pALMON AT THE JINTIPODES

Sze SAMUEL WILSON

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Salmon at the antipodes; being an account

Cornell University

Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003243122

SALMON AT THE ANTIPODES,

“INAODOMWINA LY GNOd LNOYIL

SALMON
AT THE ANTIPODES

BEING AN ACCOUNT OF

THE SUCCESSFUL INTRODUCTION

OF

SALMON AND TROUT INTO AUSTRALIAN WATERS

BY

SIR SAMUEL WILSON

MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF VICTORIA, FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MELBOURNE
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, A VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE VICTORIAN
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION COMMISSION, PRESIDENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN
SHEEP-BREEDERS’ ASSOCIATION, MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
ZOOLOGICAL AND ACCLIMATIZATION SOCIETY OF VICTORIA,

PRESIDENT OF THE GEELONG AND WESTERN DISTRICT
FISH ACCLIMATIZING SOCIETY;

Author of a work on the Angora Goat, and papers on the Ostrich,
the Chinese Yam, etc.

LONDON
EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING CROSS, 8.W.

i

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lb]

S17
W715
lf 79

480878

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

2

Tis paper originally appeared in the Annual
Report of the Zoological and Acclimatization
Society of Victoria for the year 1878. It is
here reprinted in a separate volume for the
convenience of those who are not Members
of that Society.

The object of the writer of the paper was,
by giving in an easily accessible form the
main principles of the Art of Pisciculture, to
be of some service to those who may desire
to promote the scientific cultivation of our
waters, with a view to the increase of our

food fishes, and thereby to provide in Australia
b 2

iv Preface to the Second Edition.

the fresh attractions of the sport afforded by
salmon and trout fishing; also to place on
record what has been done in the attempt
to introduce the Salmon into Australian
waters. Should this attempt prove successful
—which time alone can show—the knowledge
of this result will be in itself an ample reward
to the writer for all his exertions, which, from
the very interesting nature of the work he
had undertaken to accomplish, were to him a

labour of love.

December, 1878.

PREFACE

TO THE THIRD EDITION.

ns

Tue substance of this work in a slightly
different form, under the title of ‘The Cali-
fornian Salmon,” was originally published in
the Transactions of the Zoological and Accli-
matization Society of Melbourne for the year
1878, and a second small edition was reprinted
in Victoria. In publishing this third edition
in England, the desire of the writer is, by
giving in a plain and simple form an account
of his experience and of the main principles
of the art of fish-hatching as far as it relates
to salmon and the different varieties of trout, to

be of some service to those who may desire

vi Preface to the Third Edition.

to follow this very interesting pursuit ; and he
ventures to hope that the history of the
various attempts which have been made to
introduce the Salmon into Australian waters
may not be without interest to English
readers.

ATHENZUM CiuB, Lonnon,
June 16, 1879.

CHAPTER

I.
II.

VII.

XIII.

CONTENTS

PISCICULTURE ...
FIsHING ...

Tue INTRODUCTION oF ENGLIsH SALMON INTO
THE SoUTHERN HEMISPHERE

THe First InrropucrioN oF THE SALMON
INTO AUSTRALIA

Tse First Inrropucrion or CALIFORNIAN
Satmon Ova

Toe Seconp ImporTaTION oF ENGLISH
SaLtmon Ova inTo VICTORIA

Tue Sxeconp ImporTaTIoN oF CALIFORNIAN
Satmon Ova ss

Tae CALIFORNIAN SALMON ...

Is THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON SUITABLE TO
THE Murray River?

CoLLECTING THE OVA
Fiso-Hatcuine ee as
Hatcuine Fish Ova in Moist Ase ...

FisH-HatTcHInG IN A CURRENT OF WATER...

18

24

Vili

Contents.

CHAPTER

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.
XIX.

XX.

XXI.
XXII.

Tse Lrperation or Youne Fisu

Transport or Live Fisx

Tue Txrep Importation or ENGLISH
Satmon Ova TO VICTORIA

EXxpERIMENT oF M. Coste IN KEEPING SALMON
In Fresh WATER

Tue IDENTIFICATION OF SALMON AND TROUT

Tue GrowTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SALMONIDE

AQUICULTURE

Tue VALUE or SALMon FISHERIES

Tue DISTRIBUTION AND LIBERATION OF THE
CALIFORNIAN SALMON FRy

INDEX

>

Po
Salt .¥ »
Lakes “o
S

LACEPEDE BAY

i L. Hindmarsh

‘YY eaauut wh

9g

[.Corangamitel

TWOFOLD BAY

\

be Cape Howe

a es

A MAP OF
VICTORIA

to ilhistrate the
INTRODUCTION or SALMON
by
SIR SAMUEL WILSON.

Seale of Statute Miles
2 10 OO 20 40 Cy 20

The Rivers uv which Salmon uve been
placed by Sur Sarravel Wilson,are shewn ur Red.

|

150

SALMON AT THE ANTIPODES.

CHAPTER I.
PISCICULTURE.

It is only within a very recent period that the
science of fish culture has become known, so
as to be of practical use for the multiplication
of our food fishes, although the keeping and
feeding of fish in artificial ponds and basins
has long been practised, and wealthy Roman
citizens in ancient times did not consider
their establishment complete without their
fish stews, to keep up a constant supply for
the table. According to Diodorus Siculus,
fabulous returns were realised from Lake
Meris, in Egypt, an artificial fish-pond, con-
structed by the predecessor of Sesostris.
B

2 Salmon at the Antipodes.

Oysters were successfully cultivated in Lake
Avernus, near Naples, a reservoir since dried
up by volcanic upheaval, and afterwards at
Lago Fusaro, where the industry has been
continued up to the present day. The arti-
ficial care of eels and other fish has been
pursued successfully near Venice, at a lagoon
about 140 miles in circumference, called
Comacchio, where very extensive works have
been constructed, and arrangements made
for the care of eels from the time they leave
the sea as tiny worms, till they are ready for
market. But in all these instances there was
no artificial fecundation of ova, and fish
culture, as now understood, was then practi-
cally unknown.

The first discovery of the possibility of the
artificial impregnation of fish ova was made
in the fifteenth century, by a monk named
Pinchon, the record of which was disinterred
three centuries later by the German naturalist
Jacobi, who described accurately the method
practised by Pinchon. But the subject does
not seem to have been then taken up, and the
discovery of Pinchon remained practically un-
known, until, in 1840, two fishermen named

Prsciculture. 3

Remy and Gehin, in a valley of the Vosges,
after years of patient watching and intelligent
reasoning from the facts observed by them,
at last discovered the secret, and found that
the impregnation of the ovum took place after
its exclusion from the ovaries, and when
deposited in the gravel, and that the natural
process could be imitated artificially, thus
giving a certain and easy method for the
propagation and increase of any kind of river
fish.

The story of the perseverance and patient
endeavour, by which this discovery was made,
has a strong element of romance. Concealing
himself in the tall grass by the side of the
stream, or in the overhanging branch of a tree
by day, and by night when the full moon
favoured his object, sustained against fatigue,
cold, and hunger, by that enthusiasm which
has aided so many noble efforts, Remy desisted
not from his pursuit, until he had wrested
from Nature the secret which had been so
long withheld, and which was destined to
confer a lasting benefit upon the human
race.

It has often happened, in scientific pursuits,

4 Salmon at the Antipodes.

that a discovery has been made simultaneously
by two inquirers, who have arrived at the
result by totally different methods. In 1848
the celebrated French naturalist, M. De
Quatrefages, on scientific grounds, brought
before the Academy of Sciences at Paris the
subject of the artificial impregnation of fish
ova; and, in a paper read before that body,
asserted the possibility, by the artificial
fecundation of the ova of fishes, of propagating
them to any extent that might be desired.
His statement was at first discredited, but the
publication of his paper brought out the fact
that the process which he had advocated
on theoretical grounds, and from an ana-
tomical examination of the generative organs,
had actually been reduced to practice by a poor
fisherman of Bresse. The Academy appointed
a committee to inquire into the matter, which
found the facts to be as stated.

In 1843 Remy had addressed a letter to
the Prefect of the Vosges, of a portion of
which the following is a translation, taken
from a paper by Professor C. A. Joy, on fish
culture :——

Prsciculture. 5

‘“‘ JosepH Remy, fisherman, of the Bresse, to
M. the Prerect or tHe VoscEs.

‘‘Sir,—I have the honour to inform you that,
in consequence of the numerous experiments
which I have made, I have succeeded, after
much care and trouble, in hatching an immense
quantity of trout eggs, the young of which,
healthy and well-formed, will be suitable for
re-stocking the rivers. JI deem it to be my
duty to make known to you the means by
which I have arrived at this fortunate result.
. . . At the season of spawning, in November,
when the eggs appear at the vent of the trout,
by passing the thumb and pressing gently
against the vent of the female without doing
her any injury, I cause the eggs to fall into a
basin of water; after this I seize the male,
and by operating in the same manner cause
the milt to flow upon the eggs until they have
become opaque. As soon as this operation is
completed, and the eggs have become clear, I
dispose them between coarse grains of sand in
the bottom of an iron box, pierced with a
thousand holes. I placed one of these boxes
in a spring of fresh water, the other in the

6 Salmon at the Antipodes.

river Bresse, in a spot where the current was
only slight. Towards the middle of February
the eggs in the spring commenced to hatch,
while those in the river did not change until
the 20th of March. ... In hatching, the
young, the tails of which first appear, are white,
elongated, lean, with large heads. They move
immediately, and appear, by their action, to
swim with pleasure; every day they change
colour, and assume the tints of the large fish ;
the body becomes round, and fills out. Ihave
retained a quantity of these little creatures, in
order to be able to reproduce them at pleasure.
It appears to me that a discovery of this
nature, especially at a time when the rivers
are nearly deprived of fish, in consequence of
the drought of last season, is worthy of the
attention of the Government.
(Signed) “J. Remy.”

Remy was awarded a bronze medal and
100 francs, by a local scientific body, for his
discovery, which would have remained in
obscurity but for the paper of M. De Quatre-
fages, which brought the matter before the
whole scientific world. Remy and Gehin

Pisciculture. ‘4

received a pension from the Government of
200 dollars per annum, and the former was
granted a small monopoly in the sale of
tobacco.

The question was warmly taken up by M.
Coste, Professor of Embryology at the Collége
de France, who contributed greatly, by his
labours and researches, to place the science
of pisciculture in the position to which it has
since attained. In England, the importance
of the subject has also been warmly advocated
by Mr. Frank Buckland, Mr. Francis, and
some other ardent pisciculturists, and at
Stormontfield, on the Tay, an extensive
salmon-rearing establishment has been erected.
At Galway, the Messrs. Ashworth have
stocked with salmon some large rivers and
lakes extremely well suited to this fish, but
which they had been prevented, by a natural
barrier, from reaching in their ascent from
the sea. At Huningue, in Alsace-Lorraine, a
very extensive fish-rearing establishment has
been in existence for many years, from which
hundreds of thousands of fish were distributed
annually to stock the French rivers and lakes.
The work is still continued by the Govern-

8 Salmon at the Antipodes.

ment of Germany, into whose possession the
establishment has fallen.

But the greatest triumph of pisciculture is
the transfer and acclimatization of the salmon
and trout, from the northern to the southern
hemisphere, through the heat of the tropics.
This has now been successfully accomplished
by the aid of ice and steam; the one to keep
down the temperature, and thereby delay the
hatching process, and the other to shorten
the time required for transit.

In the United States of America also, great
things have been done in fish culture by
Livingston Stone, Seth Green, Norris, Ains-
worth, and others, and several large establish-
ments exist for fish cultivation. A fish
commission has been appointed by the
Government, of which the Hon. Spencer F.
Baird is president, and, with a liberality and
generosity which does infinite credit to the
Great Republic, they freely supply ova of the
salmon, trout, and coregonus, or whitefish,
not only for their own rivers, but also—in
hundreds of thousands—to stock the waters of
Australia and New Zealand. The efforts of
the Commission have, in the States, resulted

Pisciculture. 9

in a manifest increase of the fish supply in
rivers where the produce had been rapidly
diminishing, and the benefits which will follow
their labours cannot be easily estimated.

In fish culture, the hatching of the fish is not
the only difficulty that has to be overcome. In
many places, high dams or waterfalls prevent
the fish from ascending the rivers to spawn,
and a contrivance, called a fish ladder, has
been invented, by which salmon or other sea-
going migratory fish can ascend the rivers
to fresh spawning grounds. The fish ladder
is simply a series of small pools, like steps of
stairs, with an opening for the fish to get
through, and a place where they can rest
before ascending the next step. The invention
has proved exceedingly useful, and it has
enabled the owners of suitable waters to stock
with salmon many rivers and lakes, which were
formerly inaccessible to migratory fish.

10 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER II.
FISHING.

In Badham’s “Ancient and Modern Fish
Tattle,” an amusing, quaint, learned, and
delightful book, there are many curious facts
illustrative of the art of fishing. ‘‘ Fish,” he
says, ‘‘being more distinguished for the size
of their heads than for the amount of brains
lodged in them, and affording an easier capture
than either beasts or birds, fell early victims
to the crafts and assaults of their arch-enemy,
man;” and he goes on to quote early writers
from Habakkuk and other sacred authorities
down through Homeric stanzas and Oppian’s
verses on the same subject. Suetonius speaks
of gold and purple nets to charm the fish to a
sweet death. History tells of Antony and
Cleopatra’s love for the sport, and how the
latter played a cunningly devised trick off
upon her admiring triumvir when he was
unsuccessful in angling, by sending down a

fishing. 1

diver to fasten a fish upon his hook, which
first delighted him with his apparent success,
but afterwards caused him to feel annoyed
with his inamorata for bringing him into
ridicule.

From the earliest records down to the days
of Isaac Walton and our own times, angling
has been practised and enjoyed as being a
most delightful sport. Sir Henry Wotton
calls angling ‘“‘an employment for idle time,
which was not then idly spent; for angling
after tedious study was a rest to his mind, a
cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of sadness, a
calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of
passion, a procurer of contentedness, and
begets habits of peace and patience in those
who practise it.” In ancient Rome the
artificial fly was used as a bait, and fish-hooks
of hardened bronze and of steel have been
disinterred from the buried ruins of Pompeii.
Martial refers to fish ‘“‘ decoyed and caught by
fraudful flies,” and Aulian describes the con-
struction of the same by instructing the
angler—

“ Around the hook a chosen fur to wind,
And on the back a speckled feather bind.”

12 Salmon at the Antipodes.

The same writer describes the art of angling
as practised in the river Astreus in Macedonia,
by which a speckled fish was caught by a fly
made in imitation of the hippurus, a certain
buzzing, wasp-like insect, of which these fish
were fond. Arrian, in his history of India,
tells of a nation of ichthyophagi residing on
the Persian Gulf, who not only lived entirely
on fish themselves, but even fed their cattle
upon it. Their dress was made of fish skins,
and their huts were supported by beams and
rafters, made from the skeletons of the levia-
thans of the deep. This wretched people
occupied a tract of country devoid of vegeta-
tion, and, being entirely dependent upon the
fish they could manage to catch, were in a
constant state of hunger and misery.

Fishing has been practised from a remote
period for the food supply obtained by it, and
as the calling of a class of the population; but
angling for the love of the sport was the result
of civilization, and, as Badham says, ‘‘ was an
after-thought not likely to occur till the world
was well peopled, and different states suffi-
ciently prosperous and advanced in civilization
to spare supernumerary hands, and allow the

fishing. £3

wealthier sons to follow less necessary arts
than the primary ones of war and tillage. The
Greeks and Romans, civilized beyond the rest
of the world, soon became enthusiastic sports-
men.” The delight of salmon fishing is so
great to many from the health and amusement
which it affords, that, although it is obtained
by costly and laborious exertion, the passion
for it leads to an increasing demand for the
fishings at still higher rentals; so much so
that the average cost of a salmon, taken by
the rod on the Tweed, is calculated at from
£3 to £5, although the same fish could be
bought in the market for one-fifth of the
money. It is said by enthusiastic salmon
fishers that the delight experienced in the first
tug of a salmon, when newly hooked, is a
sensation more exquisite than any other sport
can afford. That the gentle craft is not more
practised in Australia, is owing partly to the
fact that men are there all workers, who have
little time to spare for pleasure or sport, and
partly that the rivers do not contain the best
kinds of sport-giving fish. As time advances
and population increases, a leisure class will
appear, and field sports, but especially angling,

14 Salmon at the Antipodes.

will, no doubt, become a favourite amusement
of a section of the population, during their
holidays and times of recreation. Let us
hope that when that time comes the rivers of
Australia may be plentifully stocked with those
members of the finny tribe, of the family of the
salmonide, which are best calculated to give
sport to the angler, as well as to please the
fastidious palate of the epicure, when served
on the tables of our prosperous citizens ; and
that these fish may become so abundant as to
be within the reach of every class of the com-
munity, and add materially to the food supply
of the fast increasing population.

CHAPTER ITI.

THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH SALMON INTO
THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.

THe introduction of the English salmon into
the waters of Australasia has been frequently
attempted, and many failures have been made,
and much money spent, in the endeavour to
accomplish this object.

The reason that the introduction of this fish
into Australia has been considered so import-
ant is not far to seek. The Australian rivers
are already stocked with native fish of pretty
good quality, and not to be despised from a
gastronomic point of view, but there are no
representatives of the anadromous or migratory
species found there. Hence the salmon
is particularly valuable, as its feeding grounds
are in the unlimited extent of ocean wash-
ing the shores of the Australian continent,
and they bring far inland the wealth of

16 Salmon at the Antipodes.

nourishing food which they have collected in
the depths of the ocean; and as they consume
but little in the rivers, these are not im-
poverished by this temporary addition to their
scaly inhabitants. When we consider that
almost every plant and animal useful as food
to the British race, which has taken possession
of Australia, has been introduced there, it is
evident that many more species may yet be
found eminently suitable to the climate and
circumstances of the country.

No less than ten different shipments of ova
of the salmonide have been sent from Britain
to Australia and New Zealand.

The first attempt to send out salmon to
Australia was made in the Sarah Curling, in
February, 1860. It was superintended by
Messrs. J. A. Youl and Edward Wilson, and it
. was intended that the fish should be hatched
out on the voyage. Very complete arrange-
ments had been made by the Salmon Com-
missioners appointed by the Government to
receive the salmon fry in Tasmania, and Baron
von (then Dr.) Mueller was entrusted with the
care, transhipment, and forwarding of them
from Melbourne ; but this, like many subse-

Introduction of English Salmon. 17

quent attempts, resulted in a complete failure,
although some few fish hatched and were
carried alive into the tropics.

The second effort which was made to
introduce the salmon into Tasmanian waters,
was a shipment by the Beautiful Star, which
sailed from London in March, 1862; but this
attempt was also a total failure.

In January, 1864, the first successful ship-
ment was made by the Norfolk; in January,
1866, that by the Lincolnshire was also
partially successful. In January, 1867, a
shipment to New Zealand was made by the
Celestial Queen ; also, in December, 1868, by
the Medora ; in January, 1873, by the Oberon ;
and in January, 1875, by the Timaru, from
Glasgow. In January, 1876, a jomt shipment
was sent by the Durham to New Zealand
and Australia, which was partially successful
in New Zealand; and in January, 1878, by
the Chimborazo, which was also a partial
success, some of the fish surviving both in
Australia and New Zealand.

18 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER IV.

THE FIRST INTRODUCTION OF THE SALMON INTO
AUSTRALIA.

Tue first successful attempt to introduce the
salmon into Australia was made in the year
1864. A hundred thousand salmon and
3000 trout ova were shipped on board
the Norfolk, packed in moss, in 200
boxes. The trout ova were collected by
Mr. Frank Buckland and Mr. Francis, and
the fish hatched from these are the parents
of all the trout now in Australia and New
Zealand, except those from the shipment
lately received from England by the Chimbo-
razo. ‘The trout ova by the Norfolk were
taken from fish in Admiral Keppel’s preserves
in the Itchen, and sent as a present to Mr.
Youl by Mr. Buckland. Mr. Francis also
collected a lot of trout eggs for the same
shipment.

First Introduction of the Salmon. 19

The salmon ova were obtained by Mr. J. A.
Youl, C.M.G., from the Severn, the Ribble,
the Tyne, and the Tweed; and under his
personal care and superintendence they were
put on board the Norfolk. To Mr. Youl is
due the credit of the discovery of the proper
mode of packing the ova for transmission on
a long sea voyage, by placing them in moss
and charcoal, in wooden boxes placed below
the ice in an ice-house. The boxes con-
taining the ova were placed in an ice-house
made to receive them, and were surrounded
by 32 tons of ice. The ship sailed on the
Qist of January, 1864, and the voyage
occupied 77 days. The undertaking was a
joint affair between the Victorian Govern-
ment, represented by the Acclimatization
Society, and the Salmon Commissioners on
behalf of the Government of Tasmania. The
greater portion of the ova were forwarded to
Tasmania, reaching Hobart Town on the 20th
April. Arrangements had been made by the
Salmon Commissioners appointed. by the
Tasmanian Government, and ,a hatching
apparatus was ready for the reception of
the ova. On the boxes being opened, only

20 Salmon at the Antipodes.

one-third of the eggs were found to possess
any vitality, and out of these only 3000 fish
were hatched, notwithstanding that Mr.
Ramsbottom, the son of the noted piscicul-
turist of that name, had charge of them, and
gave them every care. The temperature of
the water in which they were placed for
hatching was from 46 deg. to 49 deg., and
they were afterwards put into a small pond,
where they remained for some time. On the
pond in which the salmon fry were placed
being examined, it was found that a further
loss had taken place, and the number re-
maining was estimated at about 500 fish.
After a time, as the period of their expected
migration to the sea approached, it was
thought desirable to liberate them, and about
the end of the year 1865 those remaining
were allowed to find their way into the river
Plenty. These were the first salmon intro-
duced into Australasian waters.

A portion of the brown trout also were
hatched out successfully, producing 320 fish,
many of which died. About 30 were
liberated in the Plenty; and though only six
pairs reached maturity and spawned in the

First Introduction of the Salmon. Si

ponds, the progeny of these have been dis-
tributed over many rivers and streams in
Tasmania, Victoria, and New Zealand, and
they are the progenitors of all the brown
trout in those colonies. Up to the present
time, however, it is understood that no salmon
ova have been obtained there, although a few
undoubted specimens of the Salmo salar have
been caught at various times in the river
Plenty. A considerable quantity of salmo-
noids of various weights up to 18 lbs. or
20 lbs. have also been caught, which were
supposed to be the true salmon, but which
appear to have been a species of sea trout,
having pink flesh, like the Salmo salar. One
of these was sent over to Melbourne, and
on being scientifically examined by Professor
McCoy, was pronounced to be a fine specimen
of the Salmo erioz, a migratory species, of
considerable commercial value. The ova had
doubtless been taken and sent, by mistake,
with the salmon ova, the two fish having a
strong resemblance to each other. It was
not intended that this fish, which is com-
monly known as the “bull trout,” should
have been introduced there, both the Salmo

22 Salmon at the Antipodes.

salar and Salmo trutta being much superior
fish. All doubts about the Salmo salar having
been successfully established in Tasmania
have finally been set at rest by a specimen sent
to Melbourne in 1877, which Professor McCoy
identified as a true salmon, although only
of small size, being about four pounds in
weight.

The small number of ova left in Melbourne
—about 3000—out of the shipment by the
Norfolk produced a few hundred fry, many
of which, however, disappeared mysteriously
in the hatching boxes. A small remnant of
these were taken to the Upper Yarra, and
300 live salmon were stated to have been
liberated successfully on that occasion, in a
tank made to keep them for a time; of which
number about 120 were afterwards placed in
the Badger Creek, a tributary of the Yarra;
but up to this time none of these fish, or of
their progeny, have been caught, and there is
no evidence to show that they have survived
to propagate their species.

A fourth attempt was made to introduce
the salmon into Tasmania, and another ship-
ment of ova was sent by the Lincolnshire,

First Introduction of the Salmon. 23

which arrived in Melbourne on May 1, 1866.
The Government liberally granted the s.s.
Victoria to convey the eggs to Tasmania,
which was successfully accomplished by Com-
mander Norman, under the superintendence
of Mr. Ramsbottom. The hatching resulted
in 6000 salmon and 1000 salmon trout. In
Victoria, the acclimatization of this fish was
given up as being impossible of accomplish-
ment, and the attempt was looked upon by
many as a useless expenditure of money; as
it was thought that the temperature of the
rivers was too high to suit the salmon, which
is generally found in rivers which are partially
frozen in the winter.

24 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER V.

THE FIRST INTRODUCTION OF CALIFORNIAN
SALMON OVA.

Havine, in early life, obtained some knowledge
of the great value of the salmon from a com-
mercial point of view as a food producer, as
well as for the noble sport which it affords,
I determined that another effort should be
made for its introduction into Australia,
and, in 1874, Mr. Le Souef, the Honorary
Secretary to the Victorian Acclimatization
Society, at my request, through Mr. William-
son, the Secretary of the Acclimatization
Society of San Francisco, ordered 25,000 ova
of the Californian salmon. I had learned
that this species was capable of withstanding
a much higher temperature than the English
salmon, and would probably suit the climate
much better. The ova arrived in due course;
but, the supply of ice having failed on the

Introduction of Californian Salmon Ova. 25

voyage, the fish had hatched out, and, of
course, perished for want of their natural
element; and on the box being opened, the
ova were found to have become a putrid mass.
Another shipment of 25,000 was asked for
from Mr. Williamson, who wrote promising
to forward them, but, from some unexplained
reason, they were never received.

26 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SECOND IMPORTATION OF ENGLISH SALMON
OVA INTO VICTORIA.

Ur to the year 1875 there was no proof that
the salmon had been established in Tasmania,
although some enthusiasts declared that they
were, without doubt, to be found in the Plenty
river.

At that time, the Government of New
Zealand had determined to attempt the in-
troduction of the salmon into that colony,
where the rivers and climate are exceedingly
well adapted for this fish; and, learning this
intention, I offered to joi in a shipment of
200,000 ova, one-half for Victoria. My pro-
posal was agreed to, and, under the joint care
of the celebrated naturalist, Mr. Frank Buck-
land, and Mr. Youl, C.M.G., both of whom are
enthusiasts in pisciculture, a shipment was
made by the Durham in the year 1876, which

Second Importation of English Salmon Ova. 27

arrived in Melbourne after a passage of 63
days. It was found, on examination, that
about two-thirds of the ova had perished, and,
owing to the unusually hot season, the hatch-
ing proved a complete failure, although ice
was freely used. They were divided into four
lots, one of which was placed in hatching-
boxes in the ice-house at Melbourne; one at
Geelong, under the care of the Geelong Fish
Acclimatizing Society ; one at Ballarat, under
the care of Dr. Whitcombe, who undertook the -
charge; and one at Hrcildoune. Out of the
entire shipment landed in Melbourne only five
fish were hatched, which were from the lot
sent to Ercildoune. The temperature of the
water during the hatching was from 60 deg.
to 65 deg., and, although there was a large
quantity of ice used, the high temperature was
undoubtedly the main cause of the failure.
With the moiety which went to New Zea-
land, a more favourable result was obtained,
and 1500 fry were liberated in the Aparima
river, being the produce of this shipment.
That greater success was attained in New
Zealand was doubtless owing to the low
temperature of the rivers there, the fish having

28 Salmon at the Antipodes.

been hatched under a rill of water, at a tem-
perature of only 50 deg. Fahrenheit.

The enormous loss of ova in these shipments
appeared to me to be owing, in a great measure,
to the eggs having been shipped immediately
after impregnation. It is well known by
pisciculturists, that in this stage the principle
of life in the egg is most easily destroyed,
whereas, at a later period, when the embryo
has reached a further stage of development,
the ovum will bear an amount of shaking and
rough usage, that would inevitably be fatal to
it at an earlier period. To test this point,
I telegraphed to my London agents, Messrs.
Robert Brooks and Co., to have a few hundred
ova forwarded in the ice-house of the Penin-
sular and Oriental Company’s mail steamer ;
the ova to be obtained from the fish-rearing
establishment at Stormontfield, on the Tay,
and to be in the stage when the eyes are
visible, as at this period they can be carried
with the greatest safety. My telegram arrived
too late, however, for that season.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SECOND IMPORTATION OF CALIFORNIAN
SALMON OVA.

THis was very disheartening, but I still
determined to persevere, and contemplated
going myself to California, to superintend the
packing and transit, so as to insure a more
successful result with another shipment; but,
seeing in the papers that the New Zealand
Government intended to import a_ large
quantity of the Californian salmon ova, I
applied to Mr. Firth, the President of the
Auckland Acclimatization Society, to order
for me 50,000 ova for Australia, to come at
the same time as those for New Zealand. He
very courteously agreed to do so; and in due
time the shipment arrived by the Californian
mail steamer, and was forwarded by Mr.
Firth, with every care, to Sydney. From

30 Salmon at the Antipodes.

Sydney the ova were forwarded by Mr. Barker,
my agent, kindly assisted by Mr. Webster,
and arrived in Melbourne safely.

