Jan. 6, 1887] 



NA TURE 



that special maps have been published with the magazine 

 (luring that period, what the scale of each is, at what part of 

 the publication it is to be found, and whether the man is topo- 

 graphical, physical, geological, or statistical. These maps, with 

 their variously-coloured lines, show, too, in a moment, what 

 are the regions of the earth which have most engaged attention 

 during the last ten years. In Europe the Balkan peninsula is 

 covered with lines, in Asia the khanates, the Pamir, Tibet, 

 and South-Western China, while the number of lines in Central 

 Africa north and south of the equator form a veritable laby- 

 rinth. A rough idea of the work of every traveller in the last 

 ten years could be formed from this outline map alone, a^ the 

 name and occasionally the date are added in each case. The 

 index and the maps give a bird's-eye view of the work of this 

 famous geographical publication better than anything else can 

 do, and we are glad to know that it begins a new decade full of 

 youthful life and vigour, and with the prospect of a career of as 

 much usefulness in the future as in the past. 



Herr NiEDERLEiN, of Buenos Ayres, has been appointed 

 Naturalist and Geographer to the Argentine-Brazilian Boundary 

 Commission, on behalf of the Argentine Government, and he 

 left in October last for the rendezvous of the Commission at 

 Misiones. He has been engaged for sixteen months in the 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, working out the 

 results of a previous journey, especially his surveys on the 

 Uruguay and Parana Rivers and their main tributaries ; these, 

 however, did not rest on any astronomical observations, a defect 

 which he hopes to remedy in the present journey. A careful 

 geodetic survey of the frontier districts will be made, and a map 

 of these and of the province of Corrientes will be published 

 next year. 



TASMANIAN FISHERIES 

 'T'HE Report for 1885 of Mr. Saville Kent, Superintendent and 

 Inspector of Fisheries to the Tasmanian Government, 

 contains a good deal that is of scientific as well as economic 

 interest, as will be seen from the following extracts ; — 



(l) The Oyster Fisheries. — It affords me much gratification to 

 inform you that considerable success has attended the experi- 

 ments made in the direction of breeding oysters on the Govern- 

 ment reserves and in private fisheries, upon the system advocated 

 and explained in my last year's Report. This system consisted 

 chiefly of laying " collectors," constructed of thin planks or split 

 palings coated with cement, over the breeding oysters placed 

 upon the beds. At the Government reserve at Little Oyster 

 Cove, on a private bed at Great Oyster Cove, and on one at the 

 Prosser's River on the East Coast, a considerable quantity of 

 brood or spat has adhered to the collectors laid down, giving the 

 greatest encouragement for a yet more substantial and commer- 

 cially remunerative return resulting from the following out of the 

 system upon a sufficiently extensive scale. The operations so 

 far conducted have been furthermore productive of much valuable 

 information concerning the breeding habits of the oysters of this 

 colony that may be hereafter utilised in their artificial culture. 

 Thus, last summer none of the collectors were placed on the 

 beds until November, which is generally accepted, as is May in 

 England, as representing the earliest month in which the spat or 

 brood is liberated. From the size of the brood deposited on the 

 collectors, as also by an examination from time to time of the 

 parent oysters, it was, however, made evident that the greater 

 portion of the spat had been already emitted before the collectors 

 were placed over them. This circumstance indicates the desir- 

 ability, in future years, of having at least a considerable portion 

 of the collectors in position by the commencement of September. 

 It is of interest to ob-erve that the larger portion of the spat 

 deposited, at both the Government reserve at Little Oyster Cove 

 and on the private bed in the adjacent bay, was derived from 

 the New Zealand oy-sters, thus demonstrating that that variety 

 is suitable for acclimatisation in Tasmanian waters. Another 

 important circumstance to be recorded of the Oyster Cove reserve 

 is the fact that the spat thus obtained was attached exclusively 

 to the cemented collectors, and in no case to the shells of the 

 l>arent oysters or to the rocks, cultch, or other natural objects to 

 which they customarily adhere ; this fact of itself affords practical 

 evidence of the efficacy of these collectors for the purpose for 

 which they have been devised. 



At the Government reserve at Spring Bay the collectors ordered 

 were not supplied sufficiently early to intercept the fall of spat. 



