THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON. 
53 
pretty equal, and hatched over 50 per cent. The eggs in 
No. 7 hatched out much earlier, hut the percentage of loss 
was above the average. No. 8, opened a day later, and the 
lowest layer of eggs, hatched out very quickly, having the 
warmest water, and produced probably 5,000 fish. 
It will thus be seen that the different lots of eggs, when 
treated exactly in the same way, varied very materially in 
the number hatched, showing that the causes of this dif- 
ference were to he looked for in the treatment of the ova 
when first taken, or in the mode of packing, rather than in 
their management after their arrival in Australia. 
After the young fish were fairly hatched but few losses 
occurred, probably not 50 in the whole number. Of the 
ova only about 500 remained to hatch on the 24th, and 
that day, although the hottest of the season, did not appear 
to injure the alevins, as the young fish at this stage are 
called. The number of live fish is now about 28,000, which 
is a not unsuccessful result. Had the ova arrived a week 
earlier probably three-fourths could have been saved. If 
they had been a week later, probably they would have 
been a mass of putrefaction from the fish hatching out, as 
happened with the first lot of 20,000 Californian ova which 
I had brought over three years ago. 
Success, in most things, is the result of good arrange- 
ments, made with a thorough knowledge of the subject, 
and combined with favourable circumstances, where these 
are beyond control. The result in this case shows what a 
narrow line may lie between success and failure. 
This shipment of ova had been obtained from the 
McLeod River, a tributary of the Sacramento, in Shasta 
county, California. They were obtained from the United 
States Fisheries Commission, of which the President is the 
Hon. Spencer F. Baird ; and although my application was 
made with the condition that a proportion of the cost of 
