486 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
night in February, 1882, with natural minnow, by Mr. Bull, of Auckland. 
It was excellent eating. During two half-days in November, 1882, I killed 
four trout, of a gross weight of 10 lbs. 10 oz., the largest being 4 Ibs. 83 ozs. 
Mr. Statham Lowe, one day, five trout, weighing 16lbs. But the fairest 
idea of the productiveness of this river may be gathered from Mr. W. Mark 
Elliott's fishing during last season, of which this is the result :—He had 
seventeen and a half blank days, twenty-eight days when he caught fish, 
seventy-six trout taken, and a total weight of 2103 Ibs., the largest being 
6ilbs. Taking all his fishing-days together (451), gives an average catch 
of 1-7 trout per day, weighing 2-76 lbs. each, all trout under ilb. being 
returned to the river. He fished mostly with fly during the first half of the 
season, but with cricket and minnow during the latter half. The first trout 
placed in the Waipahi were only seventy-six in number in the year 1878, 
but 800 the following year. Taking the 9 lb. trout as possibly one liberated 
during the latter year, would give its yearly growth as 1 1b.; but, from the 
abundance of food in this river, I am pretty sure the actual yearly growth 
of its trout is more like 21bs. The flesh of the trout for the table can 
generally be depended on as of the finest quality which are caught in the 
Waipahi. I have found in the stomachs of Waipahi trout, fresh-water alge, 
larve of insects, whelks, flies, and insects, one minnow (G. fasciatus), and, 
in the case of one trout, no less than thirty-eight whitebait! Gravel also I 
have found. In appearance the trout are well-shaped and yellow-sided. 
The Otaria Stream is a small tributary of the Waipahi, and, like it, has 
many bars or reefs of trap rock crossing its bed transversely. It has excel- 
lent banks and good shelter, but from actual observation I cannot give the 
varieties of its food-supply. I have no doubt at the same time that it cor- 
responds to that found in the Waipahi. One day at the latter end of March, 
1883, Mr. Elliott fished it with no success till evening, when, with minnow, 
he caught five trout of a total weight of 15 lbs., the largest being, I believe, 
5lbs. As trout were first put into it in 1875, the yearly growth of this 
largest fish was ilb. Poaching of a very undisguised kind is much prac- 
tised in this stream. The quality of its trout for the table is unusually 
excellent. 
The Mimihau, a feeder of the Mataura River, flows mostly past and 
- through bush and over trap rock. I do not know the precise nature of the 
food-supply, but necessarily the flies and grubs must be very abundant and 
its trout for the table are said to be unsurpassed. In March of this year, 
Mr. Maitland killed in one day 6 trout weighing 173 Ibs., the heaviest being 
4lbs. Two years ago, in 1880, Mr. Thornhill killed one 5 lbs. weight, 
which must have increased yearly in weight at least three-quarters of a 
pound, as trout were first put in it in 1875. 
