THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON. 
75 
"boxes, and they lived and will grow, I hope, to be 50-lb. 
salmon in the Gellibrand and Snowy Rivers, where they 
were liberated some time afterwards. 
HATCHING- EISH OYA IN MOIST AIR. 
As the mode of hatching in moist air has not been tried, 
as far as I can learn, at any of the great fish -hatching 
establishments in Europe or America, there may be 
reasons which do not occur to me, which might hinder its 
success, but there are several advantages which the plan 
possesses, over that usually adopted. Those who have 
succeeded in hatching the eggs of any of the salmonidae, will 
know that one of the great dangers to which the life of the 
embryo is exposed, is from the sediment which i^kposited 
from the water — however pure it may seem — which is used in 
hatching. With a low temperature the time of incubation 
is lengthened, and this evil is then greater. Even filtering 
will not entirely prevent it, and where a strong current is 
used, no efficient filtering apparatus can be arranged to 
obviate this difficulty, which cannot arise under the moist 
air system. Another advantage of the latter plan is, that 
any injurious substance which may get into the water 
accidentally, and which might destroy the ova, could not 
affect them in air. The simplicity of the arrangements 
required for hatching in air is another great advantage, as 
compared with the elaborate apparatus required under the 
ordinary system, and a low temperature is much more 
easily maintained in an air-chamber, than with a stream 
of water. 
The Californian ova above referred to, were, on their 
arrival, found to be packed in netting, in a box, between 
layers of moss, over which a few pieces of ice were 
