52 THE ACCLIMATISATION 



spite of every attention, thencefortli not a 

 single ovum hatched, though the fry sur- 

 vived, and the colony thus lost probably 

 twenty thousand salmon. When about 

 thirteen months old the young fish began 

 to exhibit great restlessness, and three of 

 them leaped ashore and perished ; these, 

 now ia the Otago Museum, measured re- 

 spectively lOJ in., llj in., and 12 in., and 

 were all finely grown, bright, handsome fish, 

 ready to go to sea. Mr. Dawbin at once 

 wrote to the officials to come and see the 

 liberation of these fish, but advising that 

 some should be retained to breed in cap- 

 tivity, as had been done in the case of 

 the migratory salmonids introduced into 

 Tasmania. A day was appointed, but 

 they did not come, and they subsequently 

 authorised him to let the fish go, retaining, 

 however, some of them. The ponds were 

 carefully examined, the water lowered, and 

 a splendid shoal of about five hundred 

 observed, with not a dead one anywhere. 

 Of these eighty were retained, the rest 

 being sent to find their way to the sea 



