18 THE REPORT OF THE [ No. 68 



Lake Scugog the loss from this source has for many years been very considerable 

 and the department has in a number of places erected screens to prevent this as 

 much as possible. The protection, however, that can be afforded in this way is 

 obviously inadequate. 



Sawdust. 



The pollution of public waters by sawdust is still a serious cause of com- 

 plaint, but it is gratifying to be able to report that in a number of cases Where 

 the practice has heretofore been to dump the sawdust into the water the parties 

 have, on their attention being drawn to the law on the subject, made immediate 

 provision for other disposition of it. 



Carp. 



The continued unfavorable reports as to this fish further demonstrate the 

 desirability of doing everything that can be properly done for its extermina- 

 tion. Every means for its capture has been authorized which has been applied 

 for, as it is believed the destruction of this fish cannot but prove beneficial to 

 other and more valuable kinds. It is now so execrated in some of the States, 

 where for a number of years it had been artificially propagated, that the Legis- 

 latures of these States have even enacted a law making it a misdemeanor punish- 

 able with heavy fine to plant carp in public waters. But it is evidently here to 

 stay. It is most prolific, a single carp being said to deposit in a season as many 

 as 500,000 eggs. 



Specimens. 



Specimens of our fish should, in the opinion of the undersigned, be collected 

 and preserved in plaster or other approved form and placed where they may be 

 inspected by interested parties. 



FROGS. 



A number of applications for leases have during the year been received. No 

 licenses have, however, been granted, as it was found upon enquiry that the terrri- 

 tory for which application was made was being " farmed " by a number of parties, 

 all of whom claimed equal rights and privileges. While the industry in this 

 Province is not carried on so extensively as in the United States, where it is said 

 to be of economic importance in no less than fifteen States, and has been little 

 thought of or even heard of by many in the Province, it may be mentioned that 

 in one place at least it has assumed such importance that it is referred to in the 

 Manual on Fish Culture recently published by the United States Fish Commission 

 at Washington (which devotes some eleven closely printed pages to the subject of 

 frogs and their artificial cultivation) in these words : 



" One of the most successful frog farms is in Ontario, in the Trent River 

 " basin. It has been in operation about twenty years, and annually yields a 



" comparatively large product of frogs During the years J 895 and 



" 1896 this farm yielded 5,000 founds of. dressed frogs leqs and 7,000 living 

 " frogs for scientific purposes and for stocking other waters." Some idea of the 

 great demand which exists for this luxury in the United States may be gathered 

 from the fact that the annual catch in the United States is given as but little less 

 than 1,000,000, with a gross value to the " hunters " of about $50,000, and to the 

 retailers of not less than $150,000. Indeed, the demand for frogs in the United 

 States, where the consumption is said to be ten times that of France — where it is 

 popularly supposed to be larger than elsewhere — has been so great that it is 

 feared their unrestricted hunting will result in their practical extinction, and 



