Second Importation of Calif omian Ova. 3 1 



the bottom of the box was pierced with 

 holes, to allow the escape of water from the 

 melting ice. The ice was renewed every 

 twelve hours on the voyage from Sydney to 

 Melbourne. The box had an inner lining, 

 enclosing about four inches of sawdust, to act 

 as a non-conductor, and which answered the 

 object sufficiently well. 



The weak points in the packing were the 

 use of cotton net, which rots and gets mouldy, 

 while the moss remains green and fresh ; and 

 also that the ova were too closely packed 

 together. For a short voyage this matters 

 little, but in a long distance the difference is 

 great, as when one egg loses vitality it soon 

 decays, and the byssus, or fungus, which 

 quickly forms, attacks all the ova within 

 reach ; these ova adhere to each other, and 

 although little altered in appearance, in- 

 variably perish in the hatching. 



With little loss of time the ova were trans- 

 ferred to the gravel of the hatching-boxes, 

 which had been prepared with great care, 

 by being screened to insure a uniform size, 

 and by boiling, to destroy insect germs 

 which might be injurious to the ova. All 



