EXPORTATION OF FISHES AND HATCHING APPARATUS. 989 



Colonial Museum, Wellington, February 8, 1877. 



Sir : I have the houor to report the receipt of the case of whitefish 

 ova, referred to in Mr. Creightou's letter of the 3d January, and to inform 

 you that, in accordance with your instructions, it was sent on to the sec- 

 retary of the Acclimatization Society, to whom I telegraphed, so that he 

 might take delivery of it at Lyttelton. 



From Professor Baird's letter of the 22d December, it appears that 

 this case contains 125,000 ova, or one-half the total number that were 

 ordered, and that the remainder is to follow by next mail-steamer. 



I opened the outer case and ascertained that there was a sufficient 

 quantity of ice round the inner box to maintain the ova at a low temper- 

 ature until they reached the hatching-ponds, and, so far as I can judge, 

 the shipment has been successfully conducted up to this point. 



As the rearing of the young fish will be attended with some difficulty, 

 and require different treatment from that adopted for the young salmon 

 and trout, I have extracted the information in the inclosed memorandum 

 for the guidance of those who conduct the experiment, chiefly from the 

 Eeports of the United States Fisheries Commissioners. 



I have, &c., 



JAMES HECTOR. 

 The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. 



[Inclosure in last letter.] 



Memorandum respecting the Amerioan Salmon and Whitefish, recently in- 

 troduced into Neiv Zealand. 



1. Californian Salmon {Salmo quinnat, Richardson). 



This fish has been placed in the subgenus (Oncorhynchus), which 

 differs from the true Salmo, in having more rays in the anal fin. 



In habits and general form it closely resembles the Salmo salar of the 

 Atlantic, and it is probably identical with the North Pacific salmon, 

 Salmo [Oncorhynchus) lycaodon of Pallas (Gunther, vol. vi, p. 155). 



The most important difference from the Atlantic salmon is its endur- 

 ance of much higher temperatures at the period of spawning, as the eggs 

 are matured in the summer and hatched in the autumn of a mild climate, 

 instead of being developed during a rigorous winter, and hatched out 

 in spring. 



The Californian salmon spends the greater part of its life in the sea, 

 and especially frequents deep-water inlets. 



There are three " runs" of this salmon up the rivers in each year. The 

 first is in spring, during March and April, when the prime fish, of largest 

 size and best quality, after frequenting the estuaries in large numbers 

 during the winter months, start up the rivers, the full-grown fish work- 

 ing up to the source of the streams, where .they spawn in July and Au- 

 gust. So far as yet observed, the adult fish all die after spawning, and 

 never return to the sea. In August there is a second run of fish up the 



