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salmonoids was at first, tliat is in the year 1869, confined to a 

 few smolts only, and these were taken in tlie small meshed 

 seines after strong freshes had come down the Derwent in 

 the end of October and the beginning of ISTovember. In sub- 

 sequent years, and always in the same months, many of these 

 fish came to the hands of tlie Salmon Commissioners till the 

 river was very properly closed to the seine nets above Hobart 

 Town, and many more of the same fish were doubtless taken of 

 which the Commissioners knew nothing. The capture of these 

 smolts was in several seasons followed by the taking in 

 December, January and February of salmonoids intermediate 

 in size between smolts and grilse, that is, weighing from three- 

 quarters of a pound to one pound and a half, and it was one 

 of these fish taken in December, 1869, of which Dr. Gunther 

 wrote that it presented all the characteristics usually found 

 in the true salmon (Salmo salar). 



Time passed on and one grilse was taken in December 1873, 

 followed by two or three others in subsequent years, and in 

 the beginning of January, 1876, between two or three hundred 

 of the salmonoids, intermediate between smolts and grilse, 

 were taken at a few hauls of the seine nets on the open sea 

 beaches some distance below Hobart Town, since which the 

 river has been wisely closed still lower down. 



Eight of the last-mentioned fish taken at random were care- 

 fully examined and dissected, and of these eight six proved to 

 be unmistakably true salmon (Salmo salar) while the remaining 

 two exhibited characteristics common to both the true salmon 

 and the salmon trout (Salmo tnitta), so that their species could 

 not be positively determined. We next come to the compara- 

 tively frequent captiu'e of grilse this season in one place, and 

 by one small net, ill-suited for the 2>ur2)ose. And, so far, 

 therefore the secjuence of events has been marvellously regular, 

 and exactly what was to be exj^ected if all went well. Yet it 

 is not absolutely certain that this regular sequence will be 

 followed by the crowning triumph in the shape of the capture 

 of a thirty-pound salmon, though the probabilities are greatly 

 in favour of such a capture being soon made, if proper means 

 are used to effect it. 



It is certain, from the life history of our salmonoids, as 

 already detailed, that the smolts descending the Derwent find 

 ample food and sufficiently salt water in the estuary immedi- 

 ately below Hobart Town to carry them on to the stage referred 

 to as intermediate between smolts and grilse, after which stage 

 we altogether lose sight of these fish for a time, during which 

 they probably go with the floods of autumn and farther out 

 on to the open coast, for when we next see them it is as grilse 

 in early spring (Autumn and September), and they then 

 .appear to be working their way up the Derwent estuary, and 



