710 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



a strange salmon. In addition to all this the salmon must, of course, 

 be of a good quality. 



Various circumstances favored me. During my stay in America, in 

 the autumn of 1874 1 saw in Mr. Seth Green's piscicultural establishment, 

 in the State of New York, some young California salmon which had been 

 brought from California when still contained in the egg. Even when 

 quite small they could at once be distinguished from the Rhine salmon, 

 and a drawing of an older salmon of the same kind convinced me that I 

 had found what I was looking for. As it was for the time being impos- 

 sible to obtain eggs of the California salmon, I made an attempt to take 

 trout-eggs back with me to the Netherlands, and, considering the diffi- 

 culties attendant upon this attempt, it must be said that it proved rea- 

 sonably successful. 



In 1876 1 at last found a live specimen of about the size of a St. Jacob's 

 salmon in the New York aquarium, which, as far as its external appear- 

 ance was concerned, fulfilled all the conditions required of it. 



I had no opportunity to judge of the flavor of fresh salmon, but I tasted 

 some that had been canned, and found it very good. If I therefore suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining eggs of this California salmon (Salmo quinnat), in 

 transporting them sately to the Netherlands, and hatching them there, 

 no one who caught such a fish would fail to see its difference from the 

 Ehine salmon (Salmo solar), and the fact could not be kept a secret, as, 

 in my opinion, is generally done when a marked Rhine salmon is caught. 



When, therefore, late in the autumn of 187G, the minister of finance 

 asked me to take the place of superintendent of the Scheldt fisheries, 

 I immediately accepted the offer, and in February, 1877, talked over 

 the matter with Prof. Spencer F. Baird, the American Commissioner of 

 Fisheries, whom I had learned to know during my visits to the United 

 States. Before I left America, he promised to send me in the autumn a 

 considerable quantity of California salmon. Late in the summer of the 

 same year (1877), Professor Baird sent me 100,000 salmon-eggs, which 

 were accompanied by his assistant, Mr. Fred. Mather, as far as Bremer- 

 haven, where, owing to the impossibility of my receiving them, they were 

 received by the assistant director of the Royal Zoological Society, " Natura 

 Artis Magistra," of Amsterdam, in whose gardens these eggs were to be 

 hatched. Through the kindness of the director, Dr. G. F. Westerman, 

 the society undertook the hatching of these eggs free of expense. T® 

 my great sorrow nearly all these eggs perished, owing to their not hav- 

 ing been properly packed. 



Some fish were successfully hatched ; but with the exception of three, 

 they all died very soon. These three, however, developed so well, that 

 I had no doubt that if other eggs were sent and were more carefully 

 packed the attempt would prove successful. As soon as Professor 

 Baird was informed of the failure, he at once offered to send other eggs, 

 which arrived during the year 1878. These eggs, which, at my sugges 

 tion, had been packed in a different way, arrived in good condition at 



