1 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
order to accomplish this with any degree of success, the first consideration should 
be to select waters resembling as nearly as possible those from which the fish 
were taken, and to provide them with food almost identical with that of their 
natural waters. On their induction, great care should be exercised in the obser¬ 
vance of the minutest detail of diet. Full-grown fish should always be avoided 
on account of their incapacity to withstand the evils occasioned by their removal; 
only yearlings should be selected, as they possess greater immunity from the risk 
of transit. It was far better, however, to transport the ova when practicable, 
which had been done with great success abroad, as in the introduction of salmon 
into Australia, carp into America, and trout into numerous rivers and lakes 
throughout Europe. But before introducing foreign fishes into the waters of this 
country, we should first endeavour to improve the condition of our own national 
fishes. We should then make a most careful selection of species not detrimental 
to those which are indigenous. 
Of salmon suitable for food-supply Mr. Chambers recommended the Rhine 
salmon, the Californian salmon, and the land-locked salmon recently discovered, 
which would prove invaluable in some of our rivers, lochs, and lakes. Of trout 
he had successfully introduced Salmo levenensis in large numbers into English 
waters. It had been proved conclusively that this species became acclimatized in 
lakes and rivers where currents are not strong, thus obviating difficulties which 
had arisen hitherto in selecting suitable waters for trout in Hertfordshire. Salmo 
fontinalis (the brook trout of America) might be cultivated in enclosed waters, 
and S. ferox (the great lake trout of Switzerland) could be easily raised, as the 
eggs could be imported in large quantities. Another fish of considerable economic 
value for acclimatization was Cyprinus carpio. Its culture in Europe dated back 
to the eleventh century, when it was introduced from Central Asia. It was 
described in the celebrated ‘ Boke of St. Albans ’ (1496) as a ‘ 4 devntous fisshe.” 
Referring then to the culture of fish, Mr. Chambers said that we had in Great 
Britain vast areas of water lying waste which would produce an inexhaustible 
food-supply if utilised, under scientific manipulation, for fish-breeding purposes ; 
we had also many thousands of acres of land partially covered with water, and 
valueless for agricultural purposes, and of land lying fallow through neglect and 
want of capital, which might be made profitable, if our English and Irish farmers 
could be taught that land might be alternated for aqnacultural and agricultural 
uses; and he instanced his successful introduction for such culture of mirror-carp 
from Westphalia. 
With regard to our national coarse fish, he could hardly conceive anything more 
beneficial than the introduction of our Norfolk strains of roach, perch, pike, 
tench, etc., into some of the depleted rivers of our large cities and manufacturing 
towns. Again, a vast and profitable field was open to the national economist by 
stocking the canals which intersect our inland counties. 
In conclusion, Mr. Chambers recommended the appointment by the Crown of 
a Fish Commission, which he thought might develope a new industry, and create 
a cheap supply of food. 
Mr. Rooper gave an account of the introduction of salmon into Yan Diemen’s 
Land (Tasmania), which was successfully accomplished by the carrying-out of a 
suggestion of his own. Twenty-five or thirty years ago he was a co-director 
with Mr. Ewell of the Yan Diemen’s Land Company, and he was also officially 
connected with his old friend the late Frank Buckland. Ewell and Buckland 
had failed in their attempts to convey the ova into Australia, having packed them 
in moss and other substances to keep them damp, with the result that the ova 
vivified in the tropics, and the young fish died. He was then owner of a fishery 
on the Tweed, and he had observed that in the winter many of the salmon-beds 
were entirely bare ; the water would sink and the gravel-bed would freeze ; but 
when the water came again and the banks thawed, the ova all came out quite 
fresh. He wrote to Mr. Ewell suggesting that if they froze the ova, conveying 
them to Australia in blocks of ice, which on arrival they put into a running 
stream, they might be successful, and a modification of the scheme which he 
explained in detail was successfully carried out. With reference to Salmo ferox , 
which he understood Mr. Chambers wished to introduce, a greater brute did not 
