; though we
do eall the fry resulting from eggs taken in the spring and fall,
yearlings, when distributed in the fall, it has been based on the
theory that the majority of the salmonidae distributed result
from eggs taken in the fall, and we estimated the year as from
the time the eggs were taken to the time the fish were distributed
—where they were carried an additional year they were consid-
ered as two years old. The definition, perhaps, was not accurate.

American Fisheries Society. 19a

but was a basis on which to make up reports, because we did not
wish to individualize the age of the fishes from each of the sta-
tions. We had to adopt the same plan in designating the year-
tings or fingerlings resulting from the black, spotted or rain-
bows, Rocky Mountains, ete., taken in the spring.

General Bryant: You cannot keep a register of births in
these cases.

Mr, Ravenel: It would be impossible in distributing 2
billion four hundred million fish to indicate the age of the fish.

Mr. Atkins: However, the salmonidae are nearly all of them
hatched in the spring and would be a year old the next spring,
and not until then.

Mr. Titcomb: In the last report the fish have been classified
under one column of fingerlings and yearlings. That brings the
fish from six months to a year old in the same category in regard
to distribution.

Mr. Atkins: I think in no other animal is it considered the
rule to reckon the age from the time of conception rather than
the time of birth. (Laughter).

Mr. Ravenel: We admit that.

A FATALITY AMONG FISHES IN WATER CONTAIN-
ING AN EXCESS OF DISSOLVED AIR.

BY M. C. MARSH.

For some years the fishes in the aquarium at the Wood:
Hole Station of the United States Fish Commission have pre-
sented a peculiar phenomenon consisting in the presence of gas
bubbles clinging about their bodies and fins. Occasionally some
of them developed in the membranes of the fins, or elsewhere
large blisters which contained a gas, and would collapse when
punctured. Others had bulging eyes, the affection commonly
called popeye. ‘There was some mortality among these fishes,
but not to a serious extent, and fresh supphes of specimens were
so readily available that no serious inconvenience was caused.
But during the last fall and winter the losses did become seriou:
and the aquarium’ exhibit could not be maintained without :
new supply every few days, and sometimes more than half the
stock would die within forty-eight hours after a lot fresh from
the harbor had been introduced. The cleanhness of the aquarium
tanks was thorough and the sea water which was successfully
supplying the cod hatching operations, was apparently the same
as usual.

The species of fishes at this time common at Woods Hole were
the white perch, tautog, tomecod, flat-fish, and two kinds of scul-
pins. When these were introduced into the aquaria this curious
development of gas bubbles upon the fishes became evident with-
in about two minutes. The individual became completely cov-
ered with extremely minute bubbles which grew slowly larger
until after ten minutes they were very conspicuous and appeared
to envelop the fish in a delicate silvery white coating. Some
species were more completely covered than others but all without
exception developed the bubbles in greater or less abundance. As
the bubbles grew larger they began to be released by the move-
ments of the fish in swimming, and passed off at the surface of
the water. New bubbles formed, however, to take the place of
those released, and the fish seldom remained clear of them for

192

American Fisheries Society. 193

any length of time. If a well covered individual were takeu
from the water for a few seconds all the bubbles would dissipate
in the air. After the return to the water the fish in a few
minutes would be as well covered as before. The blisters in the
skin, or on the fins, were not formed until after hours or days,
and were of course more permanent, being surrounded by a thin
membrane—a layer of the skin—and really within the fish itself.
With some specimens the buoyant effect of the bubbles and the
blisters together was plainly seen in the constant effort to swim
down in order to keep below the surface. The evolution of gas
bubbles was not confined to the fishes alone, but appeared upou
the sides of the aquarium tanks and on nearly any mechanical
surface submerged in the water.

It should be said that at other seasons, chiefly in the summer,
“nopeye” was common among the fishes, the scup being particu-
larly affected. At the time of the occurrence of the mortality of
the past winter the scup was not in season and the species then
used in the aquaria did not exhibit popeye. While it is at least
possible that this bulging of the eyes is due to the same cause as
the gas symptoms here described, the popeye of the scup and
other summer species is not necessarily included here. There is
undoubtedly more than one kind of popeye.

These fishes soon died, after varying periods, some in a few
hous, others living several days. Aside from the symptoms of
gas already mentioned they showed but little external evidence
of disease or injury. On opening them, however, a strange and
unusual condition appeared. Gas was present in the larger
blood vessels. The heart itself contained gas as well as blood,
and was sometimes found with one of its chambers distended
with gas to the exclusion of the blood. The vessel from the
heart to the gills could be traced empty of blood, and the gill-
filaments had each a plug of gas which plainly made the pas-
sage of blood impossible. In these cases the cause of death could
be plainly due to suffocation. In some way gas had been liber-
ated within the blood vessels and finally accumulated in such
amounts as to entirely obstruct the circulation. The external gas
already described evidently did no particular harm, but that
within the blood vessels was fatal, as it is within the human ves-

sels when present in any considerable amount.
13

194 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

The affection may be called a gas disease in consideration of
the very plain lesions. - But what is the gas, where does it come
from, and how did it get free within the vessels? The first
thought is of bacterial infection, for many bacteria produce gas.
The microscope shows no organisms of this nature in the blood,
and moreover, the blood is sterile when examined in bacteriologi -
cal culture media. Bacteria do not cause the mortality. The
explanation now to be offered falls somewhat short of absolute
proof, but it explains so plausibly that proof of it is anticipated.
The external gas is ordinary air. It does not emanate from the
fishes themselves, but separates from solution in the water upon
their bodies just as it does upon any other solid surface im-
mersed in the water. This gas collected from its loose adherence
to the exterior of the fishes and from the large blisters or vesicles
in various parts of the skin, has been examined by the chemist
and pronounced air with a slight admixture of carbon dioxide.
The gas from within the vessels can not only be easily collected
in amount and has not been examined chemically, but in the
light of the other facts it is in every way probable that it also is
merely air.

Now inasmuch as any water fit for fishes contains air in solu-
tion for their breathing purposes, and they hve in it without
such startling results as above described, this particular water is
of extraordinary quality with regard to the air it holds in solu-
tion. The air is in excess; the water is supersaturated with it,
and the excess constantly tends to escape in the form of small
bubbles which gather on the fishes and other solids, and also in-
sensibly at the surface of the water.

In order to understand how an excess of air gets in solution
in the water, why it tends to pass off afterward, and how it has
access to the blood of fishes, some general considerations are
necessary. Water dissolves gases according to definite laws, the
variable factors influencing solution being temperature and pres-
sure. Cold water takes up more air than warm water, and under
high pressure more than under low pressure. The waters of na-

ture—the sea, lakes, rivers, brooks, ete..—usually, but not
always, take up air from their surfaces only, and at the atmos-
pheric pressure, which is only slightly variable. Fishes in such

waters are ordinarily accustomed to dissolved air, the maximum

American Fisheries Society. 195

amount of which would never exceed that which the coldest
water would absorb at the highest atmospheric pressure. The
depths of such waters are of course under an increased pressure,
which is proportional to the depth, and if air were present at
these depths the water would absorb an excess of it. By excess
is meant always that amount over and above what the water
could hold if it were at the surface and therefore under atmos-
pherie pressure only.

Under natural conditions water will seldom acquire an excess
of air. But under certain artificial conditions the water and air
may be brought together under a greatly increased pressure more
‘than the atmospheric. In this case an excess of air will be
forced into the water. The water will become supersaturated.
This is what occurred at Woods Hole. The arrangement of the
water supply you can yourselves examine. A steam pump takes
up water from the harbor through a long suction pipe and forces
it up into two reservoir tanks. It flows thence by gravity to the
hatchery and aquaria. The height of these tanks is about
eighteen feet and the pressure at the pump is about eight pounds
‘made by this eighteen foot column of water. The pump was
found to be forcing, not water alone, but water containing many
bubbles of air which entered presumably through a leak or leaks
in the suction pipe. This air does not dissolve in the water to
any great extent until it passes the pump, whereupon it enters
the region of increased pressure and commences to pass into solu-
tion. We may assume that the sea water when it enters the suc-
tion pipe contains all the air it will hold at the temperature
which prevails and at the existing atmospheric pressure. It may
fall somewhat short of this, but the point is immaterial. At any
rate, it reaches the storage tanks containing too much air—
invisibly present in solution. It is now exposed to the air and
some of the excess may pass off, but as water is constantly pass-
ing through the tanks there is no time for this process to accomp-
lish much. It reaches the aquaria and hatchery boxes with its
considerable excess of air, and it causes upon any fishes present
the symptoms already described and which finally end in death.

The processes of release of the excess of air from solution,
and of its appearance within the cireulation of the fishes are to
be considered. The pressure being removed, air begins to leave

196 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

the water spontaneously as soon as it emerges from the pipes.
It passes off insensibly at the surface but it also gathers in visible
bubbles on the sides of the tank and on the sides of the fishes, as
already described. A solid surface excites the release of gas from
a solution supersaturated with it, much as a crystal or foreign
body will cause precipitation from a supersaturated solution of
any readily soluble salt. The aquarium tank of water, holding
many gallons, will, if the flow is cut off, lose its excess of air, but
it takes a number of days; two or three gallons, in a hatchery
jar, will lose it in two or three days; a teaspoonful, probably in a
few minutes. If the water were warmed the escape of air would
be greatly facilitated. While the aquaria contain fishes and
there is a continuous flow of water, the supersaturation is con-
stant and nearly equal to that within the pipes. The spontan-
eous release is so small as to be negligible as far as the fishes are
concerned.

