136 
life of the eggs, from the Lackawanna coal fields at 
Scranton on the North Branch to the bay at Havre de 
Grace. The time is also not far distant when the same 
condition will obtain in the West Branch, from the bi- 
tuminous field of clearfield and above, unless a halt is 
called, and all this deleterious matter is made some other 
disposition of. As far as relates to soil wash, it seems 
unavoidable, but proper legislation and enforcement of 
the laws could remedy the other. The sulphur impreg- 
nated water from the mines acts only locally and is 
gradually desseminated and purified, but to the abate- 
ment of the dumping of mine refuse into the streams 
tributary to the main river must we look if the waters 
are ever to be again rehabilitated. The dragging of 
seines over the spawning beds, catching the gavid fish 
from off their nests and covering up the spawn already 
deposited has been another fruitful source of depletion. 
There are laws to deal with this feature, and the fault 
lies in the proper enforcement. Up until the early sev- 
enties when artificial propagation and restocking was in- 
troduced, the supply of all classes of food fish had grad- 
ually diminished until the waters was almost barren. 
Striped bass, shad and herring had disappeared with the 
erection of the dams, while the pike perch, locally 
termed the Susquehanna salmon, the pickerel (Zs. vez.) 
the yellow perch, the sunfish and catfish, the most es- 
teemed of the non-migratory fishes, had almost entirely 
disappeared. With the organization of our fisheries 
commission, about 1870, began a practical regeneration. 
The black bass, as a new variety, has proved wonderfully 
prolific, and several others of the smaller perch family 
have obtained a fast hold. These waters seem _ best 
adapted to the precoids, and greater efforts in stocking 
with this species ought to be persisted in. The reintro- 
duction of wall-eyed pike or pike perch has been mani- 
festing itself in increased numbers very perceptibly. 
When fish propagation assumed important proportions, 
