64 American Fisheries Society 



died. The appearance of the fungus was so sudden and 

 the death rate so large, that it was thought best to draw the 

 attention of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries to the matter. 



Mr. M. C. Marsh, the pathologist, arrived in a few days 

 and after an examination declared the trout to be suffering 

 from severe goitre, of a nature which an investigator in 

 New York State had declared' to be cancerous. 



For many months prior to this, Dr. David Marine, of the 

 Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, had been 

 studying the character of goitre among trout under cultiva- 

 tion in Pennsylvania, with results which seemed clearly to 

 indicate that goitre is not the first stage of cancer and fur- 

 ther that cancer might not naturally be looked for to follow 

 an attack of goitre. Under the circumstances, serious as 

 was the situation at Spruce Creek, the diagnosis of Mr. 

 Marsh did not cause the consternation it might otherwise 

 have caused. 



A few weeks after the visit of Air. Marsh, Dr. Marine 

 made an examination of the trout and confirmed the decla- 

 ration of the former that the fish were suffering from en- 

 larged thyroid. At least ninety per cent of the fish either 

 had inflamed throats or fully developed tumorous-like swell- 

 ing. The death rate was as heavy among the fish having 

 only the first stage of the disease as among those in which 

 it was fully developed. 



Until then, there was no suspicion of any connection 

 between the so called sore throat among the advanced fry 

 in the hatching troughs and the fungused goitrous trout in 

 the ponds ; but the connection was quickly established. An 

 examination of advanced fry in the hatching house showed 

 that the inflamed throat was in reality the first stage of 

 goitre. 



Dr. Marine during his investigations proved clearly, 

 what some of the superintendents and T had long believed, 

 that the disease was developed by accumulated filth in the 

 ponds. He also found that goitre followed overfeeding 



