TELEOSTE1 197 



Of those which went to Canterbury, only 38 fish were obtained. 

 Some were kept in the ponds and appear to have been lost. With 

 others an experiment was tried. 



A large cage was made, which was anchored in the River Avon a little 

 below Victoria Bridge; in the cage were placed on 3rd Nov. eleven of the 

 largest salmon. They remained there sixteen days, during which time they 

 throve well. On igth Nov. the cage was raised and floated down to a 

 spot in the Avon below New Brighton, where at high tide the water is 

 brackish. The Garden Committee have three times visited the spot. On 

 the last occasion (24th Dec.) the cage was raised and the eleven fish 

 examined ; they were in good health and had increased in size considerably. 

 It was calculated that one of them was a foot in length. 



The reports of the Society do not contain another word about 

 this experiment, and this is characteristic of the isolated and dis- 

 continuous manner in which most of the societies work. Lack of 

 continuity of effort has nullified many of their experiments. In 1875 

 the 'Timaru' brought 300,000 ova to the Bluff, after a passage of 

 105 days, but many of the ova had been collected 30 days before 

 the vessel sailed. No fish hatched out. According to the report of 

 the Otago Society, Mr Howard of the Wallacetown Ponds liberated 

 (on their behalf?) 1400 young fish in the Aparima River, but I cannot 

 find a definite record of this, nor is it quite clear what lot of eggs they 

 came from. 



In 1876 the 'City of Durham' brought to Melbourne 90,000 

 salmon ova, which were transhipped, mostly to the Bluff, a few boxes 

 going to Canterbury. The Southland ova were placed in the hatching 

 boxes 69 days after sailing, and about 87 days after having been 

 taken from the parent fish. From 25,000 to 30,000 were apparently 

 healthy, but of those it appeared that about two-thirds were not 

 fecundated. In October about 1500 fry were liberated in the Aparima 

 River. It is quite possible that this is the lot referred to in the 

 preceding paragraph. 



The Canterbury Society state that only 175 fry hatched out of 

 the boxes which went to Christchurch, but in the following year 

 they placed 181 fish in the Ashley River; and in 1878, 240 were 

 placed in the Heathcote River. These were seen afterwards, and were 

 from 12 to 14 inches in length. There is no record as to where these 

 fish came from. 



In 1878 the 'Chimborazo' brought 45,000 ova to Melbourne. 

 These were transhipped and reached Invercargill on igth March, 

 commencing to hatch out on 4th April. Altogether about 2500 fry 

 hatched out, of which 1700 were placed in the Aparima. Again the 

 Otago Society report that 2500 fry were placed in the Aparima 



