112 



the deal box whicli had been placed in the ice-house, the lid 

 being broken by the rolling about amongst the ice. Lifting 

 out some of the moss Mr. Eamsbottom thought the Ova 

 looked healthy, procured a vessel of clean water and placed 

 Ova and moss together in it ; to his utter astonishment he 

 found 19 living and healthy Ova,whicli he carefully transferred 

 to the trays in the suspended apparatus. 



On the *17th May the ice was finished ; on the same day the 

 temperature of the water rose to 65°, and the last of the Ova 

 died 74 days from the commencement of the voyage, and 88 

 days from the taking of the spawn from the fish. Towards 

 the end of April from three to six of the Ova were hatched 

 per day, and thirty of those hatched appeared in perfect 

 health — one lived ten days. The Ova taken from the deal box 

 in the ice-house lived nine hours longer than any of the others, 

 and withstood a higher temperature. Before closing this 

 short account of the voyage, I desire to express my conviction 

 that no man could more earnestly have endeavored to carry 

 the experiment to a successful issue than Mr. Eamsbottom, 

 and I am personally indebted to him for the courtesy with 

 which he has afforded me every information as to the cause of 

 failure. 



From the foregoing details, it is clear that however perfect 

 the apparatus might have been the placing it in a vessel so 

 unsuited for the purpose as the " Beautiful Star" was a fatal 

 mistake. It was, in fact, consigning th^ Ova to utter des- 

 truction, and it would have been far better to have delayed 

 the experiment till a suitable vessel could be found, even if 

 we had waited five years. 



The suspended "^apparatus is susceptible of very great 

 improvement. It is so cumbrous and complicated as to be 

 ■dangerous in a heavy sea. 



The water had to flow over so large a surface in its passage 

 through the trays from the top shallow box to the lowest that 

 it rose 3° in temperature, a serious objection when we consider 

 that every rise in temperature tends to hasten the hatching 

 of the Ova. The two uppermost boxes of the suspended 

 apparatus with a wider space between them, would have been 

 far more manageable, as it v/ould then have ridden clear of 

 the beams ; but I would suggest that even smaller and lighter 

 boxes than these should be used, and that two or more sets 

 might be hung in the space employed on any future occasion 

 — the water being conducted to each by separate pipes from 

 the ice-house. 



Mr. Eamsbottom's father having observed that healthy 

 Salmon Ova in their native rivers are frequently buried to a 

 depth of eighteen inches in loose gravel, but that in such case 

 there is always a current of water through the gravely he 

 arranged the trays and gravel in the suspended apparatus in 

 such a manner as to imitate as nearly as possible their native 

 beds in which spawn are deposited, and distributed the Ova 

 amongst them and upon the gravel. Had it been possible to 

 keep the apparatus steady, so as to communicate no other 