These fishes find themselves in much the same situation as a
person who is subjected to a pressure of more than one atmos-
phere, as in a very deep mine, or as in the case of divers or work-
men in caissons in bridge building. In either case the breathing
apparatus has a task for which it is not adapted. The results
are more disastrous with fishes than with people. The gill fila-
ments of fishes are osmotic membranes, that is membranes which
allow substances in solution (in this case particularly gases) to
pass through them. ‘The osmotic pressure is proportional to the
amount of gas in solution. With this water containing an ex-
cess of air, the osmotic pressure is high, higher than the fishes
experience in nature. The air passes rapidly into the blood and
tends to dissolve in it to the same degree of excess in which it is
present in the water. In other words, the osmotic pressures on
the two sides of the gill membrane tend to equalize. The blood
as it streams through the gills becomes, ike the water, super-
saturated with air, probably with nitrogen as well as with oxygen,
although the latter only is concerned in ordinary respiration.
But so far the air is still in solution and not free in the vessels.
What precipitates it? Two causes tend to this result, one the
presence of corpuscles, the other and probably more important
being the higher temperature of the systematic circulation of the
fish. While fishes are cold blooded animals, they nevertheless

1

American Fisheries Society. 197

are slightly warmer than the surrounding water. This may be
inferred from the fact of oxidation in living animals, and direct
observations have corroborated it. In the thin gill filaments the
blood must cool to substantially the temperature of the water.
But after leaving them, oxidation occasions a slight warming.
In this warmer blood gas is less soluble and some of the air must
come out of solution as free bubbles. This process is continuous,
and finally enough air accumulates to plug the circulation.

By subdividing the flow into very many fine streams the
Woods Hole water could be deprived immediately of its excess
of air and fishes would live in it without unusual symptoms. A
simple apparatus, a dishpan with the bottom punched full of
small holes and raised several feet above the tank it supplied to
give the streams a fall, served this purpose. It is to be remarked
that such an apparatus aerates water if it is lacking in dissolved
air and deaerates it if it has an excess. The process tends toward
a certain constant, which is the maximum amount of air the
water will hold at the temperature and pressure existing.

The eggs and fry of the codfish were not affected by this
water which was fatal to adult cod or adults of any species. This
is a rather remarkable and interesting fact. It is true that while
the eggs are in this water during almost the whole period of in-
cubation—some two weeks—the fry are in it only a few hours or
at most a few days. They are planted very soon after hatching,
yet they often remain in the water for a period which would he
fatal to adults, without appearing to be injured. The explana-
tion is to be looked for in their very different organization from
that of the adult. A newly hatched fry is far from being a full
fledged fish in other respects than size, and we can hardly sup-
pose it to maintain a temperature appreciably above that of the
surrounding water. This would remove the chief cause which
tends to release the gas once dissolved within the blood.

The general features of this mortality present three salient
particulars. First, its severity. In the degree of supersaturation
existing at Woods Hole it was absolutely fatal. There was no
resisting the fatal outcome, no treatment or remedy while fishes
were within the affected water could be of any avail. With even
the hardiest and least susceptible species—the mummichog—it
was merely a question of time. Secondly, the simplicity of the

198 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

original cause and of the mechanical process which usually 1s
the immediate occasion of death. Leaks in a pipe were at the
bottom of the whole trouble, and the leaks introduced nothing
more remarkable than air. Parasites, bacterial or otherwise, are
not concerned; but purely physical causes alone, the laws of
which have long been known. Thirdly, the essential and active
agent, air, which alone is the immediate cause of death, is one
whose lesser constituent, oxygen, is absolutely necessary to the
life of fishes and of most living things. The mortality is a con-
spicuous example of too much of a good thing. Without enter-
ing into, partly from ignorance, the separate roles played by the
oxygen and nitrogen of the air in respiration in fishes, it may be
remarked that the respiratory mechanism is nicely adjusted to
water containing air the amount of which is within certain
limits,—on the one hand enough to barely oxidize the blood, on
the other to the point of saturation. Below one limit and suffo-
cation results; above the other limit and, strangely enough, suffo-
cation may result also, but more indirectly, first mechanically
stopping the circulation. Between these limits all fish cultural
operations, with adults at least, whether of nature or by artifice,
must be carried on.

It must not be supposed that nature always avoids surpass-
ing either of these limits. It is well known that springs are
apt to deliver water lacking in air,—not well aerated. On the
other hand, wherever it is possible for air to accompany spring
waters through any part of their course, it will pass into solution
according to the depth at which their air is present. This may
of course be considerable and some springs do give forth water
containing an actual excess of dissolved air. The degree of ex-
cess is doubtless much less than that of the Woods Hole water.
In these cases air will usually be seen to bubble intermittently
from the spring bottom. As the water flows away. from such a
spring, the excess passes off and the water soon corrects itself.

The Woods Hole occurrence impresses upon fish culturists
and managers of large aquaria the fact that where pumps supply
the head for the gravity system, a danger constantly menaces. It
may remain in abeyance and never do any damage. If the suc-
tion pipe is intact—quite impervious—where it is not under
water, and no free air can be taken up with the water at the point

American Fisheries Society. 199

of intake, all will be well. If the suction pipe is of wood, very
shght breaks or a general porosity may develop as the wood de-
cays, a condition which may not be noticed since air leaks in
instead of water leaking owt. The first entrance of air will prob-
ably be small in amount and make only moderate trouble with
the stock of fishes, a trouble which would not readily refer itself
to its real cause. Very slowly and gradually these leaks increase
and the mortality becomes gradually and insidiously more seri-
ous, until the water kills all fishes soon after they are placed
within it. This insidious progress has aided in obscuring the
real nature of the mortality.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Atkins: I would like to inquire whether there is any
ready means of measuring the amount of air in water and ascer-
taining by any sort of observation, so that we can know when
there is an excess.

Mr. Marsh: A chemical determination will show, but it is
rather lengthy .and involved. I do not know any very ready
means except this. You can take two glass stoppered bottles,
where the stopper fits perfectly, and fill one absolutely full of
some ordinary water, and insert the stopper so that there are no
bubbles whatever, letting it stand until any bubbles that may be
in it are dissipated, insert the stopper so that after it is in no
bubbles will be seen; then take in the same way a sample of sus-
pected water and put them together where it is warmer, or put
them in a dish of warm water and let them come up to the same
temperature. Then in the case of the one that has the most aiv
there will separate from it the greater amount of air; you can
see which bubble is the larger. You can get a rough idea that
way.

Mr. Atkins: Perhaps that is close enough for practical use.

Mr. Marsh: I would try it. If from such a bottle there sep-
arated no more gas than from a bottle of water I knew contained
no excess, the inference could easily be drawn that there was no
excess in the suspected water. If the bubbles were larger it
might merely be better aerated.

General Bryant: Was this water sea water?

Mr. Marsh: Yes, sir.

200 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

General Bryant: Do the same conditions ever arise in fresh
water ?

Mr. Marsh: Yes, sir. If you have a mechanical plant like
the one here, and were pumping fresh water, there is no reason
why the fresh water would not become saturated in the same
way.

General Bryant: Have you any instances of fish suffering
from this condition except in salt water?

Mr. Marsh: I have no doubt that there are such instances,
yes, sir.

Mr. Titcomb: I think this paper is especially valuable, and
possibly the fish culturists have not all appreciated it, regarding
the point I am going to bring out, and General Bryant’s inquiry
would naturally bring it out. Here at this station the question
is easily solved by having tight suction pipes, no leakage to ad-
mit air, but it appears that springs sometimes contain an excess
of air: Now, the fish culturist ordinarily in looking for a loca-
tion for a hatchery for an eyeing station will examine the spring
and will question whether the water contains sufficient air. It
seems that we have got to guard against superabundance of air
in the same way. We have in the commission one station today
suffering from an excess of air coming right into the spring. The
air bubbles up and rise up through the spring to the surface of

the water—that is the station at Erwin, Tennessee where Mr.
Jones is superintendent, and we have had serious trouble with
the fry before Mr. Marsh made some investigations and solved
the problem there as he has here. There we can probably arrange
matters so that the water will be all right in the hatchery by the
same treatment that we would give water which lacked air—
aerate the water by passing it over a series of falls. Unfortun-
ately at this station the fall is not very great between the springs
and the hatchery.

Mr. Nevin: Jn our hatchery between the spring pond and
hatching house there is a distance of twenty-five feet, and the fr;
in the troughs do not do so well as in the main hatching build-
ing, or main pond, and that is on account of the excess of air.

Mr. Marsh: How does it get in?

Mr. Nevin: I don’t know.

American Fisheries Society. 201

Mr. Marsh: Unless the air in the spring bubbles up from
the bottom and presumably from quite a depth.
Mr. Nevin: There is probably nine feet of water in the
pond.
Mr. Titcomb: Are there springs in the pond?
Mr. Nevin: Yes, sir.
Mr. Marsh: Is there bubbling of gas all the time?
Mr. Nevin: No.
Mr. Marsh: If that water could take up air only from the
surface I do not see how it could get an excess. Is there any agi-
tation in the water ?

Mr. Nevin: No, none at all.

Q. Do the bubbles adhere loosely to the fish ?

A. Yes.

(). Can you see the bubbles in the water ?

A. No, not loose in the water—I noticed them on the fish in
the aquarium also.

Mr. Marsh: Those bubbles may not be due to excess—it may
be an entirely different matter—I do not see how in this case
there could be an excess of air.

Dr. Bean: I would hke to ask whether a paper on this sub-
ject was not published in the Transactions, growing out of inves-
tigations on Long Island—a paper about two or three years ago,
based on some observations at Cold Spring Harbor.

Mr. Marsh: In the fisheries transactions ?

Dr. Bean: They are in the Fisheries Society’s publication or
in a Bulletin of the Fish Commission—I think I have seen a
paper of that kind on the gas bubble disease.

Mr. Marsh: Yes, in the bulletin of the fish commission, and
Prof. Gorman, the author of the article, is present tonight and
perhaps may mention it. In that article he refers to the pop-
eyed scup at Woods Hole, and there are specimens of them in
the aquarium here now. As I said, that popeye I did not see
here in the winter. The popeye that they have in the summer
may be due to the same cause and may not—I do not know.
Prof. Gorham’s explanation was one of reduction of pressure, the
scup having been taken from deep water and put in shallow
aquaria. If there is a little gas in the tissue behind the eye it

202 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

expands and pushes the eye out, the scup being particularly
adapted to that occurrence.

Dr. Bean: I did not have that in mind, but it appears to me
something was published a few years ago about a similar condi-
tion of trout on Long Island.

Mr. Marsh: I think in the report of the New York State
Fish Commission for 1897 or 1898 there is a report by Prof. Cal-
kins on an epidemic in trout on Long Island, but there was no
gas concerned in it. It was due to a protozoan, Lymphospori-
dium, which killed the trout in great numbers.

