XL-CORRESPONDENCE CONNECTED WITH THE TRANSMISSION 

 OF EGGS OF THE QUINNAT SALMON AND WHITEFISH TO AUS- 

 TRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, 1877, 1878, AND PRIOR YEARS.* 



AUSTEALIA. 



Sir Samuel Wilson to the Melbourne Argus, publislied November 30, 1877. 



SiE. : The shipment of salmon ova which I received from California 

 by way of Auckland arrived in very good condition. Only about 6 j)er 

 cent, had perished during the voyage, and as there had been two trans- 

 shipments, this was a very small proportion of loss. On the arrival of 

 the ova at Sydney, they were taken out of the ice-house on board the 

 San Francisco mail- steamer and transferred to the City of Adelaide. 



The ova were packed in layers in a box or ice chest, about 3 feet by 

 4 feet, and about 2 feet in depth. They were placed between two pieces 

 of thinly- woven cotton stuff, about 7,000 in each layer, and a layer of 

 moss about 2 inches deep between each two layers, and also above and 

 below the eggs. Six inches of ice was placed over the ova, and the bot- 

 tom was pierced with holes to allow the escape of water from the melt- 

 ing ice. The ice was renewed every 12 hours on the voyage from Syd- 

 ney to Melboiu-ne. The box had an inner lining, inclosing about 4 

 inches of sawdust to act as a non-conductor, and which answered the 

 object sufficiently well.' 



The weak points in the packing were the use of cotton stuff, which 

 rots and gets mouldy, while the moss remains green and fresh, and also 

 that the ova were too closely packed together. For a short voyage this 

 matters httle, but in a long distance the difference is great, as when one 

 egg loses vitality it soon decays, and the byssus, or fungus, which quickly 

 forms, attacks all the ova within reach, which adhere to each other, and 

 although little altered in appearance these ova invariably perish in the 

 hatching. 



On the arrival of the ova at Sandridge they were removed, and taken 

 by train and wagon, well packed on an elastic cushion of straw, and 

 opened at the spring on Ercildoune estate, where the hatching-boxes 

 were ready for their reception. On the pads covering the ice being 

 taken off, a layer of moss, fresh and green as if newly gathered, was to 

 be seen covering the ova. On this being removed, the eggs were visible 



* For the purpose of completing the record, begun in tlie report for 1875-'76, vol. 4, 

 I give some letters relating to seudinga prior to 1877. — S. F. B. 



825 



