24 FISH CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
This stupid blunder hardly deserves to be mentioned, because no 
one nowadays ought to be guilty of making it ; but it is closely 
allied to another which it is very easy for any one to slip into, 
namely, using a tank that has some injurious properties about it, 
after it has been thoroughly washed. Asan illustration, I should 
consider a new oak-tank decidedly dangerous to carry ocean-fish 
in during a long journey. The oak-wood will impart some of 
its peculiar taste to the water it contains. Now in carrying fresh- 
water fishes through a country where the water can be frequent- 
ly changed with safety, this may do no harm, but in taking a 
long journey with ocean-fish, when the water cannot be changed 
at all, and when the fish are shut up in this tannin-tainted water 
for perhaps a week, I should say it would be exceedingly dan- 
gerous. In this case the injurious agency becomes cumulative, 
and as it increases every day, certainly no one can sav how 
soon it would become fatally poisonous. Unsuitable tanks, 
therefore, may often be a cause of loss. 
(3.) Taking too many fish for the amount of water with them. 
This is too obvious a cause of loss to require much to be said on 
the subject, so I will simply remark that there is a limit beyond 
which fish can be so crowded that no amount of aeration and no 
reduction of the temperature will keep the water in a wholesome 
condition. Then, of course, some must die; but it is to be hoped 
that no one’s desire to carry a great many fish in a small space 
will cause his ambition to run away with his judgment, or blun- 
der into this stupid source of injury to his fishes. 
(4.) Not providing for the necessities of the journey before 
starting This is a more excusable mistake to make, and one 
which even careful fish-culturists are lable sometimes to fall 
into. It is not likely to be made on short trips, or when travel- 
ling through a settled country ; but on a long journey and in an 
unsettled region there is often great danger if all emergencies 
are not foreseen and provided for. Permit me to give two illus- 
trations from my own experience. When we were about tocross 
the Rocky Mountains with shad, in 1873, I relied upon there 
being a stove in the express or baggage car, with the help of 
which we could keep the temperature of our cans beyond all 
