174 American Fisheries Society 



The best authorities which we have on the culture of trout say that 

 only 3% of the trout reach that stage. 



With ordinary care in passing through the hatchery, we will place 

 out in the stream 75% through artificial propagation. 



Now from this stage of feeding, on an average, it will take our 

 young fish 15 months to pass the 8 inch limit. 



When it takes that much time and care to raise a fish, it seems a 

 shame to destroy that fish in returning it to the stream by handling it 

 with the dry hand. 



You will notice here something of the deformities found in fish 

 during development, showing double fish and double-headed fish. As 

 they reach a certain stage and as they absorb the yolk, they die ; so you 

 never find a double fish in the stream. 



You will notice from this specimen which I show you, the can- 

 nibalistic nature of the trout. You will see the tail of one little trout 

 sticking out of the mouth of another. There is no show for the 

 weaker fish in the hatchery. 



That will give an idea of the time it takes to bring one of our 

 fish from the egg stage to the fishing stage. 



I brought these exhibits, simply to demonstrate the time and the 

 trouble which it takes to raise trout. 



I have had fishermen say it is too much trouble to be careful in 

 handling these undersized fish. But they are not sportsmen, for they 

 are unwilling to take the trouble to protect the undersized fish ; and if 

 a man has not sufficient interest in the undersized fish to protect it after 

 he has caught it, then I say he has no business to fish along our 

 streams. (Applause.) 



Professor Dyche: I think, in order to make an experiment of that 

 kind of value, and in order to give value to ideas such as those put 

 forth by Mr. Thomson, the experiments ought to be performed on 

 rather a large scale. I myself have subjected a hundred or more fish 

 to certain kinds of treatment. While experimenting we handled fish 

 with wet hands and with dry hands, and also scratched them with 

 small sticks and stems of grass and leaves, then they were placed in 

 ponds and we watched for results. I am not quite ready to report on 

 just all the things that have happened to those fish; further experi- 

 ments are necessary. The trout are not perhaps any more liable to 

 be affected by this fungus than many other kinds of fish. Catfish, bass 

 and crappie, in fact nearly all kinds of fresh water fish, are more or 

 less liable to be affected with this fungus disease. We have certain 

 rules that we observe when we handle fish at the hatchery. My idea 

 about the trout business would be to experiment on a large scale ; a 

 hundred or more fish should be used and the experiment performed 

 at different times and under different conditions. 



Fish culturists know that the white fungus is a disease that injures 

 fish. Only exact experiments properly conducted will add to our present 

 knowledge. Handling a fish with the dry hand may start a fungus 



