Antcnciiii Fisheries l^ociety. 4."'). 



I want to say to you that it has been a sincere pleasure for 

 tlie committee to entertain you. We regret that your program 

 has been so long that you could not take in all the opportunities 

 that we had provided for your entertainment, and if a'ou shoull 

 ever come back to Erie, which we sincerely hope will soon ma- 

 terialize, you will be welcomed heartily. We hope your con- 

 vention will meet here again inside of three years. We assure 

 you, you will never have a better time. Notwithstanding the 

 fact that the next international convention will meet at Wash- 

 ington, D. C., Erie cannot claim of course to out do Washing- 

 ton with all its attractiveness, but, year after next we hope you 

 will be with us again, and whatever committee has charge of 

 arranging the convention at that time, I hope will bear this in 

 mind. 



I thank you for the pleasure you have given us, in the op- 

 j)ortunity of entertaining you, and we will always fondly re- 

 member your visit to this city. (Great applause.) 



Toastmaster : There are two or three questions that come 

 before the Fisheries' Society, which have, by common consent, 

 usually been barred. One is the German Carp, and the other is 

 Fry vs. Fingerlings. Now, if our friend Bartlett was here, T 

 would call on him to tell what he knew about carp, just for tb^ 

 fun of the thing ; but, as he is not here, I think we will call upon 

 Dr. Birge to tell us how he kept the meeting to-day from getting 

 into a row over fingerlings and fry. (Applause.) 



Dr. Birge: Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: T 

 j-eally do not know how I succeeded in doing that, but I think I 

 did it in a masterly manner. I have presided over this meeting 

 with a good deal of trepidation, and when the subject of Fry vs. 

 Fingerlings came up, I thought I was in for it sure. When I get 

 into an assemblage of university men that are engaged in man- 

 aging the affairs of universities, I generally feel that I can at 

 least keep quiet with dignity, because I know something about 

 what is going on. But when I get in here with a lot of practical 

 fish men who are actually doing things in the matter of breeding 

 fish and taking charge of the larger affairs of the fishery indus- 

 tries of the country, I feel myself a good deal at sea, and I am al- 

 ways afraid that somebody will get after me, somewhat as the 