Mr. Clark: Prof. Marsh has presented a very interesting
paper; and to confirm what he states there in regard to the aera
tion system, taking the air out of the water, I might state a little
experience I had quite a few years ago, I think in 1875, 1876 or
1877, with some rainbow trout I was transferring from North-
ville to Geneva Lake for Mr. Fairbank, of Chicago, the lard man
who died a short time ago.

He was spending quite a considerable amount of money in
that lake, and Prof. Baird gave him some rainbow trout which
were hatched at Northville, and I took them there myself. I had
my fish rather thick in the can and was having a little trouble be-
fore I reached Chicago. However, I got them there without any
great loss and immediately hurried my fish to the hydrant at the
end of the [linois Central depot, and paid a boy fifty cents to
help me get fresh water to the trout, and I drew out one pail of
water and put ina fresh pail,and before I got quarter around the
fish were doing badly in the first can, and there were ten cans
altogether. They were coming up and turning and making a
ereat fuss. I kept giving them fresh water and my fish kept act-
ing badly all the time. I knew there was something wrong, and
I immediately commenced drawing the water off and stirring it
and putting it back, and in less than an hour and a half I had
my fish in good condition. I stopped using Lake Michigan wa-
ter, and from that day to this I could not account for it; but
Prof. Marsh has solved the problem. I knew there was too much
air but I did not know why. Deaeration helped them, but I took
the air out of the water instead of putting more air in.

Mr. Ravenel: Was this fresh water that you put in over-
charged with air?

American Fisheries Society. 203

Mr. Clark: Oh, yes.

Mr. Ravenel: The mere pouring in of the water could not
have been injurious ?

Mr. Clark: No; because by the time | kept changing this
water I had got pretty near all Lake Michigan water. You could
see the air right in the water. Perhaps it is not so thoroughly
charged with the air, but you could see the air in the water; but
solved the problem to my satisfaction, and the explanation is that
there was too much air in that water for those fish, and had J
continued giving it to them I would have killed the fish. I could
not understand the reason of the trouble at that time, only that
we had too much of that kind of air, and now I see the problem
that he brings up here is that you take the air out by deaeration,
and I took the air out at that time by the stirring process.

Prof. F. P. Gorham: I am interested in the statement made
by Mr. Marsh, because it is along the line upon which I worked
some time ago. We must distinguish between two sorts of gas
disease, the sort that Mr. Marsh describes, which undoubtedly is
due to the superabundance of air in the water, and another gas
disease which shows itself by the formation of gas bubbles in the
tissues of the fish. These bubbles are behind the eyes, causing
the “popeye,” or under the epidermis of the fishes, causing the
bubbles of gas which form on the fins. I think the second sort
cannot be explained by the presence of too much air in the wa-
ter. I do not see how you can get the air from the water, first
into the blood and then out into the tissues of the fish to form
the bubbles, without first killing the fish. The amount of air pres-
ent in the blood vessels would soon kill the fish. A small bubble
of air in the vessels will kill the animal almost immediately.
The fishes which show the presence of “popeye” and large bub-
bles in the tissues, contain altogether too much air to have it pro-
duced in the blood vessels; it would have killed the fish at the
very first. It seems to me that the explanation which I gave
some five or six years ago accounted for the presence of the large
amount of gas behind the eyes and in the tissues quite satisfac-
torily. The change in the pressure upon the gas in the air blad-
der of the fish, brought about by placing the fish in an aquarium
allows the gas in the air bladder to expand, and it works itself
out of the bladder through the tissues back of the eyes and into

204 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

the fins. According to the species of fish in which it occurs it
appears in various ways. ‘To test this, a week or two ago I ar-
ranged an aquarium here in the hatchery, according to the plan
advised by Mr. Marsh, allowing the water to pass through his
deaeration apparatus before passing into the aquarium, and put
in a considerable number of fish. In other aquaria I put control
fish to notice the difference. I found that the external bubbles
which Mr. Marsh describes and the bubbles of gas in the blood
vessels, do not appear in the fish which are in the water subject-
ed to this deaeration process, but I do find the “popeye” occur-
ring. There is a fish in No. 1 aquarium over there now in which
the bubbles of gas are forming behind the eye in just the way
they do in the other aquaria, so that it seems to me we are deal-
ing with two sorts of gas disease here, and we ought to distin-
guish between the two.

Mr. Nevin: Did you ever see air bubbles on the rainbow
trout and see them floating on their backs ?

Mr. Marsh: No. At the time I was at Erwin there were no
fry with sacs, and whether such fry had these gas bubbles or not
I don’t know.

Mr. Lydell: I would like to ask Mr. Marsh if it is possible to
take an air pump and pump too much air into water for fish ?

Mr. Marsh: I think that is purely a question of how deep
the water is. In an ordinary can I do not think you could get
sufficient excess to harm the fish at all; but if you. had a can
eighteen feet deep or perhaps not quite so deep, and pumped a
continuous stream of air to the bottom, I believe it would kill all
the fish in the can after a while; the pressure of this high column
of water drives the air into the water in excess. ‘The water in the
ordinary fish can seldom has an excess. I think-there is a depth
of only two or three feet and that would make an additional pres-
sure of only a pound and a half about.

Mr. Titeomb: I can give a little experience about this super-
abundance of air in aquaria in connection with the ordinary ones
used in drug store windows. I know of two instances where a
beautiful lot of trout on exhibition in an aquarium about six feet
long by about two or three feet wide in a drug store window, were
all killed. The first lot of trout suddenly jumped out onto the
floor as if at a signal. The aquarium was restocked and covered,

American Fisheries Society. 205

and the second lot smothered in the aquarium; and you will find
that in the ordinary city water supply, if you try to operate an
aquarium, it is desirable to have a receptacle through which to
pass the water in order to deaerate or regulate it, before it passes
into the aquarium. If you pass it directly into the aquarium
from the ordinary aqueduct supply, you will occasionally get this
superabundance of air. It will come in big bubbles, and the fish
will become uneasy immediately and dart about, getting out if
they can. That was an experience I had a number of years ago.

Mr. Ravenel: I think that Mr. Marsh’s paper is exceedingly
interesting from the fact that I think he has explained the cause
of our failure in Charleston, South Carolina, a year and a half
ago. The Fish Commission used the same aquarium there that
was used at Buffalo, except that the supply of salt water was
drawn from a pond near by hand and pumped directly into the .
supply pipes just over the tanks. The suction pipe was a tem-
porary affair and hastily put up under very adverse conditions,
and although we did not notice any leaks, and we thought that
every precaution had been taken to make the aquarium success-
ful, several car loads of fish delivered in excellent condition died
within from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Later on we cap-
tured within a hundred yards of the aquarium, mullet squeatog
and numbers of other fishes, and lost them almost as fast as we
could put them into the aquarium. Mr. Marsh was sent down to
investigate this matter, but before he arrived there the suction
pipe had been changed from the pond ahd run to a distance of
500 feet to the end of the dock, so that when he got there the fish
were not dying, and he had not seen the conditions that existed
during the earlier part of the season. I discussed this matter
with Mr. Marsh before his paper was read tonight, and I recol-
lect very clearly that large numbers of the fish were covered with
air bubbles, and after a while they began to swim zigzag around
the aquarium, then they would turn around on their backs and
swim on their backs for a while. Two carloads of these fish
came from Tampa and one from along the Georgia coast. I am
satisfied, bearing in mind the fact that the first suction pipe run
was a temporary affair, that the water was supercharged with air,
and I have no doubt at all but that the large death rate resulted
therefrom. I must say, though, that I have also noticed the

206 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

same thing at previous expositions on a very small seale. We
have never lost such very large numbers of fish as we did in Char-
leston, and it is very hard for me to recollect whether the fish
that we lost in Buffalo which were apparently affected im the
same way, were fresh or salt water; but I am under the impres-
sion that they were fresh water fish supplied by the New York
State Fish Commission. I think that this occurred when Mr.
Marsh was there, as he spent quite a time in Buffalo studying the
fungus question.

Mr. Marsh: I do not remember any bubbles at Buffalo.

Mr. Atkins: It seems to me that I have seen recently in
some publication, some method described for determining ac-
curately either the amount of air or the amount of oxygen in
water, and I think it must have been some German publication.
I have only an indistinct impression about it, and 1f such a thing
can really be devised or has been devised, it might be very useful.
in avoiding such troubles. *

Mr. Marsh: Is this a practical method for any one to em-
ploy?

Mr. Atkins: ‘That is my impression.

Mr. Marsh: If there is | would like very much to find it.
A chemist takes the water in a flask and boils all the gas out col-
lects and determines it as a gas.

The members can look at the fish now in the aquaria and
take note of what a difference the difference in temperature
apparently makes. You can keep the fish in aquaria to some
extent as you have all seen. There are fishes there and they are
not dying all the time, though I suppose they are dying to some
extent. The water is now much warmer, perhaps forty degrees
warmer, than when I was here first. Then it was at the freez-
ing point and sometimes below, and it holds the maximuni
amount of air then. Now, with forty degrees increase in tem-
perature the excess of air will be much less, and it lowers the
death rate very markedly. In one tank of the mummichog min-
now, there are a great many fish, and you will see them with
little blisters all over their fins, but they do not die every day.
They have been lying there since Tuesday when I first saw them.

*Mr. Atkins later found the method referred to, described in the Allgemeine
Fischerei-Zeitung, 1902, page 408.

American Fisheries Socicty. 207

Now, in the winter, although the mummichog was the most
hardy species we had in the aquaria, still they would die rapidly.
Some lived two or three weeks, but all died, and some would die
in a very few days—much more rapidly than they do now.

I might add to that about the popeye, that I think there is
even another sort of popeye than the one mentioned by Prof. Gor-
ham. J remember one case at the Manchester station where the
lake trout had the eye almost out of the head, and you could
puncture the globe of the eye and see the evolution of gas. I do
not know that there is any excess of air there. If not that would
remove any explanation from that direction. Now, the pressure
explanation could hardly apply to them, because they have been
at that station all their lives and have never been in deep water.
I understand they were hatched there; that popeye is due very
likely to bacterial infection, producing gas.

