ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York STATE COLLEGES | OF AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY | ornell University Library The acclimatisation of the Salmonidae at TTT THE ACCLIMATISATION OF THE SALMONIDA AT THE ANTIPODES: ITS HISTORY AND RESULTS, | BY ARTHUR NICOLS, F.G.8S., F.R.G.S8., AUTHOR OF ‘‘ OHAPTERS From THE PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH; AN INTRODUCTION TO GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY,” THE PUZZLE OF LIFE, AND HOW IT HAS BEEN PUT TOGETHER,” AND ZOOLOGICAL NOTES ON WILD AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS.” Nusquam Magis quam in Minimis tota est Natura.”—Bacon. : : LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON. 1882. All rights reserved. Aan UNWIN BROTHERS, PRINTERS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON, TO THE ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETIES OF AUSTRALIA, TASMANIA AND NEW ZEALAND, AND THE SALMON COMMISSIONERS OF TASMANIA; WHOSE PUBLIO SPIRIT IN COLLECTING FUNDS FOR DEFRAYING THE EXPENSES OF TRANSMISSION, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SUBSEQUENT CARE AND ATTENTION BESTOWED UPON THE OVA AND FRY, HAS SO LARGELY CONTRIBUTED TOWARDS THE PERMANENT NATURALISATION OF THE SALMON AND TROUT IN THE WATERS OF AUSTRALASIA, THE AUTHOR BEGS RESPECTFULLY TO DEDICATE THIS HISTORY OF A SIGNAL ACHIEVEMENT IN PISCICULTURE. PREFACE. Tue frequent demand, both at home and in the Australasian colonies, for a series of articles on the acclimatisation of the Sal- monide at the Antipodes, which I contvi- buted to the Field Quarterly Magazine and Review, The Country, and Chambers’ Journal, and which are now out of print, has deter- mined me to republish the substance of them with additions, forming a short but complete history of this remarkable achievement, fraught as it is with important economic results for those colonies; and with so many points of scientific interest. vi PREFACE. I have had the advantage of inspecting all the public documents and every private letter of any importance bearing upon the subject, since the earliest experiments were made in the direction which ultimately led to success ; and I must express my cordial thanks to Mr. J. A. Youl, C.M.G., for the valuable assistance he has rendered me in placing at my disposal a large number of letters and memoranda, not otherwise acces- sible, the most important of which will be found in the Appendix. An astonishing amount of error, even with respect to easily ascertained facts, has been disseminated by both the colonial and English press. The Field, The Melbourne Argus, and The Times have, however, been exceptions. It has been my self-appointed and pleasing task to examine as critically as I was able every published statement, whether of fact PREPACH. vil or inference, in connection with this subject ; and while, I trust, credit has been given wherever within my knowledge it is due, my duty to the reader has compelled me to point out where it has been unjustly claimed or attributed. In constituting myself the historian of this work—the commercial importance of which cannot be realised for many years to come, while its scientific interest is already fully acknowledged —I desire to assume the entire responsibility of the following pages. A. N. Lonpon, May, 1882, HARLY ENDEAVOURS TO ACCLIMATISE THE SALMON. —— He who succeeded in making two blades of grass grow where but one grew before has been canonised as the greatest benefactor of mankind, but surely he who achieves the more difficult task of transplanting an ani- mal from one hemisphere to the other, and peopling a barren river with a noble species of fish, should not pass unnoticed by his contemporaries and those who enter into the enjoyment of his labour. The Australasian colonies fortunately possess acclimatisation societies directed by men of ability and energy, who have & 2 2 THE ACCLIMATISATION left nothing undone to establish in the New World the most desirable animal colonists from the old. If they have made a mistake here and there, and have intro- duced an unmitigated pest like the rabbit, they will one day find compensation in stalking the red deer and bringing the lordly salmon to grass among picturesque granitic hills, which may well recall to the eye of the sportsman many a wild scene in the highlands of bonnie Scotland or the softer glories of the Irish lakes. Long before the end of this century, when probably the ploughshare will have invaded the haunts of the red deer, and manufacturing ‘in- terests’”? and a growing population shall have driven the salmon in disgust from most of our rivers—when even Scandi- navia’s pure waters have been tainted by civilisation—the sportsman will take his rifle and rod, and seek among the fern- covered ranges of the Australian Alps and the deep tarns and pools of Tasmania and New Zealand, the noble quarry which has found a congenial home at the Antipodes. OF THE SALMONIDA. 3 Whether this is an over-sanguine antici- pation of the ultimate results of a brilliant exploit in acclimatisation, the reader will be enabled to judge from the account I propose to give of the introduction of the salmon family into the waters of the southern hemisphere, and the measure of success at present attained. Why have not salmon found their way to the other hemisphere without man’s inter- vention? we may reasonably ask. They range in the northern hemisphere between latitude 45° and 75°, though they may pene- trate wherever there is open water to the northward, and the recent Arctic Expedition found a salmonoid permanently established at 80° N. latitude. Their physical constitu- tion, then, is adapted to cool waters, and the zone of warm water occupying the tropics presents an impassable obstacle to southern migration. Moreover, they would never find, in their journey towards the south, any river the water of which would be low enough in temperature to permit the safe development of the ova, and it is there- © 4 THE ACCLIMATISATION fore impossible that their migration could have been effected by easy stages. So far as is yet known, no true member of the family is indigenous to any region south of the equator, though a distant and obscure relative is found in some of the rivers of India, and another in New Zealand and the streams of the Falkland Islands, which has some characters common to the group, but is otherwise so distinct that no one ignorant of anatomy would suspect the remotest connection of these impostors with the noble stock. The colonists, however, have given local names to many animals on account of slight resemblances of colour or form to those they have been familiar with in the Old Country, and this has led to much confusion and misapprehension of the natural history of Australasian fauna which it is a hard task to correct. We may say with truth, “ Illi robur et xs triplex circa pectus erat’? who first com- mitted the fragile ova of the salmon to the truculent ocean, and essayed to transport ' them some sixteen thousand miles in the OF THE SALMONIDA, 5 hold of a ship, where they would be exposed to a temperature ranging between the freez- ing point and 95°, and in the space of three months would experience two winters and a tropical summer ! Looking back upon the dark past through the light of present experience, we are apt to lose sight of the steps which have led to knowledge. Thirty years ago there was positively no experience of the conditions under which it was possible to convey the ova of fish long distances. All was tenta- tive, experimental, and uncertain; but we now regard as an interesting but not sur- prising feat the acclimatisation of fish from the West of America in the waters of the Hast, and vice versd, or the transport of sterlet from the Volga to Scotland. It is easy enough to look with compla- cent satisfaction on a finished work, and think nothing of the care, perseverance, and intelligence expended in accomplishing it. Ask the director of the Brighton Aquarium how he brought the octopus, the porpoise, the herrings, the pipe-fish, and 6 THE ACCLIMATISATION other interesting objects safe into their glass compartments, and he will tell us of specially constructed tanks for railway transit, and innumerable devices for keeping the water cool and aérated, and watchful care and foresight in every step of the process. He will tell us of failures arising from the omission of some trifling detail, unforeseen or thought unimportant; but he can never tell us of lucky successes or triumphs easily won. Hach detail was thought out beforehand, and carefully planned in accordance with all that was known of the necessary physical conditions, and even failure sometimes taught as much as success. If, then, the vitality of a fish just taken from the sea needs such careful conserva- tion, how much fostering should the em- bryonic vital spark in the ovum demand ? Salmon ova are, perhaps, exceptionally delicate, as is well known to all breeders; but the writer must confess himself aston- ished at their extreme sensibility to injury when Mr. Robert Ramsbottom, of Clitheroe, OF THE SALMONIDZ. 7 told him that on one occasion he was carry- ing three soda-water bottles, containing fertilised ova, slung in a handkerchief, to prevent even the concussion arising from the motion of his body in walking, when one of the bottles slipped from his hand and fell upon the earth. The result was that not a single ovum in that bottle hatched, though they were treated exactly in the same manner as the rest of the batch from the same fish—fertilised at the same time with milt of the same male—which did well. After this the writer was prepared to believe that the task of conveying them to Australia was hopeless, with this, among many more obvious and serious ditficulties, to be over- come. The idea of transporting the young fry seems never to have been seriously enter- tained—at least it was never tried. A ship specially constructed could not have carried enough water, nor could it be kept in proper condition to supply the fish with a constant stream for three months, and the continual and often violent movement in 8 THE ACCLIMATISATION the troughs would probably have killed them in a few days. The first attempt made was in 1852, by a Mr. Boccius, and he not only decided on making his trial with the ova, but was conscious of the im- portance of protecting them from me- chanical injury. Failure in this point alone has been the primary cause of disap- pointment in several otherwise promising shipments, until Mr. James A. Youl devised a simple plan which has never entirely failed, and in some instances has proved so suc- cessful that we may fairly regard it as the principal instrument in solving the most difficult problem in acclimatisation yet en- countered, the influence of which on pisci- culture we cannot yet fully estimate. Mr. Boccius’ attempt to transmit the ova to Tasmania, though it cost him £300, failed from two causes. In the first place, he did not succeed in shielding them from injury, and in the second, he had no provision for keeping the temperature low enough. In each mesh of a gutta-percha sieve a single ovum was placed, and the sieve fixed in the OF THE SALMONIDE., 9 horizontal section of a wooden tub. The whole apparatus was immersed in water, which was changed every six hours; but none of the ova reached the tropics alive. MR. YOUL’S EXPERIMENTS. Reflecting on this experiment, Mr. Youl set to work in 1854 to study the whole subject of the artificial propagation of salmon and the transport of their ova, and he came to the conclusion that the govern- ing principle must be retardation of the development of the embryos beyond the average natural period, if this could be effected without destroying them. Experi- ments made at the Crystal Palace, in a suit- able breeding-place, had proved that they may hatch at any time between thirty-five days and 140 days from the date of fertilisa- tion, but that the extreme lmit was most dangerous. This wide range, of course, de- pended upon temperature, and the two ex- tremes represent the highest and lowest temperature that they will endure while pre- 10 THE ACCLIMATISATION serving their vitality. It may not safely be raised above 50° nor let below 35° Fahr., while the freezing-point is most probably fatal. No hope was held out by the most experienced pisciculturists; and even Mr. R. Ramsbottom, whose skill and care in sup- plying ovain the best possible condition has been conspicuous, and who has taken gen- uine interest in all the experiments, thus expressed himself in a letter to Mr. Youl: “You might as well try to fetch Australia to England as to carry spawn to it in moss. Salmon spawn must be either hatching or dying from the moment it leaves the fish ; you can retard it to about 140 days by a low temperature, but no longer. Neither one man nor another can carry living ova to Australia in any way; you can send young fish, that is all.” This represented the best opinion an expert could give at that time, and was based on existing experience ; but the writer heard Mr. Ramsbottom on a subsequent occasion (when he brought the ova down to the Hast India Docks in Janu- ary, 1873, for shipment in the Oberon to OF THE SALMONIDZ. it New Zealand) declare his unqualified satis- faction at the success of a method which he had formerly looked upon as impracticable. The experiments made at the Crystal Palace were of considerable importance in deciding the question whether the ova could be retarded long enough to enable them to arrive at the end of the voyage unhatched. The young fish must break from the investing membrane in water if it is to survive, and no provision for this could be adequately made. on the ship. Hence its liberation must be suspended until it could be placed in the waters of the colony. Mr. Edward Wilson, president of the Victorian Acclimatisation Society, associated himself with Mr. Youl and some influential colonists in raising a subscrip- tion of about £600 for a trial, which was to ; be conducted solely by Mr. Youl, and this was the beginning of a series of systematic efforts. Mr. R. Ramsbottom collected 30,000 ova from the Dovey, and they were shipped in the S. Curling from Liverpool on February 25, 1860. The plan of shipment 12 THE ACCLIMATISATION was briefly this: The ice-house consisted of two rooms, one within the other, lined with lead, having an interspace of seven inches filled with powdered charcoal as a non-conductor, and fitted with drain pipes to carry off to the bilge the water from the melting ice. A water tank was erected over the ice-house with a pipe leading into and passing twice round it, emerging above the place devoted to the ova, and allowing a gentle and continuous stream of water to pass over them as they lay on gravel in swing trays with an incline of 24 in. to the foot, thus simulating, as far as possible, natural conditions. The shipment was committed to the charge of Mr. Black, whose care in removing dead ova and __ otherwise attending to his duties was unre- mitting; but the passage was long, the fifteen tons of ice melted rapidly, the ova were no doubt knocked about in conse- quence, and the last of them was found to be dead when the ship had been sixty- eight days out, in lat. 8. 