104 mESH WATER FISH ACCLIMATISATION. 



as the water was not only at freezing point, needles o£ ice being on the 

 surface of the stream, but it tasted a little brackish. I, however, yielded to 

 my friend's wish. Shortly after the mistake was evident, for the fish began 

 to die — trout, carp, and perch. At Canberra, about 12 miles from our 

 destination, we had upwards of forty dead fish. At this point Mr. Campbell 

 was met by his servant man, to whom we entrusted about sixty trout, to be 

 placed in the Cotter River (about 25 miles distant), a tributary of the 

 Murrumbidgee fed by the springs from the Australian Alps — a magnificent 

 stream for trout. We placed forty in the Queanbeyan Kiver, sixty in the 

 Molonglo River, twelve in the Yass River, and twelve in the Naas River, also 

 tributaries of the Murrumbidgee, the same day. The balance we forwarded 

 by coach and rail to Braidwood (34 miles) for the Little River, which flows 

 seaward, and to Bibbenluke, Monaro, a tributary of the Snowy River. All 

 these fish reached their destination without a single death. As an experi- 

 ment, we also brought four trout, three perch, and three carp, in hermetically 

 sealed jars, and the result was successful, only one trout — a little fellow sick 

 from the start — succumbed. The distance from Ballarat to Queanbeyan is 

 about 450 miles, and the fish were thirty hours in transit. Bibbenluke is 

 another 100 miles, and Braidwood 34 miles ; so that our efforts, so far as 

 placing the fish in the waters of their respective destinations, were highly 

 successful. 



Not less so has been the result. "We have no account from the Tass, 

 Naas, or Little Rivers, but both in the Queanbeyan and Molonglo Rivers they 

 have bred marvellously and grown large, having been occasionally caught as 

 lieavy as from 3 lb. to 5^ lb. a year ago. The Cotter River is teeming with 

 trout, and they are descending the Murrumbidgee River, having been caught 

 at Cavan, near Yass. Mr. Edwards, to whom we entrusted those destined 

 for the Bibbenluke River, the second year after the parent fish were placed 

 there, netted hundreds of small trout hy way of experiment. 



My own opinion is, that your Department would meet with equal success, 

 if instead of sending fry of only a month or two old, you could keep these iu 

 a nursery till at least a year old, and then distribute them. 



Ours was the first successful effort that I know of of the introduction of 

 trout into the rivers of New South Wales. 



The perch and carp were all placed in waters near Queanbeyan, but I 

 have heard no thin jj of them since. 



The Correlation of the Inlets and the Offing Fisheries. 



By Alexander Oliyee, M.A. 



In a letter published a few days ago I promised to say something on 

 a subject not very accurately indicated by the heading to this letter. In 

 redeeming that promise I should at the outset admit that anything 

 like scientific elaboration of this most interesting question will not be 

 attempted. Nevertheless, I am not without hope that some of the 

 conclusions to which I have been brought may possibly induce a few 

 thoughtful persons who take an interest in our sea fisheries to regard our 

 inlet nurseries from a new point of view. We are told that we have nearly 

 700 miles of Coast-line, lying between the 29th and 36th parallels of south 

 latitude (Point Danger and Cape Howe). I believe the actual length of 

 our coast-line measured along its margin must be at least 100 miles longer; 



