28 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE (Jan. 13, 
the rill was occasionally lowered, a rid or two opened, and the ova 
carefully picked out by means of a curved glass tube. Scarcely a 
dead egg was found; and from one shipment of 800 ova sent to New 
Zealand, 750 fry were liberated at four months old. In due course 
the rill became alive with thousands of Trout-fry, which were dis- 
tributed in numbers of suitable streams and lakes in divers parts of 
Tasmania. Another large shipment of Trout-fry was also successfully 
transported to Victoria in Mr. Ramsbottom’s apparatus, under the 
personal superintendence of Mr. John Buckland, one of the Salmon 
Commissioners, who, out of 226 taken from the ponds, delivered 225 
healthy fish to the Acclimatization Scciety in Melbourne, thus ac- 
complishing even a greater feat than that performed by Mr. Rams- 
bottom the year before. During this season the numbers of fish 
seen spawning in the Plenty were amazing ; and for several miles up 
the river, rids were to be seen on every suitable spot. Some of 
these rids were from 8 to 10 feet long, and must have been formed by 
enormous fish. 
During the winter of 1868 Mr. Ramsbottom, who had long been 
suffering from lung-disease, became much worse, and sailed for 
Sydney on leave of absence, in the hope that the change might 
benefit him; but he died in September, universally regretted by all 
who knew him or took any interest in the Salmon experiment. 
In reporting the death of their excellent Superintendent to the 
Government, the Salmon Commissioners unanimously expressed their 
sense of his great merit and the loss which they and the enter- 
prise in which they were engaged had sustained in his death. 
In October 1868 the residue of the parr brought by the ‘ Lin- 
colnshire’ put on their silvery scales, and took their departure 
from the pond seawards in the form of Smolts. 
During the summer of 1868 and 1869 reports of Salmon or Grilse 
having been seen were numerous; and in March of the latter year, 
the river being low and bright, the fish were seen so frequently 
at a favourite pool near the entrance of the Plenty, that numbers 
of people used to spend the evening watching for them; and on 
one occasion no less than twenty people were gratified by seeing 
several large fish, which could only be Salmon, sporting on the sur- 
face and occasionally breaching above the water. Amongst others, 
several residents on and near the river, who had always been most 
sceptical as to the presence of Salmon in the Derwent, became con- 
verted, and strongly condemned in others that disbelief which they 
themselves had fully concurred in but a short time before. 
At this time the Commissioners and others made many unsuccess- 
ful attempts to capture a fish that had returned from the sea. The 
cause of failure can be readily understood by any one who has seen 
a large river, the banks of which are, for the most part, ina state of 
nature. There being an absence of large indigenous fish, no motive 
has hitherto existed for clearing the dead timber from the stream or 
the living scrub from the banks; and before either the angler or the 
net-fisherman can ply his calling successfully, considerable expense 
must be incurred in preparing suitable stations. 1t might be thought 
