96 THE ACCLIMATISATION 



a letter from Mr. Capel, dated May the 

 6tJh, 1882, it -anfortunately appears that he 

 had received a discouraging report of the 

 consignment from Melbourne ; but it is of 

 course too early yet to draw any conclusions. 

 The almost universal opinion expressed 

 at the beginning of these endeavours to 

 acchmatise salmon in Australasia pointed to 

 certain failure, if the ova were sent in moss. 

 The French pisciculturists were confident 

 that they could not be carried thus a long 

 sea voyage. Yet there was no intelligible 

 ground for the prediction, and the very first 

 trial demonstrated the practicability of the 

 plan. A writer in one of the leading colonial 

 journals took upon himself to recommend 

 that the ova should show the eye before they 

 were placed in the ice-house, forgetting the 

 fact that they would hatch out within three 

 weeks if so far developed, and what would 

 the young fish do in the moss without a 

 stream of water ? This, however, was not 

 the most curious example of advice tendered 

 by some who had yet to learn the elements 

 of natural history. 