On the arrival of the ova at Sandridge they
were removed, and taken by train and waggon,
well packed on an elastic cushion of straw,
and opened at the spring on Ercildoune estate,
where the hatching-boxes were ready for their
reception. On the pads covering the ice being
taken off, a layer of moss, fresh and green as
if newly gathered, was to be seen covering the
ova. On this being removed, the eggs were
visible through the thin net-like web which
covered them, and at once it was evident, to
my great delight, that they were in splendid
preservation, and far advanced in hatching,
the eyes of the young fish being clearly
visible.

The ova were packed in layers in a box or
ice-chest, about three feet by four, and about
two feet in depth. They were placed between
two pieces of mosquito net, about 7000
in each layer, with a cushion of moss about
two inches deep between each two layers,
and also above and below the ova. Six
inches of ice was placed over the cggs, and

Second Importation of Californian Ova. 31

the bottom of the box was pierced with
holes, to allow the escape of water from the
melting ice. The ice was renewed every
twelve hours on the voyage from Sydney to
Melbourne. The box had an inner Lining,
enclosing about four inches of sawdust, to act
as a non-conductor, and which answered the
object sufficiently well.

The weak points in the packing were the
use of cotton net, which rots and gets mouldy,
while the moss remains green and fresh; and
also that the ova were too closely packed
together. For a short voyage this matters
little, but in a long distance the difference is
great, as when one egg loses vitality it soon
decays, and the byssus, or fungus, which
quickly forms, attacks all the ova within
reach; these ova adhere to each other, and
although little altered in appearance, in-
variably perish in the hatching.

With little loss of time the ova were trans-
ferred to the gravel of the hatching-boxes,
which had been prepared with great care,
by being screened to insure a uniform size,
and by boiling, to destroy insect germs
which might be injurious to the ova. All

Be Salmon at the Antipodes.

were got into the hatching-boxes the same
evening, except one layer of about 7000,
which were left under the ice until next
morning. About 6 per cent. of dead eggs
were taken out at once, but many were ad-
hering in clusters, most of which I knew could
not live, but which looked healthy enough at
the time.

The next morning over 100 young salmon
were hatched, and they were lively little
fellows even at that early stage of their
existence. When touched with a feather,
they would start off and swim round in a
circle, and settle down again amongst the
gravel. On the remainder of the ova being
transferred to the hatching-boxes, numbers of
young fish were found to have hatched out
during the night, and during the day 400 or
500 made their appearance.

The ovum of the Californian salmon is
larger than that of the British species. The
young fish is about an inch long. The
umbilical sac attached to it, contaming the
yolk of the egg, is of a clear, transparent red
colour, and seems quite as large as the egg
from which it has emerged. This sac contains

Second Importation of Californian Ova. 33

the food of the young salmon for three or four
weeks, and is gradually absorbed, becoming
smaller as the young fish grows.

The hatching process is effected simply by
placing the ova on a layer of gravel, over
which a stream of water is allowed to run.
The temperature of the water is a most im-
portant point, and I selected a spring from its
being of a uniform degree of cold, and from its
freedom from sediment, which, by settling on
the eggs, would interfere with the supply of
oxygen necessary for their vivification. As the
supply from the spring is limited, being only
four to five pints per minute, I had a pipe laid
down from the creek to supply two filters, the
water from which is used to increase the
stream. The water from the pipe can be shut
off entirely when its temperature is too high,
but, so far, the difference has not been great
between the water from it and that of the
spring. The temperature of the spring is
55 deg., and the pipe supply has risen on hot
days to 62 deg., but the young fish did not
seem to suffer in the slightest, and those in
the warmest water are the furthest advanced.

The hatching went on favourably, but a large
D

34 Salmon at the Antipodes.

number of the eggs arrived at a certain stage
and failed to produce live fish. Sometimes
after a struggle the head would appear, and
the little creature would perish in the effort
to emerge from the shell. In others, after
the eyes were plainly visible, the living
principle became extinguished, as shown by
the ovum becoming white or opaque. The
fish which were hatched, however, were
strong and healthy. For a time the dead
eggs picked out were over 3000 a day, and
‘prospects were rather gloomy, but circum-
stances proved that it was more to the
conditions to which the ova had been sub-
jected before their arrival that the losses were
attributable, than to their treatment after
landing.

The total shipment was supposed to be
50,000 ova, but from a rough count the number
received was estimated at 55,000. When the
eges were unpacked, one layer of about 7000
ova was put in each hatching box. The
combined stream runs through the boxes from
1 to 8, the first boxes getting the fresh, cool
water, and having the best chance, the water
heating 2 deg. in passing through the boxes

Second Importation of Californian Ova. 35

in hot weather. When the hatching was
nearly finished, a very marked difference was
observable in the number hatched in each
box. No. 1 had only about 1000 live fish out
of 7000 eggs. These eggs were on the top,
nearest the ice. The next layer, in No. 2,
had probably 3000 fish out of 7000 ova.
No. 3 was the best of all, and there were
probably 6000 live fish out of 7000 ova.
Nos. 4, 5, and 6 were pretty equal, and
hatched over 50 per cent. The eggs in
No. 7 hatched out much earlier, but the per-
centage of loss was above the average.
Box No. 8, received the lowest layer of eggs,
which hatched out very quickly, having the
warmest water, and produced probably 5000
fish.

It will thus be seen that the different lots
of eggs, when treated exactly in the same
way, varied very materially in the number
hatched, showing that the causes of this
difference were to be looked for in the treat-
ment of the ova when first taken, or in the
mode of packing, rather than in their manage-
ment after their arrival in Australia.

After the young fish were fairly hatched but

36 Salmon at the Antipodes.

few losses occurred, probably not 50 in the
whole number. Of the ova only about 500
remained to hatch on the 24th, and that day,
although the hottest of the season, did not
appear to injure the alevins, as the young
fish at this stage are called. The number of
live fish is now about 28,000, which is a not
unsuccessful result. Had the ova arrived a
week earlier, probably three-fourths could have
been saved. If they had been a week later,
probably they would have been a mass of
putrefaction from the fish hatching out, as
happened with the first lot of 25,000 Cali-
fornian ova which I had brought over three
years previously.

Success, in most things, is the result of
good arrangements, made with a thorough
knowledge of the subject, and combined with
favourable circumstances, where these are
beyond control. The result in this case
shows what a narrow line may lie between
success and failure.

This shipment of ova had been obtained
from the McCloud river, a tributary of the
Sacramento, in Shasta county, California.
They were obtained from the United States

Second Importation of Californian Ova. 37

Fisheries Commission, of which the President
is the Hon. Spencer F. Baird; and although
my application was made with the condition
that a proportion of the cost of the shipment
should be paid by me, the United States
Government, with a noble generosity worthy
of all praise, presented them free of charge;
a very handsome present indeed, for which
I made due acknowledgments on behalf of the
colony. Mr. Firth, who interested himself
in forwarding them from New Zealand to
Sydney, and who incurred some items of ex-
pense, declined to furnish an account of the
same, and I now take this opportunity of
thanking him for his generosity.

I had prepared myself for the undertaking,
and obtained a good knowledge of fish culture,
by reading all the books I could obtain on the
subject, including the writings of Frank Buck-
land, Francis, Livingston Stone, Norris, and
also the papers on fish culture which have
been published in the proceedings of the
Société d’Acclimatation of France. I also
gained much practical knowledge, by having
under my care, while hatching, several lots of
Salmo fario and Salmo trutta, and was better

38 Salmon at the Antipodes.

able, after the experience thus obtained, to
undertake the care of the Californian salmon
ova, during their hatching and distribution in
the Victorian rivers.

( go)

CHAPTER VIII.
THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON.

Tuer Californian salmon (Salmo quinnat of
Richardson, or Salmo lycaodon of Pallas)
is, according to Giinther, of the sub-class
Teleostei, of the order Physostomi, of the
family’ of the Salmonide, and genus Onco-
rhynchus (Suckley, ‘‘Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist.”
1861, Pp. 312).

It belongs to the anadromous or migratory
species of the salmonide. It is not intended
to give here a scientific description of the
fish; it is distinguished from the Atlantic
species, however, by having more than 14
rays in the anal fin, while the Salmo salar
has less than that number. This salmon is
found on both the American and Asiatic shores
of the Pacific (Giinther), a species believed
to be identical with it (S. Japonensis) having
been found in Japanese waters (Pallas).

40 Salmon at the Antipodes.

The name “ Quinnat”’ is that given to this
fish by the Indians, and it signifies “ glitter-
ing,” in reference to its silvery lustre. The
name of a Welsh salmonoid “‘ Gwyniad ’’—also
in reference to the shining appearance of that
fish—has a curious resemblance to the Indian
word, and the coincidence is a problem for
philologists to solve.

This salmonoid, similarly to the trout,
salmon, salmon-trout, the grayling, and pro-
bably even the Coregonus, has, in its young
state, the transverse bands or parr marks,
clearly distinguishable, and they gradually
disappear after a certain stage in the de-
velopment of the fish, this being a family
feature of all the salmonide, in an early
stage of their existence.

The quality which the Salmo quinnat pos-
sesses, and which makes it peculiarly suitable
to the Australian streams and rivers, is its
power of resisting high temperatures without
danger, and even with apparent comfort.
The habits of this species differ somewhat
from those of the Salmo salar in its period
of spawning, the ova being deposited in
summer and hatched out in the autumn, in-

The Californian Salmon. 41

stead of being developed in winter and
hatched in spring, as in the Atlantic species.
In its native rivers the Salmo quinnat usually
hatches out in October, after a period of
incubation of about 60 days, at a temperature
of 48 deg. to 50 deg.; the time of hatching
being extended or shortened by a lower or
higher temperature of the stream in which
the ova are placed. It is an ascertained fact
that, in ascending the rivers for the purpose of
depositing their spawn, the fish have to pass
through waters at a temperature of 76 to 80
deg., and as few of the Victorian rivers attain
to a higher temperature than this, there is
a very strong probability that they will prove
admirably suited to this fish. The average
size of the Californian salmon when full
grown is about 20 lbs., but specimens have
been caught of 40 to 60, and even 100 lbs.’
weight. It is a handsome fish, having a
silvery lustre even at a very young stage,
which the Salmo salar does not attain,
until it becomes a smolt. It has not the
elegant contour of the English salmon, and
the grain of the flesh is somewhat coarser,
but it is nearly, if not quite, equal to it in

42 Salmon at the Antipodes.

quality and flavour when in prime condition,
and the flesh is firm, sweet, rich, juicy, and
high coloured. It also gives good sport with
the artificial fly, but the most killing bait in
fresh water is the salmon roe. In its native
waters on the Sacramento river, a little snow
falls occasionally near the sources, but the
climate is mild and warm in summer, and
very similar to that of the seaward slopes of
the great dividing range in Gippsland, and
near Cape Otway.

The Californian salmon frequents bays and
inlets, where the water is deep, and spends
most of its time in the ocean. There are no
salmon in the rivers during the winter months,
from November to March, corresponding with
May to September in Australia.

There are three ascents of this fish up the
rivers each year. The first is in spring—cor-
responding with September and October in
Australia—when the largest fish go up to
spawn. This takes place at the head waters
of the streams, in the months corresponding
with January and February. The adult fish
all die after spawning, so far as has yet been
observed. There is a second ascent of fish

The Californian Salmon. 43

o

in the season corresponding with February in
Australia, but the fish are of inferior quality.
The third run is of smaller fish, in the
corresponding month with April, being pro-
bably the grilse going up to spawn for the
first time.

In a work entitled “The Naturalist in
British Columbia,’’ by John K. Lord, some
interesting facts are given about the Salmo
quinnat in the tributaries of the Columbia
river. He states that in the Fraser river, “in
June and July, salmon ascend this stream in
incredible numbers, filing off, as they work up-
current, into every rivulet, filling even pools
left on the prairies and flats by the receding
floods. About a mile from my camp was a
large patch of pebbly ground, dry even at the
highest floods, through which a shallow stream
found its way into the large river. Though
barely of sufficient depth to cover an ordinary-
sized salmon, yet I have seen that stream so
filled, that fish pushed one another out of the
water high and dry upon the pebbles. Each
with its head up-stream, struggled, fought,
and scuffled for precedence. With one’s
hands only, or, more easily, by employing a

44 Salmon at the Antipodes.

gaff or a crook stick, tons of salmon could
have been procured by the simple process of
hooking them out. ... At the end of this
pebble stream was a waterfall, beyond which
no fish could by any possibility pass. Having
arrived at this barrier to all further progress,
there they obstinately remained, and weeks
were spent in watching them; but I never, in
a single instance, saw one turn back and en-
deavour to seek a more congenial watercourse,
but, crowded from behind by fresh arrivals,
they died by the score, and, drifting slowly
along, in time reached the larger stream. . . .
The Indians say all the salmon that come up
to spawn die. . . . Why there should be this
inarvellous waste of salmon in the rivers of
the north-west I am somewhat puzzled to
imagine.” This writer states that the salmon
die where they have only to ascend 200 miles
in one river, while they ascend over 1000 miles
in another with the same result, and gives his
opinion that the fish die ‘“‘ from sheer starva-
tion,” as the salmon ‘never feed after leaving
salt water.” He also states that, in the
Fraser, he tried in every way to coax them to
take the fly, but was in no instance successful,

The Californian Salmon. 45

and no salmon he had seen caught in fresh
water had any trace of food in its stomach or
intestinal canal. In salt and brackish water,
however, they take the bait freely. The river
becomes quite offensive from the quantity of
dead fish floating down the stream. An in-
creasing population will, no doubt, remedy this
evil before long by reducing the numbers of
this wonderfully prolific fish within bounds,
and restoring the balance which has been
upset by its vigorous vitality.

Enormous quantities of the Salmo quinnat
are tinned, and also preserved in casks with
brine. It is stated that, in 1875, 16,000,000 lbs.
of tinned salmon were prepared for exporta-
tion, on the Pacific coast of the United States,
besides a large quantity cured otherwise. If
sold at the rate of eightpence per lb. this
would amount to over £533,000, as the annual
produce of only one branch of the preserving
industry.

The fact here stated, that the Californian
salmon is nearly, if not quite, equal in quality,
for the table, to the English variety, is con-
trary to several statements that have been
made to me. In fact, one gentleman went so

46 Salmon at the Antipodes.

far as to say that he was sorry that the
Californian fish had been introduced at all, as
it was so much inferior, for sport and for the
table, to the English salmon. I have made
careful inquiries on this point, and the result
has been quite satisfactory. Three different
gentlemen from Victoria who had good oppor-
tunities of comparing the two, gave it as their
opinion that the Californian salmon was quite
equal in flavour to the English species.

Tt has also been maintained by several good
authorities that the former will not rise to the
fly, but the information furnished by Dr.
Hector, from the reports of the United States
Fisheries Commission, from which I have ob-
tained some of the facts mentioned, expressly
states that the Californian salmon gives good
sport with the artificial fly. I can at any
time, at my salmon ponds, show any one
curious in the matter how readily they will
rise to flies which are put on the surface of
the water. It is probable that an abundance
of other food will prevent both salmon and
trout from rising readily to the fly, and until
the rivers are well-stocked with fish, fly-
fishing. may not prove very successful; but,

The Californian Salmon. 47

whatever the variety of salmon, it is likely
that the habits and even the flavour of the
fish will soon come to be what the climate,
food, and other circumstances will make them.
It is a known fact that, in some of the Scottish
rivers, certain tributaries produce much finer
trout than others; the difference being so
marked that an experienced fisherman will,
at a glance, tell the stream in which the fish
has been caught.

After this work was in type, I found in the
January number of the proceedings of the
Société d’Acclimatation for the year 1878, a
short paper by M. Raveret-Wattel on the Cali-
fornian salmon, which gives some valuable in-
formation, a portion of which I have translated
for insertion here. M. Raveret-Wattel states
that :—

‘‘ Besides having well-marked specific cha-
racters, the Californian salmon is distinguished
from the Atlantic species by some differences
in its habits, but above all by a special apti-
tude for living in a much warmer climate.
We know indeed that the Salmo salar—of
which the abundance in the North gradually
diminishes as we go South, beginning say

48 Salmon at the Antipodes.

from 55 deg. of latitude—descends but little
beyond 42 deg.; which explains its absence
from the waters of the Mediterranean—the
Straits of Gibraltar being about the 36th
parallel—and also in America from the streams
falling into the Gulf of Mexico.

“The Salmo quinnat, on the contrary, is
abundant about 35 deg. of latitude, and is
found beyond 30 deg., which gives good
reason to think that it may be acclimatized in
the valley of the Mississippi. . .

“The Californian salmon will bear very
great heat without inconvenience. In July and
August it is seen in great shoals on the San
Joaquin, which river it ascends to a distance
of about 100 miles through the warmest valley
in California, where the temperature of the
air, rarely below 75 deg. at noon, is often up
to 104 deg. As to the water of the river, it
reaches sometimes 82 deg. at the surface, and
80 deg. near the bottom. No other species of
migratory salmon lives in latitudes so far
South as this one. Mr. Redding, of the
Californian Fish Commission, states that in
July and August, when salmon are most abun-
dant, the mean temperature of the San

The Californian Salmon. 49

Joaquin river is 79:7 deg. During the same
period the mean temperature of the Sacra-
mento, calculated over ten years, is 73°4 deg.

“A point equally important is that this
species does not suffer although the water
may be somewhat impure; it ascends the
Sacramento and San Joaquin at the precise
time when the waters are most affected by the
washing of minerals, and seems to feel no
inconvenience.

“The time of spawning of this salmon is
prolonged excessively, contrary to that of the
Salmo salar, and seems to last nearly six
months of the year. It is known that the
period varies according to the locality, being
earlier in proportion to the distance from the
sea, and near the source of the rivers. Thus
in the upper waters of the Sacramento the
spawning takes place in the end of June or
the beginning of July; 30 miles lower down
the stream it is observed to take place in July
and August, and the farther down the river
the later is the time of spawning. At the
junction of the McCloud river with the Sacra-
mento, or about 180 miles from the sea, it
does not take place till the end of August, or

E

50 Salmon at the Antipodes.

early in September ; lower still at Tehama,
the season is October and November. In
some of the streams which fall into the sea
north of the Sacramento, such as the Hel
river and the Russian river, the spawning
takes place in winter, or in December,
January, and February.

‘Not long since, all the tributaries of the
Sacramento were visited every year by pro-
digious numbers of salmon, which came there
to spawn. The Pitt or Upper Sacramento,
the American, the Feather, and the Little
Sacramento had magnificent spawning beds;
but since the extension of mining, the washing
of minerals has nearly destroyed the spawning
grounds of the American and Feather rivers.

“The Pitt and the Little Sacramento, with
their tributaries, have alone escaped this in-
jurious effect of the gold-workings, and keep
all their primitive wealth of fish-life. The
spawning grounds of the McCloud river, an
affluent of the Pitt, which has its source at
Mount Shasta, are of considerable extent. It
is to the banks of this river, in the midst of
Indian tribes ‘of a doubtful sympathy for the
pale faces,’ that Dr. Livingston Stone goes

The Californian Salmon. 51

every year during the month of August, to
collect the eggs of the Salmo quinnat for the
purpose of stocking other streams, and accli-
matizing this fish in other waters; the work
being under the care of the Fish Commission
of the United States. The distance from
civilization, and above all the presence of the
Indians, have so far protected this region
from the invasion of prospectors for gold.

‘The waters of the rivers constantly fed by
the melting snows are not troubled by the
washing of minerals, and are suited admirably
for the salmon which literally crowd there in
the spawning time. According to Livingston
Stone, it is not by thousands but by millions
that he can collect the eggs, and, although so
many are taken to stock other waters, it has
no appreciable effect on the number of the
fish in the river.

“The ascent of salmon in the McCloud
river commences in March, and lasts till
October, some few arriving even in November ;
but, when the rains of winter commence, the
salmon all disappear till the following spring.

‘‘In the principal branch of the Sacra-
mento, the ascent takes place at a different

52 Salmon at the Antipodes.

time. The earliest salmon commence to
ascend in November, and they increase in
numbers till March. They are then very
abundant, and continue so till the beginning
of June. During that and the following
month the numbers diminish. In August
they again increase, but diminish gradually
till November, at which period they return to
the sea; just at the time when the younger
salmon of about a year old commence their
first ascent. There is also in this river, in
considerable numbers, a large trout commonly
called the ‘ salmon trout’ of the Sacramento.

‘“‘The habits of the Californian salmon, at
the time of spawning, are in all respects
similar to those of the ordinary salmon, but
with the former the eggs are much less
abundant. In specimens of equal size there
is a difference of nearly one half in the
number of eggs; thus, while in the Salmo
salar there are generally about as many
thousands of eggs as the fish weighs in pounds,
the Salmo quinnat only produces about 500
eggs to each pound weight of the fish... .
The time of incubation is about 40 days,
and in another month the umbilical sac is

The Californian Salmon. 53

3

absorbed. The alevins are more lively and
precocious than those of the Salmo salar. Ata
year old they attain a length of 6 to 8 inches;
the second year they double in size, and at
four years they often measure 24 inches in
length. When full grown they may weigh
67 Ibs., but 22 lbs.is about the average weight
of the great part of those that are caught.
They decrease in weight during the time they
are in fresh water, and their appearance then
alters greatly. They do not seem to take any
nourishment while in fresh water. It is stated
by Mr. Vincent Cooke, of the Oregon Packing
Company, that, out of 98,000 salmon caught
in the Columbia river in 1874, three only
were found with some traces of food in their
stomachs, and these seemed to have quitted
the salt water very recently.

‘‘At the time when they leave the sea to
ascend the rivers, they scarcely differ from
the Atlantic salmon, and are beautiful fish
with silvery scales, while the two sexes differ
little in appearance. Up till the month
of June they keep in good condition, and
retain their delicious flavour, which is exactly
similar to that of the ordinary salmon. But

54 Salmon at the Antipodes.

after this time they begin to get thinner,
become less elegant in form, lose the changing
tints of their colouration, and the scales appear
larger and rougher. As to the flesh, it is
already noticeably deteriorated in quality.
The nearer the spawning time the thinner
they become; their silvery lustre gives place
to a deep olive-green colour, and the scales
become imbedded in the skin, which gets
thickened and spongy.

‘“« The two sexes are then easily distinguished.
The females have their abdomens distended
with ova; the males, on the contrary, are
thin and narrow; their heads are long, and
compressed laterally.

“They have, according to L. Stone, a some-
what ferocious look, caused by the expression
of the eyes, and the presence in the jaws of
formidable rows of enormous pointed teeth,
sometimes half an inch in length.

‘As the season advances, these characters
become more marked up to the time of spawn-
ing, when both sexes become so weak and
emaciated that many of their number die of
exhaustion.

“On account of the length of many of the

The Californian Salmon. 55

Californian rivers, the salmon have to travel
each year considerable distances in their
periodical migrations, and they must often
surmount numerous obstacles to reach their
Spawning grounds. In the McCloud river,
the source of which is 3500 feet above the
sea, they have to ascend rapids for a length
of 30 miles. In the,Snake river, the sources
of which are eastward of the Great Salt Lake,
the journey that they have to make is about
1000 miles.

‘In general, when they leave the sea to
ascend the rivers, they remain for some time
in the brackish water where the river joins the
sea. The fishermen believe that the change
destroys the numerous parasites which become
attached to their body during their sojourn in
the sea. . . . They soon, however, begin to
ascend the rivers, where they are immediately
set upon without mercy, by the whites at
first, and afterwards, higher up in the Indian
territory, by the red-skins, who during a part
of the year live entirely on this fish.

“The Salmo quinnat can be caught very
well with the fly, like the trout or the ordinary
salmon. Its own eggs make also an excellent

56 Salmon at the Antipodes.

bait. But, as salmon-fishing in California is
oftener followed as an industry than simply for
sport, it is principally by means of immense
fixed nets that they are caught, which com-
pletely stop the passage of the fish at certain
points known to be most frequented by the
salmon. This happens, for instance, near the
limit of the salt water in the Rio Vista and
Oregon river, where the quantity of fish
caught is enormous. Hxtensive works have
been erected for preserving the salmon in tins,
which are afterwards exported to Europe,
where they meet with an advantageous outlet.
In 1874, the preserving works on the Columbia
river preserved more than 22,000,000 Ibs. of
salmon, in addition to the local consumption,
which might be estimated at 11,000,000 lbs.’
weight of fresh and salt fish, which would
make 33,000,000 Ibs. of salmon, the produce
of one year from a single river, and since then
the numbers have increased.

‘“The works are on the bank of the river,
upon which are sometimes seen heaps of 1200
to 1500 fish. According to the practice in
Germany and Holland, they kill the salmon
by giving it a blow on the head, instead of

The Californian Salmon. 57

allowing it to expire when landed from the
net. After having been washed in a basin
prepared for the purpose, the fish are laid on
immense tables, where workmen with large
knives cut off the head with a single stroke.
With a second cut they open it up in all its
length, and then remove the entrails. In
some establishments the head and other offal
are not utilized, but in others they extract
from them an oil of considerable value.”’

The paper then goes on to describe the
process of preserving the salmon in tins, which
is exactly similar to meat preserving as
usually practised, and states that :— .

“In the fisheries of Oregon alone, this
industry occupies not less than 10,000
workmen, and during the last season the
exports of preserved salmon have risen to a
million sterling.

“We may ask if such destruction is not
likely soon to ruin the fisheries. Already a
remarkable diminution has taken place in the
number of the salmon, and the Fish Commis-
sion has taken steps to prevent their wholesale
destruction. Some fish-hatching establish-
ments have been instituted to re-stock the

58 Salmon at the Antipodes.

different streams with salmon fry, to take the
place of those netted for consumption. .
One of these, on a branch of the Columbia
river, has an apparatus capable of hatching at
one time 20,000,000 eggs.”

From this it will be seen that energetic
efforts are being made by the Government of
the United States to maintain in their rivers
the supply of salmon, which from too close
fishing has been diminishing for some years.

It would be interesting to know in what
rivers the salmon are found as far south as
30 deg., as stated here by M. Wattel. Should
the statement be correct, as to their reaching
so far south, the fact will have an important
bearing upon the question of the acclimatiza-
tion of the Californian salmon in rivers having
high temperatures, not only in Australia but
also in Europe, South Africa, South America,
and possibly even in India.

CHAPTER IX.

IS THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON SUITABLE TO
THE MURRAY RIVER ?

No attempt has yet been made to place any
salmon in the Murray river, but a few trout
have been liberated in one of its tributaries
by the Acclimatization Society. It is not at
all improbable that the Californian salmon
would succeed very well there, if once estab-
lished in sufficient numbers to bid defiance to
the dangers of the annual journey to the sea.
The upper waters of this river and its tribu-
taries have splendid spawning grounds, and
never-failing streams of pure and cool water,
which would be admirably adapted either for
this fish or the brown trout.

As the acclimatization of the Califor-
nian salmon in the Murray and its tributaries
would, if successful, benefit in pretty equal
proportions the three colonies of New South

60 Salmon at the Antipodes.

Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, they
might unite in the undertaking, and contri-
bute £1000 each to stock this splendid stream
with, say, a million of salmon. It may be
said that the climate is too warm for this fish,
but an examination of the map will show that
the mouth of the Murray is in latitude 353
deg., while its head waters and southern tribu-
taries are between 36 deg. and 37 deg., and
they reach altitudes of several thousand feet
above the sea. Let us now inquire where is
the home of the Salmo quinnat. The mouth of
the Sacramento is in latitude 374 deg., or two
degrees farther from the equator than the
mouth of the Murray, and the main course of
the river is from the north, running southerly,
but its waters reach a temperature of over
76 deg. in summer, which is probably as high as
that of the Murray. The San Joaquin branch
of the Sacramento reaches south nearly as far
as to the 35th parallel, or half a degree nearer
the equator than the mouth of the Murray, and
its waters reach a temperature of 80 to 84
deg. (S. Baird). Mr. B. B. Redding states,
in a report to the Hon. Spencer Baird, that
the salmon remain for weeks and months in

Ls the Murray a Salmon River ? 61

the San Joaquin river, in a climate much
warmer than that of Florida or the Mississippi ;
and they might, he thinks, be successfully in-
troduced into the Gulf of Mexico, and possibly
into the Rio Grande. Seeing that the brown
trout has adapted itself so well to tempera-
tures so much greater than any it could
ever have experienced in England, it is not
unreasonable to suppose that the Californian
salmon, which has been proved to be so hardy
in Victoria, should have sufficient adaptability
to circumstances to enable it to live and
thrive in a climate and temperature so nearly
similar to that of its native rivers.

A new danger to which the salmon would
be liable in the Murray is the risk of being
devoured by the voracious Murray cod (Oligo-
rus Macquariensis), but a swift, active, and
powerful fish, like the salmon, has little to fear
from a comparatively sluggish swimmer such
as the Murray cod, and it is even probable
that the scale may be turned the other way,
and that the salmon might be well able to
hold its ground against the native fish of the
country.

The distance from the sea to the spawning

62 Salmon at the Antipodes.

beds is certainly great, but not farther, I
believe, than the salmon go in ascending
some of the great American rivers.

