276 Transactions.—Zoology, 
and were apparently in good enough health. In December, 1875, I killed 
one of these which, though about 24 inches in length, only weighed 41058. 
It ought if in good condition to have been about 7 Ibs. Several other similar 
or worse-conditioned trout have since then been taken. But the worst speci- 
men I have seen was caught at the beginning of this year, in a feeder of the 
Lee, the Broad Creek, which surpassed all others in its poverty. It was 
about twenty inches long and weighed only 1lb. or thereby. There was 
really no substance on its body, it was literally a skeleton. It is difficult to 
account for such a phenomenon, particularly when equally large trout have 
been killed in the Lee, which were in excellent condition. 
2. Habits of the Trout. 
In dealing with this part of my subject, [ propose to offer a few remarks 
under the heads of Spawning Season, Differences of External Appearance, 
and the Habits of our Trout as observed during the open season. _ 
Spawning Season.—From actual observations, trout are known to have 
spawned in the several streams named as follows :— 
Shag River my Ap zi from June 20th to July 31st 
Water of Leith  .. <u we » June 30th ,„ Aug. 4th 
Lee Stream v =e Ts » June 15th  ,,July 25th 
Lovell’s Creek s me vs » June 6th ,, July 31st 
Fulton's Creek during July, &e. 
In Silverstream, a man of Mr. Mi oa saw trout engaged, as he 
thought, spawning from June 20th to July 20th.* As regards Southland, 
propagation of trout has been carried on there solely with fish kept 
constantly confined to small ponds at Wallacetown by or under charge 
of Mr. Howard. This gentleman’s experience of this method has proved 
it to be a mistake. Spawning is late and prolonged and the breed- 
ing fish do not thrive. He found that they lived well enough throughout 
the year, but were liable to attacks of fungus, which killed them in 
fourteen days. This fungus he cured repeatedly by washing or dipping 
the fish in salt water; but it invariably returned, and eventually the 
trout succumbed. With us, Mr. Deans has followed a more natural 
plan, that of catching the fish when ripe, gtripping the females of their ova, 
and impregnating these with the milt of the male. The milt of young or 
mature males does equally well, and one male is sufficient to fructify the 
ova of several females. The trout in the Leith will average 800 ova to 
the ib. weight of the fish itself. A female ilb. weight has yielded about 
400, and one of the largest caught, being a healthy fish of about 7Ibs., gave 
close on 6000 ova. In our breeding boxes at Opoho, we have found the 
time the ova take to hatch to be 78 days; but this is modified to some 
* This period is later than the corresponding time at home, which is in October and 
November, by about six weeks. 
