March r, 1898.! 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
603 
THE CEYLON FISHING CLUB. 
We direct attention to the annual Report 
ot tliis institution below, which contains de- 
tails and informations of special interest to 
anglers and to all concerned about the successful 
acclimatisation and propagation of trout in Ceylon. 
The Committee and Secretaries have had a very 
trying experience last year : but there is much 
encouragement to persevere and the fact that 
trout have been caught up to 1, 2, 2^ and of 
3Jlb. ■weight shew results already attained one of 
great value. As to spawninsr, it is rightly men- 
tioned that it took ten years before success 
was attained in this respect in New Zealand 
rivers. What is wanted now is that some angler 
of experience and leisure with a proper love of 
natural history should settle down in Nuwara 
Eliya and study the life history of the trout in 
our highland streams. 
Annual Report. 
The following is a copy of the official annual 
report of this Club : — 
The last annual meeting of this Club was held 
on September 12th 1896, when a report was 
read by the then Honi Secretary, Mr. Lushington. 
Subsequently three meetings were held ; one on 
December 23rd, 1896, when the usual election of 
office-bearers for the ensuing year took place, and 
the accounts of the Club up to that date were 
laid on the table. A second meeting was held on 
March 1st, 1897, to discuss the distribution of the 
fry; and a third meeting was held on September 
25th, at the request of several members, when a 
preliminary report was submitted by the Hon. 
Secretaries, the accounts up to date were laid on 
tbe table and passed, and the arrangements as 
to ova for the next hatching season were discussed. 
During the year the following rules were altered 
or amended}— 
In Buie 1 page 2 the word was “ person ” deleted 
and the words “ resident in the island ” were sube 
stituted for it. 
The following words were added to Rule 11 : 
— “ Sufficient notice of such proposed alteration 
or amendment shall be given to the Honorary Sec- 
retaries to allow them to give each member of the 
Ceylon Pishing Club ten days’ notice before the 
General Meeting of such alteration or amendment.” 
Rule 3. That licenses to fish for trout by non- 
members of the Club shall be at the following rates : — 
One day (a) R 12-50 
One week (5) „ 25'00 
One month (c) „ 75'00 
The whole season (d) „ 120'00 
Rule 5 Sec. (6) was altered to read thus : — They shall 
at once return to the water all trout accidentally caught. 
Rule 7. The words “ subject however to the ex- 
ception contained in Rule No. 5” were expunged. 
It will in consequence be advisable to brin out a 
fresh edition of the C. F. C. rules. 
It was also decided to keep on the present keeper, 
who has done good work during the year in watching 
the local streams and lakes, preventing poaching and 
prosecuting offenders, and to employ in a similar 
capacity the Resthouse-keeper Horton Plains, and the 
Pattipola Resthouse-keeper. 
The fish-register kept at the Horton Plains Rest- 
house having proved successful and interesting, it was 
thought advisable to start similar books in Nuwara 
Eliya ; and the Grand Hotel, the Club, St. Andrews 
and Keena Cottage have each been supplied with one. 
It is hoped that fishermen will help the Club by 
entering them up carefully. 
The Horton Plains register shows that 384 fish were 
caught by members between February 15th and 
August 22nd, of which 216 were under 11 inches and 
were returned to the water. The largest fish taken 
was one of 3| lb caught by Mr. A. T. Cathcart, while 
eight fish were caught between 2 and 2J lb.; 70 be- 
tween 1 and 2 lb; and 89 between | and 1 lb. Un- 
fortunately there is no register of fish canght la 
Nuwara Eliya, though it is hoped that this will bo 
remedied by next year. 
The alteration of the dates of the close season has 
been discussed, but no definite conclusion has yet 
been arrived at. It is a difficult question, on 'which 
everybody differs. The fact is we none of us know 
much about the breeding habits of trout in these 
waters, and the alteration in their habits caused by 
change of climate, food, etc., because we are most of 
us busy men who have no time to devote to the close 
daily observation necessary for such a study. A 
leisured man, with previous experience, who would 
take up the matter as a hobby, would be a real gods* 
end. 
Two stew-ponds were made early in the year, one 
by the kind permission of H.E. the Governor, in the 
grounds of Queen’s Cottage, and one under the super- 
intendence of Mr. Farr, at the Horton Plains. It is 
too early yet to pronounce whether they are a suc- 
cess or a failure. Fry were supplied to each, but tho 
Horton Plains pond was seriously affected by a 
heavy flood. The Queen’s Cottage pond has been 
undisturbed, and it will be dragged early next year, 
before fresh fry are put in, to ascertain how tho 
last year’s fry have fared. 
A great many female trout full of spawn were sent 
to us for inspection by the fishermen who caught 
them in July and August, but hardly any males were 
caught then with signs of milt in them. Every effort 
was made to discover signs of fish working up to- 
wards the headwaters in pairs, or of females deposit- 
ing eggs in the sand, and the removal of sand and 
rubble from the upper parts of the streams was 
prohibited for several weeks, in order to keep the 
waters as undisturbed as possible; but it cannot be 
said that so far there are any certain proofs that 
the trout are spawning in the Nuwara Eliya streams. 
An experienced member; the former Hon, Secretary 
of the Club, is of opinion that they never will, and 
that our one hope of spawning lies in the Horton 
Plains streams. On the other hand our streams here 
are not much warmer than, or very different from, 
some of the streams in New Zealand, where it took 
from 10 to 12 years before the fish would spawn ; and 
the power of adaptation to environment, latent in all , 
animals, trout included, is well worth waiting for and 
endeavouring to encourage, 
THE OUTTURN OF FRY, 
Under this head, the year’s record has been, 
disappointing to the verge of disaster. Forty 
thousand ova were ordered out at the end of 
1896 from the usual source — the Surrey Trout 
Farm of the Messrs. Andrews. They arrived in two 
batches, in January and February. Every possibla 
recaution was taken to ensure their immediate 
elivery and rapid transport to Nuwara Eliya. The 
hatchery and trout house were in excellent order, the 
latter having been doubled in size. Unfortunately 
Messrs. Andrews experienced great difficulty in finding 
properly appointed ships to carry the ova, and, in order 
not to miss the dates, they shipped them by vessels 
where there were no proper cold rooms and no sufficient 
store of ice. Nor were the boxes left undisturbed, but 
had obviously been turned up on end and shifted about 
ruthlessly. The result was that the first batch was 
ruined and the second very nearly so. The eggs, when 
unpacked, instead of lying flat, were found crashed 
together into a horrid mass of corruption, and it took 
many hours’ hard work, day and night, to extract the 
possible survivors. These, however, were so hopelessly 
affected by the corruption of their neighbours, that 
fungus set in almost at once, and spread with fatal 
rapidity, so that eventually only 1,596 fry were hatched, 
and were distributed as follows: — 
200 to Ambewa Oya. 
100 to Queen’s Cottage Stew-pond, 
396 to Nuwara Eliya Streams. 
400 to Buluhala Oya and Eurundu Oya. 
500 to Horton Plains Streams and Stew-pond, 
It is a disappointing result, but it is as useless to 
cry over spilt milk as over spoilt ova. Messrs. 
Andrews reduced their bill by about l/3rd, and 
