22 
and carnivorous quadrupeds were less destructive than in many other 
countries of the world, and the result had proved that acclimatisers 
would have veiy little difficulty of that kind to contend with. Those 
who were desirous of seeing not only useful creatures, but also those 
which might he considered ornamental, or might gratify a pleasant 
predilection for singing birds, and field sports, had had their tastes 
gratified by importations of skylarks and many others, chiefly 
insectivorous birds, which would make the country more attractive 
and pleasant, as well as usefully clear away destructive insects, even 
if they were not of so much importance as the animals of which he 
had been speaking. 
Then, with regard to the efforts of the Society for the introduction 
of useful fish, nothing could be more satisfactory than the success of 
the attempt to introduce salmon, made by this Society in conjunc¬ 
tion with the Salmon Commissioners of Tasmania. Many scientific 
men hazarded in various journals, both of England and the Conti¬ 
nent, a very positive opinion that it would be impossible to intro¬ 
duce any of the species of salmon successfully to the rivers of the 
southern hemisphere. In this room even on former occasions many 
objections were raised to the experiment of attempting to introduce 
the salmon, such as a supposed deficiency of proper sustonant food 
in the river ; or to great abundance of predacious fish, &c. These 
objections were combatted at the time, and were now seen to have 
really no such existence as should discourage the attempts of this 
Society to introduce, not only the salmon, but the various kinds of 
trout. In introducing the salmon, the Society was very much im¬ 
pressed with the importance of dealing in the first instance with one 
of the sahnonidw which had the remarkable habit of returning to 
the river in which it had been bred, and not any of those kinds 
which, after the great trouble that had been taken in importing the 
ova, would probably go to some, for us, inaccessible point instead 
of returning to the river which they left. The Society was of 
opinion that the experiment was more likely to be successful in 
the first instauco in Tasmania than here, and accordingly all their 
efforts, as well as the money so liberally voted by Parliament, 
were disposed of in aid of the Salmon Commissioners of Tasmania, 
from whom subsequently any number of ova might be obtained 
to stock all suitable rivers in the colony. They had all 
seen last year at the Exhibition a young salmon about ten inches 
long of Tasmanian birth, in its return dress from the sea, and they 
might therefore expect large numbers of fish, probably capable of 
continuing their species at the present time. In the colony the 
