484 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



weight of 0*6 lbs., or a little over half a pound each. I have no informa- 

 tion as to the heaviest trout in it, but I believe they have been caught 

 nearly 6 lbs. in weight. As it flows into the Clutha River below the Wai- 

 wera, it must be visited by smelts and whitebait. Here I ought to notice 

 in passing that Mr. M'Kinnon, hotel-keeper, in March, 1883, killed with 

 native minnow in the Pucrua a trout of 22 lbs. As trout were first turned 

 into this little river in 1873, the least possible yearly growth of this fish 

 would be 2-2 lbs. 



The Waiwera River is four times as large as the Kaihiku, and was in great 

 repute among anglers for the size and excellence of its trout a few years 

 ago ; but, owing to the hotel on its banks having stopped business, not 

 many have fished it during the two last summers. It is situated a few 

 miles west of the Kaihiku, and flows over a similar formation. There is 

 good shelter, plenty range, with rocky reefs crossing the stream in many 

 places. There are also plenty of weeds in the reaches, which become long 

 and affect the surface. Several takes by anglers I know of, which are 

 these : — 



1879, one angler fishing two days ; result, 2-5 fish per day ; average 



weight, 2-65 lbs. 

 1879 to 1881, another fishing nine days ; result, 1*77 fish per day ; 



average weight, 1*56 lbs. 

 1882, a third fishing a day and a half; result, 8-0 fish per day; 

 average weight, 2-41 lbs. 

 Previous to last season I know of no trout over 6 lbs. being caught, but 

 on January 18th, 1883, two magnificent female trout were exhibited in 

 Melville, the fishmonger's window, Dunedin, said to have been taken by a 

 Mr. Miller in the Waiwera, which weighed 14^ lbs. and 10 J lbs. respectively, 

 and of these dimensions : — Length, larger, 28^- inches, depth 8J inches, girth 

 20^ inches; smaller 271 inches in length, depth 7-^ inches, and girth 15^ 

 inches. These trout were in colour dark along back, shaded off into a 

 yellow and then white towards the belly, fins all dark, and spots black, 

 large and round like most Waiwera fish. They were so small in the head 

 and also so deep in the side, being about one-third of total lengths, as to 

 have quite the shape of perch, but were not correspondingly thick across the 

 back. In. fact their unusual depth of side was evidently attained at the 

 expense of their thickness, for neither fish had as great a girth as an ordin- 

 ary well-filled-up plump trout, and which I have found to be as nearly as 

 possible two and a half times the depth. For all that, they were the finest- 

 looking specimens of brown trout I have seen in Otago, and the growth of 

 the larger one could not be less than 1-45 lbs. yearly, as trout were first put 

 in Waiwera in 1873. The stomachs of such trout as I have opened from 



