Blackford. — Fish Conservation. 17 



people could tell how a fish egg is impregnated and how 

 it develops? How many can tell anything of the life 

 history of even the commonest fishes? The knowledge — 

 if indeed it can be called knowledge — that most persons 

 have of such subjects is a mass of traditional lore, rest- 

 ing on misinformation as a basis, that is so far from 

 the truth that to call a tale a "fish story" is equivalent 

 to saying that it is false. By putting the known facts 

 of fish life clearly and accurately before the intelligent 

 people of our country, we would make hundreds of prac- 

 tical students of the natural history of fishes where none 

 are to-day, and nearly every one of them would become 

 an active aid in the conservation movement. 



Another method of advancing our purpose is to have 

 our members give talks before school children. Many, 

 if not all, of the school superintendents will welcome the 

 chance of having some well-informed man or woman give 

 one or more talks — we need not dignify them by calling 

 them lectures — before the children on this subject, and 

 by so doing the interest of the coming generation will 

 be aroused. The recent Boy Scout movement offers an- 

 other opportunity. Teach these boys how the black bass 

 or the brook trout spawn; if possible show them some 

 of the eggs during their development, and the boys will 

 become ardent protectors of the spawning fish and not 

 destroyers of them. They will see that the despised city 

 sportsman is a pretty decent kind of fellow after all, 

 and they will teach their parents and their neighbors the 

 value of fish conservation. 



Finally, what can we do as a Society to arouse greater 

 interest in our avowed objects? We can take a hint 

 from one of our sister societies, the National Geographic 

 Society. We should remember that there is nothing in 

 which any intelligent man is interested that may not 

 be made an object of interest to any other intelligent 

 man if it be properly put. We are far too prone to dis- 

 cuss technical matters that are of great interest to us as 

 biologists and fish culturists, and to forget that these 

 topics, although of great value, are of no interest to the 



