66 
THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON. 
76 deg. in summer, which is probably as high as that of 
the Murray. The San Joaquin branch of the Sacramento 
reaches south as far as to the 35th parallel, or half a degree 
farther south than the mouth of the Murray. Seeing that 
the brown trout has adapted itself so well to our high 
temperatures, so much greater than any it could ever have 
experienced in England, it is not unreasonable to suppose 
that the Californian Salmon, which has been proved to be 
so hardy in Victoria, should have sufficient adaptability to 
circumstances, to enable it to live and thrive in a climate 
and temperature so very nearly similar to that of its 
native rivers. 
Another danger to which the salmon would be liable 
in the Murray, is the risk of being devoured by the 
voracious Murray cod (Oligorus Macq^imriensis) , but a 
swift, active, and powerful fish like the salmon has little 
to fear from a comparatively sluggish swimmer such as the 
Murray cod, and it is even probable that the scale may be 
turned the other way, and that the salmon might be well 
able to hold its ground against the native fish of the 
country. 
The distance from the sea to the spawning-beds is 
certainly great, but not farther, I believe, than the salmon 
go in ascending some of the great American rivers. 
I would strongly recommend that the three colonies 
interested should take united action, and import five 
hundred thousand or a million of the ova of this valuable 
fish, to be placed in the head waters of the Murray and 
its tributaries. Some suitable hatching ground could be 
selected near Albury, in the Howqua or Delatite, or in 
some stream high up in the mountains, where cool springs, 
fed by melting snows, could be found, to provide admirable 
hatching-rills, where the young fry could be nursed past 
the dangerous stage of their existence. Should the three 