THE GOLDEN TROUT.

W. T. THOMPSON.

I wish to state right in the beginning that it is not my inten:
tion to present to the society a complete study of the golden
trout, but rather a shght sketch of one of the least known but
most beautiful of New England’s fishes. I had almost said “New
England’s indigenous fishes,” but on this point there is still a
difference of opinion. Should we make bold to claim this dis-
tinction, such claim would be promptly challenged by a consid-
erable body of ichthyologists, headed by Mr. Samuel Garman of
the Museum of Comparative Zoology, who claim it to be a de-
scendant of the German saibling, though they fail to enlighten
us as to when, and how, it was transplanted into our waters. On
the other hand, an equally distinguished body of scientists, in-
cluding such eminent authorities as Drs. Jordan, Bean, and
Quackenbos, while admitting its resemblance to the European
form, claim that it is strictly of American origin, and not a
naturalized production.

Its natural range is extremely lmited. A few waters in
Maine in addition to Danhole Pond and Sunapee Lake in New
Hampshire, would comprise about all the waters where it has
been found. It is probable that it is best known, however, as
an inhabitant of Sunapee Lake. Rumors reach us occasionally
that the Dominion waters contain examples of this rare trout,
but up to the present time this claim has not been substantiated,
the so-called golden trout, though somewhat similar in appear-
ance and habit, proving to be the Canadian red trout.

Without some reference to the picturesque and beautiful de-
scription of their most ardent champion, Dr. Quackenbos, any
paper on the golden trout would be as distinctly lacking in flavor
as a Woods Hole meeting of this Society without a Rhode Island
clam bake, or as that good old clam bake without the jovial and
humorous president of the Wisconsin Fish Commission to voice
our appreciation of the feast in his own characteristic manner,

But to return to my description: ‘Throughout the spring

and summer the back is dark sea-green blending on the sides
208

American Fisheries Society. 2()9

to a flashing silver, which in turn deepens below into a rich
cream. But as the October pairing time approaches, the fish is
metamorphosed into a creature of indescribable brilliancy. The
nuptial coloration is gorgeous beyond example among our indi-
genous salmonidae, the deep purplish hue of the back and
shoulders now seem to dissolve into a dreamy sheen of amethyst
through which the inconspicuous pale lemon spots of midsum-
mer flame out in points of lemon or vermillion fire, while below
the lateral line, all is dazzling orange. The fins catch the hue of
the adjacent parts and pectoral, ventral, anal and lower lobe of
the cardal are ribboned with a broad white margin. Those who
have seen the flashing hordes on the spawning beds, in all their
glory of color and majesty of action, pronounce it a spectacle
never to be forgotten.”

Possibly a comparison with such a universally known fish as
the brook trout will give many a clearer idea of its appearance.
Head and mouth smaller, form more slender and tapering, back
unmottled, in the adults, and spots without the blue aureola, tail
more forked. The noticeably larger fins which lack the black
stripe just inside the white border, are a delicate creamy yellow
in color, though they appear a fleecy semi-transparent whit?
edged with a clear shining ivory border. As they move quietly
through the water with extended fins the general effect is airy
and graceful in the extreme, reminding one of a beautiful yacht
under full sail, and bearing the same relation, in appearance, to
the ordinary trout as a cup defender does to a common cruiser.

There has been no systematic study made of the life history
of this interesting variety. What little knowledge we have re-
garding it is not so much the result of direct investigation as a
mere incident of the fish cultural work that has been carried on
for some years past by the various commissions, the New Hamp-
shire Commission being perhaps the pioneer in this direction,
having operated at Sunapee Lake as far back as 1890. For much
of my information along this line I am indebted to the courtesy
of its preseident, Mr. Nathaniel Wentworth, who has had super-
vision of this special work for a number of years; also to his son,
Mr. Edward Wentworth, who operated at Sunapee for the state
for several years, and who has in connection with Mr. Dennis
Winn carried on the field work with this variety for the past two

4

210 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

seasons for Superintendent Hubbard of the United States Fish
Commission.

Speaking briefly, and with special reference to the Sunapee
fish: They inhabit the depths of the lake during the entire year,
where they are out of sight and beyond the range of our observa-
tion, with two brief exceptions. These exceptional occasions are
the result of food, and spawning instincts. In the spring they
follow the spawning smelt into the shallow shore waters. ‘They
reappear again the last of October, on the reefs surrounding the
lighthouse, where they deposit their own spawn, occupying only
a week or ten days in so doing. During this period their color
is most gorgeous, all below the lateral line being a flaming gol-
den orange, fully warranting their popular name, “Golden
Trout.” This season of high color is almost as brief as the
spawning period, the brilhant hues dissolving quickly into the
usual silver coat. So changed is its appearance thereby that
they were then called the “White Trout,” and by many were
formerly supposed to be an entirely different variety.

Probably no other trout has so short a spawning season. ‘This
fact renders the usual difficulties and uncertainties of netting
fish in such exposed localities especially exasperating. <A single
storm at the critical period causing a great falling off in the egg
harvest, and possibly even a complete failure of the season’s
work. The beds are made on the small stones, in comparatively
shallow water, say under five feet. But little preliminary notice
is given of their coming. No van-guard of stragglers heralds
their approach. They appear in a body and begin the spawning
operations at once. The height of the season extends from the
second to the fifth day. The females vary greatly as to size.
Ranging upwards from the six and eight-inch fish, with the bars
still showing, and weighing only a few ounces, to the matured
specimen of three and four pounds, their average being probably
in the vicinity of one and one-half pounds. Fully eighty per
cent are ripe when taken from the nets. The number of males
on the beds is much greater, probably in the proportion of threc
to one. They are considerably larger in size, few immature spec-
imens being seen.

The saibling is a sinewy and powerful fish, is a hard and per-
sistent fighter, during the entire spawning operation, ceasing its

American Fisheries Society. 211

struggles as the operator ceases, only to recommence with re-
newed vigor as he continues. Fortunately they have but Littl
body slime; the scales are also moderately large, so that they
are not so difficult to hold as they would otherwise be. There
is a tendency to ovarian troubles, plugging, ete. Right in the
midst of a free flow of eggs the vent may become as effectually
plugged as though closed by a valve, though an abundant suppl
of eggs may still be plainly felt in the abdomen.

Prior to the present year there had usually been a difficulty
in securing milt when actually needed to impregnate the eggs,
though it flows freely while the males were being extricated from
the nets. Heretofore the fish were placed in live boxes over night
and spawned the next morning. ‘The plan was varied the pres-
ent season the spawning operations closing the might’s work.
The flow of milt was more abundant and of better quality, and
as upwards of eighty per. cent of the females were found to be
ripe, there was an improvement both in quantity and quality of
the eggs taken. This method has the additional advantage, that
the spent fish are at once released without being unnecessarily
injured by confinement in the live boxes.

Golden trout eggs do not stand transportation as well as
those from the brook trout, either in the green or eyed stage.
There is also greater loss amongst them during the various stages
of incubation, whether as a result of imperfect impregnation, or
arrested segmentation, I cannot say. The fry are somewhat
longer and more slender than brook trout, and while the yoke
sac is smaller, it is absorbed more slowly. I might also add that
it is more completely absorbed before the fry can be induced to
take food. In addition to the bars on the sides the shoulders
and backs are irregularly covered with numerous black blotches
of varving sizes and shapes.

The real difficulties in the way of propagation now appear.
In fact, these difficulties are always appearing. Every fish cul-
turist*>who has handled this variety has met with more or less
failure, usually more. If there is a Mark Tapley among this
membership I would suggest that this golden trout is the fish he
is looking for. He can get all the honor and glory he wants.

Right now I want to emphasize three essential characteristic
habits of the golden trout. At all stages of his existence he is a

212 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

bottom feeder. He inhabits deep and cold waters. It is only
by bearing these facts in mind that the fish culturist can hope to
achieve any measure of success. I have always been an ardent
advocate of feeding fry frequently and slowly, and only so much
at a time as they would eat while in suspension, allowing none
to fall to the bottom and foul the trough. We fed golden trout
fry on that theory for two years and if one judged by their ap-
pearance, theory was the only thing we did feed them on. It
was not a success. The first crop did not begin to thrive until
almost one year old. The next lot was distributed as fry. We
began feeding the past season’s crop on theory again, and with
the usual result. Then we discarded theory and used liver alone,
with gratifying success. ‘These fry are peculiar acting little fel-
lows. ‘Toward the latter stages of the absorption period they be-
come congregated at the upper end, heads up stream, laying so
close together as to hide the bottom of the trough, and as still as
though glued to it. Day after day passes with scarcely a move-
ment or change on their part, except that their slender form
grows thinner and thinner. Frequent hght feedings attract but
little attention, the particles being carried rapidly over the com-
pact fish mass by the current without inducing a rise. Seem.
ingly they have neither desire for food, nor ambition to live.
The body fades to a mere line. In the subdued lhght of the
hatching trough they appear all heads and eyes, presenting a de-
cidedly uncanny appearance, to say the least. I can assure you
we didn’t enjoy the sensation caused by the sight of those fisia
fading away day by day and week by week; but what could we do
about it? All other fry took their food readily and easily when
the proper time came. Others had found this same difficulty.
It was very evident that the fault was with the fish. Dead fish
tell no tales; that is, unless you have a bacteriologist in your
commission.

But, as I remarked before, we dropped the theory, counted
out a trough for rearing purposes and began feeding liver thickly
at the head of the trough, allowing it to fall to the bottom. We
soon found that before the time for the next feed they had picked
up a considerable amount of this food. Continuing this prac-
tice we soon had the fish in a thriving condition, fully equal to

American Fisheries Society. 213

our best brook trout fry, and realized that under proper condi-
tions they were gross feeders and rapid growers.

