FIFTKEN'IH ANNUAL MEETING. 6l 



attempted classification of tlie fish found in the Muskegon and 

 tribtitary waters, and as I have before mentioned he was instru- 

 mental in calling local attention to the grayling. Later on and 

 about the year 1885 or '56, Dr. Parker of Grand Rapids, Mich- 

 igan, (now president of the Michigan Fisii Commission), suc- 

 ceeded in procuring a specimen of the grayling, beautifully pre- 

 served in homely salt and wrapped carefully in a newspaper, 

 minus a few fins, and of course almost devoid of its natural 

 color, and after a careful study of the specimen and a compari- 

 son with a cut of the English grayling, and a description of the 

 same, he pronounced it a true Thymal/us, and in a paper read 

 before the local scientific society of Grand Rapids, named it 

 Thymallus michiganensis, a patronymic by which it was known 

 locally for some years ; in fact up to the time that a specimen 

 w-as sent by Prof. Miles to Prof. Cope in 1864. Specimens sub- 

 sequently submitted to Prof. Agassiz through the efforts of Dr. 

 D. H. Fitzhugh, of Bay City, Michigan, who is beyond question 

 the greatest authority on grayling in tlie countrv, were classi- 

 fied by that eminent scientist, and determined beyond question, 

 to be the grayling. 



During the period to which I have referred, the streams em- 

 braced within tiie territory already indicated were swarming 

 with this beautiful fish. So plentiful were tliey for many years 

 that the settlers were accustomed during the spawning period 

 to come to the dam, at or near the site (jf the present village of 

 Hersey, and capture them with baskets, carrying them away by 

 the wagon load. There are many people yet living in that 

 vicinity who can vouch for the truth of this statement, were it 

 necessarv, but I think I can safely presume that the courtesy of 

 gentlemen who are interested in the propagation of fish and the 

 fishing industries and interests, will scarcely require tlie fortifi 

 cation of this' statement by affidavit. 



It would seem unacctuintable that this state of things liaving 

 once existed, that in late years the grayling should have so 

 rapidly disappeared from these streams ; yet the fact remains 

 that many of the streams that once knew them now know them no 

 more. This is notably true of such noble staeams as the Jordan, 

 the Boyne and the Boardman. From those streams which flow 



