392 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [10] 



gar-fisli (Belone), and the flying fish {Exocwtus), have filaments spring- 

 ing- from their eggs for the purpose of attaching themselves to contig- 

 uous objects ; others are covered with a glutinous secretion. In fresh 

 waters eggs may remain at the bottom, either covered or uncovered. 



Among the marine siluroids {Ariincc), the male carries about the 

 large eggs in his mouth until hatched; or it may be that he only re- 

 moves them from one spot to another to avoid some impending danger. 

 However this may be, I have netted many along the seacoast with from 

 ten to twenty eggs in their mouths, and in one example was a young 

 fry just hatched. In none of these large males was there the trace of 

 any food in their stomachs. 



Artificial hatching and transportation. — Bloch, at the end of the last 

 century, made many experiments as to the feasibility of fish being ar- 

 tificially hatched, and also whether it was possible to convey the cfva 

 in safety for any considerable distance. He proposed placing the eggs 

 of pond fish in mud, similar to that existing in the locality from which 

 the eggs were procured, and he believed that when the mass had dried 

 they could be thus removed without injury from one pond to another. 

 His proposal was based upon the theory that frequently on dried-up 

 ponds being refilled with water, young fish appear, which could only 

 be due to the eggs having been present in the mud, but with their ger- 

 mination suspended. In India, as ponds dry up, some of the fish con- 

 tained therein descend into the mud, where they estivate until the 

 next year's rains set in. As these commence, and the mud liquefies, 

 fish are perceived diverging in all directions, up every watercourse, no 

 matter how small or how lately it may have been dry, while in a few 

 days fry are distributed everywhere. Where the eggs come from which 

 have produced these fry is a very interesting subject for investigation. 

 Have they remained inside the mother fish, and did she deposit them 

 as soon as the rains set her free"? I cannot accept this theory, because 

 I have witnessed fish removed alive from the mud, but they had no 

 ova ; and, secondly, because the fry are soon hatched after the setting 

 in of the rains, while some of these fish are oviparous. It seems more 

 reasonable to suppose that the fertilized eggs are imbedded in the mud, 

 and, as soon as the rains occur, they become hatched out, and this 

 would give us reason for attempting to ascertain w^hether ova of pond 

 fishes imbedded in mud could be successfully transported long dis- 

 tances. 



We know that germination of fish eggs can be retarded by cold. In 

 fact, by the use of ice, those, of trout and salmon have been safely con- 

 veyed to Tasmania and elsewhere. 



2. — Legislation on fisheries. 



Royalties and licenses informer times. — From the information collected 

 between 1869 and 1873, it appeared that the fisheries in olden times 

 were royalties, mostly let out to contractors, who alone in their respect- 



