14 Transactions. 



Sir Herbert E. Maxwell, Bart., M.P., presided; and, in intro- 

 ducing the lecturer, remarked tliat he knew practically nothing- 

 of the result or practice of pisciculture, although he had been 

 familiar for some years Avith the renown which had been 

 attained in that walk by Mr Armistead. The importance of the 

 subject, he fancied, could scarcely be overrated. Immense sums 

 had been spent by the Governments of various countries in develop- 

 ing- their fisheries. During a recent visit which he made to inspect 

 the railways in the west of Ireland, promoted by the Government 

 for the purpose of developing the fishings, a friend, an eminent 

 judge, resident in a rural district, commented somewhat bitterly to 

 him on the result of past effort in the direction of developing the 

 fishings. He said the Government had spent £10,000 on a pier 

 and a harbour at that place and there was not a single fishing- 

 boat in it, nor had there been since the pier and the harbour had 

 been erected, and gave his word of honour that every pound of 

 fi.sh that was consumed in his house was bought in Dublin. That 

 was a state of things that did not speak much to the credit of the 

 art of pisciculture in Ireland. But there were many elements 

 which had to be taken into consideration in Ireland which he ven- 

 tured to think, fortunately, had not to be considered in the light 

 of obstacles in this country. And he had no doubt that even the 

 desire which always characterised Scotsmen to develop to the 

 utmost everything that was useful, everything that was profitable, 

 and even everything that was ornamental in their own country, 

 would be assisted and informed by the lecture. (Applause.) 



Mr Armistead referred to the important results which had 

 been obtained in a few years from a course of fish culture in the 

 rivers of New Zealand. Trout were introduced to that colony 

 in 18G8 by means of ova obtained from Tasmania. The New 

 Zealand Government very wisely took the work in hand, and so 

 successfully had it been carried out that to-day many of the rivei-s 

 of that country were full of magnificent trout that had grown 

 beyond all expectation, some of them being reported to weigh 40, 

 GO, and even 80 lbs. Mr Armistead touched also upon the success 

 of the efforts of the United States Fish Connnission in introducing 

 salmon into the Connecticut river, where previously they had dis- 

 appeared for three-quarters of a century. In the report of the Com- 

 mission (1884) it was stated that for four successive years the yield 

 had been nearly double that of the years preceding artificial propa- 



