134 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Aug. 12, 1905. 
Anglers^ Association of the St* 
Lawrence* 
There was a large attendance at the twenty-second 
annual meeting of the Anglers’ Association of the St. 
Lawrence River, which was held at the Thousand Island 
House, Alexandria Bay, Wednesday, Aug. 2, and the pro- 
ceedings were of great interest to all. The meeting was 
called to order by President Charles R. Skinner, of Al- 
bany, formerly State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion. The president appointed A. C. Cornwall, of Alex- 
dria Bay; Sigmund Stern, of New York, and J. M. Cur- 
tiss, of Cleveland, O., as a nominating committee. Treas- 
urer R. P. Grant, of Clayton, presented his armual report 
which showed a balance of $574.21 on hand. 
Hon. Charles R. Skinner then delivered his annual ad- 
dress as president of the Association. He called atten- 
tion to the fact that during the past year the organiza- 
tion had lost but one member. The speaker complimented 
the Association upon the loyalty of its members and said 
that the membership was not merely local but represented 
nearly every county of the. State as well as nearly every 
State of the Union. The purpose of this organization was 
to enforce the laws of New York State upon the St. Law- 
rence River and by so doing to protect the interests of the 
fish and game. “The Association was organized long 
before there was any State Department governing the 
game laws, and at that time the Association itself paid 
a game protector to enforce game laws on the St. Law- 
rence River. The international reservations are due to 
the influence of this organization, which secured the 
enactment of laws providing for the expenditure of near- 
ly $60,000 for State parks from Tibbitt's Point to Ogdens- 
burg. I am glad to hear that our neighbors across the 
■river have promoted this project well, and the only fault 
which I have to find with them is that American fisher- 
men must pay a license to fish in Canadian waters, when 
New York State furnishes millions of fry annually, with 
which the river is stocked. We' cannot mark our fish so 
that the Canadian fish can be distinguished from the 
American, and surely are not the fish of our country as 
good as those of another? No American would prevent a 
Canadian from fishing in international waters, which 
should be open to all who enjoy the sport of angling. Mr. 
Taylor, of the Canadian Parliament, has done all in his 
power to secure the broad and generous enforcement of 
laws. A short time ago Mr. Whipple, who is the head of 
the Forest, Fish and Game Commission, was on a tour 
of inspection and while here became acquainted with the 
work of the Anglers’ Association, to which he promised 
his hearty support.” 
_ Speaking of the former power of the Anglers’ Asso- 
ciation, President Skinner said that before the State 
Forest, P'ish and Game Commission was created the 
Association appointed Joseph Northrup, of Alexandria 
Bay, as the game protector, and he considered that his 
removal last February, at the time of the change of ad- 
rninistration at Albany, was a bad blow to the Associa- 
tion, but that Mr. Whipple had assured this organization 
that it should have Mr. Northrup to look after the river. 
In regard to the legislation of last winter President Skin- 
ner said that it did not affect the river except the law 
which _ was passed at the suggestion of the anglers to 
prohibit the retention of maskinonge under 24 inches in 
length. 
William H. Thompson, of Alexandria Bay, correspond- 
ing secretary of the Anglers’ Association, submitted his 
ai'j'iual report as did also A. C. Cornwall, chairman of 
the Executive Committee. 
Hon. George Taylor, of Gananoque, Ont., Member of 
Parliament, said that with Hon. C. E. Britton, of Gan- 
anoque, he had tided to intercede withithe Canadian Gov- 
ernment to consider the waters fronr' Kingston to Og- 
densburg as international and to make their laws coinci- 
dent with those of New York. He showed how in their 
discussions as to whether the Dominion or Provincial 
Government of Canada should make the fishery laws, the 
matter was carried to the Privy Council of England, 
which decided in favor of the Provincial Government. 
Mr. Taylor said that in an interview with the Minister of 
the Provincial Government he said that any former 
agreement between the Anglers’ Association and Cana- 
dian officials should be honored. He expressed his deep 
regret at the fact that the assistant deputy commissioners 
of fisheries should have issued an edict prohibiting 
American fishermen from taking fish from Canadian 
waters, unless a $5 license was paid for every rod, and 
in order to remedy this he suggested that a committee 
consisting of the prominent New York officials and also 
Canadian officials should wait upon the Provincial Gov- 
ernment. Hon. C. E. Britton, of Gananoque, corroborated 
what Mr. Taylor' had. said. 
R. P. Grant then spoke briefly in regard to the number 
of maskinonge fry which the State had placed in the St. 
