492 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



W. Mark Elliott, and J. A. Connell have found in the beginning and middle 

 of October that the trout were fat and in good condition in the Waiwera 

 and Waipahi. It seems to me then that the trap formation is eminently 

 suitable to the abundant growth of insects and other minute food, and that, 

 from situation and exposure to the sun in early spring, the eggs and larvae 

 of these insects must hatch sooner than in snow-fed waters of Otago. This 

 early supply of the finest of food must, together with the excellent shelter 

 of the banks of these rivers and warmth of the water, be the explanation of 

 the goodness of the trout and their appearing in condition in spring so soon. 

 The Pomahaka's trout, on the other hand, are long of getting into con- 

 dition, and poor then with some exceptions ; the river itself, besides being 

 snow-fed half the summer perhaps, is frequently polluted by gold-mining 

 works, and has a very shingly bottom. It has plenty of the coarser food, 

 as the whitebait ; but its water comes from a cold region, and flows away 

 from the sun. I can recollect very well in Scotland I have found the 

 same rule ; the best trout were those I caught in streams flowing over 

 trap and old red sandstone ; the worst in the shingly, slaty, mountain 

 streams. 



Generally our low-lying streams and those freest from snow-water are 

 the ones where trout are soonest in edible condition. Still, even for these, 

 the fishing season begins too soon and ends too late, being from October 1st 

 to March 31st. It is true that, in some years, owing to a mild winter, the 

 trout may be fairly fat by middle of October, but not as a rule ; while, by 

 the middle of March they are black, lazy, and gravid. This season, 1883, 

 they are in poor condition, even in November. The fishing season should 

 be shortened by six weeks. 



The food of our trout may properly here claim a few remarks in connec- 

 tion with growth. Since 1878, I have examined the contents of the 

 stomachs of 62 trout. Frequently I found those of very fat trout quite 

 empty, saving a quantity of white sticky mucus. This was more notice- 

 able in Shag River and Wakatipu fish than in those from other waters. 

 Three or four Wakatipu fish, which were very fat, and almost the only ones 

 I have looked at, had nothing in their stomachs. So, also, with a large 

 trout taken from the Leith, and another from the mouth of that stream in 

 Otago Harbour during the spawning season. But among the other trout 

 I found flies and their larva? in great abundance, algae very common, beetles, 

 grasshoppers, crickets, shell-fish, crayfish, bullies or bullheads, native 

 minnows, whitebait, small stones, and grass. I have never found any 

 earthworms ; neither in large male trout, even when lean and poor, a single 

 case of a small trout having been swallowed. In those streams furthest 

 removed from tidal estuaries, and consequently from a supply of whitebait, 