When placed in the ponds they do not spread around as do
most trout, but huddle in the dark corners darting erratically
here and there whenever anyone approaches. It is necessary to
wait until they become quiet and still in their usual location be-
fore throwing in the feed. Great care must be exercised in feed-
ing only so much as they will pick up, as otherwise the pond
would soon become foul. The fish now appear quite hardy, with
no unusual tendency toward disease or fungus, but are very sen-
sitive as to temperature. Our limited experience would indicate
55° as being the maximum to which they should be subjected,
and a still lower one as being more desirable. If this condition
can be met there need be no serious difficulty in rearing to the
yearling stage, but beyond this the task becomes increasingly
difficult. Few hatcheries have ponds of suitable size and depth,
combined with proper temperature, to warrant any attempt to
carry them to a greater age.

Before closing I wish to call attention to two peculiarities we
have observed, first, our young fish have always been most active
and healthy and have made the most rapid growth in the severe
winter months, lessening in degree as spring approaches, when
other salmonidae begin to thrive. This is probably due to the
fact that the temperature and the subdued light of the short
winter days most nearly approximate the conditions found at the
depths they would ordinarily inhabit. The second is in connec-
tion with the marbling on the back. Our authorities all agree
in telling us that this marbling is one of the marks by which it
can be distinguished from the brook trout. Now it is one of the
anomalous facts in connection with this fish that during a cer-
tain stage, intermediate, I may term it, this marbling is as plain
as on the brook trout. During the second year, as the bars and
blotches begin to fade, the marbling appears, apparently, as
though it had been merely hidden from view by their more dense
colors. Before attaining to full maturity these in turn fad»
from sight. The Canadian red trout is the only other fish, to
my knowledge, that has this same peculiarity.

214 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

DISCUSSION OF MR. THOMPSON'S PAPER.

Near the beginning of his paper Mr. Thompson said:
Since I have been aboard the Fish Hawk, I have had some
conversation with Dr. Bean on the subject, he tells me that this
variety was found here before there was any fish cultural work
done in the United States. Such being the case, it is highly im-
probable that any specimens of the European saibling should
have been received and successfully transplanted into American
waters. This seems a very strong point in determining this ques-
tion of origin.

Mr. Carter: I think Mr. Thompson spoke of the golden
trout being found in the waters of New Hampshire and Maine
only. They are also found in Northern Vermont; they are in-
digenous there and are found more abundantly in Little Averill
pond than anywhere in the United States.

Mr. Thompson: I knew they were found there, but had the
impression that they were transplanted.

Dr. Bean: This paper of Mr. Thompson’s has interested me
very greatly, and although its right to bear a distinct name has
been challenged by Mr. Garman, what the author of this paper
has written has given me a great deal of satisfaction, and I am
also very glad to learn that the golden trout is native to other
waters than those of Maine and New Hampshire—that is to be
expected. Gentlemen, you know that the trout and salmon,
numbering as they-do about one hundred kinds of fish, as far as
we know at present, are so little differentiated even today, that
the experts differ in their notions as to what is a species and
what is merely a local race. We know very little about the sal-
mon, notwithstanding the investigations of the Fish Commis-
sions of various countries. We know that they are widespread,
that they are abundant in individuals, that they have curious
life histories, varying with different climates, but as to
the points in which they differ one from the other and
may be recognized by the average man, there is no
consensus of opinion. I doubt if there is a man_ to-
day who can even tell whether the salmon _ originated
in fresh water or in the sea. It is true that the Canadian
Geological Survey found what appears to be a Pacific salmon in

American Fisheries Society. 215

the clay shales of the Thompson river in British Columbia. I do
not know whether this has been published or not, but it is a facet
that a fossil nearly like the present well-known Pacific salmon,
represented by a few individuals was taken in that river. Now,
it may be that the fish originated in the fresh water, and if so the
idiosyncrasies of its character will be better understood. We all
know that of this type of saibling we have knowledge of at least
half a dozen species beginning in the high north with the Floe-
berg char, then the Greenland char, extending to Labrador, and
the red trout of Canada, the silver trout or golden trout or white
trout of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, the blue-back of
Maine, the Dolly Varden of the west, the white-spotted char of

Kamechatka—those are all saiblings—and of course the well-

known European saibling, over which a good deal of controversy
has arisen, but which I believe has been taken with certainty in
only one lake in the United States since its introduction, and
that is Sterling Lake in New Jersey and New York; so that
there is quite an array even of saibling that we know about.
Now, if we could extend this inquiry to the fish that we do not
know about, perhaps we would be as much surprised as the deep
sea investigators of the United States Fish Commission are
whenever they make a cruise. We have to deal only with what
we know, and we know so little that I welcome this paper of Mr.
Thompson as a.distinct addition to our knowledge. We did not
even know that this fish was marbled; we did know about the
parr-marks, but the marbling is something new, and in that re-
spect it brings it still closer to the brook trout. Of course the
real distinction between brook trout, and the saibling, as you
know, is an anatomical one, all the saiblings having a forked
tail and all the brook trout having what is called a square tail;
and the saiblings all have a little patch of teeth at the root of
the tongue, which the brook trout, with some exceptions, lack.
I am glad that this paper has been presented, and I know that it
will be greatly valued by all who have heard it. (Applause).
Mr. Thompson: I would like to say that we have at the
Nashua station some hybrids of the golden trout and the brook
trout—the eggs of the golden trout being fertilized with the milt
of the brook trout. These were eggs taken at the latter end of
the season, we had no suitable milter amongst the golden trout,

216 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

so used milt of the brook trout. These fish are now upwards ot
a year old and show to a certain extent the characteristics of both
parents. They have to a lesser degree than the brook trout the
black line inside of the white margin on the fins. As to the
marbling, of course we cannot tell whether that will disappear
or not, but it is very plain now. They are not quite so slender
as the saiblings but are more slender than the brook trout, and
are very uniform in appearance—almost as uniform as any of
TLOt
more so than would be found amongst any fish of the same age.

the species. There is not a very great difference as to size

They do not feed in quite as great a depth of water as the golden
trout, and yet lower than the brook trout. Our golden trout in
the ponds, as I stated in my.paper, huddle in some dark corner.
The ponds we have kept them in have plank bottom, covered
with sand, and they swim so low that in a very few days the
movement of the fins brushes that sand all away, leaving the
bare surface of the boards exposed. While our hybrids swim in
much the same manner, they do not work the sand off so quickly,
they have partaken almost equally of the characteristics of each
of the parents, and show very decided resemblance to each of
them, being half way between the two varieties, and I think it
would perhaps be interesting for some of our scientists, if they
would examine them more critically than we fish culturists can.

Mr. Nevin: What is the fact as to the shedding of teeth
during the spawning season ?

Dr. Bean: I heard it reported frequently, but I have never
made the observation myself. Of course the shedding of teeth
during the breeding season is not at all uncommon. Many fishes
do that.

Mr. Nevin: They do not do it during the breeding season.

Dr. Bean: The pike-like fishes and salmon are not very far
apart in a good many respects, and I should expect to find that
the pike and muscalonge, which belong to the same family.
would show much the same habit as some of the salmon—that
appears to be related to the spawning time.

Mr. Waterhouse: Can that hybrid trout breed ?

Dr. Bean: Oh, yes, it is quite fertile, and so is the cross be-
tween the brook and the lake trout, but they are so closely related
generically that there is no reason why they should not be.

American Fisheries Society. 217%

Mr. Nevin: We have had quite a number in our pond, and
they never bred.

Dr. Bean: Pennsylvania has bred many of them and got
eges from them.

Mr. Thompson: Some of the European culturists advertise
hybrids 7-8—that would indicate two crossings with the hybrid.

Dr. Bean: I believe the rule so far as known is this, where a
small-scaled fish of the salmon family is crossed with a large-
sealed fish, the cross is never fertile, but if a large-scaled fish is
interbred with a large-scaled and a small-scaled with a small-
scaled fish, within the limits of the genus, the cross is always
fertile.

Mr. Nevin: There is no cross between the brown trout and
the brook trout ?

Dr. Bean: , No, because the brook trout is small-sealed. The
scales are so small that many people think they have no scales,
and the brown trout is a large-scaled fish.

Mr. Waterhouse: Is that a matter of theory or settled by
experiment ?

Dr. Bean: Settled by experiment.

SOME NOTES ON FISH FOOD IN THE LAKES OF
THE SIERRAS.

BY H. B. WARD.

During the month of June of this year I had the privilege of
spending some time at Glen Alpine Springs, California, which is
located in the Sierras, close to a series of lakes of considerable
altitude. A cursory biological examination of these lakes dis-
closed biological conditions which may be of considerable inter-
est to members of this Society. What may have been the early
condition of the lakes, | do not know, but from the precipitous
character of outlets and the long stretches intervening between
them and other waters, together with the limited amount of out-
flow, it seems impossible for fish to gain a footing. From time
to time, however, within recent years, plants of trout have been
made in these lakes with varying degrees of success. There are
consequently two questions which will come at once to the minds
of all members of the Society ; first, what is the source and char-
acter of the food on which these forms have subsisted ? Second,
how far have they adapted themselves to their environment in
the process of becoming a permanent part of it? Although
the study could not be extensive in the time at my disposal, even
a brief survey disclosed some features of considerable interest,
which I desire to present in tentative form at this time.

A few words regarding the lakes themselves may not be out
of place. They are all located near the southeast corner of Lake
Tahoe, and empty their waters ultimately into that lake, through
the medium of a smaller body known as Fallen Leaf Lake; the
latter is located directly south of the main lake, and separated
from it only by a low alluvial plain not quite two
miles in width, so that one may regard this smaller
lake as but a branch of the larger one. Following the
inlet of Fallen Leaf Lake, upward and away from this
body of water, the valléy ascends very rapidly and _ the
channel of the brook is ttle more than a succession of rapids
and falls, in some cases of considerable height. The amount of
water in it during the early part of the year, while the snows of

218

American Fisheries Society. 219

the higher regions are melting, is considerable, but is said to
dwindle markedly later in the summer. In the course of this
brook and its branches are located the half dozen smaller lakes
which were the particular objects of this study. They are known
locally as Grass Lake, Lily Lake, Suzy Lake, Heather Lake,
Half Moon Lake, Gilmore Lake, and their similarity is rather
striking. In size, from a quarter to a half mile in length, they
are for the most part deep pockets with little or no shore area
and vegetation, and with the major portion of the margin and
bottom of rock formation. In altitude they vary from 6,300 feet
to about 8,000 feet. At the time of the visit the lower lakes were
entirely free from ice and snow, and the water had risen at the
most favorable points to a temperature of sixty to seventy de-
grees, although this obtained only over limited areas of surface
water. At the same time the upper lakes were still ice-bound in
part and fed exclusively by mountain snow banks, so that the
temperature of the water was everyhere low.

