Proceedings 81 



REPORT OF THE RECORDING SECRETARY.* 



To the Officers and Members of the American Fish- 

 eries Society: 



Aside from the usual amount of correspondence, the 

 chief duties of the Recording Secretary have been in 

 connection with the publication of the Transactions. The 

 change from an annual issue of one volume to the 

 quarterly form, which all have noted, was authorized 

 unanimously by the Council of the Society in November, 

 1914, and No. 1 of Volume 44 was issued in December. 



The chief arguments in favor of the more frequent 

 publication were, first, that the Transactions would 

 reach the members more frequently and thus have a 

 greater influence in keeping awake their interest in the 

 work of the Society, and second, that scientific papers 

 could be issued without waiting for other matters, while 

 the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, the list of mem- 

 bers, etc., would still appear about as early as formerly. 

 In arranging material for publication, preference was 

 given, as far as possible, to those papers read and dis- 

 cussed at the annual meeting. 



The Secretary believes that the change is fully justi- 

 fied, as he has received many letters and other expres- 

 sions of approval from the members and has yet to hear 

 of a single objection. 



Incidentally, the change to the quarterly form has 

 made it possible to enter the Transactions as second- 

 class mail matter, thereby saving a considerable amount 

 in postage. However, the extra cost of additional cover 

 pages and envelopes and the work of addressing four 

 sets of envelopes instead of one will consume a consid- 

 erable part of what is saved in postage. It appears, 

 then, that we have a quarterly journal at about the cost 

 of our former annual volume. 



In order that the Transactions and other mail may 

 reach the members promptly, the Secretary insists most 

 emphatically that he should be informed at once of every 



*ln the absence of Dr. Osburn, this was read by President Fearing. 



