EXPORTATION OF FISHES AND HATCHING APPARATUS. 993 



early age to shift for themselves, as their food consists of minute infu- 

 soria, or similar diet, that cannot be artificially imitated. The minced 

 meat on which the young salmon thrive so well will not answer for the 

 whitefish, according to the evidence quoted by the American commis- 

 sioners. 



JAMES HECTOE. 



Colonial Museum, Wellington, New Zealand, 



February 0, 1877. 



Dear Professor Baird : You will be glad to hear of the safe arri- 

 val of the first case of whitefish ova, though I fear the experiment in 

 this instance will only be a partial success. This is owing to the new 

 arrangements of the postal service having required a transshipment of the 

 ova at Auckland to a local steamer, which had no ice on board, and was, 

 moreover, bar-bound for several days before she started on her voyage 

 down the coast. The ova were transferred from the ice-house of the 

 large steamer in Auckland Harbor, on the 29th January, and did not 

 reach the breeding-pond at Christchurch for five days afterward. I 

 opened the outer case on the evening of the fourth day, when the vessel 

 called at Wellington, and there still was a small quantity of ice, suffi- 

 cient to retard the development, I hoped, for twenty-four hours longer. 

 Had the steamer gone straight from Auckland to Nelson, which was the 

 arrangement I anticipated, the ova would have been in the hatching- 

 ponds within forty-eight hours of their removal from the ice-house of the 

 large steamer. As we have no ponds at Wellington, the government 

 decided to intrust them to the Christchurch Society, where they have a 

 very good hatching establishment. The water the ova were placed in 

 is stream water, that springs from gravel, and has a temperature of 56° 

 Fahrenheit. The secretary reports that over 200 young fish have come 

 out, and says they are three-quarters of an inch long (five days old), 

 very transparent, with bright yellow eyes, are very lively, and appear 

 to be doing well. 



The Auckland Society wish to get the next shipment for Taupo Lake, 

 but I am afraid the temperature will be too high, being from 57<^ to 63°. 

 I would rather trust the southern lakes, which vary from 46° to 53'=', 

 winter and summer. I will report the further results by next mail, when 

 the second shipment will have arrived. With renewed assurance that 

 your kind attention is thoroughly appreciated in the colony, 

 I have, &c., 



J. HECTOR. 



Hon. Spencer F. Baird. 



63 