29° 52’, long. W. 27° 38', the temperature then being 75° OF THE SALMONIDA:. 13 Fahr. Mr. Black’s journal was submitted to Mr. Brady, of the Irish Salmon Commis- sion, and Mr. R. Ramsbottom, who came to the conclusion that the disturbance of the ova for removal of those which were dead—a perhaps necessary operation in the circumstances—and the violence they must have encountered, were the chief causes of failure. It is easy enough now to point out defects in this experiment. All it taught then was that a larger supply of ice and more effectual protection against motion among the ova must be provided. Private enterprise had furnished both the funds and the work, but now the governments of Tasmania, Victoria, and Southland (N.Z.), convinced of the practicability of the under- taking, voted £3000, £500, and £200 respectively, and delegated the conduct of the work to Mr. Youl. This was, in its way, a handsome acknowledgment of the efforts of those who had gone so far, and an expression of confidence in their ability to land living ova in Australia; for no one 14 THE ACCLIMATISATION had yet succeeded in carrying them alive thirty degrees south of the equator; and there could be no doubt of the possibility of guarding against the causes of their destruction at that point. An active body of acclimatisers in Tasmania undertook to construct hatching boxes and _ breeding ponds on the banks of the river Plenty, an affluent of the Derwent, and the govern- ment liberally provided the funds. The physical conditions were more favourable perhaps than in any other of the colonies, and this was to be the centre of distribution for all, as it has actually proved. A sketch of this establishment may not be unwel- come to those who have begun to appreciate the difficulties connected with this endea- vour to acclimatise the salmon family. The estuary of the Derwent is indented with innumerable bays swarming with the small fry of native fish, crustacea, and other suitable food. At the head of the tributaries of the Derwent are lakes 3000 feet above the sea level, affording a constant supply of cool water. In the month of July, the OF THE SALMONIDA. 15 spawning time of the naturalised fish, the temperature of the water is about 44° Fahr. at a point far below the probable spawning grounds, while some miles higher up this temperature will be maintained for a long time. The fish thus have a range of many miles of ground favourable in every respect -for the deposition of their ova. The river was, of course, selected on account, among other reasons, of its inaccessibility to the net of the poacher, its snags and rocks being its best keepers, and its deepest pools having perpendicular banks. No net would have a chance, and the most skilful angler a very poor one, in this secure nursery for colonial salmon. For many miles a swift, clear, and deep stream runs through primary rocks, and there are in the upper waters broad stretches of coarse sand for nesting. There are neither locks, weirs, nor other obstruc- tions, and pollution cannot become a question for centuries. Amid the grand scenery of the head waters of the river it is easier to imagine one’s self in Scotland or Norway than at the Antipodes. 16 THE ACCLIMATISATION No native predatory fish exist above the influence of the tide. In the estuary the shark is abundant enough, but he is not likely to be able to capture so powerful and active a fish as Salmo, and the cormorant and darter are being exterminated—albeit more than once promising young salmonids have been taken from the maws of these birds. Beside the foresight shown in selecting this river, the Salmon Commissioners ac- quired ample powers for protecting the new- comers, and nothing has been omitted from the Salmon Act of 1865 which could secure the safety of the valuable importation. Before committing himself to the large expenditure of public fands which would be involved in the next venture, and feeling his responsibility as its director, Mr. Youl visited breeding establishments in Scotland and Ireland, to make himself familiar with the best methods of treating the ova and rearing the young fish, and, armed with introductions to Mr. Geoffry St. Hilaire and M. Coste, examined the plans adopted OF THE SALMONID. 17 ‘in France. M. Girley showed him how the ova of various species of fish were sent long journeys, packed in wet moss in earthen- ware jars covered with perforated parch- ment; but he was told on all hands that they would not travel unless so far advanced towards hatching as to exhibit the eye, and could in no case be sent to Australia. It will be seen subsequently that Mr. Youl’s experience was diametrically opposed to this, and that the sooner the ova were packed and started on their journey after fecundation the better were the results. But he could not adopt the French plan, for the obvious reason that ova so far ad- vanced would be hatched in three weeks, and what was to be done with them as young fry at sea? There was nothing for it but to again try the effect of placing them on gravel beneath a stream of pure water, cooled by passing through the ice-house. Shipowners appear to have contracted an absurd fear of a cargo of several tons of ice ; and, after great trouble, a small steamer, the Beautiful Star, was chartered, and in 3 18 THE ACCLIMATISATION five weeks the apparatus was fitted up. It was a distinct improvement on the former, ‘but as it was discarded in the finally suc- cessful case, its principal features need only be noticed. One set of trays, containing ova laid on gravel, was hung on gimbals, and another large swing tray contained the remainder. A constant supply of water was made to flow over these at the rate of 500 gallons a day, with power to increase the quantity to 2000 gallons by means of a force-pump, and the whole body of water could be changed every fourth day. The ova were expected to hatch on board ship, and it was at least hoped that the supply of water would last long enough. Cumbersome as the apparatus was, it was the best that could be devised at the time ; but Mr. Youl determined to make an experiment which, since it practically solved the problem of exporting the ova safely, is of the highest importance. A pinewood box, an inch thick and about 11 in. by 8 in. by 6 in., per- forated at top, bottom, and sides, to allow the free passage of water, was imbedded in OF THE SALMONIDA. 19 the mass of the ice, and three hundred ova were packed in living moss in it. The principle of this was to retard development by means of the passage of ice-water through the box, and it would not be touched until the end of tne voyage. The ship was started on March 4, 1862, with 80,000 ‘salmon ova, taken chiefly from the Dovey by Mr. R. Ramsbottom, whose son was sent in charge ; but the heat of the tropics was so great that, in spite of his unremitting attention, the ice melted rapidly and was all gone by May 17, in lat. 8. 22° 19’, long. W. 25° 55’, when the temperature of the water was 59°. The ova in the box survived eight hours after the death of all the others in a tem- perature of 65°; and, had the ice lasted, there can be little doubt that these ova would have lived to the end of the voyage, and might have been successfully hatched in Tasmania. Much disappointment was, of course, felt by those who had watched the result of this shipment with anxious and perhaps too sanguine expectation. The preparation of 20 THE ACCLIMATISATION the ponds in Tasmania for the expected salmon and this experiment together had cost £1410, and though Mr. Youl had given his time and had besides contributed £200 in perfecting details of which the commis- sioners perhaps would not have seen the necessity, he was abused by the majority of the colonists and the colonial press, and accused of having wasted the public funds on acrochet. It is almost incredible that a press with the smallest claim to intelli- gence could have talked the rubbish to be found in its columns at that time, with one or two exceptions. It is evident from the report of the commissioners that some dis- satisfaction was felt even among them, but they did not point out what more might have been done, or what error had been made, and they failed signally to remark the significance of the box of ova which had outlasted the others. But here was the germ of the principle of treatment which ultimately led to success, and it made an impression on its author, Mr. Youl, which he was not likely to disregard; but he had OF THE SALMONIDAE. 21 decided to work in future with private means rather than incur further obloquy. The colonists did not reflect that, having placed their funds in the hands of a par- ticular person, and having besides given him their entire confidence, they were not entitled to complain of failure; but they stultified themselves completely by their censure, as unjust as it was ungenerous and illogical. Mr. Youl had held out no extra- vagant promises, nor professed overween- ing reliance on himself; he undertook to do his best towards the solution of a problem of which no man then held the key, and an examination of the account shows that every item of expenditure was carefully considered and well warranted. In consequence probably, however, of the energetic advocacy of the chairman of the commissioners, Sir Robert Officer, and a few others who appreciated the difficulties of the task and saw how nearly they had been mastered, the Tasmanian government gave the conduct of another trial to the Austra- lian associations, who in turn handed over 22 THE ACCLIMATISATION the responsibility to Mr. Youl, which he accepted on condition that he should have supreme authority. Convinced that there was yet much to learn, Mr. Youl set about a series of experi- ments designed to test the vitality of salmon ova at a low temperature, and for this purpose the Wenham Lake Ice Company allowed space in one of their vaults. It is important to give the details of this, because it elicited three heretofore unknown facts— first, that a continuous and full stream of water is not essential to the preservation of vitality ; second, that partial deprivation of air is not fatal; third, that light is not necessary. On the 17th of January, 1863, 5000 salmon ova were obtained from a female and fertilised by the milt of one male. From 200 to 600 ova were placed in each of eleven wooden boxes, filled with moss taken from one locality and distributed carefully among it. Seven of these were covered with blocks of ice some 2 ft. thick, and the whole buried under 2 ft. of sawdust. Few believed that a single ovam would be found alive at OF THE SALMONID. 23 the end of sixty-seven days, but when some of the boxes were opened in the presence of a number of practical and scientific men, the microscope showed the great majority of the ova to be alive and healthy, though there was neither air, light, nor a continuous supply of water. Some boxes were allowed to remain for one hundred and twenty days, and still the ova were healthy and the moss growing. The temperature had been about 32° the whole time. From both sets of boxes a fair proportion were . afterwards hatched out. Still more remarkable than this was the case of one box placed in the dry compartment of a patent refrigerator surrounded by icé and proved to be air-tight by inclosing in it a lighted candle, which went out soon after the lid was shut. On the ninetieth day this box was opened, the moss was damp though the outside was dry, and no less than seventy per cent. of these ova were hatched. But by far the best results were obtained from a box in the ice compartment of the refrigerator, with blocks of ice (renewed -as they melted) piled upon 24 THE ACCLIMATISATION it, the water being allowed to percolate through it. Of these ova the extraordinary number of ninety-nine per cent. produced healthy fish after they had been under this treatment ninety days! Two more boxes were somewhat differently treated, and this was essentially the method adopted in all future shipments. They were covered and surrounded by blocks of ice, and consequently were not entirely deprived of air, and, of course, received the cooled water from the melting ice. In one of these boxes the moss was still green and living, and the ova were healthy; but in the other the moss had been attacked by a fungus, which had ex- tended to the ova and destroyed many of them. The conclusion arrived at was that neither light nor a large supply of water was necessary to the vitality of salmon ova, that retardation could be safely carried to a hundred days, and that moss, with the roots attached, would continue to grow under these singular conditions, and assist, both directly and indirectly, in maintaining the health of the ova. OF THE SALMONIDZ. 