1870. ] INTRODUCTION OF SALMON INTO TASMANIA. 17 
it seems marvellous now that Mr. Bidwell’s suggestion was uot earlier 
acted upon; but after the paper was read, it was little likely to attract 
attention, as it was indexed in the volume referred to under the letter 
B simply as a letter from J. C. Bidwell on the introduction of fish, 
and was only recently brought to light in the close search for every 
scrap of information relating to the early history of the Salmon ex- 
periment. 
Karly in the year 1858 the Royal Society of Tasmania appointed 
a committee of the Fellows to consider certain questions submitted 
by the then Colonial Secretary relative to the introduction of Salmon 
into Tasmania and the payment of a reward of £500 voted by the 
Tasmanian Parliament for such introduction. The report of this 
committee, dated the 16th of March, 1858, amongst other things, 
strongly urged on the Government the necessity of providing breed- 
ing-ponds for the deposition of ova or fry on their first arrival in the 
Colony ; and on this suggestion the Government afterwards acted. 
In the year 1859 Mr. James Arundel Youl, a gentleman who from 
that date expressed his conviction of ultimate success, and has exhi- 
bited untiring zeal and industry in the management of such portions 
of the various attempts as had to be conducted in Great Britain, pre- 
vailed upon a body of gentlemen in England, known as the Austra- 
lian Association, to take up the cause; and ultimately they despatched 
about 50,000 Salmon-ova in the ship ‘S. Curling’ from Liverpool, 
bound to Melbourne, under the charge of one Alexander Black. 
The ‘S. Curling’ sailed on the 25th of February, 1860, having 
fifteen tons of Wenham-Lake ice in an ice-house on board to keep 
down the temperature of the water supplied to the apparatus in which 
the ova were placed ; but on the 24th of April, and the fifty-ninth day 
out, the last of the ice melted and the last ovum died, no practical 
knowledge whatever having been derived from the experiment. By 
some accident no intimation of the intention to despatch ova by the 
ship ‘8. Curling’ reached Tasmania till after the departure of the 
vessel from England ; but upon the intelligence being received, and 
to prevent the loss of any ova which might have arrived, the Govern- 
ment caused suitable ponds to be rapidly constructed on the banks 
of a small stream known as the “ North-west Bay River,” about twelve 
miles from Hobart Town. , These ponds were ultimately abandoned 
in favour of a more suitable site. 
In the year 1860 the question of the introduction of Salmon was 
referred to a joint committee of both Houses of the Tasmanian Le- 
gislature; and, acting upon a suggestion of that committee, the 
Government afterwards appointed a body of Honorary Commissioners 
to whose management the whole experiment was thenceforth in- 
trusted. 
The next attempt was made in 1862, in the ‘ Beautiful Star,’ a 
small iron vessel of 120 tons burden, built fora steamer, but sent out 
under canvas. 
An ice-house was built between decks, and very elaborate appa- 
ratus of two kinds prepared for the reception of the ova, 50,090 in 
number. In the ice-house a deal box containing ova packed in wet 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1870, No. II. 
