Aiiicrlraii Fisli cries Socicfij 189 



wrro nmniiii;- up a ccrtai]! creek in the .spriiiii' in enornions 

 shoals, and tlial tliey were l)einii- attacked with a peculiar eye 

 disease' and losing- their eyes. Of conrse that called out the fish 

 culturist, and to his ntter astonishment, he fonnd that the in- 

 fonuation. which had come from one of the hest fishermen in 

 the state, and one of the best fish culturists in the state, too. Avas 

 entirely erroneous. The fish were not pike perch at all, but 

 trout perch, the little [lercupsis guttatiis, which you know so 

 well, and every bit of information which had come to the office 

 about the big pike perch eating the little pike perch, and the big 

 fish coming in, and the eye disease, related to this trout perch. 

 We did discover afterwards that the yellow perch and the pike 

 perch had l)een attacked by this same disease, and we don't know 

 now, what this disease is which carried away, I am safe in saying, 

 tens of tliousands of fish measuring from three to four inches. 

 We know al)solutely nothing about it, except what Dr. Marsh 

 of the Fisheries' Bureau could tell us. which was very little. He 

 has not been able to isolate the bacillus and could only do so 

 through field work. He has not been able to do the field work, 

 and the disease is now in progress ; it is very fatal. I have that 

 as one of my captions here. The little fish run up the creeks at 

 Constiintia from Lake Oneida, beginning in the month of May 

 and continuing through the summer. In two or three days after 

 their appearance in the small creeks, it will be noticed that one 

 of the eyes, or perhaps both of the eyes, is inflamed and intensely 

 red. A few days later it will be seen that the eye has been re- 

 moved entirely from the skull. N"ow this is not popeye. I know 

 ];)ope\e as well as I knlow a piece of bread when I see it ; it is not 

 popeye. As ^N'lr. ]\Iarsh says, it is an entirely new disease, of 

 bacterial origin. Sometimes both eyes are destroyed in this way 

 in a verv few days; and this will ha])i)en to bass, yellow perch 

 and any otlier small fish that may l)e in the creeks at that time. 

 It is a very fatal disease. 



ri'csident: How long does it last? 



Dr. Bean: Lasts all summer. It is well worth attention. 



Gentlemen, I do not intend to read any more of this ]iaper, 

 because you will see it in much better form later on, l)ut T Avould 

 like to mention the other points. This lack of information al)out 



