226 SEASON 1876-77. 



At Craigend a small octagonal pond was dug below the lower 

 100-feet, into which the hybrids were placed. The hatching- 

 house at Middlethird required no alteration ; in fact, the work of 

 the season was almost entirely confined to Howietoun. 



SEASON 1876-1877. EXPERIMENTAL WORK. 



On July 25th, after I had consulted Mr. Buckland as to the 

 causes of the loss of trout (yearling) in the pond at Craigend, he 

 talked over the failure of the Timaru experiment, and he asked 

 me to undertake the following experiments : 



A. When eggs arrive, say on a Tuesday, and the ship does 



not leave till the following Saturday, make experiments 

 to see whether it is best to put the eggs into hatching- 

 troughs, and pack them, say on the Friday morning, or 

 . whether it is better to pack them once for all when first 

 received. 



B. Please to try experiments on freezing eggs. 



C. Try the effects of freezing during impregnation. 



D. Find out whether it is advisable to pack the eggs at the 



river-side, or wait till next morning. 



The object of all these experiments was to gain information as 

 to the best mode of procedure in taking and packing eggs (salmon 

 was of course understood, though the word did not appear on the 

 memorandum Mr. Buckland gave me) for the next experiment to 

 New Zealand. 



Being much abroad this and following winters, these experi- 

 ments were not all concluded in one season, but they have each 

 been carried out since, with the following results : 



A. Eggs have been packed by me on many occasions at the 

 time of taking. These eggs travel as well as eggs carried 

 in water. I have handled or packed eggs each day, from 

 the second to the thirtieth. There is always some loss, 

 and with the water at 45 F. this loss is at its maximum 

 on the twentieth day. The per centageof loss increases 

 slowly from the second to the tenth day ; then rises 