I made a series of collections, both from the shore and deep
water in these lakes, and the result of the same is shown in the
table at the close of the paper. It was indeed remarkable that
the lakes contained so little in the form of microscopic life.
Neither plant nor animal forms seemed to be present in consid-
erable numbers or in any variety. A few of a single species of
entomostracan was all that any lake contributed from this group,
while in some not a single member of it was captured. Appar-
ently, then, at this season the microscopic crustacea can afford lit-
tle or nothing in the way of food supply for the lakes. In sha!-
lower pools adjacent and sometimes connected with the larger
lakes I found numbers of these forms; but still more numerous
and striking was the development of insect larvae. ‘These col-
lections are also noted in the table. The trout which were caught
in the different lakes varied greatly in robustness. From cer-
tain lakes they came plump and well fed; from others, however,
the fishermen reported that they were “all head,” having had a
hard time during the winter, and being thin and poorly nour-
ished at present, a fact which stands in interesting connection
with the absence of the plankton organisms from these lakes.

One other interesting fact deserves mention in this connec-
tion. I was privileged to examine the stomach contents of a

220 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

duck which had been collected from one of these lakes for the
United States National Museum, and noted here also the abso-
lute want of those small crustacea which elsewhere form so large
a part of the food of these aquatic birds. Practically the entire
mass of stomach contents was composed of mature insects with a
few larvae, and this agreed fully with the observations regarding
the food of trout. The insects had apparently pushed into these
regions from lower altitudes at a date in advance of the develop-
ment of the local fauna. They were present in the region in
considerable numbers, the trout were taking the fly eagerly and
were voracious after grubs and larvae. It is a fair question,
then, whether under such circumstances the problem of support
for the trout is not simply an entomological one. Of course,
one must recognize clearly the insufficiency of such brief and
scanty observations, but the universal testimony of the series of
collections cannot help being suggestive.

Regarding the question of the adaptation of the animals to
their environment, I have only one observation to record. At
Gilmore Lake, for instance, the various sources of inflow are so
scanty in volume, and so precipitous that even at this season of
maximum intensity, they could not, without considerable local
interference, be made available as spawning grounds for the
fish. The latter must consequently spawn in the main lake, 1
at all. The same can be said of some, though not all of the
other lakes. It is the firm belief of those residents best qualified
to testify that the fish have established themselves, and it would
certainly be most important to determine precisely in what way
this has been done. In fact the biological problems suggested
are of the greatest economic importance and scientific interest,
and afford some probability of their solution in the sharply lim-
ited territory which is concerned as well as the virgin character
of the water previous to the introduction of the fish. A more
careful and extended study of the region would furnish data of
value for practical fish culture, and of scientific interest as well.

LIST OF MEMBERS.

ACTIVE.

Adams, E. W., 114 Wall Street, New York.

Adams, Fred J., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Ainsworth, C. E., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Ainsworth, G. G., United States Fish Commission, Leadville,
Colorado.

Allen, A. D., Superintendent Wallowa Hatchery, Elgin, Ore.

Allen, G. R., Roxbury, Vt.

Alexander, George L., Grayling, Mich.

Alexander, L. D., 50 Broadway, New York.

Anderson, J. F., Djursholm, Sweden.

Andrews, Barschall, Columbus, Ga.

Annin, James, Jr., Caledonia, N. Y.

Ashford, W. T., 711 Prudential Building, Atlanta, Ga.

Atkins, Charles G., East Orland, Me.

Atwood, Anthony, 73 Waterest Street, Plymouth, Mass.

Ayer, F. W., Bangor, Me.

Babbitt, A. C., Williamsburg, Mich.

Babcock, John P., Fisheries Commissioner, Victoria, British
Columbia, Can.

Bailey, H. W., Newbury, Vt.

Baldwin, O. N., United States Fish Commission, San Marcos,
Tex. ;

Ball, E. M., Leadville, Col.

Barrett, W. W., Church’s Ferry, North Dak.

Bartler. Ors. Ps Quimey, Ill.

Bastedo, 8. T., Toronto, Can.

Bean, Hon. Tarleton H., at World’s Fair, St. Louis, Mo.

Beardsley, A. E., M. S., Greeley, Colo.

Bedsom, W. H., Treasurer Nashua Saddlery Hardware Co., Na-
shua, N. H.

Beeman, Henry W., New Preston, Conn.

Bell, Currie G., Bayfield, Wis.

221

a22 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Belmont, Hon. Perry, 580 Fifth Avenue, New York.

Bennett, Charles P., Secretary of State, Providence, R. I.

Bennett, Charles, Woonsocket, R. 1.

Bense, W. E., Port Clinton, Ohio.

Bentley, B. C., Westerly, R. I.

Benton, Judge Henry T., Scale, Ala.

Bickmore, Prof. A. 8., Seventy-seventh Street and Eighth Ave-
nue, New York.

Birge, Prof. H. A., Madison, Wis.

Bissell, John H., Detroit, Mich.

Blackford, Hon. Eugene G., Fulton Market, New York.

Blakeslee, T. J., 353 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

Blatchford, E. W., Chicago, Ill.

Boardman, W. H., Central Falls, R. I

Bogle, C. M., Editor Pacific Fisherman, Seattle, Wash.

Booth, A., 36 State Street, Chicago, III.

Booth, DeWitt C., Spearfish, South Dakota.

Bottemanne, C. J., Bergen op Zoom, Holland.

Boudre, N. H., Plummerville, Ark.

Bower, Seymour, Detroit, Mich.

Bowers, Hon. George M., United States Commissioner of Fish-
eries, Washington, D. C.

Bowman, W. H., Rochester, N. Y.

Bowman, W. F., Breakwater Hotel, Woods Hole, Mass.

Boyce, F. C., Elko, Nev.

Brewster, C. E., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Brewster, W. K., Durand, Mich.

Britton, F. H., V. Pres. and Gen. Man. St. Louis 8. Western R.
2., St. Louis, Mo.

Bross, John L., Mill Creek, Mich.

Brown, George H., Jr., United States Fish Commission, Wash-
ington, D. C.

Brown, George M., Saginaw, Mich.

Brush, Dr. E. F., Mount Vernon, N. Y.

Bulkley, H. S., Odessa, N. Y.

Bullard, C. G., Kalamazoo, Mich.

Bumpus, Dr. H. C., Providence, R. I.

Burham, E. K., Northville, Mich.

Bush, C. P., Columbus, Ga.

American Fisheries Society.

ow
©

Campbell, 5. H., State Fish Commission, Laramie, Wyo.

Carlo, G. Postiglione di, Naples, Italy.

Carter, E. N., United States Fish Commission, St. Johnsbury,
Vt.

Casselman, E. 8., Dorset, Vt.

Chambers, A. E., Kalamazoo, Mich.

Champlin, John H., Westerly, R. I.

Chandler, Horatio, Kingston, Mass.

Chase, H. C., 1020 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Cheney, A. N., Glens Falls, N. Y.

Clark, Charles C., General Treasurer’s Office, Providence, R. I.

Clark, Frank N., Northville, Mich.

Clark, Fred, Mill Creek, Mich.

Clark, Walton F., Westerly, R. I.

Cobb, E. W., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Cohen, N. H., Urbana, Ill.

Cole, Leon J., 41 Wendell Street, Cambridge, Mass.

Collins, Hon. J. C., Providence, R. I.

Cone, Moses H., Flat Top Manor, Bowling Rock, N. C.

Cooper, E. A., Cold Spring Harbor, New York.

Corliss, C. 8., Gloucester, Mass.

Coulter, A. L., Charlevoix, Mich.

Crook, Abel, 99 Nassau Street, New York.

Crosby, H. F., 30 Broad Street, New York.

Curtis, J. M., Cleveland, O.

Dales de Ax orks Pa.

Davis, E. A., Bethel, Vt.

Davis, Horace W., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Davise bs Ee Palmyra, N.Y:

Davis, Hon. George B., Utica, Mich.

Dean, Herbert D., United States Fish Commission, Neosho, Mo.

Degler, F. A., Sportman’s Association of Cheat Mt., Cheat
Bridge, W. Va.

Demuth, H. C., 144 King Street, Lancaster, Pa.

DeNyse, Washington I., Gravesend Beach, Borough of Brooklyn,
Noy:

De Rocher, James D., Nashua, N. H.

Dickerson, Freeman B., Detroit, Mich.

Dinsmore, A. H., Spearfish, South Dak.

224 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Douredoure, B. L., 103 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Downing, S. W., Put-in-Pay, O.

Doyle, E. P., Port Richmond, N. Y.

Double, J. Clyde, Williamsport, Pa.

Dunlap, I. H., United States Fish Commission, Washington,
DCs

Ebel, Hon. F. W., Harrisburg, Pa.

Edwards, Vinal N., Woods Hole, Mass.

Ellis, J. Frank, United States Fish Commission, Washington,
DAC;

Evarding & Farrell, Messrs., Portland, Ore.

Eyermann, Prof. Barton W., United States Fish Commission,
Washington, D. C.

Fearing, Hon. D. B., Newport, R. I.

Ferry, C. H., Room 1720, Old Colony Building, Chicago, Ill.

Filkins, B. G., Northville, Mich.

Fox, Captain J. C., Put-in-Bay, O.

Frook, John E., Paris, Mich.

Fullerton, Samuel F., St. Paul, Minn.

Gavitt, W. 8., Lyons, N. Y.

Gebhardt, A. E., Secretary Oregon Fish and Game Association,
Box 92%, Portland, Ore.

Geer, Dr. E. F., St. Paul, Minn.

Geer, E. H., Hadlyme, Conn.

George, Hon. A. F., Swanton, Md.

Gilmore, Col. Charles, Swanton, Vt.

Goldsborough, E. L., U. 8. F. C., Washington, D. C.

Gordon, Jack, Paris, Texas.

Graham, A. R., Berkeley, Mass.

