40 THE ACCLIMATISATION 



leaped upon the bank in some numbers and 

 perished. In May, 1869, the water in their 

 inclosure was lowered, and twelve fish, 

 weighing from half a pound to considerably 

 more than a pound each, and of fine silvery 

 hue, were seen — all of them having lost the 

 juvenile markings. These, in fact, were ma- 

 ture fish, for in July of the same year they 

 spawned in the ponds, and in the following 

 December five hundred fry hatched from 

 their own ova were turned into the river 

 Huon. This statement was received at the 

 time in Europe with increduhty, and even 

 ridicule. A migratory salmonid remaining 

 and perfecting its ova and mUt in fresh 

 water, and proving abundantly fertile, too ? 

 Nonsense ; the thing could not be : it was a 

 hoax or a blunder ! That it was no blunder 

 should be evident when it is said that the 

 parents of the original ova sent from Eng- 

 land were procured, and the fertilisation 

 effected, by the experienced hands of Mr. E. 

 Eamsbottom, and if he did not know the 

 migratory from the non-migratory species, 

 no one in England could lay claim to such 



