142 TJiirfji-Firsi Anmui] Meefiiifj 



had introduced them in one hike, and in three years' time they 

 were liaving splendid fishing for hilve trout. So that we cannot 

 have an}' hidehound rule ahout this thing. I like to feed the 

 fish awhile, and I do not think we ought to plant them until they 

 have heen fed two months, if we jdant them after they have l)een 

 fed at all. 



The President: You do not want to keep them until their 

 spirit of self reliance is all gone. 



Mr. Titcomh : I do not think there is much harm keeping 

 them through the fall, l)ut just as good results are obtained 

 from planting them earlier. 



The President : Some years ago there was a large surplus 

 of male fish at the ]\Iadison hatchery, and we liberated them in 

 a stream which was formerly a good trout stream — quite a num- 

 ber of hundred of them. They were fish reared in ponds and 

 are pretty good size, and we got returns from them after awhile, 

 people caught them, some months after they were deposited in 

 the river, and they were found to be pretty nearly starvd. They 

 did not know how to get a living. 



Mr. Titcomb : Those were adult fish ? 



The President: Yes. Have you ever had any such expe- 

 rience ? 



A. No, sir. 



The President : Those were the reports we got — there were 

 some of them caught, but they were mere shadows, unnourished, 

 starved. 



Mr. Titcomb: Was there an abundance of fish in the stream 

 where the}^ were placed ? 



The President: It had l)een a good trout stream in its day — 

 naturally — but it had been fislied out. 



Mr. Titcond) : 1 should infer that the food was gone, too. 



The President : That might seem so, or that they did not 

 ada])t themselves to the new environment. 



Dr. Tarleton H. Bean : Ts it not probalile that the reason 

 no nde can l)e very well established for tln^ distribution of all 

 these trout and the young salmon, is tliat the differences between 

 theiu arc I'athcr complicated? Our lake trout and land-locked 

 salmon have dilTci-cnf s])awning lial)its from the brook trout and 

 the raiid)ow ti'out. The young brook trout feed largel}' at the 



