56 Fish Cuiturists" Association. 



show their natural colors infinitely better than any plaster cast 

 can be made to show them, and they will cost much less than it 

 would cost for an artist to imitate the natural colors. A fish 

 stuffed like this specimen can be produced in an hour and a half 

 or two hours by any ordinary skilled person, but I have not been 

 able to make a comparison with plaster casts, because I find 

 none here. 



I will return to the subject of the protection of fish. Some- 

 times it will be difficult to legislate thoroughly for their protec- 

 tion. The whitefish is an example of that kind. On the 

 Detroit River the whitefish come in vast numbers only in 

 October and November, when they lay their eggs. The trade 

 has been immense for a series of years, but it has fallen off 

 wonderfully of late. I am of the opinion that if proper laws 

 are not instituted by the United States, in connection with 

 ourselves, the immense fisheries on the Detroit River will soon 

 be practically annihilated. In order to recuperate and recover 

 what we have lost as much as we can, the Canadian Govern- 

 ment have erected a large whitefish breeding-establishment 

 there, and I am pleased to state that the Americans also have 

 erected one in the city of Detroit. So that the action of the 

 Canadian Government there has had the effect of inducing the 

 people of Michigan to do a similar thing. I understand that in 

 Iowa, and in other States in the West, they are also doing the 

 same. I think that whitefish might be permitted to be killed 

 during this season, because, if a law was passed that they should 

 not be killed when they come there, it would prevent the fishery 

 altogether. It would be better, perhaps, that only a few days 

 should be given to their preservation, because, when the white- 

 fish are taken from the nets and brought on shore, and are 

 manipulated by skilled hands, the eggs can be taken from 

 them, which is a clear s^ain. The fish can be brought on shore 



