Attg. 8, 1903.T 
FOREST AND STREAM 
111 
The American Fisheries Society. 
We supplement the report in our last issue of the meet- 
ing of the American Fisheries Society with a summary of 
the papers and discussions. For the abstract we are in- 
debted to Secretary George F. Peabody. 
A paper by Mr. S. P. Bartlett, of Quincy, III., was 
read on "Angling for Carp," and some hints as to the 
best mode of cooking. The writer said that the best 
bait was a dough ball made of oatmeal mush worked 
hard with cotton batting. The prejudice against carp 
as a table food arises from improper cooking. The 
carp furnish equal sport for the angler with game fish, 
are a good wholesome food, and have come to stay. 
Mr. Clark thought the carp had come to stay in the 
Great Lakes as a commercial fish, and that it was not 
hurting the other fish at all. 
Mr. Willard read a paper by Mr. A. D. Mead, of the 
Rhode Island Fish Commission, on recent advances on 
lobster culture. He said that the Rhode Island Com- 
mission had solved the problem of protecting the fry 
by using an apparatus to keep the water in motion, so 
that the fry will not sink to the bottom and perish, and 
has also devised apparatus by which the fry can be 
carried through the swimming stages in large numbers, 
and also apparatus to hatch lobster eggs. Young lob- 
sters have been kept through three successive winters 
by sinking them in small cars to a depth of aljout 
eight feet in water. Improvements are to be looked 
for in perfecting the transmission machinery, and in 
protecting fry from parasites. 
Dr. James A. Henshall read a paper on "Blood as 
Fish Food." The writer said that the results of this 
manner of feeding both fish and fry are so encouraging 
as to warrant its continuance. 
Mr. Titcomb thought blood was very good for the 
early stages of the fry. 
Mr. Atkins said that he had been using hogs' plucks 
at the Craig Brook Station, with excellent results for 
many years. Between May and October of last year 
the cost of feeding 447,000 fry was $262.52, or 414 mills 
per fish— about half what the cost of butchers' offal 
would be. 
Mr. Seymour Bower said that he fed sheeps' plucks 
to the fish and preferred them to hog's liver, but in the 
summer months he alternated that with Lane's food. 
_Mr. Seagle said he fed his small trout fry with her- 
ring roe. 
Mr. Charles G. Atkins read a paper on the "Live 
Food Problem." He discussed all the possible sources 
of live food, including other fishes, water insects, 
shrimps, daphnids, and other crustacea, water snails, 
aerial insects, angleworms, etc. Lugrin's tank method 
of growing daphnia, etc., was described; also Von 
Scheidlin's method of odorless production of maggots. 
Other methods of production of maggots were also 
described. 
Mr. W, F. Hubbard, of Nashua, N. H., read a paper 
on "Transportation of Green Brook Trout and Salmon 
Eggs." It is not advisable to attempt to move green 
salmon eggs, he said. Green brook trout eggs may be 
transported with small loss. 
Mr. Clark said that green brook trout eggs could be 
transported at any time with safety, until the critical 
stage is reached, which is about the eighth day. 
General Bryant, of Madison, suggested that the 
problem was first to avoid the least shock to the eggs 
when they were at the critical stage; second, to use 
pure water, and third, to keep it at the right tempera- 
ture. 
Rev. E. M. Waterhouse, of Providence, Rhode 
Island, read a paper by Mr. D. B. Fearing, of Newport, 
on "Some Early Notes on Striped Bass." 
At the conclusion of the history the writer said that 
the most successful introduction of fish to waters pre- 
viously foreign to it, has been the introduction of 
striped bass into California waters. With such phe- 
nomenal results achieved by nature alone in California, 
why should not our own coast once more be made to 
teem with pools of striped bass, as of .vore? 
Mr. S. G. Worth, of Edenton, Nortli Carolina, gave 
an account of his study of the striped bass as found in 
North Carolina waters. He said that about ten vears 
ago there was an immense catch of striped bass in 
spawning condition, made with sturgeon nets at Eden- 
ton; that these catches are not regularly made is due 
to the fact that it is only occasionally that the bass are 
driven down the river by muddy water. This stripe4 
bass makes for the rapids of the river, and there de- 
posits its eggs in places inaccessible to the fisherman 
until the water begins to fall and the fish drop below 
the falls at Weldon, and are taken with dip nets. 