25 The reader will have no difficulty in esti- mating how far these experiments, devised solely and carried out by Mr. Youl, advanced existing knowledge. Commenting, in their report for the year 1864, on the success of the method which had then been proved, the Tasmanian Commissioners say: ‘The result of these experiments constitutes one of the most valuable discoveries yet made in the art of pisciculture, and must ever indicate an important era in its history.” THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL SHIPMENT IN 1864. Mr. Youl had persistently asked questions of nature by direct experiment, and had received trustworthy answers, on which he fully relied for the conduct of the next trial, and now for the first time he felt assured of success, and it must be admitted that he deserved it. Hesaw that there was nothing to prevent the arrival of living ova in Tas- mania if a sufficient stock of ice could be preserved throughout the voyage, and to 26 THE ACCLIMATISATION this point his attention was particularly directed. In January, 1864, just at the most suitable time, Messrs. Money Wigram and Sons offered a space of fifty tons by measurement in their fine ship the Norfolk, declining the hundred guineas which Mr. Youl had offered them on his own account in discharge of the freight, and wishing this to be their contribution to an undertaking of so much scientific interest and commercial value. The ice-house was built upon much the same plan as in former shipments, but. the swing trays and supply pipes were abolished. The ova were to receive no other supply but that from the melting ice, and provision was made for thorough drain- age. It was not to be opened until their arrival, and they were enclosed and sealed up in it, so that whatever the fate of the plan of non-intervention might be, it would be rigidly carried out. External air of a high temperature would be excluded, and some parts, at least, of this twenty-five tons of Wenham Lake ice might arrive unmelted. ’ The packing of the ova was done in OF THE SALMONID. 27 the following manner. I describe it from personal observation, having assisted in packing a subsequent consignment with Mr. Youl by the Oberon, in January, 1873, in which the method was the same as that employed in 1864. The box to contain the ova was of inch pine, measuring about 12 in. by 8 in. by 5 in., perforated on top, bottom, and sides. At the bottom was first spread a layer of charcoal, in small lumps; next a layer of broken ice; then a nest of fresh, carefully washed, living moss, with the roots attached, and on this springy cushion were distributed the ova from a wide-mouthed bottle half full of water, and in such a manner as to obviate contact with one another as far as possible. Over them was lightly laid a covering of moss, then a double handful of broken ice, and the whole was saturated with ice water, and screwed down. One hundred and eighty-one of these boxes, containing 100,000 salmon and 3000 trout ova (S. fario) were packed closely on the floor of the ice-house, and upon them were piled cubical blocks of ice to the height 28 THE ACCLIMATISATION of 9 ft. Nothing could prevent the wasting of the ice, but the ova would get the benefit of it as long as it lasted. They would rest as securely as might be on their mossy bed, the charcoal would absorb the gases of de- composition, and the living moss would probably give out some little oxygen for their benefit. Mr. W. Ramsbottom took charge of the consignment; the vessel sailed on the 21st of January, 1864, and arrived at Melbourne on the 15th of April, where the ice-house was first opened, and, to the intense satisfaction of all concerned, three-fourths of the ice was intact, and a very large proportion of the ova in a box tested found to be in splendid condition. The problem was then solved. After years of trial and failure and patient experi- ment, living salmon ova had been landed in Australia. The colony of Melbourne re- tained about 4000 salmon ova (of which 400 were afterwards hatched), and the rest, with the trout intended by Mr. Youl to be left at Melbourne, were sent on to Hobart Town by a government steamer secured for the OF THE SALMONIDZ. 29 purpose by the late Mr. Edward Wilson, then president of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, who had from the first evinced the utmost interest and activity in every- thing connected with the subject, and had expressed his confidence in Mr. Youl’s ultimate success. The first act in the drama, then, had been brought to a successful conclusion, and in April, 1864, living salmon and trout ova were on their way to the breeding ponds on the Plenty river in Tasmania. They were taken as fast as steam could bear them to the head waters of the Derwent, and the boxes were there packed in cases wrapped in blankets with part of the remaining ice, slung on bamboo poles, and carried by a force of forty bearers over four miles of rough country to the nursery provided for these interesting colonists. The Salmon Commissioners had prepared troughs with gravel at the bottom, and the layers of moss being gently taken from the boxes and laid in the troughs, the flowing water soon lifted the ova, and deposited them on the gravel, 30 THE ACCLIMATISATION when the dead were picked out. The utmost care was exercised in these delicate operations by Messrs. W. Ramsbottom and Allport, and they estimated that 30,000 ova, of which 300 were trout, were living, but of these perhaps 16,000 were unfertilised ; and, though they had maintained their brilliancy for so long a time, and were even then pro- bably capable of fertilisation had any milt been at hand, the embryonic spot never appeared in them. It is worth while to remark that in proportion as the moss was green and fresh the ova were in good con- dition, and wherever it was dead the mor- tality was greatest. The remaining ice was made the most of by placing it in tubs and allowing the stream to flow through it, and then into the troughs. Ninety-one days from their embarkation the bulk of the ova were laid in the waters of the Plenty, but some were set apart as a test for the extreme limit of possible retardation, and these were a hundred and thirty-six days old when immersed. Only two or three. fry were hatched from this lot, although the OF THE SALMONIDAL. 31 form of the young fish could be traced in almost all of them. We may, then, safely assume the correctness of Mr. Youl’s opinion, deduced from the trials in the ice vaults, that the nearer the fish is to ex- trusion from the egg, the more critical is its state, and that a hundred days before im- mersion in running water cannot be safely exceeded. THE FIRST SALMON IN TASMANT4. Act the second was completed on the 4th of May, 1864, when the first trout emerged from the egg, and on the following day the first salmon, which had ever yet swum in the southern hemisphere, and by May 25th ‘there were two hundred healthy young trout, and by June 8th ‘‘several thou- sands,’’ as the commissioners’ report says, of salmon sporting in their new home, en- joying their rations of boiled liver morning and evening, and affording a living testi- mony to the perseverance and scientific foresight of one who had laboured for 32 THE ACCLIMATISATION ten years single-handed at a problem in acclimatisation which both scientific and practical men had often declared to be insoluble. The treatment of the young fish was essentially the same as that adopted in the establishments in Scotland, and all local enemies were watched for and destroyed. Knowing the rapacity of trout, Mr. Youl had advised that they should not be placed in the same river as the salmon, because, assuming that the latter went away to the sea and returned to breed, there would be numbers of well-grown trout in the fresh waters ready to attack the young salmon fry. By some neglect, however, the trout did escape into the Derwent, and they have probably done much damage, for many of them had grown into large fish in a couple of years, and one which was taken four years only after importation scaled 91 lbs. ! and the river now contains thousands of heavy trout, much to the delight of the Tasmanian fly fisher. The health of the growing parr was excellent, and they were OF THE SALMONIDA:. 33 watched with pride by visitors to the ponds, and talked about in society as the lions of the season. Individually they exhibited considerable difference in size and develop- ment, but in October, 1865, they had nearly all put on their smolt dress, and showed much uneasiness in their fresh-water prison. Accordingly, the grating was raised, the last act in the drama played, and two thou- sand splendid young salmon were despatched on their perilous journey to the sea. It would be unjust to omit mention of the contributors to the precious cargo of the Norfolk. Myr. Youl had asked for the co-operation of owners of salmon rivers in supplying .ova, and the proprietors of fisheries on the Tyne, Tweed, Severn, Ribble, Ettrick, &c., responded heartily. In the early part of the year a strong frost had prevented the salmon from gaining their spawning grounds, so that up to January 18th no ova had been sent to London; but on that day a sufficient supply arrived from different parts of the country, and in three days the packing was done and the ship 4 34 THE ACCLIMATISATION sailed. Almost at the last moment Messrs. Francis Francis and Frank Buckland sent the three thousand trout ova to the docks. Admiral Keppel requested Mr. Buckland to collect some ova from the preserves of the former on the Itchin, and forward them as a present from him to Mr. Youl. Mr. Francis Francis also sent two lots, one from Mr. Spicer’s mill at Alton, on the Wey, and another from Mr. Thurlow’s mill at High Wycombe, Bucks, which were all packed by Mr. Youl in the same way as the salmon ova. But though this valuable present has stocked the Tasmanian and New Zealand streams, the official reports make no recognition of it, while praise and thanks were bestowed upon some who, however well they did their duty, were paid for their services. But for the energy of these gentlemen in collecting the trout ova at atime when it must have been no easy task, there would have been no trout at this moment at the Antipodes; for no sub- sequent shipment of trout ova has been - successful. Although a parcel of about OF THE SALMONID.LE. 35 1500, sent by Mr. Charles C. Capel in 1878, were reported to have arrived at Wallace Town, New Zealand, in excellent condition, their ultimate fate is unknown, even to Mr. Capel himself. The whole cost of the Norfolk shipment was about £700, and the colonists cannot consider that a high price for the result—two thousand salmon and an unlimited stock of trout, to which must be added the breeding ponds in Tasmania. Hach of the colonial legisla- tures has done Mr. Youl the justice at least to record its sense of the value of his services, and confidence being now estab- lished in his method, he was naturally looked to as the only man competent to undertake any future shipments that might be thought necessary. It would have been unwise to trust en- tirely to the two thousand salmon smolts already spread over the wide estuary and bays of the Derwent for stocking that or other rivers of the island. So small a number might be fatally reduced by enemies at sea, and possibly not a single pair might 36 THE ACCLIMATISATION return to the river. So little is known of the habits and food of the salmon in salt water, that nothing could be said of the probability that any of these young fish would find their way to Australia or New Zealand. To reach any stream in Australia they must travel some three hundred miles, and the nearest in New Zealand would be about one thousand miles distant. They might be tempted to wander towards the cooler waters of the south, and take up their abode in a climate whose mean annual temperature is 10° Fahr. lower than that of Victoria; but it would be necessary for them to cross a sea of great depth swarming with predatory fish. The Tamar and Esk, in Tasmania, might be discovered by some of them coasting the island in search of food, though the estuary of their own river, the Derwent, would presumably afford them an unbounded supply. In any case, however, this small body of fish had gone no one could tell whither; and it would have been supreme folly to trust to the chapter of accidents, or assume that in a few years OF THE SALMONID.E. 37 their progeny would be numerous enough to stock even a single river in Tasmania, while Australia and New Zealand had still less prospect of seeing any immediate return for their contribution to the accli- matisation fund. The colonists had now two thousand young salmon somewhere in the vast ex- panse of Tasmanian waters; and if they might reasonably hope that some of these, even a single pair, would survive to re-enter one of their rivers as grilse, there could be no certainty of this. We know that every year young salmon and salmon-trout stray from streams far away to the mouth of the Thames, and vainly seek to enter its pol- luted waters, in order to stock its long since untenanted and no longer “ silver ” streams with their beautiful progeny; but we also know that they find all round our coasts the crustacea, sand eels, and small fry in which they delight; for they have been with us ever since the prehistoric cave dwellers speared them in the river Vézére, and left them among the débris of their 38 THE ACCLIMATISATION cookery to testify that that river, which now holds no salmon, then abounded with them. Indeed, these French troglodytes were judges of good fare, for they ate no other fish but salmon. Thus the northern hemisphere has been the habitat of the family throughout the many alterations of level and changes of watershed which have taken place in tertiary times; but the de- posits of the southern knew not their bones nor the rivers their living presence until now, and it was altogether a subject for speculation whether they would find there suitable conditions of life. SALMON-TROUT BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY. Mr. Youl did not lose much time, and by the 20th January, 1866, the Lincolnshire sailed from London with a consignment of 87,000 salmon, 15,000 salmon-trout, and 500 brown trout ova, arriving in. Melbourne on the 30th April, whence they were at once sent on to Tasmania, and placed in the breeding ponds on the 5th May. The OF THE SALMONIDE. 