770 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



the fisheries of the great northern lakes to state what lei^ishition was 

 necessary in order to permit the easy and safe ascent of fish seeking to 

 go up the rivers, and it would be done. He, therefore, thought this 

 meeting a fit occasion for the foriuation of some ])lan, and to confer with 

 some persons connected with the Canadian government, with a view to 

 procure such legislation on the part of the Canadian authorities and on 

 the part of the States of the Union which are concerned, as will secure 

 an easy and safe migration of fishes to the lakes- 

 Professor Baird said he met Mr. Mitchell, the commissioner of the 

 Dominion, last summer, and he said that if existing regulations were not 

 sufficient they should be made so. Their own existing regulations are 

 very stringent as to time and other particulars. Mr. Mitchell mani- 

 fested the utmost cordiality, and offe/ed any aid that he could render in 

 the prosecution of the work of the United States Fish Commissioner in the 

 Bay of Fundy, even to the extent of tendering the service of a govern- 

 ment steamer if it was desired. He also gave free permission to take 

 fish in any waters of the Dominion, any law to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. It is as much for the interest of the Dominion as our own 

 that the work on the border has been prosecuted ; and salmon are to be 

 placed in the Saint Croix, which is the boundary -line between the 

 United States and New Brunswick. 



Mr. Green. Pound and trap netting is prohibited on the Dominion 

 coast. He said he had great faith in the feasibility of stocking our 

 small lakes with salmon trout, and at a small cost. He expected to 

 have a great abundance of salmon-trout spawn, and would gladly send 

 to any of the States whose commissioners wished to try the experiment 

 a quantity of the eggs. 



Mr. JSToRRis. Will salmon-trout do well in the Susquehanna? 



Mr. Green. No, sir; but they will probably grow to a good size iu 

 trout-streams where the trout have been exterminated. They rise to 

 the fly. All our great lakes and the inland smaller lakes can be stocked 

 in three or four years with as many fish as they ever had. But he would 

 not recommend the effort until pound-fishing is stopped. 



Professor Baird inquired if any one had experimented upon hybirds 

 of the Salmonida'. 



Mr. Green said he had crossed the white-fish with the salmon-trout, 

 and the salmon with the salmon-trout, but never raised them. 



Professor Baird referred to experiments made in Europe, where it is 

 becoming an important branch of fish culture to produce hybrids, 

 promising the best results. 



The subject of the mtroduction of new species of fish was then con- 

 sidered, and the opinions of several gentlemen were given as to the 

 varieties which might be properly tried. 



Mr. Clift deprecated tlie introduction of the Danube salmon, {Sahno 

 Imclio.) He thought that salmon could go up the Mississippi to the 

 headwaters. 