Grant, R. P., Treasurer Anglers’ Association of St. Lawrence
River, Clayton, N. Y.

Gray, George M., Woods Hole, Mass. ,

Green, Dr. D. W., Ohio Fish and Game Commission, Dayton, O.

Greene, Myron, Franklin, Vt.

Guard, J. E., Bullochsville, Ga.

Gunekel, John E., Toledo, O.

Hagert, Edwin, 32 N. Sixth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Hahn, Captain E. E., Woods Hole, Mass.

American Fisheries Society. 225

Haley, Caleb, Fa'ton Market, New York.
Hamilton, Robert, Greenwich, N. Y.
Hampton, F. T., Hill City, Tenn.
Hamsdale, Frank, Madison, Wis.
Handy, L. B., South Wareham, Mass.
Hansen, G., Osceola Mills, Wis.
Harris, J. N., Fulton Market, New York.
Harron, L. G., U.S. F. C., Washington, D. C.
Hartley, R. M., 627 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Hayes, J. R., Esq., Detroit, Mich.
Henkel, C. P., Tupelo, Miss.
Henshall, Dr. James A., Bozeman, Mont.
Hill, John L., 115 Broadway, New York.
Hobart, T. D., Pampa, Gray County, Texas.
Hogan, J. J., La Crosse, Wis.
Hogue, William F., Marion, Ala.
Holden, H. 8., Syracuse, N. Y.
Hoxie, Charles A., Carolina, R. I.
Hoxie, J. W., Carolina, R. I.
Howell, John H., 124 Grover Street, Auburn, N. Y.
Hubbard, Waldo F., Nashua, N. H.
Hudson, H. T., 110 Third Street, Portland, Oregon.
Hughes, Frank L., Ashland, N. H.
Hulff, J. H., Norfolk, Neb.
Hume, R. D., 421 Market Street, San Francisco, Cal.
Hunsaker, W. J., Detroit, Mich.
Huntington, L. D., New Rochelle, N. Y.
Hurlbut, H. F., East Freetown, Mass.
Hutchinson, E. 8., Washington, D. C.
Ingraham, E. W., Oil City, Pa.
Isaac, George H., U.S. F. C., Washington, D. C.
Jennings, G. E., Fishing Gazette, 203 Broadway, New York.
Jewett, Stephen 8., 614 Main Street, Laconia, N. H.
Johnson, D. W., Hartwell, Ga.
Johnson, F. M., M. D., 117 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.
Johnson, R. S., Supt. Manchester Station, Manchester, Iowa.
Johnson, George H., Riverside, R. I. :
Johnson, 8S. M., Union Wharf, Boston, Mass.
Jones, Alexander, Erwin, Tenn.
15

226 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Jones, Col. James E., Director of Aquarium, Battery Park, New
York City.

Jones, Dr. O. L., 116 West Seventy-second Street, New York.

Joseph, D., Columbus, Ga.

Joslin, Hon. C. D., Detroit, Mich.

Kashiwa, A. M., Seattle, Wash.

Kauffmann, 8. H., Hvening Star, Washington, D. C.

Keller, H. N., California Fish Commission, Santa Monica, Cal.

Kelly, P., 346 Sixth Avenue, New York.

Kennedy, Edwin M., Ohio Fish and Game Commission, McCon-
nellsville, O.

Kendall, Dr. William C., United States Fish Commission, Wash-
ington, D. C.

Kenyon, A. W., Usquepaugh, R. I.

Kiel, W. M., Tuxedo Park, N. Y.

Knight, Prof. A. P., Queens University, Kingston, Can.

Lambert, E. C., Amoskeag, Mnfg. Co., Manchester, N. H.

Lambson, G. N., U. S. F. C., Baird, Cal.

Lamkin, J. Bayard, Bullochville, Ga.

Landers, E. T., Hopeville, Ga.

Lane, George F., Silver Lake, Mass.

Latchford, Hon. F. R., Toronto, Can.

Leach, G. C., 1516 Locust Street, St. Louis, Mo.

Leary, John L., United States Fish Commission, San Marcos,
Tex.

LeGettee, K., Centenary, 8. C.

Lewis, C. C., U.S. F. C., Washington, D. C.

Lewis, Charles E., Chamber of Commerce, Minneapolis, Minn.

Locke, E. F., Woods Hole, Mass.

Lovejoy, Samuel, Bullochville, Ga.

Lydell, Dwight, Mill Creek, Mich.

Mahone, A. H., White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

Mallory, Charles, Burling Slip, New York.

Mansfield, H. B., Captain United States Navy, 368 Hancock

Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Manton, Dr. W. P., Detroit, Mich.

Marks, H. H., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Marks, J. P., Paris, Mich.

Marsh, M. C., Washington, D. C.

American Fisheries Society. R27

Marshall, F. M., Secretary Anglers’ Association, 1807 G Street.

N. W., Washington, D. C.

Mathewson, G. T., Thompsonville, Conn.

May, W. L., Omaha, Neb.

McDonald, A. G., care of A. Booth & Co., Detroit, Mich.

McDougal, J. M., Gunnison, Col.

Mead, Prof. A. D., Brown University, Providence, R. I.

Meehan, W. E., Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pa.

Merritt, F. H. J., Altamont, N. Y.

Merrill, M. E., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Mershon, W. B., Saginaw, Mich.

Miller, Frank, Put-in-Bay, O.

Miller, George F., Put-in-Bay, O.

Milliken, Dr. J. D., United States Fish Commission, Woods

Hole, Mass.

Mills, G. F., Carson City, Nev.

Mitchell, Prof. Irving M., Milwaukee, Wis.

Mitchell, John A., Columbus, Ga.

Monroe, Otis, Mill Creek, Mich.

Moody, G. C., Mill Creek, Mich.

Moore, Charles H., Detroit, Mich.

Morgan, H. A., Baton Rouge, La.

Morrell, Daniel, Hartford, Conn.

Morse, Grant M., Portland, Mich.

Morton, W. P., Providence, R. I.

Mullett, R. M., United States Fish Commission, Washington,
DRC:

Mussey, George D., Detroit, Mich.

Nash, Dr. 8. M., 63 West Forty-ninth Street, New York.

Neal, John R., 2214 “T” Wharf, Boston, Mass.

Nevin, James, Madison, Wis.

North, Paul, Ohio Fish and Game Commission, Cleveland, O.

Oberfelder, R. S., Sidney, Neb.

O’Brien, W. J., South Bend, Neb.

O’Connor, E. W., Savannah, Ga.

O’Hage, Dr. Justus, St. Paul, Minn.

O’Malley, Henry, Baker, Washington.

Orr, W. J., Bay Port, Mich.

Osborn, William, Duluth, Minn.

raw)
ew
CO

Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Page, P. W., West Summit, N. J.

Palmer, W. A., Buchanan, Mich.

Parker, Dr. J. C., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Parker, J. Fred, Assistant Secretary of State, Providence R. I.

Parker, W. H., Lac la Peche, Quebec, Canada.

Paxton, Thomas B., Ohio Fish and Game Commission, Cincin-
nati, O.

Peabody, George F., Appleton, Wis.

Pearce, Captian T. C., United States Fish Commission, Wash-
ington, D. C.

Peck, Hon. Stephen, Warren, R. I.

Perdum, James K. P., Woods Hole, Mass.

Pike, Robert G., Middletown, Conn.

Plumb, Charles, Mill Creek, Mich.

Powell, W. L., Harrisburg, Pa.

Powers, J. A., Lansingburg, N. Y.

Powers, John W., Big Rapids, Mich.

Prather, J. Hub, Lexington, Ky.

Prendergast, Charles F., 1420 Lincoln Street, Savannah, Ga.

Preston, Hon. John L., Port Huron, Mich.

Preston, Dr. Henry G., 98 Lafayette Square, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Proctor, Hon. Redfield, Proctor, Vt.

Race, E. E., Green Lake, Maine.

Randall, G. W., Plymouth, Mass.

Rathbone, William F., D. & H. R. R., Albany, N. Y.

Rathbun, Richard, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

Ravenel, W. DeC., United States Fish Commission, Washington.
DAG:

Reed, G. A., Fish and Game Warden, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz
County, Cal.

Reighard, Prof. Jacob E., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Mich.

Rhodes, G. W., Asst. Gen. Supt. Bur. & Mo. River R. R., Lin-
coln, Neb.

Richards, J. H., Sears Building, Boston, Mass.

Rippel, Robert, Woodruff, Wis.

Roberts, A. D., Woonsocket, R. I.

Robinson, A. H., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Robinson, Robert K., White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

American Fisheries Society. 229

Robinson, W. E., Mackinaw City, Mich.

Rodgers, Frank A., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Rodgers, J. L., Ohio Fish and Game Commission, Columbus,
Ohio.

Rogers, J. M., Chicago, Ill.

Rooney, James, Fort Stockton, Texas.

Root, Henry T., Providence, R. I.

Rosenberg, Albert, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Ruge, John G., Apalachicola, Fla.

Russell, Henry, Detroit, Mich.

Sampson, E. R., care of New York Aquarium, Battery Park,
New York City.

Sanborn, F. G., 612-622 California Street, San Francisco, Cal.

Saunders, Dr. H. G., Chattanooga, Tenn.

Searborough, L. A., Columbus, Ga.

Schley, Dr. F. V., Columbus, Ga.

Schute, John A., Havana, III.

Schweikart, Walter, Detroit, Mich.

Seagle, Geo. A., Wytheville, Va.

Self, E. M., Bullochville, Ga.

Sellers, M. G., Philadelphia, Pa.

Sherwin, H. A., 100 Canal Street, Cleveland, O.

Sherwood, George H., Am. Museum of Nat. His., 77th Street
and 8th Avenue, New York.

Shurtliff, Merrill, Fish and Game Commission of N. H., Lan-
easter, N. H.

Simmons, Walter C., Providence, R. I.

Simons, Max, Columbus, Ga.

Singleton, James H., Woonsocket, R. I.

Slade, George P., 309 Broadway, P. O. Box 283, New York City.

Smith, Henry D., Appleton, Wis.

Smith, Jay, care of J. W. Marston & Co., Lewis Wharf, Boston,
Mass.

