INTRODUCTORY. 21 



sioner to say that he will be greatly obliged for any data that will add iiiterest to 

 the proposed publication. If good plates of the species have already been pub- 

 lished, will you be kind enough to indicate where and how they may be procured 

 for use ? If not, could you not place us under further obligation by sending, 

 preserved, two or three good specimens, from which we may figure and describe 

 the species 1 



You have received, I presume, the notice that we propose to send you, from 

 our Northville station, 10,000 eggs of the California trout. The fish at that 

 station are just now spawning, and as their development is more rapid than that 

 of the ordinary brook trout, it is probable they will go forward in the next few 

 weeks. In the absence of other instructions, Mr. Mather, who has charge of the 

 foreign shipments, is directed to send them by one of the Anchor Line Glasgow 

 steamers. Very truly yours, M. MACDONALD, Chief Div. of Dist. 



Sir JAMES MAITLAND, Stirling, Scotland. 



This season the principal foreign consignment consisted of over 

 200,000 salmon ova and 30,000 Lochleven trout ova to the New 

 Zealand Government. The trout ova were placed in the refri- 

 gerator, as it was desired to test that mode of transport, and I was 

 very unwilling that any of the salmon ova should be subjected to 

 what appeared to me to be certain death. Eight boxes of salmon 

 ova were placed in a cold chamber, which I designed for the pur- 

 pose, but the ninth had to be carried on deck for want of space. 



The eight boxes in the chamber have been pronounced in the 

 papers presented to the New Zealand Parliament this session the 

 most successful consignment there has ever been. But the New 

 Zealand Government had not heard of a consignment of 100,000 

 Lochleven trout ova, which was forwarded from Howietoun Fishery 

 December 1885 to St. John's, Newfoundland, in which the loss 

 was only 50 eggs on arrival, and the whole loss after hatching- 

 amounted to about 5 per cent. 1 



ST. JOHN'S, June 8th, 1880. 



MY DEAR SIR, I am glad to say the Lochleven trout ova has done well in fact, I may 

 say, it was a perfect success, not five per cent, of loss on the whole lot. In fact, all the ova 

 I got from you was the same no loss worth speaking of. The first I got is three years old 

 now, and fine fish. They spawned last Oct., at the end of the month. I could have taken ova 

 from them, but was from home at the time, so it was too late when I got home. The two- 

 years'-old lot is also fine fish. 1 think they spawn this year, as they are the size of herring 

 now, and very fat. 



The water-supply for my new hatchery is first-class, and plenty of it, so that is the main 

 thing. I hatched 900,000 last winter, and all did well with me. Yours truly, 



J. MARTIN. 

 J. R. GUY, Esq., Howietoun, Stirling. 



