Ill 



friend of Mr. Youl's), containing wet moss and Ova; and Mr. 

 Eamsbottoni also placed in one of the trays in the suspended 

 apparatus one fish just hatched. 



On the 4th of March last the " Beautiful Star" left London, 

 and on the 8th was compelled through stress of weather to 

 put back to the Downs. The gimbal apparatus worked so 

 badly that in this short period from six to seven thousand of 

 the Ova died. The motion caused the Ova to roll backwards 

 and forwards on the glass rods, bruising them against the 

 sides of the trays and against each other. In addition to this, 

 Mr. Ramsbottom perceived that the Ova were getting coated 

 with a deposit from the shellac varnish, which was rapidly 

 leaving the wood. The gimbal apparatus being clearly a 

 failure, Mr. Eamsbottom carefully transferred the Ova from it 

 into the suspended apparatus with a large spoon, in such a 

 manner as never to leave it exposed to the air for an instant. 

 Cn the 13th March the "Beautiful Star" left the Downs, 

 and on the 16th the filler-in of the screw propeller was 

 carried away, which compelled her to put back to Scilly for 

 repairs. And here a new difficulty arose, the water from the 

 iron tanks was found so impregnated with rust as to be coating 

 both gravel a,nd Ova with sediment. Mr. Eamsbottom had a 

 rough filter made at Scilly which in a great measure remedied 

 this evil. The vessel left Scilly on the 24th March, and 

 encountered a furious gale in the Bay of Biscay on the 27th. 

 Up to this time the suspended apparatus had worked well, but 

 owing to the rapid pitching and rolling of the vessel and the 

 weight of the apparatus it now became dangerous to approach 

 it, and many times knocked against the beams of the deck 

 overhead. This displaced the gravel in the trays destroying 

 the Ova in large numbers and killing the one young Fish, 

 which up to this time (23 days) had been in good health. To 

 prevent this Mr. Eamsbottom fixed portions of an elastic 

 india-rubber pipe, extending from the suspended apparatus 

 to a weight on the deck below, and thus gradually checked 

 the motion. 



During the gale the bilge-water was dashed violently up the 

 sides of the vessel between decks sprinkling the apparatus. 

 This of itself would soon have destroyed the remaining Ova 

 had not Mr. Eamsbottom' s assistant covered the apparatus 

 with blankets, and a recurrence of the same evil was prevented 

 by lining the sides of the vessel with blankets and tarpaulins. 

 Fine weather succeeded the gale, but it was manifest from the 

 delays already experienced and the bad sailing qualities of the 

 vessel that the ice could not hold out even to get through the 

 tropics. At the end of April and beginning of May the 

 temperature of the water began to rise and many of the Ova 

 died on the point of hatching, a large number with the head 

 of the fish protruding. On the 8th of May Mr. Eamsbottom, 

 much against his will, was compelled to enter the ice-house to 

 procure blocks of ice which he placed in the deck tank thus 

 reducing the temperature of the water. After using a 

 considerable quantity of the ice, Mr, Eamsbottom came upon 