39 packing of the ova, the form of the ice- house, and all details of treatment were similar to those which had proved so suc- cessful in the Norfolk, but some of the cir- cumstances were more favourable. Nearly two-thirds of the thirty tons of ice re- mained, the temperature of the ponds was lower, and experience had suggested many little improvements during the hatching ; and though these eggs had been a hundred and four days in the ice, 6000 young salmon and 900 salmon-trout were raised from the 30,000 living ova transferred to the ponds—a percentage which must be regarded as very satisfactory. With the object of testing the question whether any migratory species of Salmo will breed in confinement, a number of these salmon-trout fry were put into a specially constructed pond, fed by a small rill of bright cool water, where they were disturbed as little as possible. By the middle of October, 1867, many of these prisoners had put on the smolt dress, and, no doubt feeling the migratory impulse, 40 THE ACCLIMATISATION leaped upon the bank in some numbers and perished. In May, 1869, the water in their inclosure was lowered, and twelve fish, weighing from half a pound to considerably more than a pound each, and of fine silvery hue, were seen—all of them having lost the juvenile markings. These, in fact, were ma- ture fish, for in July of the same year they spawned in the ponds, and in the following December five hundred fry hatched from their own ova were turned into the river Huon. This statement was received at the time in Europe with incredulity, and even ridicule. A migratory salmonid remaining and perfecting its ova and milt in fresh water, and proving abundantly fertile, too ? Nonsense; the thing could not be: it was a hoax or a blunder! That it was no blunder should be evident when it is said that the parents of the original ova sent from Eng- land were procured, and the fertilisation effected, by the experienced hands of Mr. R. Ramsbottom, and if he did not know the migratory from the non-migratory species, no one in England could lay claim to such OF THE SALMONID.E. 41 knowledge. The subject was discussed by portions of the press and private persons with amusing self-confidence and presump- tion, and a great deal of ink was spent in discussions chiefly remarkable for bad natural history. Sir Robert Officer, chairman of the Salmon Fisheries Commission, and Mr. Morton Allport, both familiar with the characters and habits of the salmon family, paid great attention to the behaviour of the imprisoned salmon-trout, and here are their upsissima verba, from the official report, dated September 2, 1869: ‘“‘In April last it was discovered that some of the fish were gravid with spawn, and on the 25th of June the first pair began to form nests and de- posit and fructify their ova in the small rill attached to their pond. Other pairs soon began the same operation, and the pro- cess was complete about the end of July —the Tasmanian mid-winter, it must be recollected—resulting in the production of several thousand healthy ova.’’ This is in- controvertible, and it may be added that it has taken place each successive year since, 42 THE ACCLIMATISATION and thousands of young fry have been dis- tributed to other rivers. This is probably the first and only instance in which a mi- gratory salmonid has proved fertile with- out having been to the sea. There is some, though perhaps not conclusive, evidence that Salmo salar have also bred in these ponds, and it amounts to this: two young specimens bred there were sent to England for Dr. Giinther’s opinion, and he was fully informed of their origin, and, while reluc- tant to express a decided opinion that they were true salmon, he said that they pre- sented all the anatomical characteristics of that species. It is quite likely that some of the salmon fry found their way into the. salmon-trout pond unobserved, for the in- closures appear to have been separated only by a grating with a common supply of water from the river. Dr. Giinther refers in the “‘ Catalogue of British Fishes” to the experiments made in Wales, and says that the evidence that the young fish made use of were of a migra- tory species, or that the full-grown fish OF THE SALMONIDZ. 43 were the same as those originally confined, was’ most unsatisfactory; and we know what contemptible tricks have been played ; and that in two cases he examined, the salmon and pure sewin died when not al- lowed to go to sea, though the hybrids between the sewin and trout survived, but were all barren. The Tasmanian case, on the other hand, was perfectly clear. There could be no mistake about the species and none that the fish which spawned were the same as those secluded in May, 1866; and those who have practical experience of the delicate character of all operations in pisci- culture will appreciate the care and atten- tion which must have been bestowed on these prisoners, rendering their lot so happy that as soon as they became sexually mature they set about the most critical and impor- tant business of their lives, that of con- tinuing their species. The commissioners were right in regarding this as a hopeful sign for the free fish in the river. If the captives found their new home so comfort- able, the others, as far as food, temperature, 44 THE ACCLIMATISATION and the quality of the water were con- cerned, could not fail to be equally well satisfied, and ascending fish began to be eagerly looked for. Some of the descending smolts, it is known, were captured in the brackish water, and probably many others besides were quietly ‘burked’’ by the fishermen, who all along have endeavoured to destroy evidence of the success of the attempt to acclimatise the salmon, because they were put under some restrictions against scraping the river at all times and seasons with their nets. They could not apparently give up for a few days in the year their systematic efforts to exterminate the native fish, in order that they might one day have a far greater source of profit in the salmon; and a little judicious bribery revealed an organised system of murder of all strangers found in the river. The fertility of the imprisoned’ salmon- trout seems to have been exceptional, for every one of the 142 ova sent to the Otago Acclimatisation Society produced a fish. In July, 1870, they were again busy spawning, OF THE SALMONID&. 45 and in November they had attained a weight of from 2 Ibs. to 3 Ibs., and were bright, handsome fish of perfect symmetry. In an adjoining pond were 350 of their smolt progeny ready to be released, and in a small rill thousands of young fry of that season. These fish were not’ so large as they probably would have been had they spent some months in the sea, but they were thoroughly healthy, and confinement had not diminished their fecundity. It was observed that some of the salmon from the Lincolnshire put on their smolt dress in October, 1868, or when they were about seventeen months old, and others not till the same month in the following year, which is the case, too, at the Stormontfield establishment ; so that the period of infantile development is much the same at opposite sides of the globe. SALMON FOR NEW ZEALAND, We may now pass rapidly over subsequent shipments. The Celestial Queen sailed for 416 THE ACCLIMATISATION Otago, New Zealand, in January, 1868, with a total of 150,000 salmon and brown trout ova under the charge of Mr. Dawbin; but the passage was long, ice formed in the hatching - troughs on the Molyneux and nipped the young fry to death at the mo- ment of its extrusion, consequently, not one trout was produced, and only five hun- dred salmon, which were turned into the river in November, 1869. The Mindora shipment at the end of the year fared no better, for the 110,000 salmon and 500 salmon-trout eggs sent out had been about 135 days from the parent fish before they were placed in the water, so long had the ship been at sea, and all perished. There are one or two features of interest in con- nection with this. A living snail, a worm, and a wasp were found among the moss, and ‘“‘acclimatised;’”’ two of a number of oysters sent lived, and were placed on a bank in Portobello Harbour; some gudgeon and carp for the colony died before they reached the tropics, and a few tench, which were healthy and likely to live, were thrown overboard by OF THE SALMONID.E. 47 a careless sailor. The shipments to New Zealand had been discouraging, no doubt, but the inferiority of accommodation for the ova and young fish, in comparison with that in Tasmania, must be taken into con- sideration. However, in January, 1873, another con- signment was made to Otago, New Zea- land, in the Oberon, of about 150,000 ova collected from England, Scotland, and Ire- land, and fertilised by those who carried out this part of the operation on former occasions, and among these many presented the yellow colour of death, but the lot was of average quality. J was present during the greater part of the time the packing was done by Mr. Youl, and had an opportunity of seeing the extreme care and attention bestowed upon every detail. The weather was excep- tionally warm, and it is probable that the organic changes in the ovum towards development, which take place about three days after fertilisation, had already begun, and the sudden change from the temperature of the air at 50° Fahr. to that of the ice- 48 THE ACCLIMATISATION house at about 35°, would at least be a severe trial, if not absolutely fatal. One lot of these ova contained a much larger propor- tion of dead than the remainder, owing, Mr. Ramsbottom informed me, to the fish from which they were taken making a severe struggle while being stripped of its burden. About six hundred fish were hatched from this large consignment. The funds for all the shipments to New Zealand were con- tributed by its various provincial govern- ments and acclimatisation societies ; and, as in all other cases, Mr. Youl’s time and experience were freely given, and many minor expenses besides defrayed by himself. The ice-houses were constructed under his supervision, and all the ova packed by his own hands, with the exception of a few boxes manipulated by visitors and his sub- ordinates when the bulk of the work was finished. He never shrank from the drudgery of detail, but astonished onlookers by undertaking much fatiguing, manual labour in order to insure that it should be thoroughly well done. OF THE SALMONID. 49 The following article from the Field of January 26, 1878, goes far to explain how matters were managed— ‘‘ The efforts made within the last fifteen years to acclimatise salmon in the Austra- lasian colonies have now become of world- wide interest ; and, while the colonists have set before themselves a very tangible material object, naturalists have been anxious. for its realization on scientific grounds. The colonial officials charged with the direction of affairs after the ova have been delivered to them have not always justified the public confidence re- posed in them by the colonists, who have a right to know whether or not the large sums voted for the acclimatisation of salmon in their rivers have been expended with the best judgment and with a single eye to the interest of the colony. Great credit is due, no doubt, to the Tasmanian com- missioners for the ability and assiduity they have displayed in rearing the young fish, and in distributing both ova and fry to the neighbouring colonies, as may be 5 50 THE ACCLIMATISATION gathered from the reports signed by Sur R. Officer and Mr. Morton Allport, on whom the burden of this work has fallen. Had the like knowledge of the subject and interest in the success of the experiment prevailed with the New Zealand officials, the latter colony would probably now have been the head-quarters of the salmon at the Antipodes; but the grand opportunity was allowed to pass, under circumstances with which the colonists should be made ac- ‘quainted, since they will not obtaim the information from the official reports. “In January, 1869, the Celestial Queen salled for Otago, New Zealand, with 150,000 salmon and brown trout ova, packed by Mr. James A. Youl, C.M.G., on his now well- known plan, and were placed under the care of Mr. R. Dawbin, who was to superintend the rearing of the fry at the newly con- structed ponds on the river Wiwera, a suitable tributary of the Molyneux. The construction of these ponds, of which we have seen a plan, was excellent, and, together with the manager’s house, cost OF THE SALMONID.E£. 