ZOOLOGICAL 
gram. The contributions covered nearly all 
phases of fisheries work. Some of the most 
important subjects treated were: the prevention 
of water pollution, conservation of fisheries, 
methods in practical fish, frog and lobster cul- 
ture, the enforcement of fisheries regulations, 
the Alaska seal fisheries, the biology of fishes, 
diseases of fishes, ete. 
The work of this body is thus not only very 
broad, but it is extremely important in affording 
a clearing house for the ideas of the men who 
are engaged in studying the manifold questions 
connected with the biology, cultivation and con- 
servation of our valuable aquatic animals. 
The society had its origin forty years ago in 
the American Fish Cultural Society, which held 
its first meeting December 20, 1870, in New 
York City. It thus arose at the time when the 
U. S. Fish Commission (now the U. S. Bureau 
of Fisheries) was being organized by Prof. 
Spencer F. Baird. The intense enthusiasm for 
the study of fisheries problems with which Pro- 
fessor Baird fired all those with whom he came 
in contact, was as largely responsible for the 
organization of the society as it was for that of 
the government work. Concerned in the forma- 
tion of the society also were Wm. Clift, Robt. 
B. Roosevelt and Eugene G. Blackford, all early 
presidents of the society and men deeply inter- 
ested in the practical development of our fish- 
eries. 
The work of the society, in its earlier years, 
was largely confined to methods in fish culture, 
but it has extended so as to embrace all problems 
connected with fish and fisheries of whatever 
character. With this growth in the work of 
the organization the name was changed to the 
present one some years ago. 
The membership of the society, which now 
numbers more than five hundred, includes the 
names of nearly all the officials of the Bureau 
of Fisheries and of the various state fish com- 
missions, as well as those of biologists, anglers 
and practical fishermen. 
It was fitting to hold this anniversary meet- 
ing in New York City where the society first 
met and organized. The New York Zoological 
Society provided a luncheon for the members on 
Tuesday, and on Wednesday the American 
Museum entertained the society at luncheon in 
the Darwin room. The arrangements for the 
meeting were in the hands of a special anniver- 
sary committee, of which Director Chas. H. 
Townsend and Assistant Director Raymond C. 
Osburn of the New York Aquarium were mem- 
bers, and the same committee will have charge 
of publishing the proceedings of this meeting. 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 707 
Hon. W. E. Meehan, State Fish Commissioner 
of Pennsylvania, was elected president for the 
coming year, and St. Louis, Mo., was selected 
as the next meeting place. its (E510) 
STREAM PROTECTION IN EUROPE. 
A dramatic example of the results of protec- 
tion of streams from pollution, even in large 
towns, came under the notice of the writer dur- 
ing the past summer. The Oos is a small river 
which runs for a considerable proportion of its 
course through the town of Baden Baden in the 
Black Forest of Germany. The district around 
it has been known and settled since Roman 
times, although the river heads back into a for- 
est covered mountain. In Baden Baden the 
banks are not only made of dressed stone, but 
for a half mile or more the bottom has actually 
been paved with stones. A series of small cas- 
cades, equipped with fish ways, vary the course 
of the river, but in appearance it is a stream of 
no special attraction except for the clearness of 
its water. 
At the head waters there has been for some 
ten or fifteen years past a small fish hatchery, 
and trout, including some American species, are 
annually liberated in the stream. As a result 
the river, in spite of the fact that there appears 
to be little food for fish, actually swarms with 
trout, chiefly the European brown trout, run- 
ning three or four to the pound. These fish are 
in plain sight under the main bridge of the 
town of Baden Baden over which foot passen- 
gers and vehicles are continually passing. Any 
day during the past summer there could be seen 
half a dozen brown trout, measuring a foot in 
length, and two or three large rainbow trout 
which certainly must have weighed fully four to 
six pounds apiece. These fish were objects of 
great curiosity to passers-by, and seemed to be 
entirely without fear. No one disturbed them 
and they rose voraciously to any food or at- 
tractive object thrown into the stream. In their 
confidence in the good will of humanity the fish 
resembled the squirrels in Central Park. So 
far as could be learned fishing licenses could be 
had for a small sum, but no one eared to fish 
publicly in the stone paved stream in the center 
of the town. In the upper stretches of the river 
the fishing was said to be exceptionally good. 
It is probable that under existing conditions 
in America, where our enforcement of the law is 
very slack, no such protection in a thickly set- 
tled town could be extended to fish. The en- 
terprising small boy would unquestionably get 
these confiding fish out of the river on the first 
