[5] CALIFORNIA SALMON IN THE NETHERLANDS. 713 



lows : After counting out those eggs which on their arrival in the Neth- 

 erlands were found to be in bad condition, the loss — including the de- 

 formed fish — during the hatching and umbilical periods was 26 per cent, 

 in 1878, and not quite 21 per cent, in 1879. 



If in pisciculture one has 74-79 per cent, sound young fish at the end 

 of the umbilical period, the result must be called very satisfactory. I 

 think that this result is in the highest degree satisfactory if we take 

 into consideration the many stages of the long journey which the eggs 

 had to perform before they reached their final destination. First, they 

 were gathered in the wilderness of California, the gatherers being pro- 

 tected by the bayonets of soldiers ; then they had to travel quite a num- 

 ber of miles over a rough road in jolting wagons before they reached 

 the railroad. Thereupon they had to be in the cars for a whole week — 

 often in a tropical heat — traveling from California to New York ; in that 

 city there would generally be some delay until they could be placed on 

 board the steamer ; this would be followed by a voyage of very nearly 

 two weeks, their whole trip concluding with a railroad journey from 

 Kotterdam to Amsterdam. 



If after young salmon have been set out in the Meuse in January, 

 1879, the percentage of successfully hatched fish is more favorable than 

 I had expected, and if, as now seems likely, more than 80 per cent, of 

 the young fish taken to the Zwaansproug continue to live, salmon of this 

 kind will certainly be caught in our rivers in a few years. 



Hardinveld and Gorinchem will probably be the first places where 

 such salmon will be caught, as the young salmon, when going towards 

 the sea (if not all, at any rate by far the greater number), will go by 

 way of the Nieuwe Mervede to the Holland Deep and will return the 

 same way. 



If our experiments are again successful this year, a considerable in- 

 crease of the Meuse salmon fisheries will be noticed in a few years. 



C. J. BOTTEMANNE. 



