122 PROGRESS OF THE UNDERTAKING. [CHAP. in. 



the ova were found alive, and all were more or less entangled 

 in a network of fungus. The smallest amount of mortality 

 was invariably found to have taken place in those boxes in 

 which the moss had been most loosely packed and the ova 

 subjected to the least amount of pressure. On the 4th of 

 May the first trout made its appearance, followed on the suc- 

 ceeding clay by the first salmon that had ever been seen in 

 Australia, or south of the equator. The further hatching of 

 the trout and salmon proceeded very slowly for some days, 

 but then became more rapid especially among the trout. 

 Among these the process was completed about the 25th May, 

 producing upwards of two hundred healthy fish. The hatching 

 of the salmon is more protracted, and was not concluded until 

 the 8th June, on which day the last little fish was observed 

 making its escape from the shell. As they continued to make 

 their appearance from day to day, their numbers were counted 

 by Mr. Eamsbottom with tolerable accuracy up to about 1000, 

 after which it was no longer possible to keep any reckoning. 

 The great undertaking of introducing the salmon and trout 

 into Tasmania has now, the commissioners believe, been suc- 

 cessfully accomplished. Few countries of the same extent 

 possess more rivers suited to the nature and habits of this 

 noble fish than Tasmania. A stranger acquainted with the 

 salmon rivers of Europe could scarcely behold the ample 

 stream and sparkling waters of the Derwent without fancying 

 that they were already the home of the king of fish. And the 

 Derwent is but one of many other large and ever-flowing rivers 

 almost equally suited to become the abode of the salmon. 

 When these rivers have been stocked, they cannot fail to be- 

 come a source of considerable public revenue, and of profit 

 and pleasure to the people." 



Mr. Eamsbottom, a son of the well-known English practi- 

 cal pisciculturist, went out in charge of the eggs, and aided 

 in their accouchement, watching over the progress of the ex- 



