EXPORTATION OF FISHES AND HATCHING APPARATUS. 983 



inbabitants except eels, and of these, some of our northern rivers are 

 full. These eels, with the wild ducks and sea-shags,* are very terrible 

 enemies to all tlie finny tribe. I think it not unlikely that these crea- 

 tures have produced that remarkable absence of fish in our rivers to 

 which I have already alluded. There is one other difficulty with which 

 we, in the north, have to contend in introducing such a fish as the 

 salmon, viz, a high temperature of our rivers. North of 37° south (od 

 which Auckland City is placed), I do not think we shall succeed with 

 this fish. 



With this digression, permit me now to describe the three locations 

 in which I placed the ova, and the appliances I had prepared for their 

 treatment, together with the results of these operations : 



1. The first location was in a wooded dell in the " Domain," near the 

 city of Auckland, a very charming and romantic spot, rich in indigenous 

 plants and trees. Through this little shady dell a cool streamlet runs^ 

 with a temperature of 02° at this season, our early summer. Here 1 

 erected a fish-house fitted with sixty boxes, each four feet long, twelve 

 inches deep, and ten inches wide. The bottom of each box was cov- 

 ered with small shingles.t On a notched frame two inches from the top 

 we placed a row of hollow glass tubes three-sixteenths of an inch apart. 

 In these we deposited the ova. The boxes were placed in tiers of five, 

 one above the other, like steps. The water ran from the upper box to 

 the next of the tier on a little fall of four inches, imparting a gentle and 

 constant motion to the water in each box. The day after they were 

 deposited the ova began to hatch, and in five days all were hatched 

 except about one per cent, of ova, which had not been perfectly fecun- 

 dated. 



Shortly afterward we noticed a rather heavy mortality, arising, prob- 

 ably, from the circumstance that one of the original packages of ova 

 had had a fall, or had in some way been crushed a little. The weather 

 becoming more sultry, the mortality continued, though at a less ratio. 

 The young fish having absorbed the "sac" (about thirty days after 

 being placed in the boxes), are fine, lively, healthy fellows. 



2. The second location is fifteen miles south of the city, on a pretty 

 shingled river named the " Oratia." A similar arrangement was adopted 

 to the one already described. In this case also the ova hatched splendidly, 

 and were doing well until the fourteenth day, when the temperature of 

 the atmosphere suddenly rose to 99°, and that of the water from 05° to 70°. 

 In thatday we lost one-half the fish. On being apprised of the calamity, 

 I immediately rode out, and finding the water at 67°, and the remaining 

 fish looking sickly, I at once turned them out into the main river where 

 the water was at a lower temperature. The absorption of the " sac '^ 

 was not complete, but 1 hope that a fair amount of success may be 

 realized. 



3. The third location was made on a charming river lull of shingle, 

 little rapids, and deep pools. This river, called the "Rapurapsi," has 



* One of the species of cormorants. t Beach pebbles. 



