18 



swarming with small and harmless indigenous fish, never 

 were tenanted by predaceous species. 



Again, the temperature of the water in our rivers and on 

 our coasts is scarcely different from that of similar localities 

 in the United Kingdom, such rivers and coasts being in each 

 hemisphere inhabited by numbers of insects and crustaceans 

 which are identical. 



Tasmanians are often accused by the sister colonies of their 

 apathy and want of energy in undertakings likely to prove of 

 national benefit ; but which colony of the whole group can 

 point to a work undertaken more than twenty years ago, per- 

 severed in with unflinching determination, in spite of adverse 

 scientific opinions, at a cost of many thousands of pounds, 

 through several total failures, and ending at last in thorough 

 and triumphant success ? 



But if the colony may fairly be congratulated on having 

 succeeded in the grandest work of acclimatisation that the 

 world has ever seen, and the full importance of which is yet 

 but dimly recognised ; the part that this Society has taken in 

 the work ought never to be forgotten. Our published pro- 

 ceedings will prove that the idea of the introduction of 

 British fish had its origin amongst the Fellows of the Society ; 

 that the subject was again and again discussed at some of 

 our earliest meetings before the word acclimatisation was ever 

 coined. That the Society strongly urged upon the Govern- 

 ment the advisability of the attempt ; that the whole matter 

 was reported upon by a committee appointed from amongst 

 our Fellows, and lastly, that the Society has furnished the 

 means of keeping a minute record of every stage in the under- 

 taking. 



