27 



EESULTS OF THE VARIOUS ATTEMPTS TO 

 ACCLIMATISE SALMO SALAB IN TASMANIAN 

 WATERS. 



By R. M. Johnston, F.L.S. 



Tasmania has some reason to be proud of her efforts to 

 acclimatise the most important edible fish of Euroj^e, well 

 named the " King of Fishes" (Salmo solar). It is now 36 

 years since the first attempt was made in the ship Columbus. 

 This, with the two succeeding others, in 1860 and 1862 failed, 

 simply because the artificially impregnated ova were not 

 supplied with the more perfect arrangements subsequently 

 discovered for preserving a low temperature throughout 

 the whole period of transport by means of ice. 



Nothing daunted, however, the original acclimatisers 

 persevered in their efforts, for in the years 1862-3 James A. 

 Youl, R. Ramsbottom, W. Ramsbottom, and Thos. Johnston 

 carried out a series of experiments in the ice-vaults of the 

 Wenham Lake Ice Company with such success that they 

 actually hatched artificially impregnated ova which had 

 previously been buried for 90 days in ice refrigerators in the 

 Wenham Lake Company's vaults. Frank Buckland, who 

 was asked to witness these experiments, was enthusiastic with 

 this proof of the vitality of ova whose incubation was so long 

 artificially retarded, and declared " these results most en- 

 couraging," and expressed the hope "that next season the 

 actual experiment of sending the eggs to Australia in a fast 

 sailing ship, packed in ice according to the experience now 

 gained will be attempted." The actual attempt was made, 

 under the supervision of Mr. (now Sir Jas.) Youl, on 

 the 24th January, 1864, in the ship Norfolk, to Mel- 

 bourne, and although the refrigerator boxes (170°) had to bo 

 transferred to the steamship Victoria in Melbourne, they 

 finally were successfully transferred to the hatching boxes at 

 the River Plenty on the 21st day of April, 90 days after the 

 ova were shipped in London. The proportion of living ova 

 was estimated to be about 45 per cent, of the whole shipped. 



The subsequent mortality in the process of hatching, how- 

 ever, was very great, fOr of the original 90,000 of ova of 

 Salmo salar, only 3,000 fry were distributed in our waters as 

 healthy salmon fry, and of the original 1,500 ova of Salmo 

 fario (brown trout), 300 fry were liberated in a healthy 

 condition. 



