94 



of the expenses of keeping up the supplies of fish when the 

 waters were once well stocked, as well as such part of the cost 

 of enforcing the laws as the State would be called on to pay. 

 There are several minor ways in which co-operation can be 

 advantageously adopted, but not of sufficient importance to 

 be enumerated here. They are being employed more or less, 

 and are familiar to you all. 



For many years the U. S. Commission has thus co-operated 

 with two or three of the New England States in procuring 

 salmon and Schoodic salmon eggs, on terms, I believe, 

 equitable and satisfactory to all parties, and with most excel- 

 lent results. 



Another direction in which co-operation can, I believe, 

 be advantageously employed is in a thorough examination 

 of interior lakes. By interior, or inland, lakes the dwellers 

 along the Great Lakes are wont to distinguish the smaller 

 bodies of water wholly within the boundaries of the several 

 States. In Michigan, the numbers, size, and natural conditions 

 of the inland lakes make them a considerable part of the waters 

 we are called upon to care for. In the earlier days of this work 

 these lakes were planted with various kinds of fishes, not with 

 any special reference to their adaptability to the fish planted, 

 but because the Commission had fish for that purpose, and 

 in a general way the people in the vicinity of the lakes wanted 

 fish. I do not say this with the design of casting any reflec- 

 tion upon the authorities of those days. The promiscuous 

 planting of fish was then perfectly natural ; and our experi- 

 ence is based largely upon their mistakes as it is still more 

 largely upon the notable success of so many of their 

 experiments. As the years went by a very natural curiosity 

 arose amongst citizens and fishery authorities to know what 

 had been the result of those plants. Had all failed? If so, 

 why? If the fish planted had not lived and prospered, would 

 no others live in those waters ? And, finally, the question 

 formulated itself, are these waters suitable for any fish ? If 

 so, what kinds ? There was but one way to answer these 

 questions, and that was to go and find out. And so we went 

 (by proxy). In 1885 in a desultory kind of a way the work 