51 about £2000. There was, however, one defect. The hatching boxes were not water-tight; consequently, when it was necessary to shut off the turbid water coming down in a fresh, the reservoirs containing bright water were unable to supply the loss in the boxes, and the ova would soon be left dry. To remedy this when the ova arrived would have involved great loss of time, and would have en- dangered the whole consignment. Mr. Dawbin was therefore obliged to use the imperfect: boxes, and make the best of them. From twenty thousand to thirty thousand healthy ova had been deposited on the gravel, in the boxes, and all promised well. When about five hundred fine young fry had come out, a fresh set in, and lasted so long that the reservoirs could not maintain the waste through the leaky boxes, and Mr. Dawbin was compelled to let in the flood water, in order to keep life in the ova and fry. The filter became choked with the river sediments, and a layer of fine mud settled down on the ova in the boxes. In 52 THE ACCLIMATISATION spite of every attention, thenceforth not a single ovum hatched, though the fry sur- vived, and the colony thus lost probably twenty thousand salmon. When about thirteen months old the young fish began to exhibit great restlessness, and three of them leaped ashore and perished ; these, now in the Otago Museum, measured re- spectively 103 in., 113 in., and 12 in., and were all finely grown, bright, handsome fish, ready to go to sea. Mr. Dawbin at once wrote to the officials to come and see the liberation of these fish, but advising that some should be retained to breed in cap- tivity, as had been done in the case of the migratory salmonids introduced into Tasmania. A day was appointed, but they did not come, and they subsequently authorised him to let the fish go, retaining, however, some of them. The ponds were carefully examined, the water lowered, and a splendid shoal of about five hundred observed, with not a dead one anywhere. Of these eighty were retained, the rest being sent to find their way to the sea OF THE SALMONID.ZA. 53 through the waters of the Molyneux. Numbers of visitors had been from time to time to see the fish, which fed freely in their presence. In anticipation of the breeding time, the rill leading from the river was laid down with water-worn gravel, previously boiled, and the fish placed in possession. Not one of those could have been more than fifteen months old, and they ranged from twelve inches to fifteen inches—a fact which pisciculturists will appreciate—and were fully satisfied with their new quarters. ‘‘At this point the commissioners in- formed Mr. Dawbin that his services would be no longer needed, they having appointed a gentleman who seems to have had some influence with the Government, and on whose lands the ponds were situated, but was totally ignorant of the treatment the fish would need. Mr. Dawbin’s offer to ‘continue his services gratuitously for a term of six months was refused, and he was instructed to hand over his charge to the new-comer. This was too much for one 54 THE ACCLIMATISATION who had devoted his time day and night for fifteen months to the care of the fish! The new-comer’s incapacity would almost inevit- ably have resulted in their destruction ; or, if this had not happened, he would have claimed whatever success might accrue. Impressed with the conviction that he was doing the best thing possible in the circumstances for the colony, Mr. Dawbin chose a night when a slight fresh was coming down, opened the gratings, and allowed the prisoners to escape into the river. It is not our province to defend Mr. Dawbin, but we would ask the com- missioners why the circumstances which led up to this are suppressed in their reports, and the colonists whether they approve of the arbitrary substitution of an inexperienced manager for one who had abundantly proved his ability and deserved public confidence ? Since the above events the magnificent breeding ponds on the Wiwera have gone to ruin, as we are informed! ”’ The facts in the above article have never been challenged. OF THE SALMONIDA. 55 The following description of the shipment by the Oberon is taken from an article in the Field of January 18, 1873— “We had an opportunity, through the kindness of Mr. J. A. Youl, of being present, on the 14th inst., at the East India Docks, together with several gentlemen interested in the subject, to witness the packing of a large consignment of salmon ova for Otago, New Zealand. There is no necessity to in- form those among our readers who have any experience in pisciculture that the utmost care and delicacy are needed to protect these sensitive embryos from all kinds of violence on a journey to New Zealand; but the method by which this is effected may not be familiar even to persons very well informed on the treatment of salmon ova at home. It must be recollected that in the case of a voyage to New Zealand the ova have to pass some weeks in a place where the temperature would, unless provided against, be seldom below 90° Fahr.; and ten seconds of such a temperature would be fatal to every chance of landing ova alive at 56 THE ACCLIMATISATION the other side of the globe. The principle involved in carrying ova such a distance is that of retarding the natural process of hatching. Ice, then, is the agent employed. But howis ice to be preserved on a journey, the greater part of which is performed in a temperature very much above, and not often much below, our summer heat? A description of the ice-house on board the Oberon, which will take out the present consignment of ova to Otago, will best answer that question. A space, whose internal dimensions are rather more than 13 ft. by 9 ft. by 8 ft., is enclosed by bulk- heads a little abaft the foremast, and situated upon the hold of the vessel below the water line. This forms the ice-house, which is surrounded by a “‘ skin’’ of powdered char- coal about one foot thick, as a non-con- ductor, and lined throughout with sheet lead. On the floor of the ice-house is a wooden grating to carry off all water from the melting ice, which, after passing through the grating, finds its way to the bilge of the vessel through small scuppers at each OF THE SALMONID:. 57 corner, the object being to exclude external and, therefore, hot air as much as possible. The boxes containing the ova cover the floor of the ice-house, fitting closely to one another. Upon these are piled cubic blocks of Wenham Lake ice, measuring about two feet, right up to the roof of the ice-house, leaving just space for another tier of boxes upon the top of the ice. The entrance to the ice chamber is closed by a very heavy lid with bevelled edges, covered with sheet lead, and made to jam tightly into the opening, and, when all is complete, covered with thick felt. What goes on in the ice- house during the voyage may be told in a few words. Nothing, of course, will prevent the ice from wasting slowly away. As it does so the water from it percolates through the boxes—perforated to allow of this—and escapes by the drains below, the upper tier of boxes sinking gradually with it. Thus they are always in contact with theice. It is absolutely essential that a considerable quantity of ice should remain to the end of the voyage, both to keep down the tempe- 58 THE ACCLIMATISATION rature and to pack the boxes in which they are being taken to the hatching ponds after arrival. About twenty-five tons will be packed in the ice-house of the Oberon ; and if she makes her passage in ninety days, there is every probability that a few tons will remain unmelted, and that some thou- sands of ova will survive to produce young salmon in New Zealand waters. It is, perhaps, needless to observe that this ice- house will never be opened on the voyage. “The actual packing of the ova is done in the following manner: The box, made of pine, is about 12 in. long, 8 in. wide, and 54, in. deep, and sufficiently strong to support the weight of the ice. On the bottom is distributed a layer of charcoal in small lumps, free from dust, over which a handful of broken ice is spread. A nest of fresh living moss, with the roots attached, is next lightly packed over the charcoal and ice. Upon this the ova are distributed as regu- larly as possible by pouring them out of a wide-mouthed bottle, with care to avoid injury. A second layer of moss is then laid OF THE SALMONIDA. 59 lightly wpon the ova, and the whole is saturated with cold water. Finally, a layer of broken ice tops the whole, the lid is screwed down, and the box taken off imme- diately to the ice-house. Simple as this process appears to be, it is incredible how many small details are involved in it; and if it is not done with most careful manipu- lation, the chance of survival for the ova is small. Long practice has made Mr. Youl an adept in the art of giving those nice touches to the materials which our unaccustomed hands failed to attain with the two boxes we attempted to pack. The object of the charcoal at the bottom of the boxes is to absorb any carbonic acid gas evolved from the decomposition of dead ova; the moss prevents motion among the ova, and gives them a soft bed, while it also assists in taking up the products of decom- position and furnishes at the same time a small supply of oxygen. Thus we have within the ice living vegetable organisms, with animal bodies whose life is in suspen- sion, each feeding the other with that which 60 THE ACCLIMATISATION it specially needs. Regarding the motion to which the boxes must be subjected in a gale of wind when the ice has melted and become loose in the ice-house, it is aston- ishing that any ova should survive. We can only account for it by the protection afforded by the moss, in which they lie on a springy cushion. So great is their sensi- tiveness to friction or concussion, that if water even is not poured carefully upon them they are killed. Mr. Ramsbottom, of Clitheroe, who has supplied the ova for the Oberon shipment, gave us an instance of the fatal effects of concussion. On one occasion he was carrying three soda-water bottles full of ova in water, wrapped in a handkerchief, and one bottle chanced to shp out and fall upon the ground. He did not rear one fish from the contents of that bottle ! “The ova have been taken from the Ribble and brought to London in excellent condi- tion by Mr. Ramsbottom, though the yellow colour of death may be seen among them here and there, as is inevitable under the OF THE SALMONID.A. 61 most careful management. Probably not less than 80,000 ova will go out by the Oberon ; and, as these have all been packed by Mr. Youl’s experienced hands, there is the best possible prospect of their safe arrival. Great expense is entailed as a matter of course. In the first place, the building of the ice-house, the boxes, and collection of the ova are no inconsiderable items ; the ice will cost £100, and space for the ice-house more than half as much more. The cost will be borne by the New Zealand Government. None of the arrangements differ in any essential particular from those which had such a successful termination in the case of the Norfolk in January, 1864. The conditions of weather, however, are very different; then the cold was so great that it was difficult to prevent the ova from freezing in the boxes; now it has been so warm as to raise a question whether they will not have begun to undergo the organic changes towards development which gene- rally take place about three days after ferti- lisation. If any considerable portion of the 62 THE ACCLIMATISATION ova have passed this point, the check they will receive in the ice will seriously imperil them. But no care and forethought have been omitted; the ship is a fine one of 1100 tons register, and looks as if she would beat a steamer, with wind enough to drive her. About the 20th instant these unconscious ova will start on their long journey, to wake, we hope, into conscious life in the southern hemisphere, and people all the shores of the Southern Ocean with salmon. ‘We have referred in oceasional notes to the success of the importation of salmon- trout and brown trout into Tasmanian rivers, and, though no Salmo salar of indis- putable identity has yet been sent home thence, the evidence from eye-witnesses that the Derwent is full of large salmon is very strong. Other members of the Sal- monide, whose struggling bodies have been brought to basket by the angler in the river Plenty, have evidently had fine times of it. A trout weighing 91 lbs. has been taken, which could not be more than four years old. The conditions of life, then, are OF THE SALMONID. 