60 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



I have received lately an interesting letter from Mr. John 

 Parker, dated 24th Nov. 1892, from which I take the following 

 extract : — " As to salmon, I am sorry I can give you no in- 

 formation beyond the fact that I kept four salmon -fry in one 

 of the hatching-boxes for six months. These got no food except 

 what came down with the water. They were quite healthy, but 

 did not appear to grow quite so fast as trout-fry under similar 

 conditions. Unfortunately a thunder-storm flood came and 

 washed the salmon -fry into the stream running past the 

 hatcheries. Of course it is open to grave doubt whether salmon 

 will succeed in Natal rivers ; but as no one has yet fished the 

 Umkomanzi for a grilse there is still the element of uncertainty 

 about them, and I live in hopes of catching one in the autumn, if 

 I can get away. The trout are doing well ; the first I caught 

 was thirteen months old and measured 6f inches ; then, twelve 

 months after that, two, 8 inches and 9j inches long. This year 

 (1892) I went to the Umgeni for a specimen, and in less than twenty 

 minutes got one weighing 2 lbs. 2 oz., length 17 inches; it was 

 taken with a ' March-brown,' and its age was two years and four 

 months. It is now in the Museum at Pietermaritzburg, and is a 

 S. levenensis. This coming winter (May to August, 1893) these 

 trout will be only three years old, and they may spawn. Seeing 

 that they grow so well, and are fat and healthy, I do not see why 

 they should not breed in our Natal rivers." 



I hope that the spirited enterprise of these Natal gentlemen, 

 assisted by the Legislative Council, may be crowned with complete 

 success. If the rivers of Natal can be stocked with trout, I believe 

 that the money spent will bring forth fruit a hundredfold. The 

 colony of Natal is the garden of South Africa, and is pre- 

 eminently suited to be a home for that class of colonist who, 

 in the old country, has been brought up with some ideas of sport, 

 and I think that the certainty of a good trout stream at one's 

 door would be the deciding attraction in inducing many a suitable 

 man to elect Natal for his adopted home. 





