EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING. 55 
ments, strangely enough, lead us back to the natural history of 
an unknown period. The ichthyological glimpses, it is true, are 
but faint; still it may not be impossible, by their study, to follow 
farther back the structures of fish as first developed by the 
fossil forms. If nothing else, they help us turn over an ad- 
ditional leaf in the history of man and his surroundings. 
As there is no patent on any of the forms of hooks, gentle- 
men wishing to copy any of them for bass-fishing, may do so 
with impunity, as the Lacustrine man is not likely to enter a 
caveat. 
Mr. THompson spoke on the California salmon. He had re- 
ceived many eggs from Prof. Baird, and had tried for several years 
to raise them in confinement, but they did not grow well. He 
had made a dam across a ravine, flooding from sixteen to seven- 
teen acres, to a depth of twenty-five feet. This pond was fed by 
springs. They take a fly well, and are growing, and although 
ripe males have been taken, no ripe females have as yet been 
found. 
Mr. FrepericK Maruer then read the following paper on 
“Recollections of the early days of the American Fish Cultural 
Association, with an account of the intentions of its founders: ” 
Although but eight years have passed since the formation of 
our Association, there have been so many changes in its mem- 
bership and place of meeting, together with a poverty of the 
early records, that as one of the founders of the Society I have 
been requested, in view of the brilliant future which is believed 
to be before the Association, to give a sketch of its early history 
and the causes which led to its formation. Such a sketch must, 
of necessity, partake largely of a personal character, for it is 
of course impossible to define the intentions of others, but it is 
proper to say that for myself I had no idea of a large and in- 
fluential organization, with the character and scope of the present 
- American Fish Cultural Association growing out of it, but only 
contemplated the possibility of establishing a scale of prices for 
trout-eggs and fry among those who at that time were dealing 
in those articles, and so prevent a ruinous competition. 
