SUGGESTIONS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST TO THE 



AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY AND 



TO FISH COMMISSIONS 



By Wm. p. Seal, Delair, N. J. 



I. Argument in favor of certain modifications of the 

 Fish Protective Laws. 



In papers read before the American Fisheries Society, 

 the writer has expressed the opinion that there is not the 

 general sympathy that there should be with the objects 

 of this society, the prevailing sentiment being that the 

 laws enacted for fish protection are inspired largely by 

 anglers wholly in the interest of sport. It is the desire 

 here to call attention to one phase of discrimination em- 

 bodied in fish protective legislation that from the view- 

 point of many persons interested is not only unjust but 

 also unwise since it affects a class of men who might pos- 

 sibly become a valuable auxiliary force in the general 

 interests and progress of fish culture. 



There are now in the United States seven aquarium 

 societies with a large membership of men of scientific 

 inclinations, and others are projected. There is a monthly 

 magazine devoted to their pursuits published under their 

 joint auspices by members of the societies. 



There is in progress in the United States a renaissance, 

 so to speak, in the use of the aquarium as a scientific 

 instrument for nature study. Large numbers of beauti- 

 ful and interesting species of fishes are constantly being 

 imported from Germany, where they are being bred, to 

 which country they have been brought from remote parts 

 of the earth, but many of them from North, Central, and 

 South America, and even the United States. 



The illustrated catalogs of the ornamental fish breeders 

 and dealers of Germany are an astounding revelation of 

 our lack of progress in this direction. In the United 

 States we have a great many beautiful and interesting 

 species, especially adapted to the aquarium, which are 

 not of the slightest value commercially and many of 