This year from the 6th of May and for a week fol- 
lowing, we encountered spawning fish and were amazed 
at the great quantity of eggs obtained from the indi- 
vidual fish, and also at the enormous field which 
seemed to open up there for practical work by the 
Fish Commission. The writer says: I personally esti- 
mated that I took one million five hundred thousand 
eggs from a single 20-pound fish caught at Roanoke 
Rapids. This year I witnessed hundreds of rock fish 
(striped bass) fights at Weldon. I had heard of this 
thing before, but never had seen it. The spawning 
female fish is often surrounded by from twenty to fifty 
small male fish weighing less than two pounds each, 
and these small fish appear to be the only ones that 
mate with the female. They are known the're as perch 
rock, because they are the size of a perch. The frv 
stands any amount of transportation, and we get about 
a third the number of fish that we have eggs. 
^ The Huntoon Oyster Company, of Fairhaven, Wash- 
ington, presented two boxes of specimens taken from 
the oyster beds at Samish Bay, Skagit county, showinc^ 
samples of native oysters as caught in seed form show- 
ing shells of ten months' growth averaging as large 
as a 50-cent piece. The material used as a catcher is 
cast-oflF salmon netting. Scrap tin. bark, shells, gravel 
and other means of taking seed have been tested but 
the results of the netting have been the most satisfac- 
tory. 
Mr John D. Wliish, Secretary of the Forest Fish 
and Game Commission of New York State, made an 
address, giving some notes on the work of the Forest 
Fish and Game Commission of New York State with 
special reference to commercial values, showing that 
the estimated cash value to the people of the work 
done by the Commission far exceeded the amount of 
money used by the Commision. 
Dr. Tarleton H. Bean read a paper by Mr. Samuel 
Lovejoy, of Georgia, on "Fish on the Farm— What 
Fishes to Select." The writer said that one of the 
greatest mistakes was in overstocking the ponds; and 
that the arranging of the pond and embankment should 
be carefully planned; then stock your pond with the 
speckled catfish, the blue gill bream, or the Warmouth 
bass. 
Mr. Titcomb said that the main trouble with most 
people that build these artificial ponds comes from the 
fact that they most always choose a ravine or some 
place where they can throw a dam across, they stock 
it, and the whole thing goes out in the following 
spring. 
Mr. Titcomb exhibited various specimens of bass 
and bass fry, illustrating, among other things, the can- 
nibalistic tendencies of the fish. 
He then read a paper by Mr. J. J. Stranahan on the 
subject of "Three Main Points Necessary to Successful 
Bass Culture." These points are what brought the 
Cold Spring, Georgia, station of the United States 
Fish Commission from comparative failure two years 
ago to succes this year. He said: "Ship all the baby 
fingerlings, secured just before the brooks break up, 
with us one to one and a half inches long, that you 
possibly can; keep all fish except the kind you wish to 
propagate entirely out of the ponds; feed enough to 
keep the parent fish healthy throughout the year, and 
keep them full during breeding season in order to 
prevent them from devouring large numbers of what 
will make your fingerlings; see that you have abundant 
cover to hide your fry, baby fingerlings and fingerlings, 
and to make a good home for j'our adults, and all else 
will come to you." 
_ Mr. J. N. Leary, Superintendent of San Marcos Sta- 
tion, Texas, then read a paper on "Propagation of 
Large-Mouth Bass at San Marcos Station." Nothing 
but fish varying from two to six inches in length are 
shipped from the station, and success may be antici- 
pated in black bass propagation if the plan of plenty 
of room and abundance of food is adhered to. 
Mr. Clark being about to construct small-mouth bass 
ponds at the Northville, Michigan, hatcheries, asked 
about the proper depth of water. 
Mr. Leary advised that the spawning area run from 
three feet to nothing, this shallow water affording op- 
portunity for plenty of insects and plant life for fry 
food, and that in the climate of Michigan a maximum 
depth of the kettle of fifteen feet w^ould not be too 
great. The point is to keep the water from freezing 
at the bottom, and to have no dead water. This was 
the consensus of opinion of the bass men. 
Mr. Lydell suggested that most of the propagators 
were dealing largely with large-mouth bass, while the 
problem which Mr. Clark was called upon to solve was 
one concerning small-mouth bass, and that conditions 
varied so much in each locality that Mr. Clark would 
have to do a good deal of experimenting for himself. 
Mr. Titcomb suggested that inasmuch as Mr. Clark 
intended to build five ponds, it would be a good idea 
to try depths running six, ten, twelve and fifteen feet, 
to determine experimentally which was the best depth. 
