ci7id the Maritime Provinces. 439 



" The short-sighted avarice that misuses and destroys this valuable 

 source of food supply must be checked by the authority equal to preserv- 

 ing the free fisheries from exhaustion ; and it is to the care with which 

 societies like ours investigate the natural habits of the fish and the influ- 

 ences deleterious to their increase that authority must look for the knowl- 

 edge requisite for successful action. 



" I shall desire to be classed as a zealous if not a useful member of 

 your society." 



(Signed) Charles Levi Woodbury. 



Rooms were secured in the Baldwin building, on Washington street 

 (near Essex street), and the furnishings were procured chiefly by money 

 contributed by the members. 



The first meeting held therein was on June 8, 1*74, and fifteen names 

 of candidates for membership were presented. 



At this meeting Mr. S. M. Johnson, chairman of the executive com- 

 mittee, reported that " Lewis wharf had been visited and the throwing 

 overboard of lobsters, that were plugged, had been stopped." 



On July Gth, it being reported that the lobster law was being violated, 

 a committee was appointed " to see that any violation be looked after." 



On Oct. 19, 1874, on motion of Capt. C. D. Macomber, the special 

 committee were authorized " to see that a proper law be passed for the 

 protection of mackerel." 



On Feb. 17, 1875, the recommendation of the committee appointed to 

 consider changes in the laws, recommended that the association " endeavor 

 to procure legislation that shall fix the limit of the size of lobsters to be 

 caught at twelve inches, to be measured ivlicn the lobster is straightened 

 oict " ; also " that the association endeavor to procure the passage of a 

 law in regard to trout so that possession of dead trout during the closed 

 time shall be prima facie evidence of the violation of the statutes." 



Reports of committees appointed to attend upon hearings at the 

 State House in regard to the various changes desired in the statutes relat- 

 ing to the catching of trout, lobsters, etc., are of frequent occurrence on 

 the records during the early years of the association. 



Eminent speakers addressed the meetings. Men in the front rank as 

 scientists manifested their interest by correspondence, donations, etc., 

 among whom may be mentioned Louis Agassiz, Spencer F. Baird, Theo- 

 dore Lyman, Hon. Daniel Needham — for several years a vice-president — 

 Hon. Benjamin P. Ware, and many others. Entertainments — always 

 without drawing from the funds of the association — at which ladies were 

 present, were occasionally given, and donations of valuable books, reports 

 of commissioners, specimens of fish, etc., were sent in from time to time by 

 members and others ; the most valuable single gift being that of specimens 