In the report of Professor Spencer Baird,
the United States Commissioner of Fish and
Fisheries, for the year 1875, it is stated that,
in the tributaries of the Columbia river,
“1800 miles from its mouth, the salt-water
salmon come in myriads to spawn... .
The large king salmon or chowichee, and the
red salmon, hoikoh, are according to Mr. Dall,
taken as far up the Yukon river as Port Yukon,
1400 miles from the sea. ... From these
facts we may infer that the instinct of location
is probably sufficient to attract a colony of
fishes as far inland as the head waters of
the longest river, whenever their home has
been once established there. . . . The vigor-
ous strength and the energy exhibited by the
Californian salmon during its migrations up
the Sacramento and Columbia rivers, afford
the evidence that its capacity for a long
migration from the sea to its spawning
grounds is unsurpassed by any species of
fish known. Wherever the Californian sal-
mon, in the process of artificial propagation,

Ls the Murray a Salmon River ? 63

has come under the hands of the fish culturist,
it is acknowledged to exceed all other species
which are propagated, in hardiness, in tenacity
of life, and in freedom from tendency to
disease. It possesses a most vigorous vi-
tality, and when slaughtered at the canneries
where it is preserved, is said to ‘bleed like a
bull’ (Nordhoff).

I would strongly recommend that the
three colonies interested should take united
action, and import 600,000 or 1,000,000 of
the ova of this valuable fish, to be placed
in the head waters of the Murray and its
tributaries. Some suitable hatching ground
could be selected near Albury, in the Howqua
or Delatite, or in some stream high up in the
mountains, where cool springs could be found,
fed by melting snows, to provide admirable
hatching-rills, where the young fry could be
nursed past the dangerous stage of their ex-
istence. Should the three colonies join in the
proposed undertaking, and the experiment
prove successful, each would derive a pretty
equal share of the benefit. South Australia
would have the fishing at the mouth of the
Murray, where the salmon would be caught

64 Salmon at the Antipodes.

in the best condition, and Victoria and New
South Wales would benefit pretty equally on
each bank of the river; while the fishing in
the Murrumbidgee, on one side of the border,
would balance that in the Goulburn on the
other. Should the Darling waters become
stocked with this fish, the preponderance of
advantages would rest with New South
Wales.

If this proposal be adopted no time should
be lost, as, from the present abundance of
fish in the Sacramento river, ova can be
procured in any quantity, and the United
States Fisheries Commission are most ready
and willing to share with other nations the
immense advantages which they enjoy, in the
abundance of fish of the best kinds with which
their lakes and rivers are stocked. Should the
fish soon become scarce, which is very pro-
bable, and the Fisheries Commission be obliged
to retain all the ova procurable for increasing
the supply in their own rivers, it is possible
that great difficulty might be experienced in
obtaining a large quantity of ova for a purpose
of this kind.

But, it may be said, why not wait the result

Is the Murray a Salmon River ? 65

of the late experiment ? and if the Californian
salmon -succeeds in Victorian rivers, ova can
be obtamed to stock the Murray, Murrum-
bidgee and Goulburn. To this argument I
would reply that life is too short, the time to
wait is too long, and that even should the
Californian salmon prove as successful as we
could expect it to be, ova could not be ob-
tained easier, or at less cost, than they now
can from California. The fact of this fish
having been so very successfully introduced
is an assurance that the money it is proposed
to expend in the undertaking would not be
thrown away.

In a recent number of Nature, a valuable
scientific publication, Mr. George Francis, in
a paper dated Adelaide, May 11th, 1878,
stated that the river Murray had that season
been very low, and the water unusually
warm. The stream running into Lake Alex-
andrina was very slight, the temperature of
the water being 74 deg. The surface of the
lake on calm days rose to 76 deg., and the
bottom temperature was 73 deg. In a stiff
breeze the water stood at 72 deg. As these
temperatures are lower than those which are

F

66 Salmon at the Antipodes.

found in the waters of the Sacramento river,
in all probability the Californian salmon would
be well able to stand the heat of the waters of
the Murray. The summer of 1877-8 was
unusually dry and hot, and it is probable that
the volume of the stream of the Murray had
reached its minimum, and the temperature
of the water its maximum, when these ob-
servations were made, and that a more un-
favourable time for testing it could scarcely
be found. These facts constitute a strong
argument in favour of the undertaking, which
I would earnestly recommend to the favourable
consideration of the Governments of the three
colonies which are interested in the matter.

(. 67 )

CHAPTER X.
COLLECTING THE OVA.

TE ova of salmon, trout, and of many other
fish, when deposited in the natural gravel
beds, in nests made by the fish, which
are called redds, can be collected and carried
to a distance, to be used in stocking other
waters. This is the plan adopted at Hunin-
gue, the great French fish-rearing establish-
ment, which has now, however, changed
owners, having been included in the territory
ceded to Germany after the last war.

The ova, when received at Huningue, are
placed in artificial hatching-beds, until the
process of incubation has advanced to a certain
stage, which is found by practical experience
to be the safest time to subject the eggs to
the rather rough usage to which they are
sometimes liable, in being forwarded long
distances. When the hatching has pro-

68 Salmon at the Antipodes.

ceeded till the embryo is clearly visible in the
egg, they will bear being transported to long
distances without injury. When the ova are
about to be deposited in the natural way in
the redd, the female fish excavates a hollow
by fanning away the loose gravel with her tail
fin. It is well known that divers can lift
stones under water, in building submarine
walls for piers, docks, etc., which they could
not move on land, on account of their weight
being less in water by the weight of the bulk
of water which they displace, and this prin-
ciple enables the salmon to excavate their
redds in loose gravel, in a strong current, with
little difficulty.

The redd can be easily recognized by those
familiar with its appearance, being simply a
mound containing about a barrowful of gravel,
thrown up into a little heap, with a hollow or
furrow at the upper side, where the work was
finished. When fish are spawning, it is no
unusual thing for other fish of the same species
to lie in wait, and devour the eggs in a whole-
sale way, and many of the ova are carried
away by the current into deep water, where
they cannot be hatched out and must perish.

Collecting the Ova. 69

Many ova are never impregnated, and the
enemies and dangers to which they are
exposed are legion. The water may become
too low, and leave the eggs to perish ; floods
may tear up the gravel and cover them over
with mud; frogs, lizards, water-rats, snakes,
and numerous kinds of fish find a dish of ova
a dainty feast. When the young salmonoid is
hatched and reaches the alevin stage, it is
equally exposed to perils of similar kinds, and
at every stage from the ovum to the adult
salmon, dangers encompass it and snares
surround it. We may readily perceive the
advantages of protecting these delicate and
helpless young creatures, at least until they
are in a measure able to provide for their own
safety.

The ova of salmon and trout, when deposited
in the natural redds, can be collected by using
a hoop-net, made of fine netting. This should
be held in the current below the redd, while
the gravel in which the eggs are embedded is
turned over with a spade. The gravel falls to
the bottom immediately, but the ova, being
lighter, float a little way with the current and
get caught in the net, and can then be placed

70 Salmon at the Antipodes.

in damp moss and taken to the hatching-
boxes. It is not very safe to keep them long
in still water, although they may be retained
in this way for a short time. It is well to
renew the water occasionally, or to have it
aérated, to prevent injury to the ova.

But, as collecting the ova from the natural
spawning-beds is attended with great difficulty,
a plan has been adopted, of netting the fish
when they are ready to spawn, and by careful
manipulation obtaining the ova from the
female, and fertilizing them with the seminal
fluid, taken in the same way from the male.
A little practical experience teaches the
operator to know when a female fish is ripe
for spawning, the eggs having then left the
ovaries, and descended into the abdomen,
where they remain ready to flow out witha
slight pressure, like shot from a shot-belt.
The same operation is repeated with the male
fish, and the milt is well stirred up with the
ova, which at first are covered with a glutinous
matter, which makes them adhere to each
other. After standing for a little while, they
will separate easily, and are then ready to be
placed in the hatching apparatus. The opera-

Collecting the Ova. 71

tion of taking the eggs requires to be per-
formed with great care, so as not to injure the
fish by rough usage. They are very difficult
to hold, and if the gills be injured, or the skin
broken, it is almost certain to result in the
death of the fish.

An apparatus has been described to me,
invented, I think, by Mr. Howard, the curator
of the New Zealand hatching establishment,
which obviates to some extent the danger of
hurting the fish in taking the ova. A sort of
sloping table is used, the top of which is about
two feet six inches long and nine inches wide.
To the lower side of this a small net is tacked.
The fish is laid upon the table, which is
padded, and the net is brought over it, and
fastened by hooks so that the fish cannot
struggle much, or hurt itself. A shelf is fixed
below, to support a pan so placed as to catch
the ova, and by passing the fingers with a
gentle pressure along the belly towards the
vent, if the fish be ripe, the operation can be
successfully accomplished in a few seconds,
and the fish may then be returned to the
water without injury. Where trout are kept
in ponds, this method may be adopted success-

72 Salmon at the Antipodes.

fully, and it is highly recommended by Mr.
Howard, who has used it with success in New
Zealand.

A plan has been invented in America, by
which the ova of trout kept in artificial ponds,
can be taken without catching or handling the
fish, and thereby preventing the losses which
are unavoidable in manipulating them. The
invention is called Ainsworth’s Spawning-
Race, and it has been patented in the United
States. It consists of a wooden box about
two feet wide, and of the same depth, in which
wooden trays are set, having wire netting in
the bottom, and containing coarse gravel
to allow the ova to fall through easily. The
box is placed in the bed of the stream, where
the water enters the pond in which the trout
are kept, and the water is made to flow over
the gravel with a rapid current, having a
depth of 12 inches at the lower end, where
the water enters the race, and gradually
getting shallower towards the upper end.
Beneath the trays containing the gravel, a
revolving belt on two rollers is placed, with a
handle above water, by turning which, and by
the action of two small bevel wheels, the

Collecting the Ova. 93

rollers and belt revolve. The boxes holding
the gravel are each two feet square, and the
bottom is made of wire netting of half-inch
mesh. It is necessary that the fish should
not be able to get past the spawning-race,
or have any other gravel beds to spawn in.
The trays are filled with coarse gravel, which
the fish mistake for the natural river bed,
and the ova when deposited fall through,
and are caught on the revolving belt, which is
made of fine wire netting. A few turns of the
handle bring the ova to one end, where they
are caught in a pan, placed there for the
purpose. If the race be covered, the ova may
even be taken while the fish are spawning,
without disturbing them. I have tried this
race, but my fish did not spawn init. In the
Botanical Gardens at Ballarat the spawning-
race was more successful, however, and a
quantity of ova was obtained from some trout
kept in a small pond, and afterwards hatched
out successfully. A full description of this
spawning-race, illustrated with plates, will be
found in ‘Domesticated Trout,” a very
valuable work on fish culture, by Dr. Living-
ston Stone. Another way of obtaining ova from

74 Salmon at the Antipodes.

fish retained in artificial ponds, is by making a
race laid with suitable gravel, and after the
fish have spawned, shutting them off by a
screen and taking the ova, which may be done
by lowering the water. This is the plan
which has been very successfully adopted by
the Tasmanian Salmon Commissioners, at the
salmon ponds at New Norfolk.

In a report dated April 5, 1875, addressed
to the Hon. Spencer Baird, by Dr. Livingston
Stone, the mode of obtaining salmon eggs in
the McCloud river is described. A bridge —
was formed across the river, resting on tri-
angular wooden piers, moored with cables
and then filled with stones; in the spaces a
grating of poles was placed, one inch and a
half apart, and securely fastened ; when this
was completed, the salmon were prevented
from ascending the river, and were netted in
immense numbers and the ova obtained from
them.

The scene is thus graphically described
by Mr. Stone: “about four o’clock in the
afternoon, a few days after the passage of the
salmon was obstructed, it was announced that
they were making their first assault upon the

Collecting the Ova. 75

dam. The whole camp collected upon the
bridge to witness the attack. It was a sight
never to be forgotten. For several rods below
the bridge, the salmon formed one black,
writhing mass of life. Piled together one
above another, they charged in solid columns
against the bridge and dam, which trembled
and shook continually under their blows. Not
daunted by their repeated failures, they led
attack after attack upon the fence, one column
succeeding as another fell back. Encouraged
by their numbers, and urged on by their irre-
pressible instinct, they entirely disregarded
the observers on the bridge, and struggled at
their very best to pass the unwonted obstruc-
-tion. Finding the fence impassable, many
fell back a little, and tried to jump the bridge.
This several succeeded in doing, sometimes
violently striking the men on the bridge in
their leaps, and sometimes actually jumping
between their feet.

‘‘For an hour and a half this fierce assault
continued, when, exhausted by their efforts
and discouraged by many failures, they fell
back to a deep hole just below the rapids,
arrested for the first time, since the McCloud

76 Salmon at the Antrpodes.

formed its channel, in their progress up the
river. The Indians who were watching their
movements were wild with excitement over
the scene... .”

In this pool “they had their natural habitat
and surroundings, and the whole volume of
the McCloud river for a water supply... .
When any were wanted, it was only necessary
to extend the net around them and haul them
in. Once or twice no less than 15,000 lbs. of
salmon must have been inclosed in the net.
They formed a solid mass reaching several
yards from the shore, and filling the net two
or three feet deep. If I should say 20,000 Ibs.
I do not think it would be exaggerating. .. .
One much-disputed point about the McCloud
river salmon was settled this year by the
presence of the dam. The vexed question has
been whether the salmon ascending the
McCloud river to spawn, ever returned to the
sea... . The fact has been proved this year
that the spawning salmon do not return to the
sea. The proof is this: our dam formed an
impassable barrier to the return of the salmon
which had ascended the river to spawn. Tens
of thousands, not to say hundreds of thousands,

Collecting the Ova. es

which would perhaps be nearer the truth,
passed the line of our barricade before it was
completed. Not one of these salmon passed
that point on their return to the sea. If their
habit had been to return seaward after spawn-
ing, they would have crowded to the upper
side of the barricade, as the ascending salmon
did two months previously; but instead of
this, not one was observed to even show the
least disposition to pass it, although thousands
floated down dead, against the dam.”

Mr. Stone is convinced that the salmon have
no natural disposition to return to the sea, and
that they all die after spawning. At the end
of October, he says, ‘a live salmon can hardly
be found in the whole length of the McCloud
river anywhere.’ In the season when this
report of Mr. Stone was written (1874), the
total number of salmon eggs taken in this
river by him was 5,752,500, at acost of seven
shillings per thousand.

The collecting of salmon eggs for shipment
to Australia and New Zealand is graphic-
ally described by Frank Buckland, the cele-
brated pisciculturist, in the following letter,
which appeared in Land and Water of January
12, 1878 :-—

78 Salmon at the Antipodes.

‘“‘ Salmon-egg collecting is one of the most
difficult—and, I may say, dangerous—tasks
that fall to my lot; nevertheless I have gone
at it once more. The Government authorities
of New Zealand having expressed by tele-
gram to Sir Julius Vogel, agent-general in
London, their desire to have a further con-
signment of salmon ova sent them this spawn-
ing season, I told Sir Julius that I would do
my best for them, though it was late—very
late—this year to hope for much success.

‘“The ship chosen to take the eggs is the
Chimborazo, a big steamer, sailing from Lon-
don direct to Melbourne, the eggs to be
there transhipped to New Zealand. The
Chimborazo is to leave the port of London
on January 21. I pass over for the present
the various arrangements made by my friend
Mr. Youl for packing the eggs in the ice, and
proceed to relate my adventures since last
Monday.

‘Tn the collection of salmon eggs, as in every
other matter, the great rule is to ‘take for
granted you will find nothing anywhere,’
therefore I go fully prepared for all eventuali-
ties. It is a difficult task, and requires the

Collecting the Ova. 79

forethought of many previous days to get a
‘spawning kit’ together. Here is a list of
my kit:—1. Nets. On this occasion I took
with me one long, heavy trammel, and two
smaller trammels. 2. Two landing nets, one
gigantic fellow, the other smaller. 3. Tins,
viz. one big spawning tin and two egg-carriers.
4. Box of bottles for eggs. 5. Ten wooden
boxes to pack the eggs by the river-side. 6.
Two sacks of sphagnum moss. 7. Glass
catchers to pick up the eggs, and a glass con-
tained just 1000 eggs. 8. Coil of the best
rope and string. 9. Lady’s wicker travel-
ling-basket for holding live salmon. 10.
Wading trousers and diver’s india-rubber dress.
11. Ordinary luggage.

“Thus equipped, I started on Monday last
for Newcastle—wrote all the way in the train,
of course. Arrived at Newcastle, took train
to Chollerford, where my friend, Mr. John
Ridley, chairman of North Tyne committee,
had kindly made all the arrangements for
me. The next morning, a drive of eleven
miles to Bellingham, and thence by train
to Reedsmouth. We dressed ourselves in the
station, and proceeded to find the head of

80 Salmon at the Antipodes.

the Tyne salmon-watchers, Sergeant Har-
bottle, the water bailiffs, and my man, Mr.
Edon, who had gone on before us. The
main river of the North Tyne was too
heavy for us—no net could possibly stand; so
Harbottle had judiciously made his first shot
in the river Reed, just above her junction
with North Tyne. He had marked several
pair of spawners down on this bed, and hoped
to get the lot for me. Ridley and I came up
just in time to see our assistants with very
long faces. It appears that they had, though
the water was then running rapidly, got the
net across and some fish in her. Just as they
were bringing her round she caught on a rock,
and immediately rolled ‘leads over corks.’
Just at that moment there came a heavy spate
from above. The men on the bank could not
hold the net, and she straightened herself out
beautifully, letting every fish in the net, of
course, escape. Mr. Edon, however, managed
to secure three half-spawned fish, from which
he got a few eggs. We then packed up the
wet nets and the kit on to a cart, and marched
off to a shallow in the North Tyne, about a mile
above, where we thought we might have luck.

Collecting the Ova. 81

‘During our walk there a regular winter’s
storm came on; the telegraph wires sung out
their music as if laughing at us, and away
far in the north was a great jet-black, angry-
looking cloud, showing that a heavy storm
was gathering upon the moors and great hills
that separate England from Scotland. We
had no time to lose, as we knew the rain from
this cloud would soon send North Tyne down
in a heavy spate. Turning off the highway,
we passed down a hill to the river bank, and
then the cart with the nets, etc., went across
the river, and I waded over—not very pleasant
work in a rapid, rising river, with great, roll-
ing, slippery boulders under one’s feet. How-
ever, we got to the island, and determined to
fish the stream on the other side of it. There
was great difficulty in getting the net across,
the stream was so rapid. At last Harbottle
and six men got her over, and then, beginning
some 60 yards above, the trammel was run
down-stream to her. Great was the excite-
ment when we quickly perceived, from the
bobbing of the corks, that the fish on the
spawning bed were ‘masked in the trammel.

She’s a beautiful net is my trammel, though
G

82 Salmon at the Antipodes.

some find fault with her. She’s like bird-lime
to a fish; let her once touch a fish’s fin, and
she has the rest of him pretty quickly. Down
came the trammel right on to the net below
in true orthodox style. Round with them
both on to the bank. Three fish. Instantly
I was on to them, as they kick about in the
water. First, male; second, female; third,
male. The males fine, big fish, with red coats
on them, as though they were going to a Horse
Guards’ parade, and beaks on the lower jaw
enough to frighten one. The female, alas!
had not an egg in her; all done spawning
long ago.

‘“‘ While I examined these fish the river spared
us not, and I observed that a bank of pebbles
on which I had been packing eggs was covered
with water. We were all, therefore, only too
anxious to be off, as a long stay on a desolate
island for a winter’s night, in the middle of
the North Tyne, was not a pleasant prospect.
Several of the party, therefore, got into the
cart: the more the safer, as the cart would be
heavier in the stream, and less lkely to tip
over. As I was waterproofed up to my neck,
I walked behind in the water, holding the

Collecting the Ova. 83

cart-tail with one hand, the precious egg-can
with the other. The man whipped up the
horse, and he managed to drag his heavy load
across the river, the old cart (up already over
the axles in water) rolling about like a ship
at sea as the wheels tipped up over the boulders
below.

“ At last we got ashore allright, and the cart
went back for the nets, etc., and the other
men, some of whom waded, others rode across.
Mr. Ridley had brought with him a curious-
looking basket, made by the peasants in Ger-
many, very handsomely worked in wicker.
This basket he carried on his back, like a
Parisian chiffonnier. We laughed at his basket,
but we did not laugh now, and he produced
therefrom a capital luncheon, beer, etc. As
we sat on the bank, we saw the North Tyne
gradually rising. Lap, lap, came the little
side-waves at our feet. Gradually the island
on which we had been standing became smaller
and smaller, and at last down she came with
a mighty rush; the stones which, a few
minutes before, had caused the ripples and
the rushes so dear to salmon fishers, quickly
ducked their heads under water, and where

84 Salmon at the Antipodes.

there had been a loud resounding rapid before,
now was a swift, deep stream, running like oil.
This sudden spate was caused, of course, by
our friend, the black storm, on the hills. In
this part of Northumberland spates come on
very quickly, owing to the mountains being
so steep, and the moors being so much more
drained than they were in former years. With
the spate in the river came the storm upon us
—a regular spiteful gentleman, fresh from the
caves of Alolus—iced rain, sleet, and snow.
I was cold—very cold—but I would not let it
be seen. I felt my wet suit of waterproof
gradually freezing, and becoming like a suit
of armour, especially about the arms and
throat ; so we packed up, and walked away
as fast as we could under a railway arch,
where I managed, with the help of a water
bailiff, to get off the same frozen dress; and
then for a walk—I hate walking—into Belling-
ham. As we went along, a blacker cloud
came over, and it began to snow; not in nice
heavy flakes, but little sharp spikes, the size
of peppercorns. The howling wind drove these
along like shot from a volley of infantry.

“At last we arrived at Bellingham, and on

Collecting the Ova. 85

our way home a regular heavy winter snow-
storm was on, and kept on all night. The
next morning everything, from the distant
hills down to the window-sills, had put on a
white nightcap. My friend Ridley examined,
with the telescope, from his lawn, the river
tumbling over Chollerford dam in the distance,
and at once concluded it would not be of the
least use to try, certainly not to-day—maybe
many days—as all that snow had to melt and
come down off the hills into the river in the
form of water. ‘Besides, Buckland, you’re a
fortnight or three weeks too late to get the
run of spawning salmon off the redds.’ ‘ Yes,’
IT said, ‘I know that; but when Sir Julius
and the New Zealanders say, ‘‘Go and try,”
of course I must go and try.’

‘“So I packed up, waited half a day at a
country railway station, and got that night to
Carlisle, to try what my old friends the salmon
in the Caldew had to say.”

It is at the coldest time of the year that the
spawning takes place, and the necessary work
when netting the rivers and manipulating the
fish, with the thermometer below freezing
-point—sometimes up to the armpits in water

86 Salmon at the Antipodes.

—even if in a waterproof dress, is no easy or
pleasant task, and requires an amount of
enthusiasm in the cause of acclimatization,
and energy in carrying out the undertaking,
that few men possess. To Mr. J. A. Youl,
C.M.G., and to Mr. Buckland, the colonies
owe a debt of gratitude for their exertions in
the cause. To Mr. Youl is, I believe, due the
honour of being the first to make the discovery
that the eggs of salmon and trout could be
kept alive in ice long enough to enable them
to reach the antipodes: and the first, and
many subsequent shipments of salmop ova
were collected and sent out by him, or under
his personal care and supervision. M1. Youl
did not refrain, although his fingers were
numbed with cold, worn and bleeding by con-
tact with the sharp masses of ice, until his
task was accomplished. Both he and Mr.
Buckland have been unsparing in their labours
to achieve the desired object of stocking the
waters of Australasia with the king of fish.
After years of patient observation of facts,
leading up to a final result, and notwithstand-
ing hardships endured in collecting the eggs,
or in packing boxes of ova in ice, with the

Collecting the Ova. 87

thermometer far below freezing point—labours
sustained by that enthusiasm which deadens
the sense of pain—each new attempt finds
these two brothers in unity of purpose, par
nobile fratrum, again with renewed enthusiasm
—often under very discouraging circumstances
—repeating their toilsome task.

88 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER XI.
FISH-HATCHING.

We will suppose that the ova have been
obtained, and properly impregnated; the
hatching process next claims our attention.
The eggs must not be exposed to a dry atmos-
phere, under penalty of their destruction. In
still water they will perish for want of the
necessary supply of oxygen, which all living
things require to sustain the vital principle.
In moist air, or in a current of well-aérated
water, the process of incubation will go on
favourably. Although salmon and trout eggs
are usually hatched out in a stream of water,
this object can be attained equally well in
moist air; and if kept in moss, with a slight
drip of water to keep up the supply of moisture,
and if the temperature be not too high, they
will hatch out equally well without being put
in water at all. It must be remembered, how-

fish-Hatching. 89

ever, that the moment they are hatched they
become fish, and, like most other fish out of
water, will die immediately if not restored to
their natural element. As an illustration of
this fact, when the shipment of Californian
salmon ova which I received in 1877 was
opened, it was found that some of the eggs
had hatched out some time before, and that
the fish had perished. Some had just hatched
and others were on the point of hatching, and
these were placed in a stream of water in the
hatching-boxes, and they lived and will grow,
I hope, to be 50 Ib. salmon in the Gellibrand
and Snowy rivers, where they were liberated
some time afterwards.

90 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER XII.
HATCHING FISH OVA IN MOIST AIR.

As the mode of hatching in moist air has
not been tried, as far as I can learn, at any
of the great fish-hatching establishments in
Europe or America, there may be reasons
which do not occur to me which might hinder
its success, but there are several advantages
which the plan possesses over that usually
adopted. Those who have succeeded in hatch-
ing the eggs of any of the salmonide will
know that one of the great dangers to which
the life of the embryo is exposed is from the
sediment which is deposited from the water—
however pure it may seem—which is used in
hatching. With a low temperature the time
of incubation is lengthened, and this evil is
then greater. Even filtering will not entirely
prevent it, and where a strong current is used,
no efficient filtering apparatus can be arranged

Flatching Fish Ova in Motst Arr. gI

to obviate this difficulty, which cannot arise
under the moist air system. Another advan-
tage of the latter plan is, that any injurious
substance which may get into the water acci-
dentally, and which might destroy the ova,
could not affect them in air. The simplicity
of the arrangements required for hatching in
air is another great advantage, as compared
with the elaborate apparatus required under
the ordinary system, and a low temperature
is much more easily maintained in an air-
chamber than with a stream of water.

The Californian ova above referred to were,
on their arrival, found to be packed in netting
in a box, between layers of moss, over which
a few pieces of ice were placed, and the box
had been kept in an ice-house with a uniform
temperature of 32 or 33 deg. Of these ova
94 per cent. arrived in good condition, and
over 50 per cent. hatched out successfully, the
hatching having commenced at once when
they were placed in the water, and having
gone on without interruption till all were
hatched, the incubatory process having been
almost completed in the moist air of the ice-
chamber.

92 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER XIII.
FISH-HATCHING IN A CURRENT OF WATER.

Tue natural way in which the eggs of trout
and salmon are hatched, is by the action of a
current of water flowing over them, and the
ova of the salmon, salmon trout, and sea trout,
as well as of all the other varieties of river and
lake trout, are deposited by the parent fish in
natural gravel beds in shallow parts of the
streams and rivers, where the current runs
swiftly. In cold latitudes, where the rivers
are often frozen over in winter, the shallows
having a rapid current are seldom frozen, and
the constant supply of atmospheric air neces-
sary, as well to the development of the ova as
to the existence of the fish, is kept up by the
running water, which by rippling over the
rapids gets aérated, and maintains the neces-
sary supply of oxygen, which is obtained from

i

Fish-Hatching in a Current of Water. 93

its contact with the atmosphere, and is essen-
tial to the vivification of the ova.

It probably happens sometimes that ova
which are covered with gravel may, by the
subsidence of the stream, be left above the
level of the water; and if the gravel in which
they are embedded continues sufficiently moist,
thése eggs may hatch out safely, and the
alevins may reach the water immediately after
being hatched; but this must be a very ex-
ceptional case, and I cannot imagine such a
delicate creature as a newly hatched salmon,
if buried even to the depth of an inch or two,
unless it be in very coarse gravel, being able
to find its way out.

