41 



of very fine pebbles, on which the ova rest about an inch from 

 the surface of the stream which flows gently and evenly through 

 the boxes. The result is that the moment an egg becomes 

 opaque, or in other words dies, it is removed and all danger 

 to the neighboring ova is avoided. 



Amongst the boxes brought in the ice-house was one con- 

 taining a clutch of hen's eggs, which arrived to all appearance 

 in a perfectly sound state for culinary purposes, but which I 

 scarcely think were seriously intended to be hatched here. 

 Whoever sent them with any such intention, must have a very 

 limited knowledge of natural history, for in a state of nature 

 the eggs of birds are rarely allowed to fall in temperature to a 

 degree much below that of the outside of the parent bird's 

 body, while the eggs of the salmon on the contrary are fre- 

 quently in their own rivers reduced to within a trifle of the 

 freezing point for weeks together without injuring the de- 

 veloping embryo. A small packet of garden bulbs was also 

 placed in the box containing the hen's eggs, and this is more 

 likely to prove a valuable experiment, for every bulb appears 

 to have arrived in admirable condition. As these bulbs were 

 consigned to the Victorian Acclimatisation Society, and were 

 brought here by mistake, the Commissioners have, of course, 

 handed them to Commander Norman to be returned to their 

 destination. 



Before concluding, I desire to call the attention of the 

 Fellows of the Society to the leading article, on the subject of 

 salmon, in The Mercury of yesterday, the 7th instant, and on 

 the part of the Commissioners to disclaim having any such in- 

 tentions as are, in that article, attributed to them. The 

 writer urges the propriety of distributing, as soon as possible, 

 fish hatched from the present importation of ova into various 

 rivers of the colony, the Huon, Gordon, Mersey, Forth, &c., 

 but he forgets to say how. The main object of the Commis- 

 sioners is the thorough establishment of the fish in all rivers 

 adapted for them, but to carry out the idea contained in that 

 leading article would be the most certain way of defeating that 

 object. 



To turn the young fish into these rivers before they were 

 able to j^rotect themselves would be to consign them to certain 

 destruction, therefore we must retain them in the breeding 

 ponds till they become active fish ; and to distribute one 

 thousand of them safely when they had reached this stage, 

 amongst the various rivers mentioned (even if it were pos- 

 sible, which I greatly doubt) would cost far more than the 

 expense already occasioned by the whole of the experiments. 

 Even if it was possible to distribute them, and at reasonable 

 cost, it would be the height of folly to do it, for this reason — 



