192 Transactions.— Zoology. 
last season) to the imperfect aeration of the water in the large tank. It was 
remarked that when the fish came to the surface they had great difficulty in 
descending again. Many died in this state, and the distention of the 
abdomen led us to believe that the water required more air. A few died 
from fungoid growth on the gills. This is probably a blood disease, from 
impure or insufficient oxidation of the blood. We intend to experiment next 
season, in order to find out the cause of such a large percentage of deaths, 
and remove it if possible. 
“So far as feeding went, we found the raw liver answer very well. Two 
of our members of committee, who are large farmers, and kill a considerable 
number of sheep, built some small tanks and fed a few hundred trout each 
on maggots from the sheepskins. It was surprising to see the avidity with 
which the young fry seized them. These did much better than those fed in 
the central pond; but they had a much better flow of water, so that it 
would not be safe to predicate that the difference in success resulted from 
the manner of feeding.” 
Canterbury Acclimatization Society. 
The records of trout rearing in Canterbury do not appear to be so com- 
plete and accurate as they might have been. ‘However, from some Annual 
Reports, and a pamphlet on “ Trout Culture” in Canterbury, by Mr. 8. ¢. 
Farr, kindly sent me by that. gentleman, I am enabled to give a condensed 
statement of what has been done. 
I find that, in 1867, the Salmon Commissioners of Tasmania placed 800 
trout ova at the disposal of the Canterbury society. These were brought 
from Tasmania to Christchurch by Mr. Johnson, the society’s curator. but 
although apparently packed very carefully in ice, when placed in the 
hatching boxes at Christchurch, in September of above year, only three 
hatched out. By some fatality, these three young fish escaped, and although 
two were captured by Mr. Hill, in a ‘box-race,” their subsequent existence 
seems involved in much doubt, as nothing in the form of a report now 
exists. Altogether, this experiment was a failure.* The consignment of 
trout ova, however, in 1868, from Tasmania, through the Otago society, 
seems to have been under better guidance, as 488 young trout were reared 
and distributed in such rivers as the Avon, Heathcote, Little Rakaia, ete-» 
and in Lake Coleridge. Other lots of ova were obtained from the same source, 
also from trout kept in confinement at the society's ponds; so that now 
(1880) the waters of Canterbury may be said to be fairly stocked with Salmo 
fario. But how have they thriven in their new habitat ? 
nen 
* The water used for hatching at the ponds was got from an artesian well, I believe, 
in Christchurch. 