The parent fishes, if of the migratory
species, ascend from the sea into the same
rivers in which they were reared, with almost
unerring instinct; it being a very rare thing
to find a salmon, bred in one river, ascend-
ing another river to spawn. Having found
a suitable spawning place, which is generally
sought for at or near her own place of birth,
the female fish excavates a hollow by the
motion of her tail, acting as a fan upon the
gravel, which is termed the redd. The male,

904 Salmon at the Antipodes.

meanwhile, hovers about, and makes furious
attacks upon any other male that may come
near, and severe wounds are given and re-
ceived, often leading to fatal results. When
the redd, or nest, is partly formed, the female
deposits her eggs in the hollow or trough which
she has formed, and the male fish remains
close alongside, quivering with excitement,
and sheds his milt or spermatic fluid over the
ova, which become fertilized by the process.
The female covers up the ova by fanning the
gravel over them in the direction of the cur-
rent with her tail. This process is repeated
day after day, until all the ova are deposited,
the fishes retiring into some sheltered pool to
rest after each effort. When the spawning is
over, the fish become thin, poor, and unfit for
food, and many of the males, and some females,
die of exhaustion. In fact, it is asserted, that
where salmon have to make very long and
fatiguing journeys to deposit their spawn, as
happens in some of the American rivers, that
they are never known to return to the sea.
When the period of spawning approaches, the
male salmon has a cartilaginous excrescence
on the point of his under jaw, which, like the

Fish-Flatching tn a Current of Water. 95

antlers of the deer, grows with great rapidity
at this time. This protuberance is common to
nearly all the varieties of salmon and trout,
but is developed to a much greater extent in
the salmon, and especially in the Salmo quinnat,
or Californian salmon, found on the west coast
of North America. The horny excrescence
turns upward, and is sometimes several inches
in length; in some cases a corresponding
hollow is formed in the upper jaw, the pro-
tuberance being occasionally developed to
such an extent as to prevent the fish from
feeding, and causing it to die of starvation.
In the Salmo salar it is less prominent, and
still less so in the trout, and it gets partially
absorbed after the spawning season, to re-
appear again when the next spawning time
returns.

The ova that have been deposited in the
gravel of the river bed, or those that escape
the dangers to which they are exposed from
their many natural enemies, remain for a
period ranging from 50 to 130 days, before
hatching. The period of incubation varies,
according to the temperature of the water.
It has been found that salmon or trout ova

96 Salmon at the Antipodes.

will hatch in about 50 days, in water at a tem-
perature of 50 deg.; every degree above or
below this temperature shortens or lengthens
the time of incubation by five days. They
would eventually hatch out, even if the water
of the stream were at freezing point, but if once
subjected to a temperature much below 32
deg., it is said that their vitality is destroyed.

The ova of the Salmo salar, when from a
ripe fish in the best condition, are almost
exactly a quarter of an inch in diameter.
They are nearly globular, and of a transparent
pink colour. Those of the Salmo quinnat, or
Californian salmon, are considerably larger,
and are about one-third of an inch in diameter.
They are very easily measured in this way:
take a board and place it in a sloping position,
and lay a foot rule on its side, with the gradu-
ated edge on the side next the highest part of
the board. Place a few eggs above the rule
on the board and cause them to run to-
gether, and then count the number which lie
opposite three or four inches, and find the
average number to the inch. One lot of
English salmon ova that I measured were ex-
actly four to the inch, ora quarter of an inch in

fish-Hatching in a Current of Water. 97

diameter. The eggs in another lot were nine
to two inches, or two-ninths of an inch in
diameter. The number of ova deposited by a
female trout or salmon is about 1000 to each
pound weight of the fish. Different fish vary
greatly in the proportionate number of ova to
the size or weight of the fish. Mr. Frank Buck-
land, in his valuable work on “ Fish Hatching,”
gives the result of careful calculations of the
number of eggs which different kinds of fish
are found to contain. A jack of 4} Ibs. weight
had 42,840; a perch of 3lb. 20,592; a roach of
3]b. 480,480 ; a brill of 4 Ibs. 239,775 ; a turbot
of 8 lbs. 385,200; and a cod of 20 lbs. 4,872,000.
From the enormous quantity of ova produced,
it will be seen that if anything near these
numbers were to come to maturity, both rivers
and seas would become, as Punch’s Irishman
said, ‘‘ stiff wid ’em;” and as we do not find
this redundancy of fish life, there must be an
enormous waste, or loss, of both ova and young
fish. In fact, the proportionate numbers of
ova to the size of the fish may be taken as an
indication of the risk to be run by the fish,
which an actuary might calculate from these

data. It has been estimated from close ob-
H

98 Salmon at the Antipodes.

servation, that out of 1000 salmon eggs left to
be hatched in the natural way, only one is
allowed to reach the marketable stage, when
the fish is fit for the table, as a grilse or an
adult salmon. Whena female salmon or trout
is spawning, other trout and salmon lie in wait,
and devour the ova greedily. In fact, ova are
a most killing bait, and their use is prohibited
in TEingland as being unsportsmanlike. els,
lizards, snakes, and birds devour them;
droughts and frosts may cause them to perish ;
and when the young fry is hatched, it is still
more liable to danger, as it is extremely help-
less in its alevin state. Notwithstanding all
these perils, were it not for the engines of
destruction brought against them by man, the
rivers would swarm with salmon and trout, as
has been the case in former times in Scotland,
and is still so in some of the American rivers.
If man has destroyed, however, science has
given him the means to replace, and where
only one in a thousand has come to maturity
naturally, one in five may do so with artificial
hatching, and rearing.

The most approved mode of hatching
salmon and trout, is to place the ova on fine

fish-Flatching in a Current of Water. 99

gravel in shallow boxes, and allow a brisk
current to flow over them. The dead ova
must be removed, or they soon generate a
byssus or fungoid growth, which is fatal to any
live ovum whichit touches. This fungus grows
with such rapidity that in a few hours it extends
its thread-like arms and catches any living egg
within reach, inevitably causing speedy destruc-
tion of the vital principle. Another danger in
hatching is the slimy deposit, which falls even
from the purest water, if not well filtered.
The remedy for this is a good filtering arrange-
ment, and the use of a garden watering-pot to
wash the ova with a brisk shower, when any
deposit becomes visible. The slime is injurious
in preventing the proper supply of oxygen,
required by the egg to vivify the embryo, from
reaching it, and if the deposit be allowed to
remain long on the ovum, it causes certain
death to theembryo. The temperature of the
water is another very important point, and the
coolest water is to be preferred, as fish hatched
in cold water are said to be more robust than
those hatched at higher temperatures. A good
spring, if not impregnated with any injurious
mineral substance, is the best, as the tempera-

100 Salmon at the Antipodes.

ture varies little, and the water is generally
free from sediment. Any good water will do,
however, even if muddy, provided some pure
water can be used occasionally, to enable the
attendant to see the ova, and by the very
frequent use of the watering-pot to wash off
the sediment. JI have known trout ova
hatched out very successfully by Mr. Rich-
mond, at Learmonth, in water raised by a
windmill from the lake, which was so muddy
that neither ova nor fish could be seen in it
until a few buckets of rain water were poured
into the hatching-boxes—which was done
daily to make the ova or fish visible, so that
dead eggs or fish might be removed. These
ova were within a few days of hatching, how-
ever, when placed there.

I will now describe the hatching-boxes,
which I have used with success, and which
are very convenient, and in every way suitable.
They are about 6 feet long by 18 inches
broad, and 6 inches deep. They are made
of three-quarter inch pine boards, covered
outside with zinc, and the joints soldered,
so as to be water-tight. At the end is an
overflow spout made of zinc, a foot in width,

fish-Flatching in a Current of Water. 101

which conducts the water from one box to
the other, and which, by being spread out
in a thin sheet, gets aérated by being brought
into contact with the atmospheric air. On
the bottom of these boxes two or three inches
of gravel is placed, so that the water runs an
inch in depth above the ova, which are distri-
buted over the gravel. The gravel should be
about the size of split peas; if larger, the
alevins bury themselves in it, and when they
die cannot be seen, and when decaying will
foul the water. If the gravel be smaller, when
the watering-pot is used the shower drives it
about too much, and buries the ova, and when
any die they will produce the dangerous
byssus, with the risk of injuring healthy eggs.
A shallower box than that mentioned would
suit the hatching better, as half an inch of
gravel is sufficient—the object of using the
gravel being to retain the ova in their places,
and to keep them from drifting about with the
current, too much motion being injurious to
them. When the fish are hatched, however,
more depth is required, as the young fish soon
become lively, and may jump out of the hatch-
ing-boxes, and a deep bed of gravel is useful

102 Salmon at the Antipodes.

to catch and cover particles of food, or the
shells and débris of hatched eggs.

The hatching of salmon and trout ova re-
quires constant and extreme care and attention.
Cleanliness is most important in everything
connected with both the ova and the young
fish. Pure water is also of great importance,
as a very slight thing may destroy a whole
batch of eggs. In hatching English salmon,
the lower the temperature of the water during
the period of incubation the stronger the
young fish are likely to be, and 40 to 45
deg. is said to be most suitable. But in no
part of Australia are the streams long at these
temperatures, even that of the springs rising
at 2000 feet above the sea being about 51 deg. ;
and, unless the ova can bear much higher
temperatures than the authorities on the sub-
ject seem to think possible, there is little hope
of the English salmon succeeding in the Aus-
tralian climate. The brown trout or Salmo
fario, however, which in England is found in
the same streams with the salmon, bears the
temperature of our streams admirably, and the
ova hatch out successfully at a temperature
of 55 to 60 deg. without any great loss.

fish-Flatching in a Current of Water. 103

The best place to select as a site for the
artificial hatching of these fish is undoubtedly
at a spring, where the temperature of the
water is little influenced by atmospheric
changes. The water should be free from
mineral taint, and of considerable volume, so
as to insure a good current. The ova are
generally spawned at the time when the tem-
perature of the streams is at its minimum, and
it is therefore very desirable to have the com-
mand of both spring and brook water, so that
either or both can be used if desired. When
salmon ova are sent from England to
the Southern Hemisphere, they arrive before
the end of summer, or about the 20th of
March, when the water still retains a high
temperature, being the effect of the solar rays,
and, unless a spring with a low temperature be
at command, the water may be found up to
65 deg. on a hot day, being high enough to
make any chance of success very doubtful.
Even if ice be used, the difficulty of keeping
the temperature sufficiently low, both night
and day, for a lengthened period, is found to
hinder the success of the experiment. The
Californian salmon ova arrive at a better time,

104 Salmon at the Antipodes.

or about the 20th November; and although the
summer has then set in, the water of the
streams has not yet been greatly raised in
temperature, and, the hatching-out going on
with great rapidity, the young fish have made
very considerable growth before the great
heat of summer sets in. This fish having
different habits from the Salmo salar, and
spawning about the end of summer, the young
fry are better able to resist a high temperature,
which, if injurious to the ova in hatching, is
certainly, up to a certain point, favourable to
the growth of the young salmon.

It is a well-ascertained fact, that trout in
cold streams or ponds do not grow at the
same rate as those of the same age in warmer
waters.

In hatching English fish, I should recom-
mend that water be used of as low a tempera-
ture as can be procured, whether from spring
or brook. With Californian salmon 60 deg.
is not at all dangerous to the ova, but higher
than this is probably unsafe; 55 to 57 deg.
I have found to answer well with them,
and the fry will live in water having a brisk
current up to 70 deg., or even to 75deg. But

Fish-Flatching in a Current of Water. 105

a much lower temperature in dull, sluggish
running water would be dangerous, and the
young fry have perished at once, when suddenly
placed in water at 80 deg.

My hatching apparatus was erected at a
small spring, trickling down an oozy hollow,
and rising out of the side of a volcanic hill.
To collect the water and protect it from the
sun, and from pollution by cattle, I formed a
stone drain about three feet in depth down the
channel, and collected the water in a small
dam, which was filled with loose stones and
turfed over. The water comes through the
dam in a galvanized-iron pipe, and is not ex-
posed to the sun or to the open air until it
reaches the hatching-boxes. It is perfectly
pure and free from sediment. The tempera-
ture when I first tested it was constant for
some months at 53 deg., which was very
suitable for fish-hatching. From some un-
known cause, which, as the spring rises
from the side of an extinct crater, is probably
due to volcanic action, it has risen to
62 deg. in summer, or 60 deg. in winter, but
the heat is now lessening. The supply is only
five pints per minute in summer.

106 Salmon at the Antipodes.

In the stream which runs close by, and
which is supplied by numerous springs, a con-
stant current runs at all times, and I have
by dams, one above another, retained in its
channel, the flood waters which would other-
wise run to waste, so as to keep up the supply
in the dry season. The channel of the brook is
a rocky glen or gorge, and in some places the
stream runs underneath large rocks and into
cavernous recesses, which lowers the tempera-
ture of the water, even in very hot weather,
most remarkably. I have found the water at
the surface of the dam 79 deg., and flowing
over the sluice gate at this temperature, but it
was reduced in a distance of 200 yards, lower
down the glen, at the hatching-boxes, to 57
deg. The bottom temperature of the dam
also, during all the early part of the summer,
keeps very low, being 55 deg. at five feet
beneath the surface, while the stream from
springs running into the dam was 80 deg., and
the surface stratum of water in it of the same
temperature. On making the discovery that
there was this difference of 25 deg. between
the top and bottom temperature, I arranged
to draw off the water from the bottom of

fish-Flatching in a Current of Water. 107

the dam, instead of allowing it to overflow at
the sluice-gate, and thus, by maintaining a
lower temperature in the hatching-boxes, con-
tributed greatly to the success of my under-
taking.

The water of this stream is dammed up by
a little stone and cement work under a rock,
and carried by a two-inch galvanized-iron
pipe, which is covered with a hay-rope wound
round it to protect it from the sun and to
keep down the temperature. The hatching-
boxes are seven in number; and in addition
to them I had a stone and cement race con-
structed on the ground, divided down the
centre, and so arranged that the water would
circulate with a gentle current through all
the boxes, up one side of the race and down
the other. There are little miniature water-
falls from one box to another, to aérate the
water, which finally flows through four small
ponds fitted with gratings to retain the young
fish, when they are sufficiently advanced to
require this precaution, and covered with
netting to keep off shags and cormorants.
The water of the brook being muddy, I had
a very elaborate filterimg arrangement erected,

108 Salmon at the Antipodes.

which, however, was of little service, as it
filtered but a small quantity of water, and I
found it better, as the hatching was going on
rapidly, to dispense with filtermg and make
use of a larger stream. The hatching-boxes
are at different levels, beginning at four feet
above the ground, and going down to two
feet, a fall being required from one to the
other. Hach box is set perfectly level, and
the current is regulated by the depth of
gravel.

Many experiments as to the best mode of
fish-hatching have been tried, and a very
efficient apparatus has been invented by the
late M. Coste, the great French pisciculturist,
consisting of a zinc or iron japanned trough,
having movable frames fitted with glass rods,
between which the ova lie suspended, allow-
ing any sediment or particles of hatched eggs
to fall through, so that they may be cleaned
out without disturbing the eggs. This hatch-
ing-box obviates the difficulty that has been
experienced, of a fungoid growth which is
apt to form on wooden hatching-boxes, but it
is more suited for an amateur to hatch out a
few ova, than for hatching large numbers.

Fish-Hatching in a Current of Water. 109

An American discovery, of the advantages
to be obtained by the use of charred wood for
hatching-boxes, has solved the problem most
satisfactorily, it having been found, after a
long and severe test, that no fungus appeared
on the carbonaceous surface. In one of the
hatching-boxes, by way of experiment, I
placed a bottom of ribbed glass, but found,
after trying this and also a charcoal bed, that
nothing suited so well as fine gravel of a dark
colour. Ifthe gravel be of a light colour, the
dead eggs are less easily seen, from their
colour being also white. It is better that the
hatching-boxes should be three to four feet
above the ground, for convenience in picking
out the dead eggs, and for examination of the
fish and eggs from time to time. The stone
race being on the level of the ground neces-
sitates the kneeling posture in examining
them, which becomes very irksome and in-
convenient, as the young fish cannot be seen
so well, and dead ones may be left in the race,
thereby fouling the water, to the injury of the
live fish.

The hatching-boxes were each secured at
the ends with fine screens of perforated tin.

IIo Salmon at the Antipodes.

These must be smaller in the perforations
than the finest perforated zine that I could
obtain, which I found would let young fish
go through. I first tried woven screens of
copper wire, but finding the deaths amongst
the ova to increase rapidly, I suspected that
something was wrong, and had tin ones
inserted instead. I found that I had un-
wittingly, by the combination of zinc and
copper, constructed a galvanic battery, which,
no doubt, was destroying the ova. I found
that M. Coste had on one occasion made the
same mistake, which he described in a paper
sent to the Société Imperiale d Acclimatation,
and which suggested this as the possible
cause of the loss which had occurred. The
boxes should also be divided by a screen into
two parts, to prevent the young fish from
crowding to the end where the water enters,
which they are eager to do.

The boxes must be kept carefully covered,
so that not a crevice may be left where a bird,
mouse, snake, or lizard could enter, as they
would make short work of either ova or alevins
if once they gained access to them. A portion
of the cover should be of perforated zinc, to

Lish-Flatching tn a Current of Water. 111

admit light, which, although not needed during
the process of hatching, is essential to the
health of the young fish when hatched.

The boxes being all in their places, and the
water running well from one to the other
throughout, and the screens fitted in their
slides, the gravel may be put in them. It
should be well washed, and, if river gravel,
it should be boiled, so as to kill any eggs of
water insects that it may contain. It must
first be carefully screened to the right size,
one screen taking out the larger gravel, and
another the sand and fine gravel. When it
is ready, it must be spread smoothly and
evenly over the bottom, to such a depth as
will leave from half an inch to an inch of
water over it, according to the supply. The
current should be brisk, but not strong
enough to carry away the eggs, as rest is
essential to the development of the embryo.
When the gravel has been put in the boxes,
they are then ready to receive the ova. If
these have been packed in snow or ice, they
should not be at once placed in water that
may be much warmer, but the water should
be brought down to, say, 40 deg. by the use of

112 Salmon at the Antipodes.

ice, or some other means of preventing the
injurious effects of the shock caused by a
sudden change of temperature. Then the ova
may be distributed equally in the boxes, and
a small stream of water turned on, to bring up
the temperature by degrees to that of the
water in which they are to be hatched. It is
very dangerous to expose the ova to dry air of
a high temperature, and they should be placed
in the hatching-boxes, moss and all, as the
moss can be easily picked out afterwards.
Care must be taken not to keep them for any
great length of time in still water, as it is likely
to kill the embryo, and where water is abun-
dant, a good current should be maintained. A
stream of 15 or 20 pints per minute would
serve to hatch 50,000 ova, with an occasional
shower from the watering-pot ; and the water
should be made to fall some distance, or be
forced through a small aperture under pres-
sure, to aérate it thoroughly. With a stream
of four or five pints per minute, 1000 ova may
be hatched, or even two or three times that
number. But much depends on constant
care and attention to minute details, which
readily suggest themselves to the attendant.

Fish-Flatching in a Current of Water. 113

The moss, and any foreign substance, having
been removed, the attendant should use a
pair of pincers made of wire about the size of
knitting-needles, with the ends turned in a
circle with the opening about the size to
hold an egg, to pick out dead eggs. The
ova should be distributed evenly over the
gravel by using a feather from a goose or
turkey’s wing. A little practice will enable
this to be done without touching the eggs,
simply by causing a current over them, as,
being but little heavier than water, they are
easily moved about in it. One thousand eggs
can be hatched to the square foot of space in
the hatching-boxes, but double this space is
better, and after the fish are hatched, much
more room and an increased current of water
are required to do them justice.

In a new fish-hatching institution lately
established by Livingston Stone, a mode
of hatching was adopted with success, which
greatly economizes space in the hatching-
race. The eggs were placed, 10 or 12 layers
deep, in baskets made of galvanized wire,
and the current was made to rise up through
them from below. The baskets were placed

l

I14 Salmon at the Antipodes.

across the current in the hatching-race,
and no gravel whatever was used. When
hatching was about to commence, the ova
were removed to a hatching-race, where they
had sufficient room to insure their proper
development. This plan was. adopted to
enable Mr. Stone to hatch out a large
number of eges which he had obtained, but for
which he had not been able to get proper ap-
pliances made in time to hatch in the ordinary
way. The upward current keeps the eggs
partially afloat, and a slight motion of the
baskets brings the dead eggs to the surface.
The plan is useful in bringing eggs intended
for transit to a distance to the proper stage
of development. The establishment is on a
branch of the Columbia river, in the Oregon
territory, where the fisheries had been found
to be getting less productive.

When a white speck, however small, ap-
pears in an egg, it is a sign that the embryo
within will die, and speedily the whole egg
becomes white and opaque. Dead eggs must
be removed as soon as possible, as, if this be
not done, the fatal byssus soon appears, and
if not removed, spreads from egg to egg,
destroying all it touches.

fish-Hatching in a Current of Water. 115

The healthy impregnated ovum of the
salmon is of a deep pink colour, and consists
of a horny outer shell, which is filled princi-
pally with a semi-transparent, viscous fluid, re-
sembling the albumen of a hen’s egg, in which
may be seen floating the yolk, of a pink colour,
and some oil globules of a deeper pink. On
closely examining the egg against the light
a spot is visible, resembling a light seen
through a fog, and this is the embryo of the
fish within. After a time a white line appears
dimly, curved round inside of the shell, which
is the outline of the fish; the bright spot
becomes more definite in outline, and a faint
dot appears, which is the eye of the fish.
After a few days the head and both eyes may
be seen dimly, and the egg may be seen to
roll about in the current, without apparent
cause. At this stage the ova will bear trans-
port better than at any other time, and it
is most difficult to move them with safety
during the earliest stages of the incubatory
process. The knowledge of this fact is of
great importance to those engaged in pisci-
culture.

After the eyes of the young fish are plainly

116 Salmon at the Antipodes.

visible, only a few days will elapse before
some of the ova will be hatched out. If the
egg be examined at this stage against a
strong light, by looking through it the move-
ments of the embryo can be plainly seen
inside the semi-transparent shell. At last the
interesting process of the development of a
living fish from a minute germinal spot
floating in albumen, is completed; the young
fish becomes too large for its prison, and the
shell bursts open, liberating the captive.
Where there are many ova hatching out,
the observer may be fortunate enough to
see this very interesting phenomenon take
place before his eyes. Sometimes the head
comes out first, and the shell adheres to the
sac for a time, till a last grand effort frees
the young alevin, which lies panting with the
exertion and the novelty of its position,
vigorously exercising its lungs, or, rather, the
breathing apparatus in its gills, which performs
the same office.

At first a few fish will hatch during two or
three days, and then the great bulk of them
will come, the whole being hatched in about
10 or 12 days; and some unimpregnated ova,

Fish-Flatching in a Current of Water. 117

in which no fish exist, will remain good and
sound to the last.

During the time of hatching, the watering-
pot should be freely used, and indeed all
through the time of incubation, when sediment
becomes troublesome. When the hatching is
going on, the empty shells and débris of the
eggs are by this means washed away and get
collected against the screens, when they can be
removed. The current of water should now be
increased a little, and a_ slightly higher
temperature is not objectionable. The alevin
stage of the fish is the least troublesome time
in the rearing of young trout or salmon.
They do not require any food, and are little
liable to loss at this period. A little very fine
earthy gravel should be spread over the
coarser gravel in the hatching-boxes, to cover
up and deodorize any particles of decaying
eggs which may be in the gravel. Of course,
all dead fish should be removed at once, as
decay sets in very speedily. very second
day, a sprinkling of fine volcanic earth, or
good loam, not of an adhesive nature, is very
beneficial, and it should be scattered over the
surface of the water. The shower should be

118 Salmon at the Antipodes.

used two or three times daily, and everything
should be kept scrupulously clean. The alevins
collect in clusters in corners sheltered from
the current, and lie on their sides closely packed
together, like herrings in a barrel, sometimes
taking a start and going about for a foot or
two.

The appearance of the newly hatched fish
is not the least like that of a salmon. There
appears a mass of transparent pink gum, with
a thin body attached to it about three-quarters
of an inch in length. This is the body of
the fish, and the large, shapeless head and
enormous goggle eyes are very remarkable.
The dorsal, or back fin, seems to extend the
whole way from the head to the tail. The
body and umbilical appendage seem larger
than the egg they have just emerged from.
The sac is elongated and tapers slightly, and
contains the food required by the fish during
its alevin stage. As the alevin grows, the sac
gradually diminishes, until it is quite absorbed.
At this stage the fish is perfectly formed, the
continuous back fin having divided into the
dorsal, adipose, and caudal fins, and the body
having become developed, in proportion to the

fish-FHlatching 1n a Current of Water. 119

head, into a perfectly formed and shapely
fish.

When the umbilical sac is absorbed, the
young salmon is called a parr, and already
the transverse bars may be seen on the sides
of the fish, which continue to distinguish the
parr until it reaches the smolt stage. These
bars are common to most, if not all, the
varieties of trout and salmon, which at this
early stage are very similar in appearance, and
are most difficult to distinguish from each
other. The migratory species, however, have
a larger number of bars than the non-migra-
tory.

Although the alevins do not require much,
or any, food until the umbilical sac is absorbed,
it is wise to begin to offer them some a little
before that stage is reached by the earliest
hatched amongst them; otherwise, should
they get ravenously hungry before food is
offered, some may get too weak, and perish
without being able to partake of the unaccus-
tomed food, or they may gorge themselves,
causing illness, heavy losses being the result.
The food which it is most convenient to use,
and which answers exceedingly well, is the

120 Salmon at the Antipodes.

liver of sheep or other animals, boiled and
grated on a nutmeg-grater, then rubbed into
the consistency of cream with a little water,
by the use of a table-knife on a board. In this
way the particles are made fine enough, so as
not to choke the young fish. The meat must
be perfectly fresh, and should be prepared
frequently ; and care should be taken that not
too much is given at a time, as it decays very
speedily, and will foul the water. Other food
is recommended by some, such as eggs, sour
milk, and the minute roe of sea fish; but liver
is easily obtained, and is, on the whole, more
convenient than any other food.

Earth should be used at least every second
day, a little being sprinkled all over the
hatching-box, and the fish will be found to
disperse themselves over every inch of the
box, hunting about for something they find in
it, and seeming to enjoy it greatly. It pro-
bably contains microscopic insects invisible
to the unaided human eye. Whether it be
the variety of food obtained from the earth,
or some mineral constituent in it that they
require, certain it is that the use of earth is a
most important part of their treatment. It

fish-Hatching tn a Current of Water. 121

also acts as a deodorizer and purifier of any
decaying or fecal matter which may be in the
gravel.

The shower should also be continued two
or three times daily, and two or three small
sods, with the grass on them, are useful to
supply a little vegetable diet. The food
should be given three or four times a day at
first, in very small quantities. It is stated
that a fish eats one-hundredth part of his
weight daily, and this rule may give some
indication of the quantity of food to be given.

122 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE LIBERATION OF YOUNG FISH.

Just before the alevins lose their sacs, and
while they require but little food, is a good
time to transport them, especially where the
distance to their destination is great. At this
stage they are much more easily carried than
when they grow to a considerably larger size ;
and many think that, by being early accus-
tomed to face danger, they are more likely to
come successfully through the perils they
have to encounter, than if trained to come for
their food, and partially domesticated, without
having any knowledge of the dangers that
they must encounter when liberated in the
open waters. Where salmon can be retained
in ponds until they attain the smolt stage, and
put on their silvery coat preparatory to com-
mencing their migration to the sea, and where
every care is taken of them, it would, no

The Liberation of Young Fish. 123

doubt, be more in their favour, and a larger
number would probably survive, than if they
had been earlier exposed to all the perils of
the river; but if they had to be transported to
a distance before being liberated, the risk of
loss, with fish of the size that they would
then have attained, would more than counter-
balance the loss from their early liberation.

124 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER XV.
TRANSPORT OF LIVE FISH.

Tue transport of live fish to long distances
has been a most difficult problem, until it was
discovered that the main want of the fish was
atmospheric air, or the oxygen contained in
it. It may seem strange, at first sight, that
fish should need air, when they always live
in the water, and still more so that they
cannot rise to the surface, and obtain the
needed oxygen from the air that is so easily
within their reach. It is found in practice,
however, that few river fish will live long in
a vessel of still water, unless there be a
current running into it. It is true that pond-
fish can do so, but they have the faculty of
sucking in air at the surface of the water, as
may often be seen in the glass globes in
which the golden carp are usually kept.

An interesting experiment is detailed in

The Transport of Live Fish. 125

Land and Water, in which a number of
adult specimens of salmon, perch, black bass,
etc., were conveyed from the Atlantic to the
Pacific Ocean, from New York to California.
The fish were carried in a waggon fitted up
expressly for the purpose, and belonging to
the United States Fish Commission. Round
the waggon are ranged tanks to hold the fish,
of a convenient size for moving about in
transit. Hach has a siphon of india-rubber, to
allow the water to be drawn off and renewed,
when necessary, without disturbing the fish.
A special arrangement provides for aérating
the water during the journey. On one of the
axles of the waggon is fixed a wheel, which,
by means of an endless belt, drives an air-
pump, which is worked constantly while the
train isin motion. The airis forced into an
india-rubber tube having a branch to each
tank, each branch being fitted with a stop-
cock, to regulate the supply of air. By the
aid of this ingenious arrangement, more than
150 breeding fish, of nine varieties, were
carried without serious loss across the
American continent. For the sea fish, a
supply of sea-water was sent from California

126 Salmon at the Antipodes.

to meet them, to renew the water on the
journey, and was found of great service.

