10 FISH CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
Src. 21. No person shall kill, or expose for sale, or have in 
his or her possession after the same has been killed, any speckled 
trout, save only from the first day of April to the first day of 
September. 
Src. 22. No person shall kill, or expose for sale, or have in 
his or her possession after the same has been killed, any salmon 
trout, or lake trout, in the month of September, October, and 
N ovember. 
Sec. 23. No person shall kill, or expose for sale, or have in 
his or her possession after the same has been killed, any wall- 
eyed pike, black bass, Oswego bass, or muscalonge, during the 
months of March, April, May, and June. 
Mr. BLackrorpD: A stringent law is very desirable, but as 
the law now stands, a dealer may be punished by fine when per- 
fectly innocent. On two occasions I have had trout shipped to 
me out of season, of which I had no knowledge until their ar- 
rival. A year ago five boxes were shipped to me from Canada 
without my knowledge. I supposed they were smelts. They had 
arrived before any word of advice. On opening the boxes, what 
did I find? I found they were Canadian trout. Quite inno- 
cently I might have been subjected to a fine of $30,000. The 
trout law varies in the different states, and in Canada they are 
allowed to be caught earlier than in New York, and persons ig- 
norant of this often ship them. The law should be altered so as 
to protect innocent men. I should recommend that they be ai- 
lowed to turn them over to the Society for the Preservation of 
Game. 
Mr. JoHNsON: Possession of them should be prima facie 
evidence of guilt. 
Mr. Roosrvett: This is a delicate matter; if fish are al- 
lowed to be sold out of season at all, it opens doors for an 
evasion of the law. 
Mr. BLackrorpd moved the appointment of a committee to 
frame recommendations on this subject, to be submitted to the 
Fish and Game Association for incorporation in the proposed 
amendments to laws. 
