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 

 Eeports, and a pamphlet on " Trout Culture" in Canterbury, by Mr. S. C. 

 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 433 young trout were reared 

 and distributed in such rivers as the Avon, Heathcote, Little Eakaia, etc., 

 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 Sahno 

 fario. But how have they thriven in their new habitat ? 



* The water used for hatching at the ponds was got from an artesian well, I believe, 

 in Christchurch. 