In China, live fish are carried to market on
barges and boats down the rivers and canals,
in tanks into which a constant shower of
water is allowed to fall from a bamboo pierced
with holes and connected with another tank,
which is replenished from time to time. The
water, by being brought into contact with the
air, gets aérated, and so keeps the fish supplied
with oxygen, and in a healthy state. An eye-
witness was surprised to find that, after the
great care that was taken of the fish on the
journey, when they reached their destination
they were taken out of the water, and pitched
into a boat in the most careless way, to be
carried off to the market for sale.

The great secret of success in transporting
live fish safely, is to keep the water in which
they are carried at the same temperature as
that to which they have been accustomed, by
using ice if necessary; and to have the water
constantly and thoroughly aérated. For all
the varieties of salmon and trout, a low tem-
perature in transit is much safer than a com-
paratively high one. At 50 to 55 deg. the risk

The Transport of Live Fish. 129

is little, if other important matters be carefully
attended to. In the winter season, and with
small numbers, it is comparatively easy to
transport them to any reasonable distance, but
in summer the risk is enormously increased.
The plan that I adopted, with great success,
was to put the fish into cans resembling the
milk-cans used by dairymen for carrying their
milk. A perforated lid, besides the cover, was
used to prevent the fish from being carried
out with the current, when changing the
water; and the cans could be placed under
a tap or stream, if necessary, during the
journey, without the fish being able to get
away. The cover was also perforated, to give
a free supply of air. In the transit of fish, as
already stated, the most important point is
to keep up a constant supply of air in the
water. It is found that water is composed of
rounded globules, which admit of a certain
quantity of air in the interstices. Fish require
oxygen, which they respire by their gills,
which fulfil the functions of the lungs in the
mammalia. When all the air (the quantity
of which is very limited) which is contained
in a vessel of water has been deprived of its

128 Salmon at the Antipodes.

oxygen by being inhaled in passing through
the gills, the fish must become suffocated,
as certainly as would a human being, if shut
up in a close box without fresh air. Certain
fish do not suffer in this way; but active
fish, such as salmon and trout, which are ac-
customed to highly aérated water in the rapid
rivers or the seas which they frequent, perish
very quickly if confined in a small vessel of
water without a current. The remedy is to
give a supply of air at intervals, and the
simplest and most effective method of attain-
ing this object is by using a strong pair of
bellows, and an india-rubber tube about two
feet in length, to force the air to the bottom
of the fish-can.

The tube should be corked at the end, and
pierced with a number of minute holes with a
fine wire made red-hot, so as to bring the air
into contact with as large a surface of water
as possible. When fish turn on their sides,
and are perishing for want of air, a few strokes
of the bellows act upon them like magic, and
they immediately recover. In practice, I used
the bellows every 15 minutes, although less
frequently would probably have done equally

The Transport of Live Fish. 129

well; but it is better to err on the safe
side.

In the transport of fish, the danger in-
creases greatly with high temperatures. In
distributing the Californian salmon, I kept
them at the temperature at which they had
been hatched, and to which they had after-
wards been accustomed, which was 55 to 57,
and occasionally up to 60 deg., and I am
satisfied that my doing so contributed greatly
to the successful result which was attained.

Plenty of room in the cans is also very im-
portant, as fish will go safely in small numbers,
when they would perish if crowded. It is
easy to keep the temperature down to any
point that may be desired, by the use of wet
covers to the fish-cans, and by having a
supply of ice packed in sawdust, to use on
the journey.

A bucket in which to wash the ice is
necessary, also a thermometer, and a small
net to pour the water into when liberating the
fish, so as to be able to count them, and to
ascertain if any have died. The net is also of
great service, when the water is changed on

the journey. This I should not recommend
K

130 Salmon at the Antipodes.

to be done on a journey of 18 or 20 hours’
duration, if the fish have plenty of room, and
no food be given to them; but in a long
journey the water gets foul, and should then
be changed. Good water from a spring or
running creek, free from mineral taint, is the
best, or rain water if good, but changing the
water is somewhat dangerous; and the tem-
perature should be carefully attended to, so
as to prevent a too sudden shock to the fish.
A lower temperature than 50 deg. for salmon
or trout is unnecessary in transit, and if too
low it may even be dangerous, though higher
than 60 deg. should be avoided. Before
placing the fish in the fresh water, its tem-
perature should be brought as near as possible
to that from which they have been taken, or
the water brought to the desired temperature
by pouring in fresh water slowly. Fish do not
seem to suffer by being poured out with the
water from one vessel to another; and by the
use of a small net made by stretching some
mosquito netting over a hoop of wire, the fish
can be transferred from one can to another,
and their number ascertained, by only allow-
ing a few to go on the net with a little water

The Transport of Live Fish. i3i

at a time, and then allowing them to spring
off the net, into the vessel placed ready to
receive them.

Tobacco smoke is most injurious and
poisonous to salmon fry in transit, especially
if the bellows be used while the air is impreg-
nated with it. The essential oil of tobacco is
a volatile essence known as nicotine. It is
a deadly poison; and when air filled with
tobacco smoke is forced into the cans, the
nicotine is condensed and remains in the
water, causing certain death to the fish, should
the quantity of the poison be sufficient. Even
the fumes and smoke from the locomotive
may in some cases prove dangerous. I have
had losses occur where the cause could not
be traced; and it is singular that only a part
will sometimes die, and the remainder seem
unaffected. Motion of the vessel, however
violent, does not seem to hurt the fish, at any
rate after the first few miles of the journey,
and, in fact, rather tends to benefit them, by
the aération of the water caused by its splash-
ing about in the cans,

In sending off the different lots of fish to
their destinations I gave written instructions

132 Salmon at the Antipodes.

to the attendant in nearly the following
form :—

1. Keep the water thoroughly aérated by
using the bellows every 15 minutes.

2. Keep them in water of the same tem-
perature as that to which they have
been accustomed. This can be
effected by means of ice.

3. Use the water in which they have
been reared, and keep everything
clean about them.

4. Take out all dead fish at least once a
day, as they putrefy quickly and foul
the water.

5. Give them a fresh supply of the same
water if possible, or of water equally
pure, every 24 hours, and give but
little food in transit.

6. Tobacco smoke will surely kill them.

7. Turn out about 20 or 380 in one
place in shallows, and do not subject
them to a too sudden change of
temperature.

Abundance of space in the cans is of great
importance, especially for large fish. Two
thousand alevins have been carried success-

The Transport of Live Fish. 133

fully in a 10-gallon can, but 150 mullet,
about six inches long, could not be kept
alive in the same vessel, although about
30 would travel safely. Fish differ greatly
in this respect, some dying at once when
caught in a net. Perch and carp can
be carried in wet grass or in moss for hours
without injury, and in Germany are taken to
market in this way, and if not sold, brought
back to the ponds alive and well. Crayfish or
lobsters will live out of water for a very long
time, and may be taken hundreds of miles by
giving them a drink occasionally. I have
taken Murray lobsters from Echuca to Lon-
gerenong on the Wimmera river, being a
distance of about 300 miles, a great part of
the way by coach, with little loss. Flounders
can be carried in water with little risk; also
whiting, bream, and mullet; but sand-eels,
garfish, and trevale are very difficult to
transport alive.

134 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE THIRD IMPORTATION OF ENGLISH SALMON
OVA TO VICTORIA.

THE experiments made to introduce the Eng-
lish salmon to Victoria not having been very
conclusive, I was still desirous of making
another experiment on a small scale to test
the point, and learning that the s.s. Chimbo-
razo was bringing a shipment of English
salmon ova for the New Zealand Government,
I considered that it would be a good oppor-
tunity of ascertaining whether the English
salmon could be successfully hatched and
reared in Victorian waters, so I telegraphed to
Sir George Grey as follows :—‘‘ Can you spare
3000 salmon ova, ex Chimborazo, for experi-
ment here? Will pay cost.” The reply
came promptly to the following effect :—‘* You
are welcome to 8000 salmon ova from the
Chimborazo. We cannot accept payment.”

English Salmon in Australia. 135

This very generous offer on behalf of the New
Zealand Government I at once determined to
accept, although, as I had joimed with them in
half the cost of a previous shipment by the
Durham, I expected that my present request
would have been granted on the same arrange-
ment of my paying a proportionate part of
the cost of the shipment. On the arrival of
the Chimborazo, I found that the boxes con-
taining the ova were carefully packed in the
icehouse beneath the ice, and that between
two and three feet of ice still remained over
them. The total number of ova shipped was
about 50,000, and they were packed in 55
boxes. There was also a box of the ova of
the common trout. On the ice being removed
the boxes were handed up, and the lids of
some of them having been damaged, Mr.
Howard, who came over from New Zealand
to take charge of the ova on their tranship-
ment into the Alhambra, examined the eggs
by lifting up the moss covering them, and it
was at once evident that the great bulk of
those in four of the boxes so examined had
perished, as very few healthy ova could be
seen. He handed over to me three other

136 Salmon at the Antipodes.

boxes, with the remark that he did not think
they were worth taking away. I had them
placed in a larger box with ice above them,
and took them direct to the ice-works, where
I opened them in the ice-room, at a tempera-
ture of 32 deg. The boxes were differently
packed. One, with a Y on it, was packed by
Mr. J. A. Youl, and had, in addition to the moss,
a layer of charcoal at the bottom; the other
two had been packed by Mr. Frank Buckland.
I picked out the ova that appeared healthy, and
counted the whole of the ova in these two
boxes, and found that only 270 ova remained
showing any signs of vitality, out of a total of
about 1500. On the other box being opened I
was delighted to find the ova bright, trans-
parent, and of a fine pink colour. I could
only find four dead ova, and did not further
disturb the box. These ova were much larger,
approaching in this respect to the Californian
ova, and had evidently been taken at the right
time from a “ripe” fish in the best condition.
The other two boxes contained smaller-sized
ova, of a paler colour and more irregular in
form, being in many instances oval-shaped,
and wanting in the bright look of healthy ova.

English Salmon m Australia. 19g

Their appearance reminded me forcibly of my
unfortunate shipment of 100,000 eggs by the
Durham, from which only five fish were
hatched.

It may be remarked that I should not
“look a gift horse in the mouth,” but it is
only at the end of a long voyage that defects
in the mode of sending fish ova can be seen
and pointed out; and it is for the benefit of
all who are interested in pisciculture that the
actual facts should be made known, so that
errors may be discovered and avoided in
future. Whether the American pisciculturists
are more experienced, or the American salmon
ova are less delicate, there is no doubt that
the Americans have been more successful in
their shipments of ova, and that our English
friends may learn something from them as to
the modus operandi which has given such
satisfactory results. From the Californian
ova being usually on the point of hatching on
their reaching Melbourne, it is evident that
the hatching process is advanced to a certain
stage before they are shipped, which enables
them to stand the voyage better, and gives
the opportunity of rejecting before shipment

138 Salmon at the Antipodes.

any eggs which may perish or remain unim-
pregnated. It is my opinion that until this
plan be adopted, no future shipments of
English salmon ova can be sent, with any
hope of results being obtained that will be
anything like satisfactory. The voyage is
now so much shortened by the great speed of
the new line of fast steamers, that there is no
danger of the ova hatching out on the voyage,
even if the incubation be advanced to the
stage when the half of the time required has
elapsed. .

The damage done to the broken boxes did not
injure the ova; one of these boxes, also, had a
Y on it, and the ova in it were no better than
those in the others, showing that the differ-
ence was more in the ova than in the packing.

On account of the high temperature of the
waters at the time, I thought it better to leave
the boxes of ova in the icehouse for two or
three weeks—where the process of incubation
would proceed slowly—until the heat of
summer was over, when they were taken to
Ercildoune and placed in the hatching-boxes
there.

On examination of the ova, it was found

English Salmon in Australia. 139

that only about 200 looked as if likely to
hatch, these being all out of one box which
had been packed by Mr. Youl. After about a
fortnight these commenced to hatch, and
about 150 fine healthy young fish were the
result. These seemed to thrive well for a
time, but after a few days became unhealthy,
and commenced to die off without apparent
cause. Ona close examination I found that
some iron pipes had been laid to carry the
water through a dam, and these had been
coated over with tar, as is usually done to
prevent corrosion. I had this water at once
cut off, and used only the spring water, which
I had before refrained from using on account
of its high temperature. The fish continued
to die, but a few seemed to improve. They
all continued to grow rapidly. Even those
that showed evident tokens of being fatally
attacked grew larger every day. The first
symptom of the ailment was a small white
spot on the umbilical sac; after this appeared
the fish became dull and sluggish, and swam
round in a circle. The white speck increased
in size, and in about a week generally proved
fatal. A few survived, and of these some

140 Salmon at the Antipodes.

healthy specimens of the Salmo salar were
still alive, and doing well when I last heard
from Australia. They made rapid growth,
and at about six months old, were nearly
two inches in length, and very thriving and
healthy. I shall try to keep these fish in
the ponds at Ercildoune until they are of
the age to spawn, in the hope that some
fertile ova may be obtained from them.
This small number could not, at any rate, be
expected to do much in stocking a river,
taking into account all the dangers to which
they would be exposed, and the experiment of
retaining them in fresh water may give some
very interesting and valuable results.

( 141 )

CHAPTER XVII.

EXPERIMENT OF M. COSTE IN KEEPING SALMON
IN FRESH WATER.

In a note to the Société Imperiale d’ Acclima-
tation of France, dated March 4, 1859, by
M. Jules Cloquet, the statement is made that
salmon have been found to propagate their
species in artificial ponds of fresh water. The
details are of so much interest that I have
made the following translation for the benefit
of English readers :—‘‘I have the honour to
make known to the society a discovery which,
it appears to me, is destined to exercise a
marked influence upon the future progress of
pisciculture in our rivers. I refer to the
reproduction of salmon in artificial ponds
securely enclosed, in which the fish, shut up
from the time of hatching, have never been
able to migrate to the sea. This discovery has
been made at Saint Lucufa, near Saint Cloud,

142 Salmon at the Antipodes.

in one of the domains of the Emperor, where
for several years M. Coste has carried out,
under the eyes of his Majesty, some extensive
experiments. The little pond which has been
the scene of this curious phenomenon is
situated in the hollow of a shady valley, and
is only about two and a half acres in extent.
Its depth is about 20 feet at the embankment,
while the depth decreases gradually towards the
other end, the bottom being well covered with
vegetation. The water is pure and always
cold, being supplied by springs from the slopes
around, and is sufficiently abundant to form a
cascade at the poimt where it overflows the
reservoir. Three years ago this pond was
empty while some repairs were in progress,
and when the bank was closed the water soon
accumulated so as to fill the reservoir. M.
Coste placed in it some trout of a year old,
which he had placed temporarily, under the
surveillance of the Emperor, in a little pond
of about six feet square. These trout are now
four years old, and are 19 to 22 inches in
length. In April and May, 1857, several
thousands of young salmon, placed for hatch-
ing at the Collége de France, two months

Keeping Salmon in Fresh Water. 143

before, were liberated in the pond with the
trout; and these young salmon, notwithstand-
ing the enemies they had there already, have
succeeded so well, that when the pond was
netted last month by order of the Emperor,
and in the presence of their Majesties,
there were caught, in a single draught of
the net, more than 220 pounds’ weight.
These fish are now 22 months old, weigh
on the average about a quarter of a pound,
and are 10 to 12 inches in length. M.
Coste found, to his great surprise, that all
these fish were ready to spawn. The females
had their ova matured, and some of their
eggs were taken and artificially impregnated
at the time. I have seen these eggs, and the
embryo is so far developed that they will
hatch out in a short time. The possibility
of the reproduction of the salmon, in ponds
where they are closely shut in, is, then, a fact
acquired by science. It is shown here in a
manner so general that it cannot be looked
upon as an exception, and if nothing comes to
interfere with this great experiment, the result
must be yet more striking next season, when
the fish have attained to a larger size.

I44 Salmon at the Antipodes.

“From this experiment, it appears also that
the first spawning of the salmon takes place
at 18 months old, the same as that of the
trout, and that the number of eggs of the
first spawning is about 200. If these ova
are less highly coloured than those of large
fish caught in the open waters, this is probably
from the flesh of the young salmon not having
yet acquired the tint that it would have at
a greater age. This removes the last ob-
jection that has been made to the raising
of salmon in close ponds; but to succeed in
this industry, it is necessary to know how to
choose conditions favourable for carrying it
out.”

In the experiment here described, it would
have been much more satisfactory if the trout
had not been present in the pond, and,
singularly enough, no mention is made of
their having been caught in the net with the
salmon. I have tried to ascertain the final
result of this interesting experiment, but have
failed to find in the Transactions of the Society
any further reference to it. All the authorities
agree, however, that salmon detained in fresh
water beyond the time of their migration to

Keeping Salmon in Fresh Water. 145

the sea, have their development checked, and
grow but slowly, and the possibility of obtain-
ing matured ova from them before they go to
the sea is a curious scientific fact, rather than
a discovery of much practical value. It might,
however, be of some utility, where a small
number of sea-going fish were retained for the
purpose of securing a further supply of ova,
for their reproduction before being themselves
liberated.

146 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE IDENTIFICATION OF SALMON AND TROUT.

Wuen the soldiers of Cesar, in their victorious
march upon Gaul and Britain, reached the
banks of the Garonne, the saltatory motions
of a fish new to them, making his ascent from
the sea, obtained for him the specific name
that his habits so well justify to the present
day, as may be well seen in any river where
salmon abound, this fish being able to leap
10 or 12 feet high in ascending waterfalls
on the way to its spawning ground. The
Salmo salar is admittedly the king of fishes ;
but there are princes and nobles of the family,
‘which bear such a close resemblance to him,
that the identification of individuals is in some
cases a matter of great difficulty.

The genus Salmo presents such diversity of
form, caused by differences in food, climate,
circumstances, and the quality of the water

The Identification of Salmon and Trout. 147

of the streams and rivers in which the speci-
mens are found, that the ichthyologist some-
times finds the determination of the identity
of individual specimens of the genus a most
difficult problem to solve. The difficulties
are greater also from the development of the
sexual characters materially changing the
appearance of the fish at certain seasons,
the colour differing most markedly at the
breeding season, and in the males the cartil-
aginous protuberance, which is then formed
on the under jaw, completely alters their
appearance. Added to this is the ascertained
fact that many, if not all, of the species are
capable of hybridization, and the hybrids have
in some cases been found to be capable of
propagating their kind, and of again crossing
with the pure race. Hence it is not im-
probable that there are intermediate forms,
connecting—in many cases—the different
genera, and rendering identification difficult,
if not impossible. The crosses between the
salmon and the trout are of rare occurrence in
their natural state, but by artificial impregna-
tion this has often been effected. I have
failed, however, to find any record of hybrids

148 Salmon at the Antipodes.

from this cross having been proved to be
fertile.

There are certain characters which are
found to be constant in numbers of individuals,
and which are relied upon for identification of
the species. These are:—the form of the
bones of the cheek and jaws; the size, arrange-
ment, and permanence, or otherwise, of the
teeth ; the form and development of the fins ;
the size of the scales indicated by the number
of rows above and below the lateral line; the
number of the vertebre, and of the pyloric
ceca, which are sac-like appendages to the
main gut, which is short and simple.

There are other characters, which are found
to be variable, and little reliable as a means of
identifying the species, such as the number
of the fin rays; the colour, form, size, number,
and position of spots and bars, or parr-marks.
Although the parr-marks, or transverse bars,
are common to all the individual species of
the genus, it has been observed that the
migratory species have two or three more
than the non-migratory kinds. The males
attain brighter colours than the females as
the spawning season approaches, while the

The Identification of Salmon and Trout. 149

young of the different migratory species put
on a coat of silvery scales, which covers the
bluish transverse bars, before they commence
their migration to the sea.

The colour of the bottom of the water in
which the fish live, as well as that of the
water itself, influences greatly their appearance
and markings, and, like the chameleon, they
have the power, to some extent, of changing
their colour in accordance with their sur-
roundings.

The size of the fish is also a very variable
character, and cannot be relied upon as a
guide to its identification. It is well known
that the size of trout depends on the amount
and quality of their food, and the extent of
the feeding ground available.

It is stated by Giinther that the Salmo
fario, when it inhabits a small mountain pool,
with scanty food, never reaches a greater
weight than eight ounces; while in a large
lake or river, where food is abundant, it
attains to a weight of 14 or 16 lbs. It
has been found by dissection that these over-
grown fish are usually barren, and hence
such large specimens, from their well-known

150 Salmon at the Antipodes.

ferocity towards the young of their own
species, are very objectionable amongst breed-
ing fish.

The salmonoids that have been introduced
to Australian waters, including those of Tas-
mania, are the Salmo salar, Salmo trutta,
Salmo fario, Salmo ertox, and the Salmo
quinnat.

The Salmo salar has larger scales than any
of the other salmonoids, and the number of
rows above and below the lateral line is a
means of identifying this fish. Its form is
the most elegant and symmetrical of any of
the genus; and its speed and power in the
water, whether for swimming or leaping up
waterfalls, on its toilsome ascent to the spawn-
ing beds, are most remarkable. It attains to
a length of four or five feet. It has a single
longitudinal row of teeth on the vomer, or
bony plate in the roof of the mouth, which
are gradually lost at an early age, except
three or four commencing from behind and
coming towards the front of the mouth. The
dorsal fin has 14 rays, the anal 11, the pectoral
14; the vertebre number 59 to 60; the pyloric
appendages are 53 to 77. The parr has 11

The Identification of Salmon and Trout. 151

transverse bars. There are 11 or 12 rows of
scales transversely from behind the adipose
fin, or rayless back fin near the tail, forward
to the lateral line. The young of the first
and second year are called “‘ parrs;”’ after they
assume the silvery coat, in 12 to 24 months,
they are called ‘“‘ smolts,”’ in which stage the
scales are very easily removed, and come off
on their being handled. On their return from
the sea they are called ‘“ grilse.” After spawn-
ing the female is called a ‘‘kelt,” and the
male a “ kipper.”

The form of the bones of the opercular, or
valve-like plates covering the gills and forming
the cheek-bones, affords a useful guide to
identify the species, the posterior margin of
those of the salmon forming nearly a semi-
circle, which differs in form in the other
species.

The salmon trout, or Salmo trutta, is a
small variety of salmon, the flavour of which
is considered by many to equal that of the
true salmon. This fish, in different stages, is
often taken for the Salmo eriox, with which
it has been confounded by some otherwise
good authorities. The parr has nine or ten

152 Salmon at the Antipodes.

cross-bars, and it is known as the ‘ orange-
fin”? of some rivers. In its grilse state it is
called ‘whitling,”’ “‘hirling,” or ‘“ lammas-
man.’ Its flesh is of a rich pink colour in the
best specimens, and it attains a length of two
to three feet. It is supposed to be capable
of living altogether in fresh water, although a
migratory fish, and a number of them have
been detained in a pond at New Norfolk,
in Tasmania, for about 12 years. All the
original stock have died out, but a number
of breeding fish of two generations, de-
scended from them, are still retained, but
evidently degenerate and wanting in vigour;
and although they pair and deposit their
spawn regularly every year, their progeny are
delicate and difficult to rear, through having
been so long deprived of access to the sea.
The fin rays are:—dorsal, 13; anal, 11;
pectoral, 15; vertebre, 59 to 60; pyloric
appendages, 49 to 61, rarely less. In the
grilse state, the top of the dorsal and pectoral,
and the hind margin of the caudal, fins are
black. The hind margin of the gill-cover is
obtusely rounded. It has a single row of
teeth on the vomer, sometimes pointing

The Identification of Salmon and Trout. 153

alternately to the right and left, which soon
disappear, except three or four on the front
of the vomer. It has 14 to 15 scales in an
oblique line forward, from behind the adipose
fin to the lateral line. There are 24 to 30
rows of scales above, and about 22 below the
lateral line.

Of the Salmo fario, or river trout, there are
two varieties in Britain (besides the various
lake trouts, such as the Loch Leven trout—
S. Levenensis—which is celebrated for its fine
flavour; S. feroz, or large lake trout; and
several other species). Of these two varieties
of the Salmo fario, one, the Salmo fario
ausoni of Giinther, sometimes attains to a
length of over 30 inches, and weighs over
20 lbs. It is found in the southern parts
of England, in Sweden, and on the conti-
nent of Europe. It has 13 to 14 rays in
its dorsal fin, 10 to 11 in the anal, and 13 in
the pectoral; it has 57 to 58 vertebre, and
88 to 47 pyloric ceca. Its dentition is the
most perfect of any of the genus. The body
of the vomer has a double row of strong teeth,
either opposite or alternate, which do not
become lost, as in the migratory salmonoids,

154 Salmon at the Antipodes.

but remain through life. This is the case with
all the varieties of Salmo fario, whose teeth
serve as one of its main distinguishing features.
There are 26 to 30 rows of scales above and
21 below the lateral line, and 15 in an oblique
direction, from behind the adipose fin forward
to the lateral line.

The other variety is much smaller, and
inhabits the Scotch and Irish rivers, and some
of those in the northern counties of England,
both forms being found in Shropshire. The
smaller variety is called by Giinther the
Salmo fario gaimardi. It has 59 to 60
vertebre, and seldom exceeds 15 inches in
length. It is the small burn trout of the
Highland streams, rarely weighing more than
a pound to a pound and a quarter. It has not
yet been introduced into the Southern Hemi-
sphere, but the Council of the Melbourne
Acclimatization Society has taken steps to
obtain, through Mr. Frank Buckland, a ship-
ment of the ova. It is likely that this fish,
from its smaller size, would suit Australian
streams better than the larger variety ; but as,
in Britain, it is a more northerly form, it is
doubtful whether it may stand the climate so

The Identification of Salmon and Trout. 155

well in Australia, owing to the high tempera-
ture to which it would be subjected.

The ‘brown trout,” or S. fario ausonit, is
of exceedingly rapid growth, equalling in this
respect, if not excelling in its early stage, that
of the salmon, and it has the faculty of adapt-
ing itself to very different conditions. It does
well in the creeks and rivers of Victoria; it
thrives in a still pond, where there is little or
no current for many months in the summer;
and it is able to live in the brackish water of
the estuaries of the Tasmanian and New Zea-
land rivers, when it becomes so changed as to
puzzle the savants as to its identity. It then
becomes, to some extent, migratory, as it is
obliged to ascend into fresh water to spawn.
This adaptability to circumstances, and its
great size, rapid growth, and prolific nature,
besides its power of enduring high tempera-
tures, render it exceedingly valuable wherever
it has been introduced.

The Salmo fario never assumes the silvery
garb of the migratory kinds, although at the
approach of the breeding season its colours
become more brilliant and lustrous.

The Salmo eriox (L. Sys. Nat.), or S.

156 Salmon at the Antipodes.

cambricus of Giimther, is a migratory fish,
usually known as the “bull trout.” It is
similar in habits to the salmon, but its flesh is
paler in colour and inferior in quality. It
is known as a ‘ pink” or “ orange fin”’ in its
parr state. It is the ‘‘sewin”’ of Wales, the
‘grey trout’’ of some rivers, and the salmon-
peal of others. While the Salmo salar has
22 to 26 rows of scales above the lateral line,
and the Salmo trutta 24 to 26, the Salmo
ertoz has 27, and the Salmo fario 26 to 30
(Giinther). It is not quite equal in size and
in rapidity of growth to the salmon, and is
less symmetrical, and apparently not so well
formed for speed, or with such fine lines, as
that fish. It attains to a length of three
feet. The Salmo eriox has 14 rays in the
dorsal fin, 11 to 12 in the anal, 16 in the
pectoral. The ventral fin has 9 and the
caudal 19 rays; the numbers being constantly
the same in these two fins, in all the British
species enumerated. The vertebre are 59 in
number, and the pyloric appendages are 39
to 47, rarely more. The scales in the smolt
stage are very deciduous. There are 14
rows in an oblique direction, from behind

The Identification of Salmon and Trout. 157

the adipose fin forward to the lateral line,
and 20 to 22 below that line. The authorities
differ curiously about the identification of this
fish. Giinther has not been able to obtain
specimens of it from Scotland, and seems to
consider it indigenous to Wales and the South
of England. He thinks it ‘“ quite possible”
that the typical specimen figured in Yarrell’s
‘‘ British Fishes,” ‘‘ belongs to Salmo trutta ;”’
and the Salmon Commissioners of Tasmania
are of the opinion that the Salmo eriox has
not been introduced into that island.

The Salmo quinnat has a very distinctive
mark from all the other salmonoids imported
into Australia. In this fish the anal fin has
from 15 to 17 rays, while in each of the three
other imported species it has only 11 to 12.
The dorsal fin has 13 rays. The vertebre are
66 in number, and the pyloric ceca 155.

Amid the confused and doubtful distinctions
which it has been attempted to found between
the different species of the salmonida, it is
hard to find the way, which is rendered yet
more difficult by the many hybrids between
the different species. The power of adaptation
to circumstances being strong in the genus,

158 Salmon at the Antipodes.

many apparently new species have probably
been formed by accidental hybridization in the
first instance, and the new form has been fixed
by breeding to the same type over a long
period; the new race, from being exposed to
somewhat altered conditions, becoming ap-
parently a distinct species.

