BY P. S. SEAGER. 19 



of the ship, and also saturatiug the moss and decomposing it 

 and killing the ova. From this shipment, 229 smelts were 

 liberated in the River Plenty during 1885, and 730 in 

 October, 1886. 



Thirty fish of the Abington shipment were retained in a 

 special pond at the Plenty hatchery, and although their 

 growth has not been very great they were artificially spawned 

 during last season, jjroducing 3,140 ova, from which 300 fry 

 were liberated, the majority being forwarded to the Northern 

 side of the colony under the care of the Hon. James Smith, 

 M.L.C., whose attention to his charge was so great that he 

 succeeded in liberating 300 in the rivers selected, and 50 

 ■were also placed in the Plenty, It is hoped that for a time, 

 at least, ova will be obtained from the stock detained which, 

 however, through deaths is now reduced to 9 fish. 



Parliament having supplied a vote for another shipment, 

 Messrs. Youl and Brady again offered their valuable services, 

 and Mr. Brady gave his personal attention to the fertilising 

 of the ova from carefully-selected fish from the rivers Erne 

 and Blackwater, Messrs. Mahony, Moore, and Alexander 

 having a second time generously granted the use of their 

 waters for the purpose and presented the ova to the colony. 

 The Salmon Commissioners had also made suggestions to 

 Mr. Youl as to improvements in the ice-house, profiting by 

 the experience of the defects on the previous occasion in the 

 Abington. Mr. Brady succeeded in securing about 160,000 

 ova, which were packed by himself and Mr. Youl in 101 

 boxes, and shipped in an improved ice-house in the s.s. 

 Yeoman, which sailed from London on 27th February, 1885, 

 arriving at Hobart on 4th May. On arrival the ice-house 

 was opened, and the result found to be highly satisfactory. 

 The ova were at once removed to the ponds at the Plenty, 

 and the hatching was completed in June with greater success 

 than had hitherto been obtained, and much of this success 

 may fairly be attributed to the improvements in the ice- 

 house. Ten thousand ova of this shipment were " eyed ova," 

 i.e., ova arrived at such a state of development as to have the 

 eyes visible in the ovum, and the unpacking of this lot 

 revealed so few dead eggs that in their report to Parliament 

 \ipon the shipment, the Commissioners wrote: — "This cir- 

 cumstance would seem to indicate that in future experi- 

 ments ova alone which have arrived at the ' eyed ' stage 

 should be packed." 



Prior to the shipment per Yeoman, a small lot of about 

 10,000 ova had been ship])ed to Hobart per s.s. Tainui, in au 

 insulated case placed in a small room adjoining the refrigera- 

 ting machinery. The case had a series of six trays for ova, 

 with an ice tray above each, the ice being supplied from the 