Lawrence River. 
Senator Malby, of Ogdensburg, and I. H. Dargavel, 
of Elgin, Ont., spoke briefly. T. F. Kerr, of Englewood, 
N. J., advocated the enforcement of the law in regard to 
the defacement of natural scenery. 
Officers for the ensuing year were elected as follows : 
President, Hon. Charles R. Skinner, Albany; First Vice- 
President, Alexander Robb, New York city; Second Vice- 
President, Thomas F. Kerr, Englewood, N. J. ; Third 
Vice-President, Col. O. G. Staples, Washington, D. C. ; 
Secretary, W. H. Thompson, Alexandria Bay; Treas- 
urer, R. P. Grant, Clayton; Executive Committee, chair- 
man, A. C. Cornwall, Alexandria Bay; C. W. Crossman, 
Walter Fox, Dr. J. D. Cole, Alexandria Bay; George 
Hall, Ogdensburg; F. H. Taylor, New York city; A. E. 
Clark, Chicago; G. T. Rafferty, T. .A.. Gillespie, Pitfs- 
burg. Pa. ; George C. Boldt, C. G. Emery, W. H. Nicliols. 
New York city; J. P. Lamson, Cleveland, O.; Hon. C. E. 
Brjtton, Gananoque. 
After the adjournment of the meeting the members of 
the Association enjoyed a banquet at the Thousand Island 
House. 
It is understood that American fishermen are now free 
to angle in Canadian waters without a Government 
license for the first time in several years. The regula- 
tion requiring a license by all foreigners fishing in Cana- 
dian waters has not been officially revoked by the Gov- 
ernment, but the present attitude of the authorities, it is 
said, makes it practically null and void. W. E W 
The Life History of the Angler* 
BY THEODORE GILL. 
From the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 
Of all the remarkable characteristics of the angler, per- 
haps the most remarkable are the manner in which the 
eggs of the female are consigned to the waves and the 
subsequent development and metamorphosis of the 
young. As much as twenty-two or twenty-three cen- 
turies ago at least the manner of oviposition was known 
to Greek fishermen and briefly noticed by Aristotle. 
Leaving aside his irrelative and speculative remarks, 
he declared that the sea frog lays its eggs in a bunch 
near the shore. Not until quite recently was more in- 
formation communicated, and then in a land unknown 
to the Greek philosopher. 
About the end of summer the fishes seek shallower 
water and the inhabitants of the depths advance up- 
wards; the sexes must then consort together, but in 
what manner and whal rites of marriage are performed 
is unknown ; the result, however, is, that about the time 
indicated “the fishermen on the New England coast often 
notice a substance floating on the water, which they 
term ‘a purple veil,’ the precise nature of which has 
caused much speculation on their part, and which an- 
swers singularly well to its designation.” S. F. Baird, in 
mass a somewhat blackish appearance. The eggs are 
laid in a single irregular layer through the mass, usually 
well separated by the mucus in which they float.” The 
color of the veil must -vary from light when first issuing 
from the mother Lophius to dark when the eyes of the 
larvae have become conspicuous. The eggs may be as 
many as a million or more. (Thompson estimated i,- 
420,000 and P'ulton 1,345,848.) Each egg is about a 
twelfth of an inch or two millimeters in diameter. Thus 
the earliest stages of development are passed and when 
the larva has burst its shell envelope it immediately 
leaves the veil and begins life free on the surface of the 
sea. 
The newly hatched young, as Agassiz well says, “it 
would be difficult to recognize” as the embryo of the 
angler. It w'ould, indeed, be impossible to do so without 
extraneous information. _ It is an elongated, mouthless 
and almost _ shapeless being with the yolk still forming 
nearly half its bulk and with simply a continuous fin fold. 
About a week later it has obtained a mouth, a dorsal 
ray has been evolved, and long spatula-like ventrals as 
well as short broad pectorals have been developed. 
In about a fortnight or little more a second dorsal ray 
ha.s become manifest, the pectorals have developed in- 
cipient ray.s, and the ventrals show two rays. 
At a considerably later period the early form is still 
retained but the head is more pronounced, the mouth 
and jaws better defined, and the four distinct dorsal rays 
over and behind the head are manifest; the two ventral 
rays have become longer. 
There is an indication in the lower fold of the future 
caudal and where the notochord is to be tilted up. 
Later still the continuous fold has been broken up and 
distinct rayed dorsal and anal fins are developed, but the 
pudal is “heterocercal.” The anterior dorsal has been 
increased by a short ray in front and another behind and 
all are more elongated and ray-like than in earlier stages. 