In a preface to the sixth volume of the
Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum,
Dr. Giinther, the great ichthyologist, remarks :
— “The salmonide and the vast literature on
this family offer so many and so great diffi-
culties to the ichthyologist, that as much
patience and time are required for the inves-
tigation of a single species, as in other fishes
for that of a whole family. The ordinary
method followed by naturalists in distinguish-
ing and determining species is here utterly
inadequate ; and I do not hesitate to assert
that no one, however experienced in the study
of other families of fishes, will be able to find
his way through this labyrinth of variations
without long preliminary study, and without
a good collection for constant comparison.
Sometimes forms are met with so peculiarly
and so constantly characterized, that no ich-

The Identification of Salmon and Trout. 159

thyologist who has seen them will deny their
specific rank; but in numerous other cases,
one is much tempted to ask whether we have
not to deal with a family which, being one of
the most recent creation—no fossil true Salmo
being known—is composed of forms not yet
specifically differentiated.’’

160 Salmon at the Antipodes.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SALMONIDA.

Tue salmon, the trout, and sea trout, in their
early stages, grow at nearly the same rate for
the first year, the sea trout being rather more
advanced. In each of the three varieties
mentioned, however, the rate of growth is
most unequal in individuals of the same age.
If 100 ova of brown trout be taken from
the same fish, and hatched out at the same
time, at 12 months old some of the young
fish will have grown to eight inches in
length, while others will not have reached
four inches. The same curious difference in
the growth of individuals has been observed
in salmon and salmon trout.

In no other animal is the difference in the
rate of growth of specimens of the same age,
and subject to the same conditions, so marked
as in the salmonide.

Growth and Development of the Salmonide. 161

When the alevins of trout or salmon leave
the shell, they are about three-quarters of an
inch in length. In about three or four weeks
the yolk-sac is absorbed, this result being hast-
ened by a higher temperature, or retarded by
a lower one. The young salmon then becomes
a parr, and soon the parr-marks can be distin-
guished; and at three months old, when about
two inches in length, these marks are clearly
developed. At six months old, the parrs have
attained to an average length of three inches,
some having reached four inches; at nine
months old, their length is four to five inches;
and at twelve months, some will have reached
seven to seven and a half inches; while the
bulk of them remain about five to five-and-a-
half inches long, and some, even then, are not
over three inches. At this stage a transforma-
tion takes place in the migratory species. The
salmon parr puts on a coat of silvery scales,
covering the parr-marks, which can still be
seen on removing the scales, which are loosely
attached, and come off easily on handling the
fish.

This change takes place immediately before

the fish begins its journey to the sea, and the
M

162 Salmon at the Antipodes.

fish is then called a ‘‘smolt.” It will then en-
deavour to leap over any obstacle that may be
in the way, in its efforts to get off to the
sea, and will even leap out on dry land and
perish, in its instinctive desire to reach the
ocean.

The smolts begin their journey at about
12 months old, or a little over that time;
but here a singular fact has been discovered.
Only one-half of the salmon parrs assume the
smolt dress, and migrate to the sea in the first
season, the remaining half staying another
year in the fresh water, and going down to
the sea at about the same time of the succeed-
ing year. It has been found that the early
migrating fish include pretty equal numbers of
both sexes. The female parrs have never been
found in fresh water with fully developed roe,
but the male parr is sexually matured, and it
is no unusual thing to see a male parr of six
inches in length waiting to impregnate the
ova which are being deposited by a salmon of
15 or 20 Ibs. in weight.

In England, the salmon smolts commence
their descent early in May, about which time
the young salmon of that year are bursting

Growth and Development of the Salmonide. 163

their shells. The parrs which remain in the
river for a second year grow very little during
that time, and do not assume the smolt
dress until near the time for migrating to the
sea in the following spring. It is believed
that the smolts which commence their journey
to the sea in May, return to the rivers to
spawn in four or five months after reaching
the sea, having attained a weight of 4 or
5 lbs.; while their brothers and sisters of
the same age remain in the river, as parrs
of two or three ounces in weight. The young
salmon, on its first return from the sea, is
called a ‘‘grilse;”’ after it has deposited its
spawn, it falls off in condition, and is then
unfit for the table, and loses greatly in weight.
It returns to the sea, and on its next ascent,
in the following season, is called a “‘ salmon,”
and will then weigh 10 or 12 Ibs. It is be-
lieved that the transformations and habits of
the Salmo trutta and Salmo ertox are similar
to those of the true salmon, but these fish do
not attain to the same size.

The Salmo salar, when detained in fresh
water, has its growth greatly checked. In
Scotland, some salmon fry, three to four inches

164 Salmon at the Antipodes.

long, were put in a pond in April, 1831, some
of which were caught in the summer of 1833,
2 to 3 lbs.inweight. The flesh was of the best
colour, but rather pale.

From experiments made by Mr. Shaw, who
was head keeper to the Duke of Buccleuch at
Drumlanrig Castle, the rate of growth of the
salmon has been clearly ascertained by mark-
ing the smolts with silver wire, or by notches
on the adipose fin, to identify them on their
return from the sea, and many disputed ques-
tions about the salmon have thus been set at
rest.

It was for a long period believed that the
parr was a distinct fish from the salmon,
although the absence of ova in any individual
instance was a strong argument against this
supposition.

Salmon increase in size every succeeding
year, and it was no uncommon thing at one
time to get salmon of 30 Ibs. weight, but few
of that size are now caught, as they are killed
long before they attain to this weight. They
have been caught 40 lbs., 50 Ibs., 60 lbs. ; and
one of the enormous weight of 83 Ibs. is
recorded.

Growth and Development of the Salmonida. 165

The Salmo fario ausonii, or large brown
trout, grows to about six inches in length in
12 months, and specimens of seven or eight
inches long may be produced in that time by
high feeding. In two years they will measure
about 14 inches, and weigh 1 lb.; in three
years, about 3 to 4 lbs.; in four years, about
4 to 5 lbs.; and in five years they will weigh
6 or 7 lbs.; and I have caught two of that
age, at Hrcildoune, which weighed 11 lbs.
each. Their growth is influenced greatly by
the space they have to roam over, and the
quantity of food which is available. Heat
stimulates their growth, and warm water will
produce larger fish than cold. A large pond
will also produce larger fish than a small
one. Fish artificially fed, and well cared for,
will grow much faster than those that have
to seek their food in the natural way. The
largest trout that there is any record of
having been caught in Victoria is one of about
153 lbs., which came out of Lake Learmonth ;
but in Tasmania brown trout of over 20 lbs.
have been taken.

Salmon and trout that are well fed will
usually spawn at about the age of 22 months ;

166 Salmon at the Antipodes.

but some trout will spawn when they are only
about a year old.

The hybridization of the different species of
salmonoids has been tried successfully, and
the hybrids are found to be fertile in every
case where they have been observed.

In a paper read before the Société d Accli-
matation of France in September, 1877, by
M. Rico, director of the establishment of pis-
ciculture of Ruisseau (Seine-et-Oise), details
are given of a remarkable experiment, in which
the eggs of the ombre-chevalier—a salmonoid
inhabiting several of the Swiss lakes, with
habits similar to that of the Salmo fario—
were fecundated with the milt of the salmon
trout. These ova were hatched in January,
1873, and the alevins had grown rapidly, being,
at the age of six months, three inches and
a half long; at 22 months, averaging seven
inches; at 34 months, 114 inches; and at 42
months, over 13 inches. The females of this
new variety produced eggs at the age of 22
months; but as the males had already shed
their milt, that of a male trout was used
to fertilize the eggs, and these were hatched
successfully; the alevins made more rapid

Growth and Development of the Salmonide. 167

growth than trout of the same age, and con-
tinued to thrive in a way that indicated a
robust constitution. This is an instance of
the ease with which even dissimilar kinds of
salmonoids can be hybridized, and the progeny
not being unfertile indicates a near relation-
ship between the two species. In these ex-
periments, what is called the “dry” system of
fertilization of the ova was practised—that is,
the ova and the seminal fluid were brought in
contact in a pan, without being immersed in
water. This system, which was first dis-
covered in Russia, has produced a larger per-
centage of fertile eggs than the old method of
fertilization in water.

On the 1st of August of the year 1878 I
examined the different small salmonoids in my
ponds at Ercildoune. The Californian salmon
had been some time previously divided into two
lots, and placed in two small ponds, the larger
sized fish in one and the smaller in another.
Both lots were regularly fed with liver in the
same way. I measured the largest and smallest
in each lot, and found in one that the largest
fish was four inches and three quarters in length,
and the smallest three inches anda half. In

168 Salmon at the Antipodes.

the other lot the largest was four inches and
a quarter long, and the smallest three inches.
These fish were then about eight months old,
but those that I retained were the largest and
best fish, or there would have been a much
greater difference in their sizes.

These fish were silvery white on the belly
and sides, and had 11 or 12 bluish parr-
marks very clearly distinguishable. The back
had three rows of very dark green round spots,
about 18 in number, and numerous small
ereenish-brown spots above the lateral line.
The pectoral, ventral, and anal fins were white
in colour; the caudal, dorsal, and adipose fins
were dusky on their outer margins.

The young Salmo salar from the ova pre-
sented by Sir George Grey and brought in the
Chimborazo when four months old were an
inch and a half in length, and showed the
parr-marks distinctly. Their growth was then
very slow from the low temperature of the
water, the spring at which they were placed
having been swamped by surface water and
the temperature reduced to 47 deg.

I carefully examined the salmonoids bred
from Tasmanian ova. They were caught in a

Growth and Development of the Salmonide. 169

net and drafted into two well-marked varieties ;
and probably one of these could be again
divided into two kinds, although, until further
developed, it is difficult to do so with
certainty.

The largest variety is a gray-coloured trout,
with no red spots, excepting one faint row
along the lateral line. These fish have made
much more rapid growth than the others of
the same age. The largest specimen measured
eight inches and a quarter, and the smallest
five inches and a quarter. The parr-marks
were slightly distinguishable only in the smaller
specimens. The pectoral, ventral, and anal
fins were yellow; the dorsal had three rows of
black spots, the caudal had a black margin,
and the adipose fin was of a pink colour on
the tip. A specimen sent to Professor McCoy
was pronounced by him to belong to Salmo
trutta. The fin rays are—

Du, 129 A, 10g Py, 13% pel, eee. 63.
There are 14 rows of scales from behind the
adipose fin forward to the lateral line, and 25
rows above the lateral line. None of these
fish had, up to the end of 1878, commenced to
put on their silvery coat.

170 Salmon at the Antipodes.

The smaller Tasmanian salmonoids measured
from three and a half to five and a half
inches. The dorsal fin had two or three rows
of bright-red spots, intermixed with a few
black ones; the adipose fin was of a deep-red
colour; the caudal fin had red tips slightly
tinged with black at the extremities; the
pectoral, ventral, and anal fins were yellow.
There were 11 to 13 parr-marks plainly dis-
tinguishable. On the sides and back were
many bright-red spots, intermixed with black
ones. ‘Two of this size, which had assumed
the silvery coat at about ten months old, were
unfortunately carried away by a flood. They
were of more elegant form than the others,
and distinct in appearance. Their length was
about five inches. The scales did not appear
to be deciduous. The parr-marks were almost
covered by the silvery scales. The dorsal and
caudal fins had a dingy margin. These two
fish had been placed in a small pond by them-
selves, that their development might be easily
observed. Some of these fish are probably
Salmo fario, and a few may prove to be
Salmo salar, as the two silvery fish which
escaped probably were. The warmth of the

Growth and Development of the Salmonide. 171

water, together with high feeding, have
caused a rapid development and growth of
these fish, especially the Salmo trutta, which
are much farther advanced than fish of the
same age in England; although the milt in
the males which were examined was not yet
developed. The Tasmanian fish above re-
ferred to were about 11 months old when
examined on the 1st of August, 1878.

It is a curious circumstance that while
Australians are endeavouring to introduce
the different varieties of the salmonide at
the antipodes, none of which existed there
naturally, this family of fishes, so valuable
to the human race, has been threatened with
extinction in the Old World by a new disease
which has attacked the salmon and trout in
some of therivers of Scotland, and in the north
of England. It is stated that the same disease
has also appeared in California. It is said to
be caused by a fungoid growth of an orange
colour, called saprolignia ferox, which attacks
the fish and eats its way to the bone, speedily
causing the death of the fish. Pollution of the
rivers from manufactories, and overstocking,
have been assigned as causes of this pest.

172 Salmon at the Antipodes.

The drainage of the country has greatly
lessened the minimum flow of the streams,
which is doubtless injurious to the fish, and
may predispose them to the disease. It is
unlikely, however, that this disease could be
carried with the salmon ova to Australia.

( 173 }

CHAPTER XX.
AQUICULTURE.

Water is one of the natural elements which,
next to the air we breathe, is of the most
importance to the human race. It makes an
easy highway for civilization to extend her
bounds to the remotest corners of the earth.
As a source of power it is invaluable; as a
fertilizing agent it is of the utmost benefit
to all kinds of animal and vegetable life; but
it is from the point of view of its value as an
element for the habitation and cultivation of
useful fishes that we would at the present
time wish to deal with it. In this aspect
it becomes mainly important as furnishing a
healthy, nourishing, and very welcome and
delicious addition to our food supply.

It is asserted, as an undoubted fact, that an
acre of water, well stocked with fish, will
produce a far larger amount of food for man

174 Salmon at the Antipodes.

than the same extent of best land, and with
a far less expenditure of labour; and it is only
in old countries, such as China, where the
population has overtaken the food supply of
the land, that the waters are cultivated as
they ought to be, and that fish becomes a
main element in the daily food of the mass
of the people. With the possibility of obtain-
ing, by scientific aids and appliances, such
valuable results from the waters of our
streams, rivers, and lakes, and even from the
seas which wash our shores, the subject of
aquiculture is deserving of our earnest atten-
tion. ‘The enormous fecundity of all kinds of
fish renders their increase and multiplication
easy; and the question of how to turn to
the best account this bounty of nature is a
study worthy of the highest intellectual
powers, and will well repay those who devote
their time and attention to it, by results of a
kind valuable to the nation.

M. Eugene Simon, who acted as French
Consul in China, gives some interesting
information as to the extent to which aqui-
culture is carried on in China, and we should
not be above taking a lesson even from the

Aguiculture. 175

‘heathen Chinee,”’ whom it is the fashion in
these days to despise.

M. Simon, in describing the manner in
which the waters of China are utilized, states
that their fertility is so great that ‘the
streams and rivers, the lakes and canals, with
which two-thirds of China is covered, literally
swarm with fish, butchers’ meat being no
more indispensable. It is impossible to form
an idea of their fecundity. It is not only in
the watercourses that the people fish, but in
the rice-fields, and in ponds which retain water
for a time after heavy rains; and if we add
that there are varieties of fish which increase
so prodigiously that they spawn twice in one
month, you would not be surprised that fish
is sold for one penny per pound, and the most
costly at fivepence or sixpence. They fish
with nets of all sizes and dimensions, with
ground-lines, with tridents, and with cor-
morants. Fish is the habitual nourishment
of about 350 millions of inhabitants, and
remains always abundant.”

Many of the curious and valuable fish found
in China would, no doubt, be worthy of intro-
duction elsewhere. In a recent number of

176 Salmon at the Antipodes.

Nature, reference is made to ‘‘M. Dabry de
Thiersant, a French chargé d'affaires, who has
been instrumental in introducing a number of
Chinese plants and animals into his native
country, and has made arrangements for the
importation in quantities of the sitz, one of
the most valued fish found in Chinese waters.
The fish belongs to the carp family, and when
fed on aquatic plants in ponds attains with
great rapidity a weight of about 40 lbs. During
the past three years, experiments which were
made on the fish in the Jardin d’Acclima-
tation have shown it to be well adapted to
a European climate; and, as it increases
rapidly, it is to be hoped that within a
few years it can be introduced extensively
throughout Europe.” Let us hope that
Australia also may soon obtain this valuable
fish. We have at command there, however,
many useful varieties, which, by a little care
and attention, might be multiplied immensely,
such as the carp, tench, perch, and trout.

Of desirable fish to introduce and acclima-
tize in Australian waters the gourami is one
of the best, and is said to be most excellent
for the table. Some specimens were taken

A qguiculture. 177

out there some years ago, by Mr. Joshua, from
Mauritius, and arrived in a healthy state;
but from some cause unknown, probably the
coldness of the water, they all perished the
first night after being landed. This fish
requires a warm climate, and would probably
succeed in the lagoons of the northern parts
of Victoria, and in Riverina.

The Coregonus albus, or whitefish of the
North American lakes, is a fish of great value
for the table. It is called the gizzard fish of
Canada. It rarely exceeds a foot and a half
in length, and a weight of 5 lbs. From
its small mouth, it is not dangerous to other
fish, its food being insects, larve, etc. It
is well worthy of introduction, and would
succeed best in the colder districts of the
colony.

There is an Egyptian fish called the binny,
which is most highly esteemed in that country.
It is found in the Upper and Lower Nile, where
it is very abundant. It is celebrated for the
excellence of its flesh, and a proverbial saying
attributed to the fish is—“If you know a
better than I, do not eat me.” There are

fishermen at Syout and Kené, who have no
N

178 Salmon at the Antipodes.

other occupation than fishing for the binny.
M. Geoffroi St. Hilaire has identified this fish
with the famous Lepidotus of the ancients,
which, according to Strabo, was the only fish
which, together with the Oxyrhyncus, was
worshipped as sacred all over Egypt. ‘The
binny grows to about 20 inches long, but
specimens of three feet in length are not
uncommon. It is remarkable for the silvery
lustre of its scaly coat, which distinguishes it
from all the other fish of the Nile. It is one
of the cyprinoids, allied to the barbel, and
would be a most valuable acquisition in
Australia.

In the great Australian salt lakes a vast
field is open for a grand experiment in the
introduction of the most valuable kinds of sea
fish. This idea occurred to me more than
three years since, and I determined, should
the experiment seem likely to prove success-
ful, to make the attempt to introduce sea fish
into Lake Corangamite, which is the largest
lake in the colony of Victoria, having an area
of about 50,000 acres. I proposed the matter
to Mr. J. H. Connor, who formerly represented
that district in the Legislative Assembly, and

Aquiculture. 179

who had gone to much trouble in conveying
various kinds of fresh-water fish to stock the
streams and lagoons near Colac; and I offered
to pay the cost of an experiment with the
desired object in view. He very heartily
entered into my scheme, and, as a prepara-
tory measure, obtained from the Government
analytical chemist, Mr. Johnson, an analysis of
the water of Lake Corangamite. Samples were
taken at three different places, which, however,
did not vary much from each other. The water
contained some earthy impurities which were
not taken into account, and the following
soluble salts. One imperial gallon yields :—

Grains.

Chloride of sodium (common salt) ... 1280
Sulphate of sodium... ae ‘isa 43
Carbonate of sodium bss see re 35
Total ... oa a 1358

Mr. Johnston states that, in his opinion,
“this water can be safely trusted not to injure
a great variety of fish, the foreign substances
present being of the most innocent nature.”

This analysis being encouraging, Mr.
Connor started with a lot of various kinds
of sea fish from Geelong, a proportion of

180 Salmon at the Antipodes.

which reached Corangamite alive, and seemed
to enjoy being liberated in their new home.
I then placed a further sum at Mr. Connor’s
disposal, to enable him to place a larger
number and a greater variety of fish in the
lake. Six different trips were made; and
although many died on the way, a large
number of fish of a size that indicated the
prospect of their soon spawning, were placed
in the lake. Mr. Connor wrote to say that he
wished to bear the cost of the first trip ; but,
as he had given his personal care to the
experiment all through in the most generous
way, I did not think that he should bear any
part of the actual outlay. The first lot was
placed in the lake on the 3rd of June, 1876,
and the last lot on the 25th of June, 1878.
The result of this most interesting experiment
is not yet known, as, in a lake twenty miles in
length, a few fish are not easily found again.
There is abundance of food, however, in its
waters, including a small shrimp and a kind
of whitebait (Galaxias attenuatus), which is
found in myriads coming up to spawn in its
tributaries; and as the water of the lake has
been proved by chemical analysis to differ

Aquiculture. 181

little from sea water, and to contain nothing
deleterious to fish life, it is highly probable
that the attempt will be successful. The fish
included in the experiment, and liberated
alive, have been the following :—

Name of Fish. ae
Whiting—Sillago punctata ... as cat 9
Flounder—Pleuronectes Victorie 5 47
Mallet—Dajaus Diemensis ... 236 «x. 108
Bream—Caranz Georgianus ... sa 12
Crayfish—Astacus ... ok es 8
Trevale—Neptonemus Beanale ss sits
Roughy— Arripis Georgianus aes ae 1
Salmon trout—Arripis truttaceus ask Be
Flathead—Platycephalus Richardsoni se 20
Guret—Trigla polyommata ... ee 4,
Oyster—Ostrea a sii ay w 884

Some trevale and sand-eels died on the way,
being very difficult to carry. J accompanied
the fish, and saw them liberated on the last
occasion ; and, with a few exceptions, they
soon recovered from the effects of the journey.
The oysters were of several varieties. About
350 live fish were placed in the lake out of
about 1000, being a loss of two-thirds on the
journey. This loss was mainly caused by
putting too many in some of the cans, and
from the want of the bellows in the earlier ex-

182 Salmon at the Antipodes.

periments, to aérate the water. Some of the
kinds experimented upon could not be taken
there alive. On the last occasion I watched
with particular attention one trevale, which
had a can to itself, but which, with every
possible care, died before reaching Coranga-
mite. Oysters can, of course, be carried to
any distance in safety. Those deposited in
the lake were placed in a most favourable spot,
on both sides of a ruined stone wall running
about half a mile into the water, where the
loose stones will afford good holding ground
for the spat, should the oysters live and
deposit their spawn there. A portion of them
were also put in some rocky ground on the
west side of the lake. The numbers of fish
given are those that were placed alive in the
lake out of three lots, details of some of the
other trips not being obtainable. A few carp,
perch, trout, and Californian salmon I have
also placed in some of its tributaries, which
may, at some future time, become of value,
and it will be most interesting to watch the
result.

It is stated by residents in the neighbour-
hood, that the waters of Lake Corangamite

Aguiculture. 183

have been gradually rising for the last ten
years. This is, no doubt, owing to the exten-
sive works by which many swamps and marshy
places have been freed from surplus water and
drained, so as to become better fitted for
pasturage. This increase in the quantity of
water in the lake, should it continue, will
inevitably cause its waters to overflow into its
natural outlet in the Barwon river. Hitherto
the evaporation over its large surface has
balanced the drainage flowing into it, so that
no overflow has occurred; but should its waters
rise so as to overflow every season, the amount
of salt carried away would necessarily cause
the water of the lake to become fresher every
year, and it would be interesting to know
whether the sea fish introduced there could
adapt themselves to the gradual change from
salt to fresh water, which would then take
place.

The oyster-fisheries of Victoria, that were
once productive, have now failed almost en-
tirely, and that colony is dependent upon other
places for supplies of that delicious bivalve.
Why should not scientific culture restore the
productiveness of the old oyster-beds, and with

184 Salmon at the Antipodes.

the knowledge so easily attainable, and by the
aid of tiles and fascines, establish fresh beds
on suitable parts of the bays and indentations
of the coast-line ?

The more careful protection of small and
immature fish, and a close time, rigorously
enforced, to protect migratory fish during the
spawning season, would save valuable kinds,
such as the delicious fresh-water herring, or
grayling (Prototroctes maraena, Giinther), now
threatened with extinction, and would allow
of the natural increase, which is now prevented
to a great extent by a wasteful system of lull-
ing small fish, and of netting breeding fish on
the way to their spawning grounds.

An attempt made in 1877 to introduce
the Californian salmon into France proved un-
successful. Two hundred thousand ova were
sent from America, but on their arrival they
were found to have perished. Another ex-
periment made in 1878 also failed, but it is to
be hoped that a renewed effort will be made
to acclimatize this valuable fish in the rivers
of France.

The waters of the Mediterranean have no
salmon in them, and probably the Salmo salar

Aquiculture. 185

would not live in the high temperatures of
that sea, but it is extremely probable that the
Californian salmon would be well suited to
the European rivers which debouch into its
waters. During the last season 300,000 eggs of
this fish were imported by the German Fis-
cherei-Verein, and on their arrival 25,000 of
them were found to be in good condition. A
portion of the fish hatched from these ova
were put into the tributaries of the Danube,
and the remainder into those of the Rhine.
There are many rivers and streams falling into
the Mediterranean, in France, Italy, Austria,
Spain, and Portugal, which might be found
well suited to the Californian salmon, and the
attempt to introduce this valuable fish would
be well worthy of the attention of the Govern-
ments of the countries interested. The Rhone
and its tributaries should be especially well
suited for this experiment ; also the Po and
Adige in Italy, the Ebro and Guadalquiver
in Spain, and the Tagus and Guadiana in
Portugal, besides many other minor streams of
little note, but from which valuable results
might be obtained.

In the United States of America the subject

186 Salmon at the Antipodes.

has been warmly taken up by an enlightened
Government, and enormous numbers of fish
have been hatched artificially and afterwards
liberated, greatly increasing thereby the
annual results of the fisheries, which had been
gradually diminishing, and which tended
towards the extinction of the most valuable
kinds. The matter is necessarily the business
of the Government, as no individual can be
expected to breed fish on a large scale, and to
liberate. them in open waters, where he cannot
hope to reap the benefit resulting from his
labours.

In Canada and Nova Scotia, establishments
for the restocking of the waters by the arti-
ficial incubation of fish have been in operation
for some time.

In a letter received from Sir Robert Officer,
chairman of the Tasmanian Salmon Com-
missioners, very encouraging accounts are
given of the success of the salmonide intro-
duced into that colony. He says :—‘I have
just had the pleasure of receiving your note, in
which you ask for a further supply of ova, and
in reply I beg to assure you that everything in
our power will be done to meet your wishes.

Aguiculture. 187

We have this season the prospect of a very
large produce of ova and young fish, both in
the ponds, and in the Plenty river adjoining,
as well as in the other tributaries of the Der-
went. The rills connected with the ponds,
and the bed of the Plenty for several miles of
its course, may be seen thickly studded with
the redds of the fish, in which will be found, I
doubt not, the whole three species of salmonidz
in vast numbers. The Plenty is but one of
the many fine streams connected with the
Derwent, in which it is scarcely to be ques-
tioned that the same promising state of things
at this moment exists. The spectacle is one
that would delight you to behold.”

The fish-breeding establishment of Stor-
montfield on the Tay, and that at Oughterard
in Galway, have produced valuable results.
Norway and Sweden have their fish-hatching
establishments; Russia and Denmark have
theirs at Nikolskoi and Viborg. Germany has
now obtained Huningue, and Austria has a
piscicultural establishment at Salzburg. Italy
has for ages cultivated her lagoons at Comac-
chio and elsewhere. While all these nations
have learned the value and profit to be realized

188 Salmon at the Antipodes.

from the cultivation of their waters and seas,
shall Australia remain inactive? The same
enterprise which has in a few years raised
noble cities where formerly, under the shadow
of the eucalyptus and casuarina, only a few
bark mia-mias of a native race were seen, can
and will advance in the culture of the waters
of that new continent, until, as knowledge ex-
tends, the rivers, streams, lakes, and seas shall
teem with the scaly denizens of the deep.

( 189 )

CHAPTER XXtI.
THE VALUE OF SALMON FISHERIES.

It is undoubtedly in the cold regions of the
North that we must look for the home of the
salmon. Sir John Ross, in his Arctic explora-
tions, found salmon so abundant that he could
buy 100 Ibs.’ weight from the Esquimaux
for a knife, and enormous quantities were
consumed by this people, one having been
observed by him to dispose of a stone weight
at a meal.

Few nations have been so highly favoured
as Scotland in respect to their salmon fisheries,
but unfortunately, for want of proper legisla-
tion to protect the spawning fish, the value of
the fisheries has greatly diminished; and
should there not be greater attention paid to
this question, and sufficient protection given
to the fish, there is a risk of the extinction of
the salmon in some of those rivers where they
formerly abounded.

190 Salmon at the Antipodes.

In Norway, salmon are also extremely
abundant; and in the rivers of the Pacific sea-
board of North America, the salmon fisheries
are wonderfully productive, the rivers in these
countries not having been closely fished till
recently. The extension of railways and of
rapid steam communication by sea has, by
bringing the salmon rivers within reach of
markets, caused that fish to become scarce,
and, like the deer and other wild game, it
would no doubt soon disappear altogether,
unless protected by wise legislation.

In a work entitled ‘‘The Salmon,” by Mr.
Alexander Russel, it is stated that the annual
value of three Scotch fishery districts, ‘‘ the
Tay, the Spey, and the twin rivers entering
the sea at Aberdeen, amounts to nearly £40,000;
and from the reports of the Irish Commis-
sioners we learn that in 1862 three Irish
railways conveyed 900,000 Ibs. of salmon, being
equal in weight and treble in value to 15,000
sheep. In Scotland, the Tay alone furnishes
annually about 800,000 Ibs., being equal in
weight and treble in value to 13,000 sheep.
The weight of salmon produced by the Spey is
equal to the weight of mutton annually yielded

The Value of Salmon Fisheries. IQI

tothe butcher by each of several of the smaller
counties.”

