20 ACCUMATISATION OF THE SALMONID.E IN TASMANIA. 



refrigerator during the voyage. The care of the room was 

 entrusted to a gcutlemau passenger ti'avelling to Hobavt, who 

 was fully instructed in his duties, and faithfully performed 

 them. Although ou arrival a large percentage of the ova 

 were alive, the result after hatching was very indifferent. 

 It is, however, impossible to assign accurately any satisfactory 

 reason for this result, which may have arisen from one of 

 several causes. When writing of this experiment to Sir 

 Thomas Brady, while advocating the old system of shipment 

 in an ice tank, I admitted that the refrigerator boxes in the 

 hands of a skilled attendant would be a great success, and the 

 recent great success of Sir T. Brady's shipment, per Kaikoura, 

 conducted upon a somewhat similar principle to that adopted 

 in the Tainui, but upon a larger scale and improved arrange- 

 ments, bears out what I then wrote. I am still, however, 

 inclined to support the old method of the ice tank, as pro- 

 viding an eveu temperature and requiring no supervision or 

 attention during the voyage, in preference to the insulated 

 cases, which really need the attention of a skilled attendant, 

 thereby adding considerably to the outlay. The fry from the 

 Yeoman and Tainui being so large in number could not be 

 convtjuiently detained in the ponds, and it was determined to 

 liberate them when the umbilical vesicle was absorbed, and 

 27,000 salmon fry were placed in various rivers o! the colony 

 between 18th August and 2nd December following. For the 

 first time in the history of salmon acclimatisation in Tasmania 

 S. salar were liberated in other rivers than the Derwent, the 

 allotment being as follows : — 



River Derwent and tributaries 10,950 



South Esk (71 died) 6,000 



North Esk ' 250 



Kiver Huon (10 died) 4,000 



River Mersey (40 died) 4,000 



River Pieman (all died) 500 



River Leven (25 died) 2,000 



River Inclis (86 put in Inglis, about 25 put in South 



Esk) ... 200 



27,000 



735 therefore died in transit. 

 This shipment was the last carried out under the direction 

 of the Salmon Commissioners, but before closing the record 

 of their work it should Ijo stated that in addition to aV. aalar, 

 H. trntla, S. fario, they have successfully introduced to the 

 waters of the colony the American brook trout, 6'. foniinalis, 

 ova of which were obtained from Now Zealand in IHH'A, the 

 increase from which has been distributed amongst many 