If the greater depths were . found better, the shallow 
ponds could be deepened. 
Instances were mentioned by Mr. Henry W. Bee- 
man, of Creston, Conn., of a second or even a third 
spawning of bass, the three different spawnings being 
two or three weeks apart. 
_Mr. Lydell mentioned an instance that ' came under 
his notice of one female .spawning on two separate 
nests with two male fishes; also an instance of second 
spawning, at Grand Rapids. 
Mr. Leary rnentioned a bass that spawned twice, 
where the identification of the fish was perfect, for the 
reason that it was blind. 
_ Mr. Beeman described his experiments and expe- 
rience as an amateur in breeding small-mouth bass. 
The re-stocking of small lakes with black bass by 
private enterprise seems a posibilitv, accordine to the 
experience given by Mr. Beeman in Lake Waramaug. 
The small cottagers on this lake, through information 
received from the proceedings of the American Fish- 
eries Society, furnished Mr. Beeman with the neces- 
sary means for constructing a private bass hatchery. 
This hatchery was completed one year ago, and Mr. 
Beeman has deposited about 240,000 voung bass in the 
lake. Using the experience of the older fishculturists 
in the cultivation of black bass, Mr. Beeman seems to 
have achieved marked success as an amateur. His ex- 
perience will be printed at length in the proceedings 
of the American Fisheries Society for 15,03. 
Mr. Seymour Bower said that the Fish "Commission 
in Michigan had the greatest proportionate success in 
raising small-mouth bass in its earliest experiments, 
jind that the early sucesses of the Commission were 
largely attributable, he thought, to good luck. He 
said further that Prof. Reighard attributed the non- 
productiveness of many beds to a lack of vitality in 
the parent fish, or in the eggs themselves, as the eggs 
of the non-prod'.ictive beds were found to be fertilized 
_ Mr. Dean said the production of bass was a ques- 
tion of procuring natural food and moss for them. As 
the pond vegetation varies greatly the problem is most 
perplexing. 
Mr. Titcomb and Mr. Leary suggested that the 
trouble in regard to vegetation would be obviated if 
the pond were drawn down at the proper time, which 
would be in October. 
Mr. Lydell and Mr. Ravenel thought the conditions 
varied so that every bass station must solve its own 
problems. 
Mr. F. N. Clark, Mr. Seymour Bower, and Mr W 
DeC. Ravenel were appointed a committee of three 
to present a report making a distinction in the use of 
the terms "bass fry" and "bass fingerlings." 
Prof. M. C. Marsh, of Washington, D C read a 
paper on "A Fatality Among Fishes Containing an Ex- 
cess of Dissolved Air." This paper referred to trouble 
at the Woods Hole Aquarium due to the fact that air 
leaked into the suction pipe of the pump and resulted 
in over-aeration of tb? water and consequent death of 
the fishes. He said the excess of air may be removed 
by allowing the water to fall into the aquarium from 
above in a shower. Another cause of similar symp- 
toms is change in water pressure, as when a deep sea 
fish is brought into a shallow aquarium; another cause 
mentioned was bacteria. 
Mr. W. T. Thompson read a paper on the subject of 
"Golden Trout," one of the least known but most 
beautiful of New England fishes. He said that the 
essential characteristics of the golden trout are that he 
is a bottom feeder, and inhabits deep and cold waters. 
The writer has observed in rearing these fish that the 
young fish are most active and healthy and make the 
most rapid growth in the severe winter months; and 
the marbling on the back is a means of distinguishing 
it from the brook trout. 
The President read a paper by Prof. Henry B. Ward, 
of Nebraska, on "Some Notes on Fish Food in the 
Lakes of the Sierras." 
Wednesday, July 22, 1003, at 2:30 P. M., the memorial 
services in honor of Spencer Fullerton Baird were held 
on the grounds of the United States Fish Commission. 
The m.eeting was called to order by President Bowers, 
who said: 
"At a former meeting of the American Fisheries 
Society a resolution was passed suggesting the erection 
of a tablet to the memory of Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 
as an appropriate tribute and recognition of his dis- 
tinguished labors in behalf of station fisheries and 
biological science. A committee was appointed to raise 
the necessary funds, and has faithfully performed its 
duty, so that we are here to-day to dedicate this 
memorial. It is especially fitting that such tablet should 
be erected at Woods Hole, the scene of so many of his 
scientific achievements, and where his life labors 
ended." 