According to the same authority, the value
of the Irish fisheries has been stated semi-
officially at £200,000 a year. The fisheries
of the Duke of Richmond on the Spey are
worth about £13,000 annually, and the right
to fish in a river often lets for a larger rental
than that of a considerable extent of land on
each of its banks. In Great Britain a salmon
fishery is as saleable a property as houses or
land, and is often held by as ancient a title.

In the Oregon territory of the United States,
the produce of the fisheries is worth £700,000 or
£800,000 annually, and the exports of preserved
salmon from the Columbia river and its tribu-
taries in 1877 were so much increased as to be
estimated at a value of a million sterling.

It is evident, therefore, that if the experi-
ment of introducing the salmon into Australian
waters should prove successful, very valuable
pecuniary results may follow in a not very
remote future, besides the sport which will be
afforded, and which is not the least of the
advantages to be expected from the under-
taking. There are good grounds for the belief

192 Salmon at the Antipodes.

that the introduction of the salmon is not
merely a curious scientific experiment, but
that there is a prospect of its proving useful,
in adding materially to the food supply of the
people.

( 193 )

CHAPTER XXII.

THE DISTRIBUTION AND LIBERATION OF THE
CALIFORNIAN SALMON FRY.

WuEen the salmon fry had nearly advanced
to the stage in which the umbilical sac is
absorbed, I found it necessary to make ar-
rangements for their liberation without delay.
While yet in the alevin stage, no food is
required, and they need less room in the cans
in which they are conveyed, than when they
have grown to a larger size.

I had many applications for a portion of
the fry, for various rivers and streams, from
shire and borough councils and from private
individuals; and after collecting as much
information as possible concerning the various
rivers and streams in the colony, I came
to the conclusion that the Gippsland rivers,
and those streams running into the sea

near Cape Otway, were the best suited
o

194 Salmon at the Antipodes.

for the purpose. The Yarra river also, not-
withstanding that its waters are sometimes
poisoned by the noxious refuse from many
factories, will, I think, prove well suited to
the Californian salmon, as their descent and
ascent would probably take place after a flood,
which would have purified the few miles of
the river near Melbourne most dangerous to
them; and a swift-swimming fish, that can
go 30 miles up the stream in a day, will
pass through the most dangerous part of the
river, opposite Melbourne, in a few hours. It
is impossible to foresee the result of experi-
ments of this kind in a new country, and
under new conditions. We have instances of
animals introduced here succeeding in the
most wonderful way, and of others which
seemed to promise equally well, but which
have utterly failed, so that the test of ex-
periment is the safest guide.

It is only about 60 years since that a
salmon of 20 lbs.’ weight was caught in the
Thames, near Windsor, notwithstanding that
the sewage from millions of people living
on its banks was allowed to flow into it;
and salmon fry have been re-introduced into

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 195

that river by Mr. Frank Buckland within the
last few years, with some prospect of success.

The following account of the successful
conveyance of the first lot of about 4000
salmon fry from Ercildoune to the Gellibrand
river, a fine stream running into the sea
some miles to the westward of Cape Otway,
was sent by me to the Argus of December
20th, 1877, on my return from the trip, which
was to me one of great enjoyment :—

“‘T have just returned from the Cape Otway
ranges, where I have been distributing the
first lot of the young salmon in the fine
streams of that district. I placed the fish in
four cans, each capable of containing about
ten gallons of water, about 2000 fish in each
can, at about two p.m. on Monday. The fish
were lifted from the hatching-boxes with a
small net, and placed in a pan containing
water, which was poured into the cans from
time to time, the fish being carried along with
the water. A current was kept up in the cans
by a stream from a hose, and syphons from
one can to the other, the cans being at dif-
ferent levels.

“At half-past four it was time to start for

196 Salmon at the Antipodes.

the railway station. The cans were placed
in the express waggon, and protected from
the sun and air by thick, padded covers,
and the temperature slightly lowered by
placing pounded ice in the water. The water
in the cans was aérated every 15 minutes by
using a pair of bellows and a piece of india-
rubber tube, corked at the end, and pierced
with small holes, to bring the air which was
forced into the water into contact with as
large a surface as possible. Fortunately, the
weather, though warm, was not oppressive,
and it was not difficult, by the occasional use
of ice, to keep the temperature of the water
from rising, and this ranged at from 54 deg.
to 58 deg. throughout the journey. On my
arrival at Geelong, Mr. Le Souef was waiting
to take charge of two cans containing about
4000 salmon, intended for the Upper Yarra.
These, on being examined at Geelong, were
found to be strong and lively. On reaching
the Barwon at Winchelsea, 200 were given
to the station-master, who started off in the
moonlight to put them in the river, about 200
yards off. At Birregurra station Mr. Strachan,
the occupant of Sir C. Sladen’s Ripplevale

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 197

estate, took charge of a small can containing
500 of the fry, to place them in the upper
waters of the Barwon river. On reaching
Colac, at 12 p.m., the cans were transferred
to an express waggon, and we at once started
for the Gellibrand river by moonlight, so as
to lose no time, and to get through in the
cool of the night. The road was a pretty
good bush track for some miles, till we reached’
the forest, but as we penetrated further it
became more difficult for a wheeled vehicle
to get along, owing to fallen logs, ruts,
stumps, and the steep ranges and gullies
which had to be crossed. At daybreak we
reached a hill just above the channel of
Love’s river, which is the first tributary of
the Gellibrand. As the descent was very
steep, and much encumbered with fallen
timber, we camped and waited for daylight,
much enjoying a bush meal by the light of
an enormous fire. Our pioneers then cleared
a practicable track, and after some difficulty
we reached the bank of the stream, and on
examination found the salmon were alive and
well. A few hundreds were distributed up
and down the river in shallows, and a few

198 Salmon at the Antipodes.

hundreds more in a small creek falling into
Love’s or Porcupine river. Following down
Love’s river, a few hundred more were libe-
rated in a beautiful stream called the Trout
river. The creek was swarming with a native
trout (Galaxias), which is said to be peculiar
to this stream. It is a pretty, spotted fish,
growing to about six inches in length, and
said to be of excellent flavour. These trout
are not at all shy, and will rise to the fly, and
afford good sport. I tried to get a specimen,
but, having no proper appliances, did not
succeed. I was somewhat alarmed at the
prospects of the young salmon amongst so
many strange fish, and, after liberating 20
or 30 in a little pool, I sent the men up
the stream to distribute the rest of the lot,
and sat down to watch how they would get
on in their new home. On being turned out,
the parrs at once turned up-stream bravely,
and swam about, examining curiously what
must have seemed very new to them. There
were about a dozen native trout about three
inches long in the little pool, and the young
salmon showed their high breeding in entering
the society of these strangers in the most self-

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 199

possessed manner. The trout, on seeing the
strangers come near, darted away as if startled,
but after a little they returned; and finding
the salmon coming beside them again, one
turned and darted at an intruder, who soon
showed that he was thoroughbred as far as
speed was concerned, by quickly getting away
out of danger, and I came to the conclusion
that the young salmon would soon be able to
take care of themselves.

‘“‘ After a few hours of very heavy work,
through a dense scrub of mimosa, melaleuca,
and ferns, underneath the tall stems of the
forest gums, we reached the bank of the
Gellibrand river about ten o’clock, and libe-
rated the remainder of the fish, partly in a
fine creek on the south side of the valley, and
partly in the main river. The stream was
running with a clear and rapid current, about
20 yards wide, and is greatly encumbered
with fallen timber, which bridges the channel
over in many places. The temperature of
the water was 60 deg. Fahrenheit. The river
banks are lined with eucalypti of an enormous
height, straight and round as if turned in a
lathe, up to 200 feet without a branch. Un-

200 Salmon at the Antipodes.

derneath are giant fern trees, Dicksonias, also-
phyllas, and splendid todeas, with brushwood,
climbers, and ferns six or eight feet high, and
very difficult to penetrate. The soil on the
river flats is good enough for anything, and
the wonder is that it is not already occupied.

‘The fish were netted out of the cans, and
at the last the water was poured through a
net that any dead fish might be seen. In one
can there were nine dead, and in the other
10, being a loss of 19 in all out of 4000, or less
than one-half per cent. This result is exceed-
ingly satisfactory.”

The fish taken charge of at Geelong by Mr.
Le Souef were liberated on the same day, the
following particulars having appeared in the
Argus :—

“The deposit of salmon fry in the head
waters of the Yarra was successfully carried
out yesterday morning (December 19, 1877).
Four cans were despatched from Hrcildoune
on Monday, and divided at Geelong into two
lots. One lot was sent westward, and two
cans were brought on to Melbourne. They
reached Spencer Street station at 11 p.m.,
whence they were taken by Mr. Le Souef, the

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 201

hon. secretary of the Zoological and Acclimati-
zation Society (accompanied by Mr. Purchas,
one of the vice-presidents), to the Badger
Creek. The party travelled all night, and
reached Coranderrk, at the junction of the
Yarra and the Badger, at seven a.m. The
fish were carried in two large cans not unlike,
in shape and size, the vessels commonly em-
ployed by milk-vendors. By the application
of ice, the temperature of the water was kept
low, and air was injected at intervals by means
of a pair of bellows and a perforated india-
rubber tube. Mr. Le Souef’s party halted a
short time at Coranderrk, where additional
assistance was obtained, and then drove more
than a mile further up thecreek. The Badger
is a stream which enters the Yarra on the
north side, and is the next tributary above the
Watts river. No introduced fish have
hitherto been placed in the creek, and it is
inhabited by no more dangerous residents
than the black-fish. Trout were put into the
Watts some years ago, and they have since
been caught there in considerable numbers.
Cod frequent the Yarra below the Watts, but
the Badger is perfectly free from inhabitants

202 Salmon at the Antipodes.

likely to prove unfriendly to the young salmon.
Two places, about a quarter of a mile apart,
were selected for the deposit of the fry, and
the operation of ladling them from the cans
into the stream was successfully got through
before ten o’clock. The fish were in splendid
condition, for not more than two dozen (out of
several thousands) were found dead. As soon
as the fry were liberated, they showed them-
selves to be lively and strong, and swam about
in little shoals, with their heads up-stream,
evidently pleased with their new quarters.
They averaged about two inches in length.
A clear mountain creek like the Badger may
be regarded as an excellent nursery. Should
the grown fish be able, when they set out for
the sea, to pass through the foul water which
fills the river in the neighbourhood of Mel-
bourne, a problem of great importance will be
happily solved. It is believed that, with the
assistance of a seasonable freshet, which they
will probably wait for, the salmon will make
their way easily into the bay. Similarly, a
freshet will help them up again when they
want to return to the head waters of the river.
So much more important must it be to

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 203

domesticate the salmon close to the metropolis,
than in the distant rivers of Gippsland, that
the few thousand fry risked in the present
experiment may be considered well laid out.
If success crowns the undertaking, the river
will become well stocked in the course of a
few years.”

The following is a very interesting letter
from Mr. Arthur King, who very generously
undertook the task of conveying 4000 salmon
fry to the Latrobe river. That he was not
more successful was certainly from no want of
care or attention on his part, as his letter
shows that he did not shrink from any hard-
ships in carrying out his undertaking. I had
intended to have accompanied Mr. King,
but my Parliamentary duties prevented my
doing so.

I inspected the fish at Spencer Street, on
their arrival from Burrumbeet, and saw at
once that they were not doing well, and that
many were dead, and others floating on their
sides in a sickly state. I at once concluded
that they had not had sufficient air, and on
trying the bellows and tube, found them to
work but poorly, although they were not

204 Salmon at the Antipodes.

altogether inefficient. I then used the garden
syringe vigorously for ten minutes, but did not
see the usual revival take place, which
generally follows when the fish have been
suffering from want of oxygen, and I could
not make out the cause. Iam satisfied that
there was no want of care in aérating the
water in transit. It appeared, however, that
the train was very crowded, and some six or
seven passengers had got into the van with
the salmon cans, and that they were smoking
while the bellows were being used. I am
quite certain that the nicotine poison in the
fumes of the tobacco, and nothing else, was
the cause of the loss of these 2500 salmon fry.

“ December 27, 1877.
‘My pear Sir,

At 11).m. on Thursday, 20th Decem-
ber, two cans, containing about 2000 each
of the young salmon, were received by myself
and a friend (Mr. Elliot), who volunteered
to assist me in taking the salmon to the
sources of the Latrobe river.

‘Unfortunately, when they reached Mel-
bourne (as you yourself saw), the fish appeared

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 205

to have suffered on the journey from HErcil-
doune, in consequence of a defect in the
bellows used to infuse fresh air into the cans.
Garden syringes had, happily, been provided,
by your instructions, in case of accident to the
bellows apparatus, and by their means, as well
as by the use of the defective bellows, the
water had been aérated.

‘‘We started from Melbourne in one of
Messrs. Cobb and Co.’s express waggons, and
reached Oakleigh at a quarter-past one a.m.
on Friday, the 21st. Syringes were used
throughout the journey, in order, if possible,
to revive the fainting fish.

‘An express train having been provided by
the Government, the fish were taken on to the
Bunyip, which was reached before three a.m.

“In the train sedulous efforts were used,
both with the bellows and tube, and with
syringes, to aérate the water in the cans, and
a considerable number of dead fish were re-
moved.

“At three a.m. a start was made from the
Bunyip in one of Messrs. Cobb and Co.’s four-
horse coaches, I using one syringe, and Mr.
Elliot another, occupying the whole time in

206 Salmon at the Antipodes.

aérating the water as well as we could while
the coach was jolted on the road. The
Latrobe river was reached at the crossing-
place to Walhalla, about five miles from Shady
Creek, on the Gippsland road, at eight o’clock
in the morning.

“The night had been cool throughout, and
the temperature in the cans had never ex-
ceeded 53 deg. Fahr. There was, therefore,
no need to use the ice, which had been sup-
plied liberally by the Melbourne Ice Company,
in aid of the experiment.

“The river temperature was found not to
exceed 55 deg. in the warmest place.

“The anxious time had arrived to ascertain
how many fish were left alive, after so many
had been removed when dead. The journey
had been hastened, so as to give a chance
to some of the fish to reach their destination
alive.

‘Counting them carefully, we placed 1500
live fish in various parts of the river.

“Hach lot was about 100 in number, and as
the little swimmers found themselves at large
in their new home, they moved about as
if wonderingly, but not in fear, and then

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 207

gradually took their course in the shallows
near the bank, in every case making their way
up the stream.

“The river was clear, and running with a
strong current over a sandy bed, through
a valley overhung with immense gum trees,
blackwood trees, and other growth. Fern
trees were growing near the stream.

‘““Mr. Needham, one of the few residents
in the neighbourhood, met the coach on its
arrival, and kindly assisted in carrying the
cans and placing the fish in the river. He
stated that the only fish caught in that part
of the river were fine black-fish and a few eels.
The swift-swimming salmon have, therefore,
nothing to fear from such sluggish neighbours.

‘‘In passing various watercourses, I found
the residents in the neighbourhood anxious to
have some of the fish left at each; but as
there was a doubt whether the sea could be
reached by the fish, if left at such places, I
was compelled to carry all which could be
kept alive to the Latrobe river, which was
their original destination, and about whose
ample stream I had no doubt at all.

‘“‘ Throughout the journey the utmost friend-

208 Salmon at the Antipodes.

liness and interest was shown by railway
officials, by the employés of Messrs. Cobb and
Co., and by all the people who were met on
the road.

‘‘Mr. Roden, to whom every turn in the
road has long been familiar—who drove the
first woman along it, and the first baby—him-
self drove the coach from the Bunyip, render-
ing all possible assistance, and taking pleasure
in driving the first salmon to the Gippsland

waters.
““T am, etc.,

“ Arntour S. Kine.
“ The Honble. Sir Samuel Wilson.”

The following account of the liberation of
a portion of the salmon fry in the Wannon
and Glenelg rivers will be of interest (Argus,
January 5) :—

“ Shire of Kowree, Council Chambers, Harrow,
“ December 27, 1877.

“The Honble. Sir Samuel Wilson, Ercildoune.

“Sir,

“T have the pleasure to inform you
that the consignment of salmon you so kindly
placed at the disposal of the shire were
liberated. in splendid condition. I left about

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 209

30 with Mr. Brayshay, at Hamilton, who
had undertaken to place them in the head
waters of the Wannon. On my way
through Cavendish, Mr. O’Connor deposited
25 in the Wannon at that place. At Bal-
moral, Mr. Lang assisted me to distribute
about 200 in various suitable spots in the
Glenelg. The remainder of the fish were
dispersed here and there above and below
Harrow, where the arrival of the little
strangers received a welcome in true Christmas
style, their arrival having been anxiously
waited for. A breakdown on the road near
Cavendish caused many hours’ delay, but
thanks to the excellent apparatus supplied,
and to your very lucid written instructions,
furnished me by Mr. Learmonth, I succeeded
in transporting them over 60 miles of rough
road, with the loss of only three fish, one of
which I found dead at Balmoral, and two at
Harrow. The last batch were placed in the
Glenelg at eight p.m. on Christmas Day. They
seemed as lively and active as at starting from
Hamilton, but appeared ravenously hungry.
A small white moth, having accidentally fallen

into the water, was vigorously attacked, and
P

210 Salmon at the Antipodes.

carried to the bottom of the bucket with
almost lightning rapidity, every time he floated
to the surface. The next meeting of our shire
council takes place on Wednesday, 2nd prox.,
when I am sure the councillors will be glad to
learn the so far success of this portion of your
efforts to improve the piscatorial resources of
the colony.
‘“‘T beg to remain,
““Your most obedient servant,

“J. S. Mackenziz,
“ Secretary and Engineer of Kowree Shire.”

Mr. J. H. Connor, in the letter from which
the following extracts are given, furnishes
some interesting details concerning the streams
near Cape Otway, in which a portion of the
salmon fry have been successfully liberated.
They were taken to Apollo Bay and Blanket
Bay by the Government steamer Pharos, on
her way to supply the lighthouses in that
nvighbourhood with stores, for which purpose
this vessel is required to go there occasionally.
He says :—

“We divided 250 of the fry into four small
fish-tins of water, reducing the temperature

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 221

well with ice, and proceeded across the
windings of the Burrum Burrum River from
the sea inland... . We liberated the first
65 fish at a point in the river about three
miles from the sea; and I may here state
that the river runs inland from 10 to 15
miles. It is well and closely shaded with
trees of different kinds, and undergrowth.
The water is very cold and clear, running over
a gravelly bed; just the river, I believe, that
will prove to be most suitable for the acclima-
tization of the salmon, The young fry seemed
to enjoy their new home immensely, and
quickly headed up the stream, in regular
marching order. We followed the course of
the river for about four or five miles, and
liberated 185 more of the fry (250 in all) at
different places in the stream.

“The land near to the river, and fronting
the bay, appeared to me to be capable of
erowing almost anything; and the green
clover paddocks are a pleasing sight in them-
selves at this season of the year. Altogether,
I much liked the rather wild and romantic
look of the country at and around Apollo Bay,
and I venture to say that it will some day be

212 Salmon at the Antipodes.

a place of importance. In our absence, while
liberating the fish, the crew of the Pharos
had landed the stores, so that we were, on
our return, enabled to at once proceed to
Blanket Bay, where we arrived about 11 o’clock
the same morning. . .. We were, without
delay, rowed to the shore in the large boat
of the Pharos, and carried on shore by the
sailors, when we at once divided the fish
into four fish-tins, largely supplied with iced
water, and rolled the tins round with rugs
and canvas. Messrs. Stephenson. and Walls
had, at their own expense, provided pack-
horses, all ready ...and we started for
the Aire river. The journey through the bush
was very difficult and trying. We crossed the
Parker river at about two miles inland from
the sea, and took advantage of its delightfully
cold and clear water to replenish our fish-tins ;
and we also placed the tins themselves in the
stream for half an hour, at the same time
liberating in the water 12 of the young fish.
The reason that we did not put more in the
Parker is that the falls in it near to the
sea are very steep, and the stream is very
much blocked up with timber. The fish will

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 212

have no difficulty in getting to the sea, but
I fear they will not succeed in returning. We
reached the Aire at a point near to its junction
with the sea. Here a boat had been provided,
in which we rowed up the river, with the fish-
tins covered with wet rags, the day being very
hot. Mr. Walls recommended that we should
go up the Ford river, a tributary of the Aire,
which we did, and liberated 60 of the young
fry in it. We then rowed up the Aire for
about four or five miles, and liberated the
remainder of the fish, about 175, making in
all 247 in the Aire, the Ford, and the Parker
rivers, only losing four fish from the total
number of 500 received at Ballarat. The
Aire river is 20 to 30 yards wide about a
mile and a half from the sea, and continues
a good width for about two or three miles
inland. It is, however, liable to be barred, in
certain seasons, with the sand washing in from
the ocean. Only recently Messrs. Stevenson
and’ Walls scooped out a passage for its
accumulated waters to get to the sea, and
thereby considerably reduced the depth of the
river, and drained a large extent of swampy
land adjoming it. The scenery along the

214 Salmon at the Antipodes.

banks of the stream is beautiful to look at,
but the water in the river itself is much
warmer than the waters of the Parker or the
Burrum Burrum.... Altogether, I believe
that the experiment to acclimatize the salmon
in these rivers will prove to be a success.”

The following appeared in the Argus of
January 19, 1878, and is an account of my
trip to Gippsland with the salmon fry in-
tended for distribution in the rivers flowing
from the Great Dividing Range known as the
Australian Alps, some of which run direct to
the sea, and others into the great lakes which
receive many of the Gippsland streams, and
have their embouchure by the Reeves river,
through a shifting sand-bar, into the Pacific
Ocean :—

“T had originally intended to have taken the
fish intended for Gippsland, and more espe-
cially those for the Snowy river, by sea, and
had postponed making any arrangements for
stocking these rivers, until the return of the
Government steamer Victoria from her cruise,
which I understood was to terminate about
Christmas, 1877. An application made by the
Zoological and Acclimatization Society to the

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 215

Government, for the use of the Victoria to
take the salmon to Gippsland, had been very
favourably received, and on seeing her arrival
reported in the Argus, I at once wrote to the
Commissioner of Trade and Customs, asking
that arrangements might be made, as soon as
convenient, to send the fish to the entrance to
the Gippsland lakes, and to the mouth of the
Snowy river, and that the steam launch of
the Cerberus might be taken, to go through
the surf and ascend the Snowy river with the
young salmon. Not receiving any reply in a
few days, I had an interview with the Hon.
Mr. Lalor, who then stated that the Victoria
could not be sent on this trip, as there was no
money to pay the officers and men, on account
of the political difficulties between the two
Houses of Parliament, and that Captain Stan-
ley, the commander of the Victoria, did not
consider it safe to land near or to enter the
mouth of the Snowy river, unless in very
calm weather, as the coast is unsheltered, and
a dangerous surf from the Pacific Ocean
breaks upon the long stretch of the littoral
line known as the Ninety-Mile Beach, near
the mouth of the Snowy river. I had an

216 Salmon at the Antipodes.

interview with Captain Stanley, who pointed
out the risk of being detained for days, if
high winds should blow landwards on that
coast, and the danger to the lives of his men
should a landing be attempted in such cir-
cumstances; and it became evident that the
idea of getting the Victoria to transport the
fish must be abandoned.

‘“‘T then applied to the Gippsland Steam
Navigation Company, and with great liberality
they at once offered to convey the fish free of
charge, by any of their steamers, to the lake’s
entrance, or to any point on their usual
route. They also expressed their intention to
send a small steamer soon, on an exploring
expedition to the Snowy river, which could
take the fish at the same time. This very
liberal offer I at first intended to accept; but
on inquiry I found that many days might be
occupied by the trip, and the difficulty of keep-
ing the fish alive for such a long period,
together with the risk of windy weather,
which might cause further delay, caused me
to decide upon taking them overland.

‘‘T then applied to the Minister of Railways,
who showed every desire to assist ine, and

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. atF

placed the whole department at my service in
the most liberal manner. As it is necessary
in the transit of salmon that no delay should
occur, I asked for a special train to run during
the night, and to go over the contractors’
lines as far as practicable.

‘‘T found, on inquiring of Mr. Higinbotham,
the engineer to the Railway Department, who
kindly offered to assist me, that only four
miles of a gap was left in the whole line from
Oakleigh to Sale, the rails being laid all the
rest of the way. I then applied to the con-
tractors, asking for permission to run a
Government train over their uncompleted
lines, to convey the salmon fry, which request
they at once and most readily granted. They
also gave their personal attendance during the
night, and furnished men to assist in carrying
the cans, and also riding-horses where re-
quired. The Railway Department, not having
a spare engine to do the work, asked the con-
tractors for the use of their engine on hire,
which was most readily granted; and Messrs.
Fishbourne and Morton and Messrs. Noonan,
with great generosity, not only carried the
salmon and a large party over their own line,

218 Salmon at the Antipodes.

but Messrs. Noonan’s engine went also all the
way to Sale over the Government line, free of
any charge to either myself or the Govern-
ment.

“T arranged with Messrs. Robertson and
Wagner to send an express waggon to carry
the fish-cans over the four miles of a gap
between the ends of the completed railway
lines, and also to convey the salmon from Sale
to Bairnsdale.

“The conveyance of the salmon beyond this
place—which is the furthest point to which
Cobb’s coaches run—I left to be arranged by
the Bairnsdale shire council. However, the
day before that fixed for starting, I had a
telegram from the secretary to the shire, to
the effect that it was ‘impossible’ to take
the salmon by the route I had indicated, and
advising me to go by steamer. |

‘“‘T decided, however, to endeavour to carry
out my original plan; and accordingly, on
January 13th, 1877, at a quarter-past five p.m.,
T left Ercildoune with about 2700 salmon fry,
all of which were intended for distribution in
the Gippsland rivers, except a small number
left at Meredith in passing, which were suc-
cessfully placed in the Moorabool river.

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 219

‘Soon after leaving Burrumbeet, I noticed
that the fry showed symptoms of being sickly,
by turning on their sides; and, notwithstand-
ing every care, it soon became evident that
a serious loss would occur. At Lal Lal I
partially changed the water in one can, which
seemed to be the worst, but could not see any
improvement, and a number of fish were
evidently dying, and my project to take a
proportion of the fish to the Snowy river
seemed little likely to be realized. With
every care and attention that could be devised,
and after having, as I thought, mastered all
the difficulties attending the transit of these
fish, I had the sickening feeling that I could
do nothing to prevent the loss of possibly the
whole of the lot, and that, after all the trouble
I had given to so many people, I should have
put them to this inconvenience without any
good result. As the night wore on I observed
a little improvement, however, and those that
remained alive showed plainly that they had
recovered from whatever had sickened them.
T have not been able to account satisfactorily
for this loss, but think it may have been
caused by feeding the fry immediately before

220 Salmon at the Antzpodes.

starting, to prevent the necessity of doing so
in the night, and thereby spoiling the water ;
and by the fish, from their increased size, owing
to their rapid growth, probably requiring more
space in the cans than I had given them.
The motion of the waggon immediately after
their being fed, and the vibration of the train,
may have sickened them. It is somewhat
curious, however, that out of over 20 lots of
fry, serious loss should have occurred only in
the two going to Gippsland, and in both cases
between Burrumbeet and Melbourne.

“On arriving at Melbourne, Mr. Le Souef
was waiting with an express waggon and a
spring van (carrying two boxes of ice), to con-
vey the fish to Oakleigh railway station. An
express train was waiting there on our arrival,
and soon we were on our way at a good rate
of speed. On arriving at Buneep, Messrs.
Fishbourne and Morton’s engine was attached
to the van containing the fish, and we sped on
through the forest in the darkness.

“‘Mr. Le Souef was desirous of going through
to the Snowy, but owing to the roads being
bad, I thought it better not to have too large
a party. Mr. O’Brien, of Swan Reach, had

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. ot

joined the train at Oakleigh, and most kindly
offered to drive me through to my destination
in his buggy, with three good horses. This
offer I gladly accepted, as, in case of accident
to the express waggon, it provided a means of
saving the fish. Besides his being a most
capital whip over very bad roads, his pleasant
companionship made the journey a very agree-
able one.

‘We arrived at the end of the rails without
accident, although, from the line being un-
fenced, and from there being facing points of
sidings in various places, and also from the
fact of the clearing being insufficient, there
was really some danger in running at the
rate of 40 miles an hour under the circum-
stances. The trees along the line are high
enough to reach—should any fall—not only
the rails, but right across the line so as to
touch the trees on the other side, and unless
a much wider space is cleared, accidents must
occur, during high winds, from fallen trees
obstructing the trains.

‘The lamps of the express waggon appeared
in a few minutes after we reached the un-
finished portion of the line, and soon the fish-

222 Salmon at the Antipodes.

cans, ice, etc., were transferred to it. And
here I would express my sense of Messrs.
Robertson and Wagner’s generosity and public
spirit, in not only giving the gratuitous use of
their horses and coaches, but in the care and
trouble they took to send out their road
inspector, Mr. Roden, to find a practicable
route, and to drive the salmon over this very
difficult portion. To get his waggon there,
it had to be carried some distance, and lifted
over logs and stumps three feet high.