Smith, L. H., Algona, Iowa.

Smith, Dr. Hugh M., United States Fish Commission, Washing-
tone:

‘Smith, Capt. J. A., Woods Hole, Mass.

‘Snyder, Dr. F. B., Ashtabula, Ohio.

Solman, Alden, South Norwalk, Conn.

230 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Southwick, J. M. K., Newport, R. I.

Spencer, L. B., Supt. Aquarium, 37 W. 128th Street, New York
City.

Spensley, Calvert, Mineral Point, Wis.

Springer, F. H., Columbus, Ga.

Starbuck, Alexander, Cincinnati, O.

Starr, W. J., Eau Claire, Wis.

G. T. Stelle, Chicago, Il.

Sterling, J. E., Crisfield, Md.

Stevens, Arthur F., 227 West Grand Street, Elizabeth, N. J.

Stewart Chas. E., Westerly, R. I.

Stewart, A. T., Northville, Mich.

Stone, Arthur F., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Stone, Livingston, Cape Vincent, N. Y.

Stranahan, J. J., Bullochville, Ga.

Stranahan, F. A., Cleveland, O.

Stranahan, F. F., Cleveland, O.

Suthers, Frank, Madison, Wis.

Sykes, Arthur, Madison, Wis.

Sykes, Henry, Bayfield, Wis.

Tawes, J. C., Crisfield, Md.

Taylor, A. R., 318 Main Street, Memphis, Tenn.

Teal, J. N., Worcester Block, Portland, Ore.

Thayer, W. W., 234 Joseph Campau Avenue, Detroit, Mich.

Thomas, H. G., Stowe, Vt.

Thomas, Henry G., Stowe, Vt.

Thompson, Carl G., 78 Henry Street, Huntington, Ind.

Thompson, William H., Secretary Anglers’ Association of St
Lawrence River, Alexander Bay, N. Y.

Thompson, W. P., 112 Bread Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Thompson, W. T., Nashua, N. H.

Tinker, E. F., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Titeomb, John W., United States Commission of Fish and Fish-
eries, Washington, D. C.

Townsend, Chas. H., New York Aquarium, New York.

Trumpour, D. A., Bay City, Mich.

Tubbs, Frank A., Neosho, Mo.

Tucker, Edmund St. George, Bedford Row, Halifax, N. S.

Tucker, Dr. Ernest F., “The Marquam,” Portland, Oregon.

American Fisheries Society. 231

Tulian, Eugene A., Leadville, Colo.

Turner, Avery, V. Pres. and Gen. Man. Pecos Valley Lines,
Amarillo, Tex.

Turner, J. C., Columbus, Ga.

VanDusen, Hon. H. G., Master Fish Warden of Oregon, Astoria
Ore.

Veeder, John J., Woods Hole, Mass.

Vincent, W. S., United States Commission of Fish and Fish-
eries, Washington, D. C.

Vogelsang, Alexander T., Mills Building, San Francisco, Cal.

Walker, Bryant, Detroit, Mich.

Wallett, W. H., Put-in-Bay, O.

Wallich, Claudius, U. 8S. F. C., Oregon City, Oregon.

Walsh, Joseph, Woods Hole, Mass.

Walters, C. H., Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.

Ward, Prof. H. B., Lincoln, Neb.

Warner, 8S. M., Glen Farm, Dorset, Mass.

Waterhouse, Rev. E. M., 4 Rhode Island Avenue, Providence,
Reo;

Webb, W. Seward, Forty-fourth Street and Vanderbilt Avenue,
New York.

Wentworth, Edwin, United States Fish Commission, Nashua,
N.-E.

Wentworth, Nathaniel, Hudson Centre, N. H.

Weed, W. R., Potsdam, N. Y.

Wetherbee, W. C., Port Henry, N. Y.

Wheeler, Chas. Stetson, Hobart Building, San Francisco, Cal.

Whish, John D., Secretary, Forest, Fish and Game Commission,
Albany, N. Y.

White, R. Tyson, 320 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Wilbur, H. O., 235 Third Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Wilbur, P. H., Little Compton, R. I.

Willard, Chas. W., Westerly, R. I.

Willetts, J. C., 16 Exchange Place, New York.

Williams, J. A., St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Wilson, C. H., Glens Falls, N. Y.

Wilson, S. H., Cleveland, O.

Winn, Dennis, Nashua, N. H.

Wires, S. P., Lester Park, Duluth, Minn.

oo
Cau)

Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Wisner, J. Nelson, Jr., United States Fish Commission, Wash -
ington, D. C.

Wolf, Herman T., 489 The Bourse, Philadelphia, Pa.

Wood, C. C., Plymouth, Mass.

Worth, 8S. G., Edenton, N. C.

Wride, Geo. A., Grindstone City, Mich.

Wykoff, C. F., 280 Broadway, New York.

Zalsman, Philp G., Paris, Mich.

Zweighapt, 8., Deer Park, Haines Falls, N. Y.

HONORARY.

Borodine, Nicholas, Delegate of the Russian Association of Pisci-
culture and Fisheries, Uralsk, Russia.

Fish Protective Association of Eastern Pennsylvania, 1020 Arch
Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Lake St. Clair Shooting and Fishing Club, Detroit, Mich.

New York Association for the Protection of Fish and Game,
New York City.

Peck, Hon. Geo. W., Milwaukee, Wis.

South Side Sportsmen’s Club, Oakdale, L. I., N. Y.

Sweeny, Dr. R. O., Lester Park, Duluth, Minn.

The President of the United States.

The Governors of the Several States.

Woodmont Rod and Gun Club, Washington, D. C.

Cortelyou, Hon. Geo. B., Washington, D. C.

CORRESPONDING.

Apostolides, Prof. Nicoly Chr., Athens, Greece.

Armistead, J. J., Dumfries, Scotland.

Birbeck, Edward, Esq., M. P., London, England.

Brady, Thos. F., Esq., Inspector of Fisheries, Dublin Castle,
Dublin, Ireland.

Calderwood, W. L., Esq., Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, Edin-
burgh, Scotland.

Feddersen, Arthur, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Feilding, J. B., Upper Downing, Holywell, North Wales.

Giglioli, Prof. Enrico H., Florence Italy.

American Fisheries Society. 233

Ito, K., Member of Fisheries Department of Hokkaido and Presi-
dent of the Fisheries Society of Northern Japan, Sapporo,
Japan.

Jaffe, S., Osnabruck, Germany.

Juel, Capt. N., R. N., President of the Society for the Develop-
ment of Norwegian Fisheries, Bergen, Norway.

Landmark, A., Inspector of Norwegian Fresh Water Fisheries,
Bergen, Norway.

Lundberg, Dr. Rudolph, Inspector of Fisheries, Stockholm, Swo-
den.

Maccleay, William, President of the Fisheries Commission of
New South Wales, Sydney, N. 8. W.

Marston, R. B. Esq., Editor of the Fishing Gazette, London,
England.

Olsen, O. T., Grimsby, England.

Sars, Prof. G. O., Government Inspector of Fisheries, Chris-
tiania, Norway.

Smitt, Prof. F. A., Stockholm, Sweden.

Solsky, Baron N. de, Director of the Imperial Agricultural
Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Trybom, Dr. Filip, Stockholm, Sweden.

RECAPITULATION.

JIC TNE: Shee eaee chdecs AcaiaAses A oh ane a nea en ane re eee 386
TNO Rey eteta tye. Bec eae etter ere cess ad ara (otis sles unk ha 55
AO nretre cones ve Ree ay vom erates anak ake oye Seushmee= w Bisveiem ae 20

PO CaAlenIe nib era hips sys scree ste iecsicyetne cncreatte eteld oie eieie eiotete 461

COMe LTE UT ION

(As amended to date).

ARTICLE I.
NAME AND OBJECT.

The name of this Society shall be American Fisheries So-
ciety. Its objects shall be to promote the cause of fish culture ;
to gather and diffuse information bearing upon its practical suc-
cess, and upon all matters relting to the fisheries; the uniting
and encouraging of all the interests of fish culture and the
fisheries, and the treatment of all questions regarding fish, of a
scientific and economic character.

ARTICLE II.
MEMBERS.

Any person shall, upon a two-thirds vote and the payment of
one dollar, become a member of this Society. In case members
do not pay their fees, which shall be one dollar per year, after the
first year and are delinquent for two years, they shall be notified
by the Treasurer, and if the amount due is not paid within a
month thereafter, they shall be, without further notice, dropped
from the roll of membership. Any person can be made an honor-
ary or a corresponding member upon a two-thirds vote of the
members present at any regular meeting.

Any person shall, upon a two-thirds vote, and the payment of
$15.00, become a life member of this Society, and shall there-
after be exempt from all annual dues.

ARTICLE III.
OFFICERS.

The officers of this Society shall be a President and a Vice
President, who shall be ineligible for election to the same office

until a year after the expiration of their term; a Corresponding
235

236 Thirty-Second Annual Meeting

Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer and an Executive
Committee of seven, which with the officers before named, shail
form a council and transact such business as may be necessary
when the Society is not in session, four to constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE IV.
MEETINGS.

The regular meeting of the Society shall be held once a year,
the time and place being decided upon at the previous meeting
or, in default of such action, by the Executive Committee.

ARTICLE V.
ORDER OF BUSINESS.

Call to order by President.

2. Roll call of members.
3. Applications for membership.
4. Reports of officers.

a. President.
b. Secretary.
e. Treasurer.
d. Standing Committees.
5. Committees appointed by the President.
a. Committee of five on nomination of officers for en-
suing year.
b. Committee of three on time and place of next meet-
ing.
e. Auditing committee of three.
6. Reading of papers and discussions of same.

(Note

a. In the reading of papers preference shall be
given to members present.

b. The President and two Secretaries are em-

powered to arrange the papers of the meet-

ings of the Society).

~

Miscellaneous business.
8. Adjournment.

pe

Ve

American Fisheries Society. 237

ARTICLE VI.
CHANGING THE CONSTITUTION.
The Constitution of the Society may be amended, altered or
repealed by a two-thirds vote of the members present at anv

regular meeting, provided at least fifteen members are present at
said meeting.

»)
ae ero yeh i
vA