154 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



however, as the then all-absorbing interest was in artificial 

 propagation. 



At that time I was new to the work and, like Mr. Shaw, 

 I was deeply interested in the betterment of conditions in 

 my own State, Illinois. Through the courtesy of Mr. Shaw 

 I was given all the information on his methods that his 

 experience had given him, and after making him a visit 

 and seeing an exemplification of his work, I took it up and 

 made it the basis of operations in the work of the Illinois 

 Fish Commission. Since that time, in fact, following 

 closely upon it, the United States Commission of Fisheries 

 has pursued the same line of work, and with cars fitted 

 specially for the transportation of the fish so saved, has 

 made it one of the most profitable of its methods of in- 

 creasing the fish supply. 



The State of Illinois probably presents as good a field 

 for this work as does any in the country. The Mississippi 

 River for four hundred miles on the west, the Ohio River 

 on the south, the Wabash River on the east, and the Illinois 

 River running directly through the State for two hundred 

 and fifty miles, and the borders of all these streams closely 

 cut by lakes and sloughs, mostly flat and filled by the over- 

 flow from the rivers, supply all the conditions required for 

 the work. Into these shallow waters come all the indig- 

 enous varieties of fish to find spawning beds, and when 

 conditions are favorable they complete their spawning 

 before the water recedes. The falling of the water leaves 

 the deeper places well filled, but later evaporation and seep- 

 age cause most of them to dry out; such as retain 18 to 20 

 inches of water until winter sets in freeze to the bottom, 

 and in any case the life that they contain perishes. Seasons 

 vary, conditions changing with them, and occasionally 

 there is a year when high water continues and the fish go 

 through the season without damage ; and as if to emphasize 

 the practical value of the work, the season following always 

 shows a greatly increased number of our native fish, par- 

 ticularly the black bass. 