“The first peep of dawn appeared in the east
as we left the railway, and the increasing light
helped us over the difficulties of the way.
More than once the vehicle was on a balance,
with two wheels in the air; but willing hands
were ready to prevent an upset, by holding on
to the waggon, and pushing it up the steep
ascents that had to be surmounted. After
some heavy work in getting through the
forest, and along the railway line, we reached
the Little Moe; and on ascertaining by tast-
ing the water that it was good, I examined
the cans, and changed the water in those in
which there were dead fish. We could then
see the smoke of the other train at a distance,
coming up to meet us.

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 223

“T poured out the water through a small
net, which detained the fish, and the living
ones drafted themselves out very speedily, by
leaping off the net into a can ready placed to
receive them. On the dead fish being counted,
there were about 950, leaving between 1600
and 1700 fish which were lively and well.
From this point onward, all the way to the
Snowy river, only four fish died out of the
number left, being a much better result than
Thad expected; and although they were much
fewer than I wished to send, there were still
enough to stock the rivers they were intended
for, in a way to give the experiment a fair
trial.

‘Tt was sunrise when we again started, and
although the engine seemed near, it took a
long time to get up to it, owing to the bad
roads; and the waggon was at last forced to
stop, the fish-cans, ice, etc., being carried about
half a mile to the railway. A party had come
out by the train from the Moe to meet the
salmon, and, although the hands of some were
more used to the pen than to carrying
burdens, by their willing assistance we got
the fish safely into the Government van

224 Salmon at the Antipodes.

attached to Messrs. Noonan’s engine, and
steamed away at a rate of speed that promised
an early arrival at Sale. The train for Mel-
bourne was to start at eight o’clock, and the
station-master at the Moe telegraphed to
delay it 15 minutes, till the arrival of the
express. However, the powerful engine we
had dashed along at such a good rate, that
we were in Sale at 25 minutes to eight
o'clock; and on reaching the station, I was
received by the mayor and council of Sale,
and the secretary and councillors of the
shire of Avon, and three hearty cheers were
given in honour of the event by those as-
sembled on the platform.

“ According to arrangement, vehicles were
in waiting to convey the salmon. Some 250
went to the Avon river, in charge of Messrs.
Little, Lloyd, and Bolden, and the mayor of
Sale, with Dr. Macdonald and Messrs. Bushe
and Topping, started with 250 more for the
Macalister river. Without delay, after leay-
ing written instructions how to act, a start
was made with the remainder for Bairnsdale,
some 42 miles off. The fish stood the
juorney well, being attended to every 15

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 225

minutes, fresh air being injected, and ice being
used, as required, to maintain a temperature
of 55 deg. The thermometer, unfortunately,
got broken here, but another was provided at
Bairnsdale. The weather became very hot
during this part of the journey.

‘¢ At Bairnsdale, Mr. Howitt, P.M., and Mr.
Goold, the president of the shire, were waiting
to receive us. The former volunteered to
accompany us on horseback to the Snowy
river, and, from his thorough acquaintance
with the district during the many years he
has spent there, no one could better act as
guide. A more pleasant companion I would
not desire to travel with, and his readiness of
resource in an emergency is invaluable in an
expedition over such rough country as we had
to travel through. It will be remembered
that Mr. Howitt went as leader of the relief
party sent to learn the fate of the ill-starred
expedition of Burke and Wills, and that he
accomplished the object of his mission most
successfully. His son Charlton, a fine active
lad of 13, also rode with us, and rendered
good service on many occasions.

‘The Mitchell river flows close past Bairns-

Q

226 Salmon at the Antipodes.

dale, and enters Lake King some miles below
that place. Being desirous of knowing the
temperature of its waters, while counting over
the fish intended for it, I asked Mr. Goold to
ascertain the surface and bottom temperature
of the river. He reported 75 deg. at the
surface, and 74 deg. at 11 feet deep. At the
time I thought there must be some mis-
take, but afterwards I had good reason to
know that it was quite correct, and a very
much higher temperature than I could have
desired for the salmon. Without delay, the
waggon provided by the shire for conveyance
of the fish started for Bruthen, on the river
Tambo; and as Bovill, who had come from
Ercildoune in attendance on the fish, seemed
quite exhausted by want of sleep, I left him
behind, to wait my return, and went in the
waggon to look after my charge. Mr. O’Brien
remained to get some fresh horses, and to
feed those he had brought on, and, after some
time, he and Mr. Howitt and Charlton over-
took us; and Bovill, not liking to be left
behind, and feeling stronger after dinner, had
come on also.

‘We had now left the plain country, where,

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. on7

at intervals, splendid wheat crops, and well-
grassed paddocks, with most substantial fences
and stocked with fine cattle, showed the
wealth of Gippsland; and we entered the
interminable forest of the mountain slopes
facing seaward, which extends, without a
break, all the way to the New South Wales
boundary.

“We stopped at the Nicholson, a fine stream,
shaded over by wattles and gums, and running
briskly over gravelly fords, into long reaches
of deep water. The temperature of the water
was here 72 deg. After bringing up the water
by degrees from 55 deg. to about 70 deg., to
prevent a too sudden shock to the salmon, we
liberated a few at a place, in sheltered parts
of the current, and in shallow water. There
were plenty of young fish in the stream,
smaller than the salmon parrs, which proved
that there was a good chance for them. The
high temperature did not seem to incon-
venience the salmon, which headed up-stream,
and darted about, evidently enjoying the
change.

“The roads became much more difficult to go
over, being through a dense forest, and across

228 Salmon at the Antipodes.

deep gullies and high ranges, timbered with a
number of different kinds of eucalypti, a
variety of Banksia, and a casuarina new to
me, and an undergrowth of wattles, dogwood,
etc. We arrived at Bruthen about six o’clock.
“The Tambo runs past this place, which is
most picturesquely situated, and is surrounded
by an amphitheatre of mountain ranges,
which seem quite near; and the river winds
through alluvial flats, of moderate extent, but
of magnificent soil, as the fine crops show
very clearly. I expected to have found the
water of this river much colder than that
of the Mitchell, as we were so much nearer
the mountains, but on reaching the stream I
found, to my surprise, that it was 75 deg.
The water was running swiftly, with a mur-
muring sound, over a beautiful bed of clean
gravel, and was clear, and pleasant to the taste,
the stream being 60 yards wide. Two hundred
were liberated in the fords here, and they found
shelter amongst the gravel from the strong
current, which carried them downwards.
“The road beyond Bruthen towards the
Snowy river is bad to travel over by day-
light, but much worse by night, and Mr.

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 229

Howitt advised that we should remain at
Bruthen till dawn, and take some rest.

I had prepared a box for a portion of the
ice, with perforated zinc inserted in the ends,
but it was now nearly empty of ice. We
sank this amongst the gravel in the current,
and, after equalizing the temperature, poured
the salmon, and the water which they were in,
out of the cans into the box. The fish evi-
dently enjoyed the change from being in the
cans, to a rapid current in a natural stream,
and leaped high out of the water in a way
I never saw them do before. One got over
the box, jumping over six inches high, and
swam quickly away; and many leaped much
higher, but fell back again. The box was
fitted with a close lid, which prevented risk
of loss in the night. The current, being
strong, carried the fish against the perforated
zinc, and kept them there. To lessen the
current a wall of loose stones was built round
the box, and some placed on the top of it.
The fish were fed with grated liver, the lid
closed, a rope was tied round it, and fastened
to the wheel of the waggon, to prevent its
being carried away by a sudden rise in the

230 Salmon at the Antipodes.

river; and after doing justice to our dinner,
we retired to very comfortable quarters, with
the understanding that we should start at the
first peep of dawn.

‘“‘ arly as I was next morning, I found Mr.
Howitt and Charlton before me at the river,
in the grey dawn. They had examined the
fish, and were just returning to tell me that
they were as lively as possible, except two
that had got pinned against the zinc by the
force of the current, and which were suf-
focated. I had been very anxious during the
night, as I did not anticipate these high tem-
peratures, and I kept waking up, thinking of
the salmon. ‘The test was a very severe one.
These fish had never before experienced higher
temperatures than 60 deg. to 62 deg., and
were out of iced water at 55 deg., besides being
very young and tender. Should any large
portion of them be found to have perished
from the heat, it would be of little use, I
thought, going further, and the experiment
must fail. The news brought by Charlton set
my fears at rest; success now seemed certain,
and soon we were on our road to the Buchan,
the nearest tributary of the Snowy river.

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 231

“The road became more difficult as we ad-
vanced ; deep gullies, with bad crossing-places,
alternated with steep hills and bad sidlings.
It was found necessary to tie up one or two
wheels in going down the precipitous slopes,
and occasionally all hands assisted in getting
the waggon, with the load, up the steep ascent
of some range. A spring was found to be
broken in the express waggon, and we stopped
to repair it as well as we could, and lessened
the quantity of water in the fish-cans, to
lighten the load.

“On starting again, a splinter-bar of the
buggy broke, in making the ascent out of
Stony Creek. The waggon was not delayed,
and by the aid of a sapling, some rope, and
Mr. Howitt’s skill as a bushman, we were soon
on the way again.

“Tt was thought at first that if the fry were
put into the Buchan, a tributary of the Snowy,
they would find their way there in time,
and so accomplish the desired object; but I
felt that my undertaking would be incomplete,
if I did not get a portion of them placed in
the Snowy river. On inquiring we obtained
a guide, who promised to conduct us by a

232 Salmon at the Antipodes.

near way, but a bad road, to the Snowy river,
near to its junction with the Buchan.

“Two bullock teams were camped on the
road, and the drivers were sitting smoking on
a log after eating their dinner. As we passed
them Bovill got the bellows and tube and
commenced blowing into the cans. One
bullock-driver started to his feet with a face
of astonishment, and an untranslatable ex-
clamation. I fancy we must have been taken
by him for a party of escaped lunatics, come
over the mountains from the Beechworth
Asylum. Both men stood looking after us
till lost to sight in the windings of the road.
The incident afforded us a good hearty laugh
for some time after.

‘“We came to the Tara Creek, on the water-
shed of the Snowy—a beautiful small stream
of water clear as crystal. It did not taste
well, however, and I could not see a single
fish after examining it for a long distance, and
did not liberate any fish there. After a very
rough road, we at last arrived at a hill close
to the Buchan river, and from this point the
fish were carried on horseback, in small cans,
over very precipitous country; and 200 were

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 239

liberated in the Buchan, a beautiful stream of
good clear water, with beds of clean gravel
and small fish in shoals. Our horses were
led, and slid down the sandy bank into the
stream on their haunches. Only a high hill
now separated us from the valley of the
Snowy river.

‘On ascending the slope, our guide had the
can with the fish (about 400) before him on
the saddle, and I rode close behind. Sud-
denly the sandy bank gave way, just as he
had surmounted the last ascent, and horse,
rider, and fish-can were rolling in the sand.
I dismounted in a moment, and ran to save
the fish, expecting to see them scattered about
on the sand; but although the water had
partially escaped, none of the fish were lost,
as the perforated top of the can was fastened
with a hasp. Thus, within the last mile, the
object of our journey was nearly being frus-
trated. I carried the fish the remainder of
the way.

‘‘On arriving at the top of the ridge the
Snowy river lay at our feet, but it looked
muddy and turbid, as if in flood from recent
rains in the hills. It has every indication of

234 Salmon at the Antipodes.

being a rapid mountain stream, subject to
heavy floods, which are said to rise 60 feet
in a night. There is an island of boulders
and water-worn pebbles at its junction with
the Buchan, of some 30 acres, completely de-
nuded of soil by the strength of the current.
Not liking to put the fish in the muddy water,
I carried them to the junction, and wading
through the Buchan, I liberated them some
distance below the junction, but in the clear
water of the Buchan, which did not inter-
mingle for a considerable distance with the
muddy waters of the Snowy river—just as
is seen at the confluence of the Rhone and
the Arve, near Geneva, where the blue waters
of the lake unite, but do not mingle with, the
muddy waters brought down by the melted
snows from Chamounix. I got rather chaffed
for wading into the water unnecessarily, but
wet clothes did not seem of much consequence
at the moment, and the strong heat of the
weather soon dried them.

“Mr. Howitt went to make some geological
examinations of the pebble and boulder drift,
which contained specimens of many varieties
of rocks, all rounded and water-worn; even

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 235

large blocks of over two feet in diameter had
apparently been rolled down by the force of
the current in times of flood. The channel
of the Snowy river is probably 300 to 400
feet wide, and near its confluence with the
Buchan runs between high, steep ranges. It
is more than twice the width, and has three
or four times the volume, of the Yarra, and
runs swiftly over pebbly shoals and rocky
rapids. It is said to be often muddy from
rains in the hills, but is generally bright
and clear. There is a waterfall about 25
miles above the junction, about 12 feet
high, but it is not an abrupt descent, and
salmon could ascend it easily. ‘There is no
other barrier that I could hear of. It is well
stocked with fish of good quality. The tem-
perature of its water, to my surprise, was |
734 deg. Higher up the river, no doubt, it
is much cooler, and I wished greatly that the
salmon could have been first taken there.
The Buchan was half a degree warmer, or
74 deg., and this stream seemed to me better
suited to salmon than the Snowy, although
they will, in my opinion, do well in both
rivers. It has been stated that the Californian

236 Salmon at the Antipoaes.

salmon goes through waters in its native
country up to a temperature of 85 deg. in
safety. In the Avon the fry perished at 83
deg. In a brisk current they will live at
temperatures that they could not bear in still
water, and in all the Gippsland rivers a good
stream runs’ throughout the driest summer.
The present season has been exceptionally
dry and hot, and my journey took place a few
days after midsummer, in the very hottest
season of the year.

“‘ After having a short rest and a pot of tea,
we retraced our steps and patched up the
damaged buggy, pushing along rapidly, and
at about ten. o’clock on Saturday night
reached Gibb’s at Stony Creek, and next day
Bairnsdale, where I parted with regret from
Mr. Howitt and his son, and Mr. O’Brien.
The buggy broke down completely, and was
brought on by a bullock dray. As Parliament
was to meet on Tuesday, I was obliged to
travel through the night, to catch the train
at Sale at eight o’clock on Monday morning,
and arrived in Melbourne about ten o’clock on
Monday, having travelled about 600 miles,
over the worst roads in the colony, in a
remarkably short time.

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 237

‘T would especially refer to the liberality of
Mr. C. Umphelby, on behalf of the directors
of the Ice Company, who supplied, free of
charge, all the ice required for more than
15 different trips. On this, as on many pre-
vious occasions, the Victoria Ice Company
has rendered good service to the cause of
acclimatization, for which they deserve the
thanks of the community.

‘The Minister of Railways most freely gave
every assistance in his power, and the ice, the
fish-cans, and an attendant were allowed to
travel free in all cases, and three special
trains were provided for the Gippsland road.

‘But for the great interest taken in the
experiment by all engaged in it, the same
amount of success could not have been
attained. And now it only remains for
Nature to do her part, to have, in a few years,
should fortune favour the experiment (as it
has hitherto done in a most remarkable
manner), results which will provide a new
sport to make the colony more attractive,
and anew source of profit, in the rivers and
seas of that portion of the island continent of
Australia.

238 Salmon at the Antipodes.

‘“‘ The rivers and streams in which the salmon
have been placed, include all streams of any
note extending into South Australia on one
side, and into New South Wales on the other.
The rivers included in the experiment are the
Glenelg, at three places 100 miles apart;
Darlot’s Creek, near Portland; the Hopkins,
the Fiery Creek, Lake Burrumbeet, and Emu
Creek ; the Gellibrand and its tributaries, the
Erskine, St. George, and Cumberland, at
Loutitt Bay; the Aire, Barrum, Ford, and
Parker, at Cape Otway; the Barwon, at
Winchelsea and Birregurra; the Werribee,
the Saltwater river, the Yarra, the Latrobe,
the Macalister, the Avon, the Mitchell, the
Nicholson, the Tambo, and the Snowy rivers.”

It is important to know that the salmon
have been placed in streams that afford a
good promise of successful results. The Cape
Otway streams are all highly spoken of, by
those who know them, as being most suitable.
The Aire river, about six miles west of Cape
Otway, has a wide estuary, into which flow
three tributaries from a tract of country of a
semi-alpine character. There are extensive
forests of the beautiful evergreen beech (Fagus

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 239

Cunninghamt), many of the trees being splen-
did specimens from four to five feet in
diameter. There are many beautiful spots in
these ranges near the base of Mount Sabine—
waterfalls and rapids, with fern trees 50 feet
in height.

Near Loutitt Bay there are clear, cool
streams, with pebbly bottoms, coming direct
out of high ranges. Mr. Edward Hayes, who
carried some of the salmon fry on pack-horses
over almost inaccessible country, and liberated
them successfully, speaks in high praise of
these streams as being most suitable for
salmon.

The Gippsland rivers are splendid streams,
which never fail in the driest seasons. The
Avon is one of the best streams flowing into
the lakes; its tributaries are most suitable
for fish-spawning, being extremely clear, with
a rocky and pebbly bottom.

The Mitchell, and its principal tributaries,
the Dargo, Wentworth, Wonnongatta, and
Morocco, take their rise from the great
dividing range, and receive the drainage from
the melting snows of a watershed having a
very large area.

240 Salmon at the Antipodes.

Mining operations having now all but ceased
on these streams, their waters are bright,
clear, cold, and rapid, and they are free from
all enemies to the young salmon.

One thousand salmon fry were sent to the
Hopkins river, near Warrnambool, by sea, and
were taken there by Mr. Hickling. In his
report he says:—‘‘I got down with the fish
very successfully, and liberated them in ex-
cellent condition in the Cudgee Creek. I am
sure they will do well, as the temperature (on
27th December) was only 57 deg., and—dry
as it is—there is now a splendid stream of the
purest water. The temperature of the Hopkins
was 64 deg.—no doubt cooler in the shady
pools and shallows—but this was after the
great heat of Saturday; however, the fish did
not appear to be at all inconvenienced by the
change from the cool tank to the warmer
river. I am confident they will be heard of
again.”

In distributing the young salmon, it was
not found convenient to delay the fish so
as to count carefully the large number sent
off at once—in one case 8000; but the
number was estimated approximately by

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 241

counting out 100 into a bucket, and after-
wards netting about the same number as
near as could be guessed, and noting the
number of hundreds put in the cans. The
later lots, being smaller in number, were
counted with care, and, when all were
counted, a very considerable loss was found
to have unaccountably taken place; but it was
found that lizards and snakes had made their
way into one of the hatching-boxes, and no
doubt they had devoured many of the alevins.
One snake was caught inside of the cover of
wire-netting put over the hatching-race, and
killed; and a lizard was found with a Galaxias
five inches long, which it had dragged out of
the water, and which was still alive.

An objection has been made to my dividing
the salmon into different lots, as it is supposed
that they would have had a better prospect of
success if a large number had been placed in
one river. From the fact of six pairs of
breeding trout having only been retained in
the ponds at New Norfolk, and that these,
with 30 more turned into the river, are the
parents of all the trout in the Australian

colonies, it will be evident that by dividing
BR

242 Salmon at the Antipodes.

the salmon the chances of success are greatly
increased. It is impossible to tell which river
may prove best suited to them ; but when all
the rivers in the colony of any note have been
tried, if at all suitable to the climate, the fish
must succeed in some of them, and I had so
many applications for a portion of the fish,
that I could not well refuse to send a few to
each river.

Even from Tasmania I had a request for a
few of the fry to put in the Mersey, and sent
off 200 there; but from some cause, which I
could not ascertain (possibly mal-de-mer), all
but seven fish perished during the sea voyage,
and these, I fear, will never be heard of again,
although they were safely liberated in that
fine stream, the Mersey river. I hope that
my Tasmanian friends will be more fortunate
the next time that a similar attempt is made.

The Zoological and Acclimatization Society
acknowledged their indebtedness for services
rendered, by awarding medals to Sir George
Grey, K.C.B., Premier of New Zealand; the
Hon. Spencer Baird, President of the Smith-
sonian Institute, Washington; the Hon. Mr.
Woods, M.L.A., Minister of Railways in Vic-

Distribution of the Salmon Fry. 243

toria; Mr. J. H. Connor, Mayor of Geelong;
Mr. Howitt, P.M.; Mr. O’Brien; Messrs.
Robertson and Wagner; and the Hon. Mr.
Murray Smith, M.L.A., Chairman of the
Victoria Ice Company, for their valuable
assistance in carrying out the experiment.

I would here express my grateful apprecia-
tion of the warm interest in the undertaking
shown by the public and the press, but
especially by the Melbourne Argus, while the
experiment was in progress. I also had very
kind and, indeed, in some cases, far too flat-
tering expressions of acknowledgment from
Shire Councils and from Angling Societies,
and a most kind recognition of my exertions
by the Council of the Zoological and Accli-
matization Society. The Société d’Acclima-
tation of France have also, in a truly cos-
mopolitan and generous spirit, awarded to
me their gold medal of the first class, to
mark their appreciation of the importance of
the undertaking which I had accomplished
successfully. And to one and all I would
offer my most hearty thanks for the kind
feeling shown in connection with my under-
taking, which has been so far successful,

244 Salmon at the Antipodes.

thanks to the good fortune which, under the
blessing of Divine Providence, has attended
the experiment, and to the able assistance
that many have so freely rendered to promote
that result.

FINIS.

INDEX.

Aérating the water, 33, 92, 124, 126
Ainsworth’s Spawning-Race, 72

Alevins, 36, 116, 118

Ancient modes of fishing, 11

Apparatus for collecting eggs, 71.

Aquiculture, 173

Artificial impregnation of fish ova, discovery of, 2
methods of, 167

Australia, fisheries of, 13

shipments of salmon and trout to, 16, 18
Avernus, Lake, fish culture in, 2

B
Baird, 8. F., 8, 37
Bait for angling, 55, 98
Beak on jaw of spawned fish, 94
Binny, the, 177
Black-fish, 201, 207
Buckland, Frank, pisciculture by, 7, 37
collecting salmon eggs, 78

C

Californian salmon, 39, 157
abundance of, 51

246 Lndex.

Californian salmon, dying after spawning, 44, 77
egg of, 32, 96

flesh of, 42, 46, 53

food of, 53

—— habits of, 40

- —— introduction of, into New Zealand, 29
France, 184

Germany, 185

Victoria, 24, 29, 103, 192
size of, 41

spawning of, 42, 49

taking the fly, 55

thriving in high temperature, 41, 48
Canada, fish culture in, 186

Carp, transport of, 133

Charred wood for hatching-boxes, 109
Chimborazo, ss., shipment of eggs by, 78, 134, 168
China, transport of live fish in, 126

——-— fish culture in, 174

Cleanliness, necessity for, 117, 1382

Cod, Murray, the, 61

Collecting ova, 67, 71, 72, 78

Colour of salmon, 149

Columbia river, 62

Corangamite, Lake, 178, 180

——— rise of water of, 182

Coregonus albus, 177

Coste, Mons., 7

—— hatching apparatus invented by, 108

D

Deodorizing the water, 117, 121

Disease among salmon in England and Scotland, 171
Distributing the Californian salmon fry, 122, 195
Dry method of impregnating eggs, 167

Durham, ss., shipment of salmon eggs by, 26, 137

Index. 247

E
Eels, culture of, 2
— in the Latrobe river, 207
Eggs, dead, 114
removal of, from boxes, 143
barren, 117
number of, in different fish, 97
—— of Californian salmon, 32, 96
salmon and trout, 115
development of, 88, 95, 116
mode of packing, 25, 28, 30, 35, 115, 137

——— size of, 96

Egypt, fish culture in, 1
Egyptian fish, 177
Enemies of malian, 69, 241
Ercildoune, hatching-boxes at, 105

F

Filtering the water, 90, 99, 108

Fins of salmon, rays in, 150, 152, 156
Firth, Mr., 37

Fish-breeding establishments, 187

—— ladders, 9

Fishing, history of, 10

Food of salmon and trout, 46, 53, 149, 165
young salmon, 119

France, Californian salmon in, 184

——— pisciculture in, 7, 67, 184
Fresh-water herring, 184

Fungus attacking eggs of salmon and trout, 31, 99, 108, 115
Fusaro, Lake, oyster culture in, 2

G
Gellibrand river, 195
Germany, fish culture in, 7, 67, 185
Gippsland, distributing Californian salmon in, 216
Goulburn river, 65

248 Index.

Gourami, the, 176

Gravel in hatching-boxes, 31, 101, 109, 111
Grayling of Australia, 184

Grilse, 163

Growth of salmon and trout, 154, 160, 164, 167

H
Hatching-boxes, 32, 100, 109
at Ercildoune, 105
Hatching of young salmon, 32, 88, 92
without water, 88, 90
Herring, fresh-water, 184
Huningue, 7, 67, 187
Hybrid salmon, 147, 158, 166
Hybrids between salmon and trout, 147, 166

I
Ice, value of, in packing eggs, 25, 31, 86, 126

L

Liberating the young fish, 122, 193
Light necessary for young fish, 111
Lord, J. K., 43

M
McCloud river, 36
collecting eggs in, 74
Mersey river, 242
Migrations of salmon, 162 (See also Spawning.)
Mines on salmon rivers, 49
Mitchell river, temperature of, 226
Meeris, Lake, fish culture in, 1
Moisture, hatching eggs in, 88, 90
Murray cod, 61
river, as a salmon stream, 59
temperature of, 60, 65
Murrumbidgee river, 65

Index. 249

N

Nests made by salmon, 68, 93
New Zealand, salmon and trout in, 26
—-—- collecting salmon eggs from, 78

O

Ombre-chevalier and salmon, cross between, 166
Otway, Cape, salmon at, 210

——— streams of, 238

Ova. (See Eggs.)

Oxygen, supply of, to eggs and fish, 33, 92, 124
Oyster-fisheries of Victoria, 183

Oysters in Lake Corangamite, 182

P

Packing the ova, 25, 28, 30, 35, 115, 137
Parr, 119, 161, 164
marks, 119, 148, 151

Q
Quatrefages, Mons. de, 4
Quinnat. (See Californian salmon.)

R

Raveret-Wattel, Mons., on Californian salmon, 47
Redds, spawning, 68, 93
Remy, Mons., fish culture by, 4

Sacrament river, 36, 49, 60

Salmo eriox, 151, 156

fario, 153, 165

quinnat. (See Californian salmon.)

250 Lndex.

Salmo salar, characteristics of, 150
trutta, 151
Salmon and trout, identification of, 146
colour of, 149
enemies of, 69, 241
fisheries, value of, 189
> flesh of, 42, 47, 53
food of, 46, 53, 119, 149, 165
growth of, 160, 164, 167
hatching of, 32, 88, 92
in the Arctic regions, 189
kept in fresh water, 141, 152, 163
shipments of, to Australia, etc., 16, 18
spawning of, 68, 85, 93, 165
salmon-trout, 151
teeth of, 150, 153
value of, 15
varieties of, 21, 169
varying appearance of, 147
young, 36, 116, 118
(See also Californian salmon.)
Salt lakes of Victoria, 177
San Joaquin river, 48, 60
Scales of the salmon, 148, 149, 153, 154, 156
Sexes of salmon, difference between, 54.
Smolts, 118, 151, 162.
Snowy river, 233
Spawning of salmon and trout, 68, 85, 93, 165
Stone, Livingston, Mr., collecting salmon eggs, 51, 73, 74
hatching apparatus, 113
Stormontfield fish-ponds, 7

T

Tasmania, salmon and trout in, 16, 19, 26, 186
growth of, 165, 170

Teeth of salmon, 150

trout, 153

Temperature of water, 33, 85, 126, 129, 130

Lndex. 251

Temperature of water, and Californian salmon, 41, 48

effects of, on hatching and growth, 35, 91, 95, 99, 102,
104, 161, 165

in Gippsland, 226, 230

sudden changes of, 105, 112

Thames, salmon in the, 194

Tinned salmon, 45, 56

Tobacco smoke, effect of, on fish, 181, 204

Transport of live fish, 124, 133

Trout bred in ponds, 72

food of, 46, 53, 149

——— growth of, 154, 160, 164, 167

——— indigenous to Love’s river, Australia, 198

in the Yarra, 201

large in Tasmania, 165

living in brackish water, 155

shipments of, to Australia, etc., 16, 18

thriving in high temperature, 102

varieties of, 153

Tyne river, 79

U
United States, fish culture in, 8, 186

Vv

Value of salmon fisheries, 189
Victoria, English salmon unsuccessful in, 23
Californian salmon in, 24

Ww

Water for hatching egys, 102
filtering of, 90, 99, 108
——— temperature of, 33, 90, 99
supply of, 112, 113, 117
Whitebait, in Lake Corangamite, 180
White-fish of Canada, 177

252 Lndex.

Yarra river, 194

Z

Youl, Mr. J. A., C.M.G., 19
packing salmon eggs, 86
Young salmon, hatching of, 36, 116
appearance of, 118

food of, 119

LONDON : PRINTED BY EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING CROSS, S.W.

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