TELEOSTEI 241 



The time of running in Southern Alaska, according to Dr Bean, 

 is from May till August; at North Sound, the northern limit of its 

 known migration, it is early in June. There can be no winter run in 

 the far north of America, when the rivers are blocked with ice. From 

 Mr Ayson's statement it would seem probable that all the ova 

 received in New Zealand were from rivers which were open in the 

 winter months. I have no record of size of the quinnat salmon 

 captured in New Zealand. In Alaska rivers (Yukon, etc.) they average 

 about 20 lb., but have been recorded up to 100 lb. and more. 



I am told by some anglers who have caught the quinnat salmon 

 in New Zealand waters, that the fish is a very inferior one for the 

 table, being coarse and dry. It would be unfortunate, but a quite 

 possible occurrence, that an inferior race has been introduced. Though 

 so many separate shipments of ova have been received and hatched, 

 it is possible that all those now running in the rivers of the east 

 coast of the South Island are derived from one lot. 



(See Appendix B, p. 557.) 



* Sock-eye Salmon ; Blue-back Salmon 

 (Salmo (Onchorhynchus) nerka) 



In 1901-2 a shipment of 500,000 ova of this species was sent 

 from Canada to New Zealand via San Francisco. It arrived in the 

 colony in bad condition, only 160,000 being good when unpacked, 

 and there was a large percentage of deformed fish among those 

 hatched out. Of these, 5000 fry were liberated in tributaries of the 

 Waitaki, 91,200 in the streams flowing into Lake Ohau, while 20,000 

 were retained (on 30th June) in the hatchery at Hakataramea. In the 

 following year 10,000 fry eleven months old, and 1500 sixteen months 

 old were liberated from the ponds into the Hakataramea River. In 

 1903-4, 5981 fish two-and-a-half years old were liberated in the 

 river, and at the end of the year (31st March) there were estimated 

 to be about 2000 three-year-old fish left in the ponds. Of these, 

 1273 were liberated the following year, and by the 31st March, 1905, 

 there were still left about 216 four-year-old fish. There must have 

 been some loss in the ponds, for 34 were liberated next season, and 

 only 18 remained in confinement. 



On 22nd May, 1906, Mr Chas. L. Ayson, Manager of the Haka- 

 taramea Hatchery, wrote as follows: 



While cleaning the pond-net which I have set at the mouth of the Haka- 

 taramea River to-day I caught on the top side of the net a fish about 16 in. 

 in length, and which would, if in proper condition, weigh about five 

 pounds. This fish is undoubtedly a sock-eyed salmon (O. nerka), which 

 has been up the river for the purpose of spawning and was returning down 



T. N. Z. 16 



