American fis/icrics Society. 11 



the action of your President and Secretary has been ratified. 

 After the last annual lueeting^ we sent out a circular letter ad- 

 dressed to all State Fish Conmiissioners not already members, 

 and to all others whom we thoui^ht oui^ht to be members. The 

 twenty who responded paid their dues as of last year, and re- 

 ceived the literature of the Society as regular members. I under- 

 stand that the present membership list is all an active one, the 

 delinciuent memljers having- all been dropped last }ear. 



The call for the present meeting has been sent to all Gover- 

 nors of States, recjuesting that delegates from their h'ish Com- 

 missions be sent to the meeting. I do not quite understand why 

 we do no-t have more members from State Fish Commissions, 

 inasmuch as the reports of the transactions of the Society are 

 worth much more than the annual membership fee to all enter- 

 prising and progressive F'ish Commissioners. Perhaps I may 

 mention the additional profit from personal intercourse and com- 

 parison' of notes by the members who are able to attend the 

 annual meetings; while we learn much from the papers and their 

 discussion, I find that on special subjects we learn much more 

 by personal contact with others interested in similar lines of 

 work. It appears, however, that we cannot secure new members 

 very rapidly except by personal solicitation, and to that end I 

 urge all members to think over the list of eligible members in 

 their respective States, and then induce these eligibles to join the 

 Society. 



As we have an unusually large number of papers to be read 

 and discussed, I will endeavor to dispatch the routine business as 

 rapidly as possible. 



The first business before the meeting woidd ])erhaps be the 

 reading of the Secretary's report, but I would suggest that 

 inasmuch as we have present with us some would-be members, 

 that we immediately act upon the applications for membership 

 before doing any further business, and to that end 1 will ask you 

 to file applications for membership. I will change that order a 

 little, and suggest first that you propose a temporary treasurer in 



