CHAP, in.] STATE OF THE OVA ON ARRIVAL. 121 



some of them can be observed with the eyes quite prominent, 

 and visibly indicating the near approach of hatching, so that 

 not many days will elapse until the ultimate result of the 

 experiment is known. The remnant of the ice, amounting to 

 about eight tons, obtained from the Norfolk^ was brought up 

 here with very little loss, and has of course been used in cool- 

 ing the water in the hatching-boxes. Mr. Eamsbottom thinks 

 it will last as long as he will require its aid, although it melts 

 very quickly. The water of the Plenty, which had fallen 

 below 50 degrees, had been again raised by a week of warm 

 sunny weather to 54 degrees, which was its temperature 

 yesterday, but it was reduced to 45 degrees by the introduc- 

 tion of ice. To-day the weather has been more suitable, and 

 the natural temperature is not much over 50 degrees, and will 

 in all probability soon decline several degrees lower. One or 

 two of the ova which were deposited in the water in apparently 

 sound health have been observed to become opaque and die, 

 while some others have been seen to retain all their clearness. 

 These observations have necessarily been of very limited 

 extent. In one of the two boxes of trout ova, nearly all were 

 dead ; in the other nearly all alive, and of a remarkably clear 

 and brilliant appearance. These have been placed in a com- 

 partment separated from the salmon-boxes." 



The commissioners appointed to receive the ova sent to 

 Tasmania made a formal report to the Government of the 

 colony. One of the local papers supplies a summary of what 

 was reported, which is as follows : " They state that upon 

 examination of the cases on arrival, it was found that a close 

 and almost unvarying relation existed between the fate of the 

 ova and the condition of the moss in which they were en- 

 veloped. Where the moss retained its natural green hue 

 and elasticity, there a large proportion of the ova retained a 

 healthy vitality ; where, on the contrary, the moss was of a 

 brown colour, and in a collapsed or compressed form, few of 