At the same time the fall which took place, both in the reserve 

 and also upon the public and private oyster-beds throughout the 

 Spring Bay district, has been a very abundant one, the young 

 brood adhering plentifully to the parent shells, inussels, cultch, 

 stakes, and any other objects that afforded them a suitable fulcrum 

 for attachment. With a continuance of this past season's rate 

 of increase, and provided a sufficient amount of breeding stock 

 is maintained on the reserves and private beds, it should not 

 take many years for this locality to regain its original prominent 

 position with relation to the oyster trade, hi the present time 

 the recovery of this district has adv.anced to such an extent that 

 there has been no difficulty experienced in obtaining from it 

 during the present season a stock of about 50,000 breeding 

 oysters for laying down upon various private beds and the 

 Government reserves. From the third Government reserve, 

 established at the West Arm on the Tamar estuary, no sub- 

 stantial results have as yet been obtained, it having been found 

 impossible to complete it and stock it with oysters in time to 

 obtain last summer's fall of spat. A fourth oyster reserve is in 

 process of formation at Little Swanport ; and it is proposed, 

 with the funds available for the purpose during the current year, 

 to establish similar Government reserves in the following neigh- 

 bourhoods, i.e. the Carlton River, Taranna, and Southport in 

 the southern district ; and at George's Bay, Port Sorell, and 

 other favourable localities to be yet selected, on the north-eastern 

 and northern coast-lines. 



I am gratified to be able to report to you that there are 

 already substantial prospects of accomplishing one of the most 

 important objects of the establishment of the Government 

 oyster reserves. At the time of their inauguration it was antici- 

 pated and intended that these reserves, in addition to fulfilling 

 the part of nurseries for the propagation of oysters and the 

 replenishment of the surrounding waters, should likewise con- 

 stitute central stations for the assistance and encouragement of 

 private enterprise in a similar direction, and by whose aid, if 

 developed upon an extensive scale, the restoration of the oyster 

 fisheries of this colony on a thoroughly substantial commercial 

 basis would be greatly accelerated. One private bed with 

 breeding oysters is already established in the vicinity of the 

 Government reserve at Little Oyster Cove, one at Spring Bay, 

 and another at the Prosser's River. Encouraged by the success 

 of these undertakings, applications have been or are about to be 

 made for the leasing of three more suitable areas for the same 

 purpose at Spring Bay, for the same number at Great and Little 

 Oyster Cove, and for others in the neighbourhood of Little 

 Swanport, and at Port Sorell on the north coast. 



The important operations connected with oyster-culture in 

 course of progress at the newly inaugurated Fisheries Establish- 

 ment at Battery Point are recorded under the following heading. 



(2) Fisheries Establishnient, Battery Point.— ^'mzt the date of 

 my last Report, and in accordance with the recommendations 

 therein made, suitable premises, including a residence, have been 

 selected and are now rented by the Government at Battery Point 

 for the development and maintenance of a Fishery Establishment. 

 To this site the marine hatchery originally erected at Gore Street 

 has been transported, and re-erected with various additions. 

 The premises occupied include a sea frontage of about three 

 hundred feet, all jwing the location of the hatchery so close to 

 the water's edge that the salt water necessary for the mainten- 

 ance of a constant circulation through the tanks is pumped direct 

 from the sea. The mechanical arrangements are at the same 

 time so disposed that in the event of a storm or flood rendering 

 the outside water temporarily unfit for circulation, the intake 

 pipe can be disconnected, and the water circulated independently 

 froai a small reservoir beneath the building. The great advan- 

 tages derived from the transport of the marine hatchery to its 

 present site, next to the means now afforded for obtaining an 

 unlimited supply of pure sea-water, are the facilities it has 

 provided for constructing in connection therewith tidal ponds for 

 the culture of oysters and marine fish generally upon the adjacent 

 shore. For this purpose an area of about one acre has been 

 inclosed with stakes wired together after the manner adopted 

 for the fencing off of the Government oyster reserves and within 

 this inclosure two such ponds have been already constructed. 

 In consequence of the circumstance that at ordinary ebb tide the 

 water recedes from a large portion, and at spring tides from 

 almost the entire extent of this inclosed area, the plan has been 

 adopted of excavating these ponds for a foot or two below lowest 

 tide-level, so that under any circumstances they contain an abun- 

 dant supply of water. The nature of the ground upon the 



