49 



pointed place of meeting, from nearly every State. Tliey 

 are Fish Commissioners, lisli cnlturists, fish experts, ex- 

 pert fishermen, ichthyologists, and men generally who 

 have made and are making an intelligent and accurate 

 study of our fishes. No body of men knows better the 

 habits of the fishes in their own States and in other States, 

 and when gathered here discussion will draw from them 

 the spawning- time of every fish protected by law, and these 

 recorded spawning-times will become a part of the proceed- 

 ings of the Society by authority. With the spawning 

 seasons defined as closely as may be, the law-makers of any 

 State in making a close season for any particular fish need 

 not go wrong. 



I firmly believe that to-day there is less known about 

 the spawning seasons of our gajae fishes by fishermen gen- 

 erally than about the playing of the crack ball-teams. 



I speak feelingly and from experience on this subject. 

 As Angling Editor of SJiooting and Fishing I often write 

 privately to correspondents who ask about the spawning 

 season of our best-known fishes, rather than expose their 

 ignorance in print. 



The saving of a grand game and food fish from extinction 

 is certainly a "question of an economic nature," and I 

 believe the black bass is slowly being wii3ed from the wa- 

 ters of this country because of inadequate laws, or no laws. 

 This is partly through cupidity, partly through ignorance. 



Take the case of New York State. The black bass sea- 

 son opens on the border May 20th ; the general law opens 

 the season May 30th, and special laws open it in different 

 waters from July 1st to August 1st. 



These special laws were obtained by sportsmen who real- 

 ized that June fishing was doing a great injury to the bass, 

 and while these laws were being obtained the general law 

 of the State, which was then June 1st, was changed to May 

 30th; and the only reason ever given, to my knowledge, 

 was that it enabled fishermen in New York City to make 



