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 lbs. 8i ozs. 

 Mr. Statham Lowe, one day, five trout, weighing lGlbs. 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 w T hen he caught fish, 

 seventy-six trout taken, and a total weight of 210^ lbs., the largest being 

 G.Vlbs. Taking all his fishing-days together (45^), gives an average catch 

 of 1*7 trout per day, weighing 2-76 lbs. each, all trout under ^ lb. 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 hi the year 1873, 

 but 300 the following year. Taking the 9 lb. trout as possibly one liberated 

 during the latter year, would give its yearly growth as 1 lb. ; but, from the 

 abundance of food in this river, I am pretty sure the actual yearly growth 

 of its trout is more like 2 lbs. 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 algae, 

 larvse 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, 

 5 lbs. As trout were first put into it in 1875, the yearly growth of this 

 largest fish was $lb. 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 Biver, 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 17^ lbs., the heaviest being 

 4 lbs. 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. 



