OCR Text |
Show 16 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE [J as to the change of the water at fixed intervals, and warned the captain of the vessel that he might expect the Trout-ova to hatch about the 15th and the Salmon-ova about the 20th of April. On the 1st of March, however, in latitude 14° 30' north and longitude 26° west, the ova of both began to hatch, and continued to do so for about a fortnight, after which time the water became thick and putrid, the weather being intensely hot. As the ship approached colder latitudes, the water gradually cleared, but no symptoms of life appeared in the tub ; and when the vessel arrived in Tasmania, Dr. Milhgan, then Secretary of the Royal Society of Tasmania, and Mr. J. L. Burnett carefully examined', first the water in the tub, and then the gravel, but without finding any traces of either spawn or fish. Mr. Burnett, in an admirably written account of this experiment, published in the ** Proceedings ' of the Royal Society of Tasmania' (vol. ii. p. 288), suggested that in future the temperature of the water in which the ova are placed should, if practicable, be regulated by means of ice. From a letter from the Duke of Newcastle to Sir William Denison, dated the 2nd of June, 1853, enclosing a voluminous report from Dr. Boccius on the causes of failure, it appears that the cost of the experiment in the ' Columbus' was _6300, which was charged to the land-fund of the colony. On the 12th of June, 1852, J. C. Bidwell, Esq., Commissioner of Crown Lands in New South Wales, forwarded to His Excellency Sir William Denison a paper entitled " Notes on the Establishment of Salmon and other Fish in the Rivers of Tasmania and N e w Zealand," which paper was published in the ' Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania' (vol. ii. p. 326). The following extract will show that Mr. Bidwell was the first person who recommended the exact process by which success was ultimately attained more than ten years afterwards, though several have claimed the merit of the discovery at a later date. " O n mentioning the subject of the introduction of fish from foreign countries to the late Earl of Derby, he informed m e that he had been extremely unsuccessful in his attempts to breed exotic fish in England; and I do not think that there is an instance of any fish not belonging to the Cyprinida*** having been successfully established as colonists in any country ; but I believe the want of success may have arisen almost entirely from the small number of individuals, which, if imported alive, it would be at any time possible to turn loose, and that if thousands could be liberated at once, the chances would be in favour of any predaceous fish establishing itself in a new river in any suitable climate. Now to do this it would be necessary to bring and hatch the spawn. And I think that by packing spawn in ice there would be no difficulty in preserving its vitality for a much longer time than would be required. It is not probable that the vitality offish-spawn would be destroyed even by freezing ; but by merely packing it in ice there would be no danger of actual freezing, as the ice would always be in a melting state." Thus the whole difficulty was foreseen and provided against; and |