63 eminently favourable to this member of the family, and it may fairly be presumed that they are equally so to the others, although the journey to the sea is a risk to which the salmon has probably been exposed. “From a private letter we learn that a gentleman, fishing one day a week for eight weeks in the river Plenty (Tasmania), brought to basket thirty trout, averaging 14 lbs. (among them one of 7 lbs.), all of them being bright fish, in fine condition. If the Tasmanian waters will yield such trout fishing within a few years, the angler of the future will surely have cause to rejoice. ‘We cannot know at present whether this shipment of salmon ova to New Zealand will within a few years produce fresh-run fish; but with a favourable climate we have at least the first elements of success, and, whatever be the result, the thanks of all interested in angling, as well as in the scientific aspect of the experiment, are due to those gentlemen who have taken so much pains to bring it to a successful issue.” The result of this shipment was that 64 THE ACCLIMATISATION ninety strong fish were eventually turned into the Jacobs, where, in May, 1875, many of them, which had then attained a length of seven inches, were seen by Mr. Howard, who had reared them from the ova. The method of packing this delicate freight for the colonies, it should be borne in mind, is the only plan which has hitherto yielded results, and its importance will, therefore, be justly estimated by the natura- list and pisciculturist. It may have occurred to the reader to ask why the shipments were always made so late in the season, when most of the salmon had spawned, and the difficulty of procuring gravid fish became greater every day. Acclimatisation is always surrounded by difficulties, and in this case by one of peculiar character. The ova must arrive during the colonial winter, in order that the temperature in the streams should be low enough to admit of their being safely transferred to the water. Dur- ing any time in March the water would still be too warm, and in the first half of that month its temperature would probably be OF THE SALMONID.E. 65 above 60°. To take salmon ova from the ice-house at a temperature of about 35° and transfer them suddenly to one of 60° would have the same effect as plunging them into boiling water! It was necessary that the vessel should start about the middle of January, and that she should be not more than ninety-five days on the passage, which would bring the ova into colonial waters in the latter half of April. And it is observ- able that the arrivals after the middle of April have produced the largest number of fish. MR. FRANK BUCKLAND’S SHIPMENT. Mr. Frank Buckland was next commis- sioned by the Otago Government to under- take a trial for New Zealand, the details of which will be found in Land and Water for January, 1875; but, unfortunately, it was a complete failure, partly owing, probably, to some causes over which he had no control, among them the extreme severity of the weather during the collection and packing 6 66 THE ACCLIMATISATION of the eggs. The ova were taken by him- self, Mr. Edon, Mr. Marshall, and others under his superintendence, and it is impos- sible to doubt that they were properly fertilized by one who has had so much experience in this work. The account of the packing had better be given in his own words. The ship T%maru was lying at Glasgow, and the ice-house built in her hold was capable of containing between thirty and forty tons of ice, and was sur- rounded by a “skin” of sawdust eighteen inches thick. The packing boxes measured a cubic foot, and inside each were five or six trays filled with sphagnum moss. “ The tray containing moss was sunk into the water, the eggs were then taken from another vessel by means of a small shovel made of perforated zinc; with this they were then distributed among the moss, and, being still under water, were separated one from the other by means of a soft brush.”’ This is all Mr. Buckland gives us! It seoms to have been a complicated process, and the use of the shovel could not be OF THE SALMONIDZ. 67 otherwise than harmful; but we confess we can gather from it no clear idea of the pro- cess. He appears to have employed no charcoal, and the distribution of the ova “‘among the moss” implies an amount of contact with various substances which would be prejudicial, according to all ex- perience, to the delicate envelope of the ovum. ‘‘The ice-house was thus packed: first, ice two feet thick was arranged along the bottom. Then upon it were carefully deposited a square, consisting of twenty-five salmon egg boxes, each one foot cubic, and four boxes at each corner of the square. Upon these boxes came another stratum of ice, also two feet thick; on this stratum again another twenty-nine egg boxes. Ice again on the top of these. All round the sides of the ice-house was [were ?] packed — slabs of ice 2 ft. 6 in. thick, so that the boxes containing the ova were surrounded on all sides by blocks of ice, the minimum thickness being two feet. Ice was also packed in the interspaces between each box, precautions being taken that they 68 THE ACCLIMATISATION should not get loose.’ The arrangement, in fact, was that of alternate layers of boxes and ice—an excellent disposition, no doubt, if ice did not melt, but the best calculated, in these circumstances, to subject the boxes to the greatest possible amount of motion and concussion as the ice around and between them decreased in bulk. The last words of the description have no mean- ing, for it is obvious that no precautions avail to prevent the once compact mass from getting loose, and ice and boxes would at length become inextricably mixed and dashed about with every pitch and roll of the ship. This was one matter at least over which Mr. Buckland had control, and he would have been wise had he adopted the method of packing both ice and ova which had already proved successful. An impression was derived from a lecture delivered by him at Glasgow, and generally entertained, that the ova were frozen hard artificially before shipment, which would certainly have killed them, and though he has stated subse- OF THE SALMONIDAL. 69 quently that they were not, it was scarcely a judicious proceeding to pack them in an ice-house with ‘an ice-making machine freezing up an immense quantity of water into ice within a few inches of us while we were at work.” The Timaru sailed about January 5, 1875, from the Clyde, and had a passage of about a hundred and five days. Not a single salmon ovum reached land alive out of this splendid shipment of more than.a quarter of a million, but a number of the charr eggs, presented by Mr. Parnaby of Keswick, hatched; of the ultimate fate of the fry from which no definite record has been obtained. We cannot attribute failure to the long passage alone, for Mr. Buckland hatched out eggs which had been in ice at the Wenham Lake Company’s vault for only three days less than these; and a portion at least of the charr eggs, which naturally hatch earlier than those of salmon, and therefore, were subjected to a greater strain of retardation, produced fish. Sincerely as Mr. Buckland’s failure must be regretted, the ‘‘ full responsibility ’’—as 70 THE ACCLIMATISATION he says in his letter to the Times, in July, 1875 —rests with himself. Defeat must apparently be insured by the system of arrangement of alternate layers of boxes and ice, and the inevitable violence it must entail on the ova, when the ice melts and allows the boxes to knock about in the ice- house, sustaining a shock with every motion of the ship. The condition of the moss in the boxes on arrival is described as ‘‘sodden,’’ and there is no difficulty in understanding this impacted state of a fibrous vegetable material, kept continually wet by the water from the ice, supposing it to have been much shaken. When closely packed upon the floor of the ice-house (as had been done in all the successful instances) the boxes cannot possibly move. The motion of the vessel carries them bodily with itself, and the ice does not move them. They are practically as firmly fixed as any of the ship’s timbers, and the water from the ice, after passing through them, is done with, and drains into the bilge. By the system of alternate boxes and ice the water must OF THE SALMONIDA, 71 pass through several sets of ova, losing its oxygen in contact with animal organisms, and contracting carbonic acid, and thus becoming more and more effete, and finally almost a deadly poison to the ova which receive it last. This decomposition of water by animal life, in any form, is so well-established a fact that it cannot be safely left out of consideration, and it is surprising that Mr. Buckland did not take it into account before deciding on an arrangement of the ice and boxes which involves serious mechanical and _ physio- logical dangers. THE “ DURHAM.” Instances have already been given of the danger of submitting salmon ova to con- cussion, even while they are in a vessel containing water, and the reader may have thought that this point has been exagge- rated. On the contrary, too much stress cannot be laid upon it, as will be seen from the following. The boxes, it will be recol- 72 THE ACCLIMATISATION lected, were screwed down as a precaution against the possibility of communicating a shock to the precious contents by the blows of the hammer in driving nails, and when one of the boxes of the shipment per screw steamer Durham, which is now to be de- scribed, was opened in Victoria, a nail was found to have been used instead of a screw in fastening the lid. Ifa mere coincidence, it was a strange one indeed; but the fact is the whole of the eggs in that box, with the exception of two or three, had long been dead ! Nothing having come of Mr. Buckland’s shipment, the agent of the Otago Provincial Government requested Mr. Youl to under- take another in conjunction with that gen- tleman, the cost of which was, by arrange- ment, defrayed in equal proportions by the New Zealand Government and Sir Samuel Wilson, of Victoria, whose public spirit and careful preparations for the proper treat- ment of the ova in that colony merit warm recognition from the Victorians. Mr. Youl consented, on condition that he should OF THE SALMONIDAS. 73 supervise the construction of the ice-house, each packing his boxes in his own manner. On the 8th of January, 1876, Mr. Youl packed 40,000 ova taken by Mr. Rams- bottom from the Hodder, and placed them on the floor of the ice-house. The cold was intense, and many of the eggs were frozen and turned white, while the moss had to be thawed at the ship’s galley fire before it could be used. On the 11th Mr. Buckland brought 70,000 ova to the ship, already packed by his own method and taken from Lancashire rivers and fertilized by himself. These were also placed on the floor beside the others, and 15,000 more brought on the 138th by him and placed in the middle of the ice, as the floor was already occupied. On the 14th about 50,000 more were brought from the Severn and packed by Mr. Youl and deposited at the very top of the ice-house (the boxes being clamped together and made immovable), which was smaller than any hitherto built, and con- tained about nineteen tons of ice. Thus there were 90,000 of Mr. Youl’s packing © 74 THE ACCLIMATISATION and 85,000 manipulated by Mr. Buckland. The latter had discarded the tray system, and used boxes of the same kind and about twice as large as Mr. Youl’s, but without charcoal and broken ice, and distributed the eggs upon the moss under water with a camel-hair brush in several alternate layers. The vessel having arrived at Melbourne, batches of boxes were distributed to the curator of the botanical gardens, Geelong, Dr. Whitcombe of Ballarat, the Victoria Ice Company’s works, and Sir Samuel Wu- son, whose estate is near Lake Burrumbeet, who had made most careful preparation for the 30,000 ova of which he took charge. From a letter of Sir Samuel’s it is evident that these yielded no result except five fish, which he hatched out, and only one survived. ‘This is, no doubt rightly, attri- buted by Sir Samuel to the high tempera- ture of the water at his hatching boxes, which stood at 60° or 62° for several con- secutive days, though the situation is 1500 feet above the level of the sea. In Melbourne it was at first reported that OF THE SALMONID.A. 75 Mr. Buckland’s boxes were in better con- dition than Mr. Youl’s; but the Melbourne Argus, which has been more trustworthy on the subject of these experiments throughout than any other colonial journal, says: ‘‘ The result proved that Mr. Youl’s system of packing was decidedly the best.” How- ever, the rest of the consignment being forwarded to New Zealand, Mr. Howard, the superintendent of the ponds at Wallace Town, Southland, can give the best account of the comparative results. On May 1, 1876, he writes to Mr. Youl: ‘‘ Your own ova hatched as truly as if taken from one of our own rivers, scarcely a death at hatching. . .. The large boxes packed by you had scarcely a dead ovum in them. Mr. Buckland’s lot, though some of them looked so well impregnated, have not hatched off well, so many died just before hatching, and so many of them burst.”’ On May 29th he says: ‘‘I am sorry to say Mr. Buckland’s have hatched very badly. . so many burst before hatching.” At the Melbourne ice-house Mr. Clifford, who 76 THE ACCLIMATISATION had nearly all of Mr. Buckland’s boxes, says most of the eggs turned opaque, some few showed the eyes, ‘‘ but all such have gone bad in a way quite new to me.” Further, he observes, ‘‘I see the Canter- bury people have hatched 300. . . . These were all from your (Mr. Youl’s) boxes.” Mr. Howard succeeded in getting out some 10,000 young fish from the whole lot in- trusted to him, of which sixty-eight were from Mr. Buckland’s boxes. Altogether about 1500 of these were afterwards liberated. It is a matter of public interest to ascer- tain the best method of treating ova for a long journey, and it seems the evidence is vastly in favour of Mr. Youl’s. Mr. Buck- land packed nearly twice as many in one box, the lower layers were submitted to the action of water already vitiated by contact with those above, and there was not only a greater mass of material in one place, but the decarbonizing and oxygenating pro- perties of the living moss are dissipated by the greater quantity of animal life to be OF THE SALMONIDL. 