Necrology. 359 



On December 1, 1909, Professor Dyche was given partial 

 leave of absence to accept the appointment of state fish and 

 game warden. In making the appointment, the then governor, 

 W. R. Stubbs, expressed the belief that he was bringing to this 

 position the best qualified man in Kansas. That his judgment 

 was well grounded was demonstrated by subsequent events. 

 Professor Dyche had the training, the experience and the in- 

 sight to make him especially well fitted to fill the position. 

 Instead of merely accepting this as a matter of routine in- 

 volving the issue of hunting licenses and the prosecution of 

 offenders against the game laws of the state, he went to work 

 with a will to make his department one of real benefit to Kan- 

 sas. For several years previous to this appointment his work 

 as a teacher had been limited to graduate students who were 

 especially interested in his fiteld of science or who wished to 

 prepare themselves for museum work. From now on he did 

 even less teaching, much of the time not even living in Law- 

 rence. His influence in these years was probably greater upon 

 the state at large, however, than it had been while a teacher. 



^Yhen he assumed his duties as fish and game warden he 

 found a most deplorable state of affairs. In his first biennia} 

 report he says that he had neither funds nor equipment; not 

 even the reports of the fish and game wardens of other states. 

 He fitted up a temporary laboratory in a buggy shed, equip- 

 ping it with apparatus borrowed from the University, and 

 for a working library he drew on his own library for some 

 hundreds of volumes. He began in earnest the study of the 

 problems of the fish and game resources of Kansas and their 

 relation to the economy of the state. He had a vision, which he 

 realized in part; and had his life not been cut short it would 

 have been realized in a still larger measure. As it was he has 

 left his indelible impression upon the state and nation for his 

 work in the few short years which he was able to give to it. 

 He began by seeking equipment not merely for tho so-called 

 practical work of his department, but for research work as 

 well. The fish hatchery, with its magnificent equipment of 

 laboratories and pools which he designed and constructed at 

 Pratt, is a model for such institutions. Here he reared thou- 

 sands of fish with which to stock the streams of Kansas. In 

 this he saw a source of cheap and plentiful food. It was his 

 wish that these laboratories might be made an adjunct to the 

 University, and that the various departments which were 



