TROUT CULTURE ON THE XILGIRIS. 901 



of crabs devoured the ova as soon as they were laid. Horned owls, water- 

 snakes, which usually occur below 6,000 feet, otters, the larvae of the dragon fly, 

 and mildew {Saproligneusferox), were amongst the other enemies of the fish. 



In December, 1893, a consignment of 20,000 Loch Leven Ova and 29,003 Rain- 

 bow Ova were received. Despite rain and a sudden rise in temijerature, almost 

 the whole of the Eainbow tiout hatched out, whilst only 572 Loch Leven fry were 

 savsd. For a time, 20 to 50 fry died daily owing to a rise in the temperature but 

 eventually 5,0C0 were saved. However, little ]3ermanent good resulted. Writ- 

 ing in 1897 with reference to the Khundah River, Major Grant remarked that 

 he did not think the trout imported in 1888 had bred since the winter of 1893-94 

 and would be better out. 



Consignments of ova, mostly of S. fario, continued to arrive at irregular in- 

 tervals. But in 1900 the position was summarised as follows by Major Bagnall: — 

 " The only trout I have seen during the year were caught during our netting 

 operations in Snowdon ponds. Three were secured, unwholesome looking fish of 

 about 2| lbs. each. I have heard of fish being caught in Burnfoot lake and have 

 seen the bones of one killed by an otter. 



The Pykara stock pond which should have contained 19 large trout was emp- 

 tied after great labour. It contained no trout, but one small fish of the Mahseer 

 species. The caretaker, bej-ond remarking that he was a poor man, had no infor- 

 mation to offer. 



Emerald Valley River, Avalanche and Khundah Rivers: — I have frequently 

 hunted all along these rivers, and have seen three large trout in the Emerald 

 Valley River, but no sign of fish life elsewhere . Xowhere have I seen a fish as 

 large as a little finger, and I cannot find any watcher who has. 



Pykara River : — I heard a fri end say he rose a trout in the Pykara River, and 

 I hope he was not mistaken, but those who have fished there will remamber how 

 red the Mahseer look in the water. 



Our present position seems to be that we know of the existence of trout in the 

 Emerald Valley River only, and in Snowdon Ponds, in the Dodabetta Reservoirs, 

 and in Burnfoot Lake. They probably exist also in the Marlimund Reservoir." 



The same history of unsuccessful effort by enthusiastic amateurs continued 

 up to 1905. At that time trout fishing on the Nilgiris might still be represented 

 by the word nil. Simultaneous efforts by amateurs to introduce troat on 

 the Palni Hills were even more disastrous. Apart from natural enemies, the 

 high temperatures, even at Dodabetta which is more elevated than the pressnt 

 hatchery at Avalanche, proved fatal to S. fario. But the most insuperable 

 difficulty was that the females spawned when the males were not in milt. The 

 ■experiments with S. irridens though far from being successful were at any rats 

 more promising than those carried out with S. fario. (Compiled from " The 

 mighty Mahseer" by Skene Dhu, Higginbctham & Co., Madras, 1906). 



In the autumn of 'l906, the Xilgiri Game Association suggested that the services 

 of a pisciculturist be obtained, and Sir Arthur Lawley, the then Governor of 

 Madras, was approached. The suggestion was approved. From this time for- 

 ward, trout culture ceased to be a private enterprise. Government took up 

 the matter in earnest. Sir A. Lawlev wrote to the Government of Ceylon. The 

 services of the late Mr. H. C. Wilson were obtained. He arrived in Ootacamund 

 in the autumn of 1906. Very soon he brought trout culture on a soientific basis. 

 The Expert had replaced the amateur. An up-to-date hatchery was built at the 

 Avalanche 13^ miles South-west of Ootacamund. This hatchery has proved a vast 

 success. Both imported ova of S. irridens and stock fish have been successfully 

 reared here and their fry distributed to all parts of the Nilgiris. As has been said 

 above, it has been found useless to import ova of S. fario into the Nilgins as owing 

 to the relativelv high temperature of the water, these fish will not breed although 

 they develope well. It was Mr. Wilson who first emphasised the fact that the 

 females spawTied at one time whilst the males milted at another. 