77 sustained. These may be some of the causes of the failure of Mr. Buckland’s plan, but, granting that they are not neces- sarily, while we are imperfectly acquainted with the true causes of success or failure, it would be prudent to adhere to a method of treatment which has justified itself hitherto in every instance. Mr. Buckland might possibly have hit upon an infallible plan, and the world would have been duly grate- ful to him for his discovery; but, as the event proved, the plan adopted was not calculated to insure success, and the whole valuable cargo of the Timaru was lost, when he might have commanded success, and still had room for independent experi- ments. THE “ CHIMBORAZO.” The following article appeared in the Field of January 26, 1878. ‘Tt behoves the colonists to see that the consignment of salmon ova shipped this month by the Chimborazo (s.s.) is intrusted 78 THE ACCLIMATISATION on arrival to competent hands. Sir Julius Vogel requested Mr. J. A. Youl to make arrangements for building an ice-house in this vessel, and packing a number of boxes of ova; but the time was short, and he concluded to make use of one of the ice- houses already existing in the ship for the supply of the passengers. Mr. Ramsbottom, of Clitheroe, procured 24,000 salmon ova, which Mr. Youl packed in thirty-eight boxes at the vaults of the Wenham Lake Ice Company, and subsequently placed on the floor of the ice-house and covered with ‘ten tons of ice. Thus it was hoped there would be enough ice for the passengers, and a sufficient remainder to maintain the ova. A few days afterwards, Mr. Buckland packed and placed in the same ice-house eighteen boxes, containing some 20,000 salmon ova, and one box of about 1,500 trout, presented by Mr. Capel. The ship left London on January 21st, and is expected to reach Melbourne in forty days from Plymouth vid the Cape, when the consign- ment would be transhipped by steamer to OF THE SALMONIDE. 79 New Zealand. It is to be feared that Mr. Buckland has repeated the error of packing in boxes of too large a size, to which the failure of his shipment in the Timaru in 1875 may probably to no small extent be attributed. The moss on arrival was de- scribed as ‘ sodden,’ as might be anticipated from the impacted condition a large body of wet vegetable matter would be likely to assume. It must be obvious besides, that, should death and decomposition take place in any box, the mortality would be greater in proportion to the numbers included in it. For the sake of the colony, however, we must hope that a good proportion of the consignment will arrive alive. The rivers of New Zealand present every possible favourable condition for the salmon. They rise in snow-clad mountains, and flow, now rapidly, now in deep broad pools, through rocky formations, and contain numerous boulders and overhanging banks for shelter ; while along their upper courses are long stretches of fine gravel suitable for nesting. Along the banks for miles grows the native 80 THE ACCLIMATISATION flax, which will afford shelter for the young fry. Food is abundant, and especially that kind which young fish require. Indeed, Mr. Dawbin is of opinion that the fry in the Wiwera Ponds could have maintained them- selves, even in their circumscribed quar- ters, without artificial food. In these cir- cumstances the colonists would seem to have the acclimatisation of salmon in their own hands, provided they place the ova on arrival in charge of a. competent manager.”’ Mr. Howard found about 1500 to 2000 of Mr. Youl’s good, and some 300 of Mr. Buckland’s. (See Appendix.) GENERAL RESULTS OF THE FOREGOING SHIPMENTS. Since the memorable month of October, 1865, when the first of the family were committed to the waters of Tasmania to take their chance, many thousands of young salmon, salmon-trout, and brown trout have been set free in colonial streams, and it now remains to take stock of them and their OF THE SALMONIDZE. 81 progeny. We know that eleven years - elapsed before a small river in Scotland was stocked with a newly introduced species, in spite of the facilities afforded by proximity to. spawning grounds and a yearly supply of young fish, and it could not be anticipated that positive proof of the acclimatisation of the strangers at the Antipodes would be -. forthcoming in a year or two. Neverthe- less, in October, 1869 and 1870, young salmonids, about nine inches long, were caught in the Derwent, and itis pretty clear that they must have been fish born in the river, and not the original smolts turned in in 1865, but their progeny. Experienced * salmon fishermen had seen fish of many pounds’ weight" leaping and swimming on the surface far above falls which only a powerful fish could surmount, and quite impracticable for the small native species, and declared them to be undoubted salmon. In 1871 Sir Robert Officer and others well. acquainted with the salmon at home saw,. when the river was in half flood, shoals of large fish leaping and showing their glitter- 7, 82 THE ACCLIMATISATION ing sides, one of which, of 4 lbs. weight, was imprudent enough to leap into a boat moored to ajetty. When examined, his dentition suggested salmon-trout ; the flesh was a deep pink, and the flavour delicious. No one who saw them could doubt that these were fresh-run fish taking advantage of the “spate,” and pushing their way joyfully to the fine spawning grounds of the Derwent and its six tributaries. That many of these were true salmon is conclusive from the fact that in the year when they were first ob- served no salmon-trout had been turned into the river; the latter were then mere fry in the breeding ponds. The almost inacces- sible character of the river, obstructed by rocks and snags, and selected on this ac- count, prevented the capture of any of these, but the testimony of nearly a hundred persons, residents on the banks, went to show that quantities of large fish, never till then seen in the river, were ascending be- tween the end of March and the middle of August, a time when the winter freshes are coming down, and that which only a mi- OF THE SALMONIDA. 83 gratory fish would choose. About the end of 1870 the colonists allowed an opportunity to slip—down the throat of his Excellency the Governor, alas!—of establishing once for all the presence of migratory salmonids in their rivers. Several were caught in a fixed net near the junction of the Plenty and Derwent, one of which weighed 7 lbs., and, like its brethren, was pronounced to be as fine in appearance and taste as any Tay salmon. No means appear to have been taken to ascertain its species, whether salmon or salmon-trout, and the intense expectation with which proofs were looked for by all interested in acclimatisation was disappointed by this means of disposing of the question. Obviously, the specimen should have been sent to England for the best scientific opinion. The soundness of Mr. Francis Francis’ judgment is beyond dispute, and his opinion was given in un- equivocal terms in a letter to the Field, Feb. 21, 1874: ‘‘I have never wavered in the belief that the fish seen leaping in the Derwent were actual salmon. Mr. Youl’s 84 THE ACCLIMATISATION name will be remembered in that vast Australian world when the New Zealander shall be again spearing salmon from a broken pier of London Bridge.” From time to time, up to the present, salmon or salmon-trout—the species not always being determinable—have been cap- tured by the fishermen and others, and so keen has been the competition among hotel keepers, &c., that they have been sold as high as 5s. per lb.!_ Poaching has no doubt gone on to a great extent over the wide area of water occupied by the Derwent and its bays, which it is impossible to effectually protect, and it is certain that many fine fish have been taken, unknown to the au- thorities. In 1873 numerous smolts were caught, which conclusively proves that: these had been bred in the river. In one haul of a seine net in the estuary seventy- six young fish, varying from ? lb. to 1} Ibs., were secured in January, 1876, and on sub- sequent days many more, making a total of about 200; and a little later a dense shoal of fish were seen near the shore pursued by OF THE SALMONID.Z. 85 porpoises, when an observer threw a billet of wood at them, and disabled one, which was secured, and found to be a finely de- veloped Salmo salar of 43 lbs. weight. From these facts the abundance of fish in the locality may be inferred, and the youth of some of them is conclusive as to their being native born, while the full development of others is indicative of suitable conditions of life. The breeding ponds on the Plenty have been the nursery and centre of distri- bution for the other colonies. They are admirably arranged on an artificial stream forming a loop with the river, and cover about three and a half acres. During the years 1873, 1874, 1875, and 1876, nearly two thousand salmon-trout ova and four hundred fry (the produce of the prisoners) have been distributed to streams in Tas- mania, New Zealand, and Victoria, and 33,850 trout ova and fry to suitable streams in Tasmania, New Zealand, Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia, thus covering the whole colonial area—a work most creditable to the energy and public 86 THE ACCLIMATISATION spirit of the commissioners. It appears that none of the acclimatised species show much disposition to take the artificial fly, owing, very probably, to the abundance of insect food continually being blown into the river, which would induce much the same contempt for the devices of man as trout evince in our own rivers when the mayfly is on the water. It was, then, an interesting event when an unquestionable salmon was caught by one of the commis- sioners, fishing with an artificial fly from a boat below the falls at New Norfolk in October, 1876, one of a numerous shoal then going up the river; and again in January, 1877, when a beautiful fish of the same species, weighing 84 lbs., fell to the rod of his Excellency the Governor of Tasmania. The breeding places of the fish in the Derwent have not yet been discovered, but they are no doubt at the head of its affluents, where there is little or no popu- lation ; and it is almost impossible to use a net, owing to the irregularity of the bottom OF THE SALMONIDA. 87 and the mass of fallen timber obstructing the streams affording efficient protection to the fish, but interfering with the project of collecting ova for distribution. It is here, however, that a permanent source of supply must be looked for, and means should be taken to watch the upper waters and note where the fish are making their nests, a spectacle they are not in the least chary of exhibiting to human ken—at least, in our part of the world—so engrossed are they with the anxieties and excitements of the interesting event. The need for ob- taining a supply from the river becomes more evident when we learn that latterly an increasing proportion of the ova from the imprisoned fish have proved infertile, and every effort is now being made to effect this. Little is yet known of the ultimate results of the shipments to New Zealand, but about the middle of the year 1874 a salmon grilse, weighing more than three pounds, was taken in the river Molyneux (Otago), no doubt the offspring of a pair 88 THE ACCLIMATISATION of the five hundred smolts liberated in that river in 1869 by Mr. Dawbin. Difficult as it is to distinguish between the migratory species of the salmon family at an early age, there are now many gentle- men in the colonies quite as competent to give a trustworthy opinion, from the distin- guishing anatomical characters, as any but the most expert of our home naturalists, and their judgment may be accepted with some confidence. Highteen years have now elapsed since the first trout was born in Australian waters, and many facts point to an extraordinary rate of growth in these fish. In 1874 a splendid fellow of over 16 lbs. was taken by the rod in the Derwent, and the trout of 94 lbs., which could not have been four years old at the utmost, has already been mentioned. The rods have had a good time of it in the rivers now open to the angler, and there are numbers besides where the fish are awaiting him. A beauty of 54 lbs. fell to the fly in the Clyde, where the fry had been turned in little more than three OF THE SALMONIDA. 