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Show 28 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE [Jan. 13, the rill was occasionally lowered, a rid or two opened, and the ova carefully picked out by means of a curved glass tube. Scarcely a dead egg was found ; and from one shipment of 800 ova sent to N ew Zealand, 750 fry were liberated at four months old. In due course the rill became alive with thousands of Trout-fry, which were distributed in numbers of suitable streams and lakes in divers parts of Tasmania. Another large shipment of Trout-fry was also successfully transported to Victoria in Mr. Ramsbottom's apparatus, under the personal superintendence of Mr. John Buckland, one of the Salmon Commissioners, who, out of 226 taken from the ponds, delivered 225 healthy fish to the Acclimatization Society in Melbourne, thus accomplishing even a greater feat than that performed by Mr. Ramsbottom the year before. During this season the numbers of fish seen spawning in the Plenty were amazing ; and for several miles uj> the river, rids were to be seen on every suitable spot. Some of these rids were from 8 to 10 feet long, and must have been formed by enormous fish. During the winter of 1868 Mr. Ramsbottom, who had long been suffering from lung-disease, became much worse, and sailed for Sydney on leave of absence, in the hope that the change might benefit him; but he died in September, universally regretted by all who knew him or took any interest in the Salmon experiment. In reporting the death of their excellent Superintendent to the Government, the Salmon Commissioners unanimously expressed their sense of his great merit and the loss which they and the enterprise in which they were engaged had sustained in his death. In October 1868 the residue of the parr brought by the 'Lincolnshire ' put on their silvery scales, and took their departure from the pond seawards in the form of Smolts. During the summer of 1868 and 1869 reports of Salmon or Grilse having been seen were numerous ; and in March of the latter year, the river being low and bright, the fish were seen so frequently at a favourite pool near the entrance of the Plenty, that numbers of people used to spend the evening watching for them ; and on one occasion no less than twenty people were gratified by seeing several large fish, which could only be Salmon, sporting on the surface and occasionally breaching above the water. Amongst others, several residents on and near the river, who had always been most sceptical as to the presence of Salmon in the Derwent, became converted, and strongly condemned in others that disbelief which they themselves had fully concurred in but a short time before. At this time the Commissioners and others made many unsuccessful attempts to capture a fish that had returned from the sea. The cause of failure can be readily understood by any one who has seen a large river, the banks of which are, for the most part, in a state of nature. There being an absence of large indigenous fish, no motive has hitherto existed for clearing the dead timber from the stream or the living scrub from the banks ; and before either the angler or the net-fisherman can ply his calling successfully, considerable expense must be incurred in preparing suitable stations, lt might be thought |