50 



use of Decoration Day, a legal holiday, to fisli in a neigh- 

 boring- lake. I canvassed the State some years ago and 

 found that everywhere black bass spatVned thoughout the 

 month of Jnne ; and Mr. Mather, of the New York Fish 

 Commission, informed me that on Long Island, onr most 

 southern waters, bass were not through spawning Jnne 

 25th. But black bass require something more than a mere 

 close season to cover the act of spawning, for they watch 

 over their young after they are hatched — the only fish pro- 

 tected by the law that does, for I am not aware that the 

 suniish and bull-head are protected. If black bass are 

 taken a week after the ova is hatched, every black bass fry 

 will be eaten by other fishes always in waiting to do this very 

 thing. Last year we had a Commission in New York to 

 codify our lisli and game laws, and one of the Commis- 

 sioners asked my opinion regarding the protection of 

 certain fishes. I urged with all my x:>ower that the black 

 bass season should not open anywhere in the State before 

 July 1st. He agreed with me fully, but said the Commis- 

 sion had been obliged to compromise on June 15tli as 

 opening date. Compromise on the question of the exter- 

 mination of a fish ! Well, the code went to the Legislature, 

 and one of the first acts of that body was to knock the 

 compromise into a cocked hat and make the opening sea- 

 son as before, May 30th. It is my opinion that a game- 

 law committee would hesitate about taking such a respon- 

 sibility upon itself, if it could be shown that this Society 

 had put on record the fact that such action merely legal- 

 ized the taking of black bass from their spawning beds or 

 from their helpless young. As a fact, I have seen a bass 

 with young Just hatched on the 25th day of August, but 

 this was probably an isolated case. I have known a bass 

 to remain with its young for six weeks, and this is ])Yoh- 

 ably not an unusual thing. 



I certainly hope that this Society will take steps to 

 define, as closely as may be, the spawning seasons of our 



