BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 153 



THE PROPOSED INTRODUCTION OF AMERICAN CATFISH INTO THE 



RIVERS OF BELGIUM. 



By ALFRED LEFEBTRE. 



[From dispatch No. 41 of the vice-consul of the United States at Ghent, Belgium, 

 to the State Department, transmitted to the United States Fish Commission.] 



When Mr. Wilson was consul at this port he interested himself in a 

 project for the improvement of the pisciculture of the country. The 

 industries of Flanders, and especially of Ghent, concentrated, exhibited 

 as they are in large manufacturing establishments, situated on the 

 banks of the rivers and discharging their refuse into the water, render 

 it unhealthy for the fish, and has resulted in their decreased numbers, 

 if not entire disappearance in some neighborhoods. Mr. Wilson com- 

 pared its situation to the rivers of Delaware and Schuylkill in the 

 neighborhood of the city of Philadelphia, and expressed a belief that 

 the catfish so common there would thrive here. He conferred with 

 Prof. S. F. Baird, who confirmed him in this belief, and in the corre- 

 spondence which took place between them, the feasibility of stocking 

 these rivers with these fish seems to have been agreed upon. 



Mr. Wilson opened a correspondence with the authorities of Flan- 

 ders (which has been continued by me since his departure), and it, with 

 other causes, attracted official attention to the subject and created much 

 interest in it. Parliament took it up ; a new law for the protection and 

 propagation of fish is about to be passed (a copy of which I will send to 

 the department as soon as it shall have been printed), and a committee 

 appointed having general charge of the subject. Hon. E. Willequet, 

 member of Parliament from Ghent, is a member of this committee ; and, 

 not wearying you with uninteresting details, I come to the immediate 

 object of this dispatch, which is, that the committee desire to put Mr. 

 Wilson's and Professor Baird's scheme into operation, and have, through 

 Mr. Willequet, requested me to communicate through the department 

 with Professor Baird and secure his aid and co-operation. 



Mr. Wilson and myself have had many conversations with Mr. Wille- 

 quet, the governor of the province, and other authorities, who are all in 

 favor of the attempt. I inclose a translation of Mr. Willequet's notes, 

 that they and a copy of this dispatch, if needed, may be transmitted to 

 Professor Baird. 



Arrangements have been made with the Bed Star Line of steamers 

 for shipment of the young fish from New York to Antwerp, if they 

 can be put on board, and I will see that they are taken care of on their 

 arrival. As you will perceive by Mr. Willequet's letter of the 22d July, 



