380 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVI. 



particulars. I see from the rules that the good standard of llin. is fixed as 

 the limit below which trout must not be retained — R. B. M. 



Dear Sir, — In your editorial notes in the Fishing Gazette of Nov. 5 you 

 ask for information about trout breeding in Ceylon. The following lines may 

 be of some interest to readers of your paper. 



The first experiments in trout breeding were made in 1880 by the late Mr. 

 H. L. Hubbard. In 1882 a few fish were turned into the stream at Nuwara 

 Eliya, and ova have been more or less regularly imported since 1886. When 

 the Ceylon Fishing Club was started I do not know. At first the ova of brown 

 trout and Loch Levens only were imported ; but in 1889 the ova of rainbow 

 trout were introduced. The experiment proved successful, the rainbows 

 taking kindly to the Ceylon streams, and they are now far more popular than 

 the brown trout on account of their superior sporting and edible qualities. 



The fish imported have thrived well, and now run to a large size. I do not 

 know what the record size is, but Mr. Plate's big rainbow trout mentioned in 

 your paper about a year ago (I could not find the reference) is probably one of 

 the biggest. Fish up to 31b. are fairly common. The average of takable fish 

 is a little over a pound — at least, that is my experience, but more expert 

 anglers may have a much better average. 



Spasmodic attempts have been made in the past to breed fish artificially from 

 the imported stock ; but the difficulty has been to find males in milt when the 

 females are ripe. No attempt, I bolieve, to breed fish artificially has so far been 

 a success. A few years ago the trout started breeding naturally. Whether 

 these naturally bred fish are pure rainbows or hybrids I do not know. But 

 with the fish now breeding naturally there should be no difficulty in stocking 

 all the likely up-country streams, and it is possible that the Ceylon Fishing 

 Club may in a few years be in a position to supply India with ova or fry. 

 With this end in view the club has lately been considering the question of 

 getting out an expert from home to build hatcheries and instruct them how to 

 breed trout. 



As to the streams— they are all fine trout streams with plenty of natural 

 food and plenty of good running water. There is no danger of the carp 

 fouling the water as suggested by you. The carp keep to the lakes and 

 lower portions of the Nuwara Eliya streams. They do not wander far from 

 the slack water. 



The Horton Plains stream, which is the finest bit of stocked water here, is 

 an ideal trout stream, combining all the best qualities of English trout streams, 

 except a regular rise of fly. At its head it is a very small stream with deep 

 holes and good " elbows " thickly fringed with rhododendron bushes. One has 

 to throw a fly very accurately to drop it into these pools. There are good 

 gravelly shallows in the tributary- streams which should make excellent 

 spawning beds. As the stream increases in volume there are deep rocky pools, 

 big enough to hold salmon, long stretches of slack deep water, enticing stickles 

 and some fine waterfalls— in fact, every sort of water to tempt the trout. And 



