VANISHING SPECIES 341 



FIG. 383. The lobster. Photograph one fifth life size. 



nervous energy, and when statistics show the millions of 

 dollars bound up in the untamed fish, fowl, and beast, 

 there can be no doubt about the wisdom of spending a 

 large amount of money to maintain this wealth in forest 

 and stream. The value of our fish products annually is 

 fully fifty million dollars. The annual government appro- 

 priation for the maintenance of the fish industry is a half 

 million dollars. From July, 1901, to July, 1902, the bureau 

 of fisheries distributed eggs and young fish to the number 

 of 1,414,523,374. In addition, 81,020,000 young lobsters 

 were planted in favorable localities along the seacoast. 

 Thus by the aid of the State and the United States Fish 

 Commissions hundreds of streams have been stocked with 

 trout, bass and other game fish, and lobster fishing has 

 been made a productive industry in many regions along 

 the coast. 



When boys and girls as well as men and women realize 

 that every act tending toward the preservation of our bene- 

 ficial wild animals manifests true patriotism, history will 

 record a full century without the extinction of a single 

 valuable species of animal life. 



