252 FISHES 



was kept constantly wet in the tropics. Troops of snails, water-lilies 

 and weeds of various kinds were also introduced, partly for food and 

 partly to assist in aeration. A lump of white lead in one of the tanks 

 to have poisoned nearly all the fish before it was discovered. 



* Tench (Tinea vulgaris) 



Among the fish shipped from London for Lyttelton by Mr A. M. 

 Johnson in the 'British Empire' were several tench. This was in 

 1864. Unfortunately all the fish died on the voyage out. 



In 1867 the Canterbury Society received some live fish from the 

 Hobart Acclimatisation Society, and in a report issued in 1871 it 

 is said "they have successfully multiplied." 



In the following year the Southland Society received some from 

 Mr Morton Allport of Tasmania. 



In 1868 Mr Frank Buckland shipped a number for Otago by the 

 'Celestial Queen,' but none reached their destination. They got on 

 well for some weeks till one day one of the ship's boys 



who was changing the water for the fish, got them into a bucket of fresh- 

 water and emptied it over the ship's side, instead of so doing with a bucket 

 containing the stale water that had been drawn off. 



In 1869 the Otago Society liberated 18 in the Ross Creek 

 Reservoir, Dunedin, but the report does not state where they came 

 from. In 1880 the Society sent 30 to Otekaike and 30 to Elderslie, 

 both in the Oamaru district. In 1887 the Elderslie ponds were 

 overhauled and cleaned, when great numbers of tench were distributed 

 throughout the district. 



They are to be found in a few localities throughout South Canter- 

 bury in ponds and dams, as at Cave and near Timaru. But they do 

 not seem to occur in any waters south of the Oamaru district. A good 

 many are to be met with near Hokitika and other localities on the 

 west coast. 



They were formerly introduced into the Rotorua district as food 

 for trout, but Mr Dansey tells me there are certainly none there now. 



Rudd ; Red-eye (Leuciscus erythrocephalus) 



This was another of the species which Mr Johnson endeavoured 

 to introduce in 1864, but unsuccessfully. 



Dace (Leuciscus leuciscus) 



Mr Johnson had a number of dace in the shipment of 1864, but 

 none survived the voyage. 