89 years previously. Some of the “bags” would almost make a defunct fly fisherman turn in his grave. Mr. Weaver, in 1872, took, during one afternoon and one morning, six trout scaling 30 lbs., and one of the lot nearly 9 lbs., from the Derwent. Looking over the diary of a New Zealand fisherman for 1877, we find, on various days, nine fish, weight 20 lbs. 4 oz. ; six, weight 10 lbs. ; two, weight 84 lbs.; eight, weight 134 lbs.; three, weight 144 lbs., and so on, fish over a pound greatly predominating, and many smaller being returned to the water. The flies used were chiefly the black gnat and March brown, but the green grasshopper proved the most deadly of all to the larger fish. Trout have been established in about a score of streams in New Zealand alone, and, perhaps, as many more in Tasmania and Australia. What a prospect, then, for the angler of the future! What, for instance, may be, the size of the trout which, after many years of gluttony in the pools of Gippsland rivers, remote now from human habitations, shall rise confidingly to 90 THE ACCLIMATISATION the fly or quietly suck in the worm of the first adventurous sportsman who casts his line over those waters? Long after our home fish have attained so critical an expe- rience as to know at a glance the maker of the fly offered them—they really seem to be coming to this—the unsophisticated deni- zens of Australia will rush at the grasshopper impaled on the bent pin of the rustic urchin, and as certainly become a regular item of the shepherd’s evening meal as the Murray cod has been of mine in many a lonely hut on the Maranoa. Often, when fishing for these so-called cod with a thick cord and large hook, baited with a lump of raw beef, cast into the stream to await first the gentle shake, then the tug and rush of a fish whose pluck is soon out of him, has the writer wondered that nature had not implanted here the lordly salmon, and speculated whether he would ever populate this mag- nificent system of rivers, as no doubt now some day he may, at least, in the person of the Californian species. Memory lingers fondly over those broad plains, vast forests, OF THE SALMONIDA. 91 deep silent lakes, and swift streams set in the glorious sunlight of an Australian after- noon, when the rapidly lengthening shadows warn the hungry shepherd and bleating flock homewards, and Pulse referunt ad sidera valles ; Cogere donec oves stabulis, numerumque referre Jussit, et invito processit Vesper Olympo. The species of trout which has spread or is rapidly spreading over the island waters of the Antipodes is that known to naturalists as Salmo fario Ausoniw, the southern form, a finer species altogether than the northern (Fario Gaimardi). Individuals have shown marked differ- ences of colour, especially of the stomach, but in form and size the fish have bred true to their origin, and have apparently out- stripped their English ancestors in rapidity of growth, while retaining their excellence of flavour and beauty. In 1876 an attempt was made to acclima- tise the Pacific coast salmon (Salmo quinnat) in Australia. Accordingly, a consignment of fifty thousand ova was made by Mr. 92 THE ACCLIMATISATION Spencer F. Baird, of the U.S. Fisheries Commission, from the upper waters of the Sacramento, California, half of which was left at Sydney, where ‘“‘ most of the living eggs were successfully treated and placed in Australian waters,’’ as Mr. Baird says, and the remainder died on their way to New Zealand. This gives us no idea of the final success or otherwise of the experiment, for it is not stated whether any young fish were produced. The subsequent endeavours of Sir Samuel Wilson to establish this fish in Victorian waters deserves all the success due to his energy and persistence ; but as yet nothing has been seen of the young fry liberated in various streams. It is, however, at least open to much question whether the greatest river system in Australia—the Murray and its tributaries —will ever be stocked with any species of salmo, since it swarms with the rapacious so-called Murray cod—a devourer of every- thing that gets into the water, from a grasshopper to a dead bullock. OF THE SALMONIDE. 93 The writer has caught in the Condamine, with a lump of raw beef and a thick hand line, thirty pound’s weight of these fish in an afternoon, averaging three pounds each ; and individuals of twenty pounds’ weight are not scarce. There is also the “ cat-fish,” a most voracious bottom feeder. Between these two species neither the ova nor young fry of salmon would appear to have much chance of survival. For the greater part of their course these rivers flow through allu- vial plains where the muddy bottom would afford no suitable resting-places. The Australian colonists may well desire the acclimatisation in their rivers of the Pacific coast salmon. Its commercial value is immense. During the year 1874 the works on the Columbia river, in Washington territory, tinned for export 22,000,000 lbs. of Salmo quinnat, and the manager esti- mates that 11,000,000 lbs. of fresh and salt fish in addition were taken for local consumption. There is a belief, based on the observa- tions of Mr. James Hector chiefly, and 94 THE ACCLIMATISATION supported by the Indians and trappers, that the Pacific salmon dies after spawning (see the U.S. Fisheries Commission Report 1872-73, p. 191). Should this be a fact, the stocking of a river with this species would probably be a slow process. Never- theless, the history of success at the Anti- podes and in America with the British species affords ample encouragement to the most sanguine pisciculturist. From ‘ The Twelfth Annual Report to the Common- wealth of Massachusetts,’ we learn that from 1872 to 1876 more than 830,000 parr of S. salar were turned into the Merrimac, and in the spring of 1877 hundreds of fine fish were seen ascending the river, of which some were estimated to be eighteen or twenty pounds in weight. The Report observes very significantly, ‘‘ It will be seen that what we have so long fought for, what the mass of people here have generally con- sidered mere theories, visions of men who suffered from fish on the brain, has been fully substantiated. Itis true it took a little longer than was at first thought; but now OF THE SALMONIDE. 95 Massachusetts knows that, while she was the first of the States to take an interest in fish-culture, so she has been the first to demonstrate the certainty of a good return, and she can restock those rivers where the fish have already been killed out.” Notwithstanding the large numbers of S. quinnat which have been liberated in New England streams, no one can say with certainty that a single smolt has ever been seen. This is not so favourable an augury for Australia as could be wished. The latest shipment was made by the John Elder in January, 1882, under the able superintendence of Mr. Charles C. Capel (the owners liberally taking the consignment free), and at the request of the Acclimatisation Society of Otago, Mr. Capel collected, through his manager Mr. Cross, and with the assistance of Mr. J. M. Ridley, chairman of the Tyne Fishery Board, and Mr. Harbottle the inspector, 130,000 salmon ova, which were packed entirely to Mr. Capel’s satisfaction. They were to be tran- shipped at Melbourne for Dunedin. From 96 THE ACCLIMATISATION a letter from Mr. Capel, dated May the 6th, 1882, it unfortunately appears that he had received a discouraging report of the consignment from Melbourne; but it is of course too early yet to draw any conclusions. The almost universal opinion expressed at the beginning of these endeavours to acclimatise salmon in Australasia pointed to certain failure, if the ova were sent in moss. The French pisciculturists were confident that they could not be carried thus a long sea voyage. Yet there was no intelligible ground for the prediction, and the very first trial demonstrated the practicability of the plan. A writer in one of the leading colonial journals took upon himself to recommend that the ova should show the eye before they were placed in the ice-house, forgetting the fact that they would hatch out within three weeks if so far developed, and what would the young fish do in the moss without a stream of water? This, however, was not the most curious example of advice tendered by some who had yet to learn the elements of natural history. OF THE SALMONIDA. 97 There are many risks to the delicate ova in transmitting them to Tasmania, beside those of procuring and packing them. Thus, for instance, on arrival at Melbourne, they were landed, transferred to another ship, underwent a second sea voyage of some five hundred miles to Hobart Town, then taken in a barge twenty miles up the Derwent, and finally carried five miles across rough country to the breeding ponds on the Plenty. We may, indeed, feel surprise that any should have reached their destination safely. Various persons have from time to time claimed to be the originators of Mr. Youl’s plan of transport, or it has been claimed for them by others, and sometimes the recipients of this undeserved honour have accepted it as their due, although they knew they had no title to it. The writer has made it his business to institute a searching inquiry into these claims (and a somewhat laborious task it has been), because it seemed to him that, if he assumed the réle of historian of an important experiment in acclimatisation, nothing less was due to the reader than the 8 98 THE ACCLIMATISATION most complete investigation of all the evi- dence bearing upon it. The late Dr. E. Gray advanced a claim on behalf of the late Dr. John Davy, as the author of the moss and ice transport plan. Much of the con- troversy was carried on in the Atheneum, in February and March, 1866. It seems that Dr. Gray was misled by a report ina colonial newspaper, the writer of which made many erroneous statements of facts, in ignorance that those facts had already been published in an accurate form. Mr. Youl could not have borrowed his idea from Dr. Davy, for they never met nor ever had any communication whatever. Subsequently this claim was abandoned by Dr. Gray in a letter to Mr. Youl, which he wrote in the presence of the latter, giving full permission for its publication. This letter was sent to Mr. EK. A. Watts, then editor of the Mel- bourne Argus, and its substance was em- bodied in letters by Mr. Watts to the Atheneum of the above date. After this complete disavowal of Dr. Davy’s claim, it is greatly to be regretted that Dr. Gray OF THE SALMONIDZ. 99 reasserted it in a letter to Dr. Buller which was published in the official “‘ Papers re- lating to the Introduction of Salmon Ova into New Zealand, 1872” (G. No. 26). The disingenuous character of the letter must be apparent to every one who reads it. Mr. Frank Buckland has done so much good service in fish culture and preservation that he needs no other title to public re- cognition. However, there is an impression that he was the author of the acclimatisation of salmon at the Antipodes—an impression which must be dispersed. It is compara- tively easy to correct a mis-statement when made vivd voce, but if it appears in a news- paper the correction should also be admitted inits columns. This was not the case with the Pall Mall Gazette, to which the writer sent two distinct communications, pointing out the error in the following sentence in the issue of August 7, 1873, in a paragraph referring to the shipment of salmon ova per Oberon in that year: ‘‘The experiments which have hitherto been carried on by Mr. Buckland and others,”’ &c. No notice what- 100 THE ACCLIMATISATION ever was taken of the correction offered, but the writer applied with better success to the editor of ‘‘ that mighty pastoral,” the Meld, who published these comments upon the subject on September 6th following. ‘‘Sir,—If history is to be written from newspapers, I presume that a mis-statement should not be allowed to pass uncorrected. I believed it to be the custom when an error in fact had been made by a public journal that a correction of it was accepted and published, provided the name and address of the person offering the correction were given, and there was no reasonable ground to doubt the accuracy of his know- ledge. I represented to your contemporary, the Pall Mall Gazette, that a mistake had been made in that journal on the 7th of August in a short paragraph on the recent shipment of salmon ova to Otago, which gave to one person the chief credit of im- portant operations in fish culture. The sentence ran thus: ‘The experiments which have hitherto been carried on under the superintendence of Mr. Buckland and OF THE SALMONID®, 101 others, have unfortunately as yet resulted in no positive proof of success.’ The ex- periments referred to are the shipments of salmon ova to the Australasian colonies. In case Mr. Buckland should not have seen the paragraph in the Pall Mall Gazette, I wish to give him an opportunity of un- binding this wreath of triumph from his brows. In the meantime, I wish to inform your readers, and the readers of the Pall Mall Gazette besides, that Mr. Buckland has not had the chief or even part super- intendence of any one of the experiments . which have resulted in a great achievement in fish culture, even if we go no further than the production of living salmon in ‘Tasmania and New Zealand. Mr. James A. Youl was the originator of the successful plan, after many others had failed, and has arranged and superintended all the ship- ments personally and solely. ‘“‘T have good authority for this statement, because I believe that every document on the subject, from first to last, official and private, has passed through my hands; and 102 THE ACCLIMATISATION possibly no one, except Mr. Youl, is better acquainted with the history and method of the experiments from February, 1860, to the last by the Oberon in January, 1873. ‘Should any of your readers desire par- ticulars of the method adopted in sending salmon ova to the Antipodes, I may refer them to a description of the process which you were good enough to publish for me in the Field of the 18th of January last. ‘‘T am the more anxious to seek your as- sistance in correcting the least erroneous impression upon the subject of these ship- ments, because, on account of the reluctance of Mr. Youl to combat them, they have become widely spread. * * * * * ‘‘T find in a leading article of Land and Water for January 18, 1873, the following remarks, which could not have been pub- lished without Mr. Buckland’s sanction, and were, I suspect, from his pen. “