A tablet of bronze upon a huge granite boulder and 
veiled with the American flag was then unveiled by 
Miss Rose McDonald, Miss Eleanor Bowers and Mr. 
Vinol N. Edwards. The inscription on the tablet reads: 
"In memory of Spencer Fullerton Baird, U. S. Com- 
missioner_ of Fisheries 1871-1887, the American Fish- 
eries Society places this tablet in appreciation of his 
inestimable services to icthyology, pisciculture, and the 
fisheries. 1002." 
E. W. Blatchford, L.L.D., of Chicago, delivered the 
memorial address. He said, that Prof. Baird became an 
ofiicer of the Smithsonian Institution in 1850. In 1874 
the office of Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries was 
established and he promptly received the appointment. 
Prof. Baird was a man of indefatigable activity of 
body and mind. The list of his works, as issued in 
1883, embraces 1,063 titles, 73 relating to mammals, 80 
to birds, 43 to reptiles, 431 to fishes, 61 to invertebrates, 
16 to plants, 88 to geographical distribution, 46 to 
geology, mineralogy and paleontology, 45 to an- 
thropology, 31 to industry and art, and 109 to explora- 
tion and travel. The tireless devotion of Prof. Baird 
to science is shown by the number of his contributions, 
breadth of research, and thoroughness of treatment; 
and during all this time Prof. Baird shared the burden 
of the administration of three great organizations, the 
Smithsonian Institution, its ward, the National 
Mu seum, and the Fish Commission. Every civilized 
country paid him honor. His modesty was impressive; 
he was approachable and genial, and possessed a 
marked aversion to personal controversy. During his 
last illness at Woods Hole for everyone he had words 
of good cheer, well knowing that they were words of 
farewell. The end came when, after a brief period of 
unconsciousness, he breathed his last August 19, 1887. 
Prof. William K. Brooks, of Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, a warm personal friend of Prof. Baird's during 
his last years, delivered the next address. He said that 
Prof. Baird increased the efficiency of the Smithsonian 
Institution; conceived and put in execution the plan for 
a national museum; was one of the founders of the 
National Academy of Science, and that he was the 
father of the Fish Commission. 
Mr.^ Frank N. Clark, an early appointee of Prof. 
Baird's, and now President of the American Fisheries 
Society, then addressed the meeting. He spoke feel- 
ingly of the inspiration that all who associated with 
Prof. Baird derived from him. 
Mr. Livingston Stone, of Rhode Island, another 
early appointee of Prof. Baird's, read from a copy of 
toREST AND Stre.\m of date of February 12, 1898 being 
a paper read by Mr. Stone before the Fisheries Society 
meeting of that year. The portion of the paper referring 
to ^ Prof. Baird was as follows: 
_ "The other figure which stands out most prominently 
m my memory, as I recall the early days of American 
hshculture, is that of one who has been called a plain 
man. He was a plain man, indeed, but one who was 
made after nature's largest pattern of men. He was 
large m mental caliber and large in phvsical frame, large 
m his broad sympathies and in his wide scope of vision, 
large in his comprehensive grasp of great aims, and large 
in his capacity for great undertakings— large in every- 
thing, but small in nothing. You at once recognize, I 
know, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, the first United States 
Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. 
"The mere mention of Prof. Baird's name strikes a 
chord of dear memories in the hearts of all who knew 
him. No man of our time has left a purer memory, a 
more stainless name or a more animated or endurino- 
influence over his special field of labor than Prof. Baird 
He was loved by those who knew him when he was liv- 
'"S: 'if revered by those who have survived him. 
rrof. Eaird lived m a higher plane of life and breathed 
a purer atmosphere than most men. Quiet and unas- 
suming, wnth a nature as gentle as a child's, his natural 
superiority never failed to show^ itself when he was with 
other nien, not even among the distinguished men who 
gathered m the winter at the national capital. Yet he was 
thoughtful and considerate of his subordinates and al- 
ways ready to give his meed of praise of anv work well 
done by his humblest employe. Prof. Baird had the 
enviable gift not only of endearing every one to him 
who came in contact with him, but of inspiring them 
with his own enthusiasm and energy This made Con- 
gressnien vote him all the appropriations that he asked 
for; for it was a common saying at Washington that 
Congress gave Prof. Baird everything that he" wanted 
Like a good general he had the personal welfare of his 
men at heart while he was Fish Commissioner, and the? 
