252 SY HOOK AND BY CBOOK. 



of a class whicli attaches no distinct meaning to the 

 words meum and tuum, as regards fresh fish, game eggs, 

 and tackle. 



In this connection an amusing episode occurred : — 



Two such gentlemen marked, from afar, a watcher 

 take and bury a diseased fish ; later on, when the coast 

 was clear, they visited the spot with the object of re- 

 covering the fish, but found to their disappointment 

 only the head and tail, the watcher having taken the 

 middle piece with him. 



By reason of the long drought throughout the spring 

 of 1892, the disease, in addition to having played un- 

 precedented havoc among salmon, has realized the worst 

 fears, by having extended to the yellow trout, which 

 have been found in large numbers, dead or dying, more 

 or less covered with the fungus, and in both of these 

 conditions have been removed with the landing-net. 



With the exception of a few injured by trout-hooks, 

 the smolts appear to have escaped the visitation, and as 

 by this time (25th April) they in the mid-reaches are 

 those which have descended from the upper waters, it 

 would appear that the latter districts are little, if at 

 all, infected. 



The following is an instance of the ignorance of 

 Conservators as to the state of affairs in the rivers over 

 whose destinies they preside, and of the puerile, flip- 

 pant manner in which they dismiss the subject of 

 disease. 



The quarterly meeting of " The Conservators " 



