American Fisheries Society 189 



old and influential American Fisheries Society. Especially 

 we shall value your suggestions both as to subjects deserv- 

 ing early investigation, and as to practical measures pos- 

 sible and desirable on the basis of such knowledge as we 

 now have or may presently acquire. 



DISCUSSION 



Professor Forbes (before reading his paper) : I think myself, for- 

 tunate this morning in the fact that the opening address of yesterday- 

 forenoon and the very animated and earnest discussion which followed 

 upon that address yesterday afternoon, were in a great measure an 

 opening up of the subject of which my paper will be a special illustra- 

 tion and a concrete instance. I am to deal with a specific problem in 

 the general field of the conservation and improvement of our national 

 aquatic resources ; and the very able and comprehensive way in which 

 this subject was handled by Dr. Townsend and the interesting and 

 effective manner in which the discussion was taken up by Mr. Clark, 

 Mr. Meehan and others yesterday seemed to me a happy preparation 

 for the task which I have undertaken. 



President : I do not know how the rest of the members of this 

 Society feel in regard to that paper, but I call it a classic, and it almost 

 seems like desecration to attempt to add to or take from it. 



Dr. C. H. Townsend, New York: I do not know when I have 

 listened to a more admirable paper at the meetings of this Society. We 

 have long been familiar with the very remarkable fish catch of the 

 Illinois River. There is nothing like it in the country. I am sure we 

 are all very much indebted to Professor Forbes for setting forth the 

 method of his admirable work and the work of his assistants in studying 

 the biology of this river. 



President : Are there any further remarks in connection with this 

 very able paper? 



Mr. John W. Titcomb, Lyndonville, Vt. : I cannot help expressing 

 my enthusiasm at this paper. I enjoyed it very much. I wish we 

 could have more like it from other states. It was a very thorough 

 paper indeed. 



Dr. R. C. Osburn, New York: Would Professor Forbes kindly tell 

 us whether in his opinion sewage will not prove deleterious to other 

 varieties of fish life in lUinois? 



Professor Forbes : I suppose different fish populations would be 

 affected differently by additions of still more dirt or filth from the 

 contents of the river; but the fishes of the Illinois River are pretty well 

 hardened to conditions which fish of clear lakes and streams would 

 find intolerable. It may be that in course of time we shall find deposits 

 on the bottom which undergo decomposition which will make them in- 

 jurious; but up to the present time we have not been able to see any 

 injurious effects at all upon the fisheries of the river or its waters as a 

 consequence of contributions of Chicago sewage, which, however, under- 