Ihe pectorals have become well developed and the ven- 
trals enormously elongated so that, when seen swimming 
from above the little fish reminds us of a long-tailed 
butterfly. 
When the angler has reached this sta.ge, it has become 
a respectable fish. It does not, indeed, look at all like its 
mother_ but nevertheless an ichthyologist, perfectly fam- 
iliar with the fishes of the North Atlantic, would have 
no difficulty in recognizing it as the young of the angler. 
The numbers of rays, and more especially the six nearly 
or quite free anterior dorsal rays, are characteristic and 
distinguish the fish from all others. The condition and 
mode of development of these free rays are indeed note- 
worthy on account of their early appearance, inasmuch 
as the ano-lers are not in other respects radically differ- 
entiated from other families of pediculate fishes. 
Development still goes on and the caudal fin becomes 
homccercal, the other fins still better defined. The head 
grows disproportionately, the ventral fins become much re- 
duced and the pectorals less so, the foremost dorsal spine 
grows out beyond all the others and the second to sixth, 
arrested in development, are much shorter, and the four 
median caudal rays become forked, A regular fully de- 
veloped angler is the outcome. 
The next noteworthy stage in development is in the 
way of perfecting the fins, especially the rays, and the 
isolation of the three foremost dorsal rays and their ad- 
vance forward so that the first arises from the snout. 
The tag-like appendages are concurrently developed along 
the ,<^ides of the body, the edge.s of the lower jaw and 
opercular apparatus, and the dorsal spines. By this time 
the little angler is two or three inches long. The ven- 
The illustrations show the young angler at various stages of growth, from a short time after 
hatching to a stage where it has most of the characteristics of the adult, but larger pectorals ai'id 
ventrals, and less flattened head. 
1871. became interested in the accounts he heard and 
sought to determine the origin of the “purple veil.” He 
found one “which presented the appearance of a continu- 
ous sheet of a purplish brown color, twenty or thirty 
feet in length, and four or five in width, composed of a 
mucous substance which was perfectly transparent, to 
which, as a whole, a purple color was imparted by the 
presence of specks distributed uniformly throughout the 
mass to the number of about thirty or more to the square 
inch.” The little specks were embryonic fishes “moving 
vigorously in their envelope, but without any appreciable 
latitude of motion, or change of relative position to each 
other.” Baird could not identify the little fishes, but it 
happened that Alpander Agassiz had shortly before ob- 
served and investigated the veil with its contents and de- 
termined it to be the product of the angler. In 1882 
Agassiz published the results of his investigations and a 
remarkable history was disclosed, which has been sup- 
plemented by the more recent observations of Prince, 
McIntosh and Masterman. 
The “violet veil,’’ in fact, is a great communistic cradle 
for the large family of a single mother angler. It is, 
according to Agassiz, “an immense ribbon-shaped mu- 
cous band, from two to three,” or it may be five, “feet 
broad, and from twenty-five to thirty feet,’J or even, ac- 
cording to Prince, thirty-six feet long. “It looks at a 
short distance like an immense crape. The mucus is 
of a light violet gray color and the dark black pigment 
spots of the young Lophius, still in the egg, give to the 
trals are still very long but all the rays are developed and 
the head and body have not yet assumed the much de- 
pressed form characteristic .of the adult. 
■When the young fall to the bottom they are supposed 
“to frequent rocky algse-covered ground where they can 
have a shelter and also suitable food.” Few are ever 
taken by the dredge or trawl even in ground where the 
old are abundant. It is only when they become older 
that most of them leave such secluded nooks and come 
out into the open. 
The growth of the angler has been especially studied 
by T. Wemyss Fulton (1903) based on the examination 
of large series. When six months old, the “mean” 
length is dYs inches ( 5 - 83 /^), when “one year and six 
months,” it is 1214 inches (g-iS'Vis), and “when two 
years and six months,” it is i8-i8l4 inches (1414-21-22) . 
“When three years old, supposing a little less than the 
same rate of increase continues— and in fishes growth is 
not usually much reduced in rapidity before the period 
of maturity^ is reached — the angler will measure approxi- 
mately 21 inches in length, and when four years old 
about 26 or 27 inches. The information as to the size at 
which maturity is first attained is not extensive, but 
males may be found ripe at the size stated. Females 
probably do not become mature, as a rule, until over 30 
inches in length, and the facts point to the males first 
reaching maturity four years of age and the females 
when five years.” 
As such an angler it passes its life year after year. It 
