THE SALMON OVA AT CANTERBURY.

Evening Star, Issue 3199, 22 May 1873, Page 3

THE SALMON OVA AT CANTERBURY.

At a meeting of the Christchurch Acclimatisation Society on Wednesday last, the Curator’s report upon the introduction of salmon ova was laid upon the table, and the Lyttelton Times goes on to say Reference was made to the great facilities afforded to him in transhipping the ova by tbe Superintendent of Otago, and the assistance rendered by Mr 11 Quin. < n opening tbe ice bouse on board the Oberon it was found to be in an unsatisfactory state ; the top tier of boxes, 40 in number, being in confusion, and had evidently shifted several times from the roll of the vessel. The temperature of the ice house before removing any ice was 55deg., and after some of the ice had been taken out, 33deg. The transhipment and conveyance of the Cant< rbury ova to tbo gardens was explained, after which the following remarks were made upon placing the ova in the hatching box*, s:— Some of the boxes were at once placed in runningiccd water, and in tbe course of half an hour all the likely-looking ova were carefully removed with a glass syphon or spoon into the hatching troughs, when most of the good ova sank to the bottom, and the bad was removed with the moss. Two Iwxes were kept unopened in running water till evening, and the contents removed at dusk. After an interval of a week, the only noticeable distinction between the different modes was, that the contents of the boxes from the upper tier in the ice house presented a much less favorable appearance than the lower tier, and it was also from the latter that a few of tbe boxes yielded a very fair percentage of good eggs; these boxes, however, had no distinctive marks on them. For two days and nights, the temperature of tbe water was gradually regulated by means of ice to thojnatural state of the spring, 55deg.. More than ordinary care has been exercised in the removal of the dead ova. Up to the present time success cannot be relied upon, for although a portion of the eggs show signs of vitality, little progress is made, the embryo appearing to lack the necessary strength for emerging into life.” It was pointed out that the only successful hatching out of ova brought from England bad been iu Tasmania, when the passage was under 100 days, which in the present instance had been considerably exceeded. Reference was made to Mr Oeuus curator of the Otago Society, having assisted Mr Johnson very much, and to Messrs Miles and Co having conveyed tbe ova to this Province free of charge. 'J he Curator expressed his conviction that much simpler moans would be discovered for conveying ova, aud stated that several of the finest young trout liberated this season were hatched oat after they had been confined iu tbe egg state for five weeks in a warm sitting-room without ice or water. On Thursday the first salmon was hatched ont from the ova, aud on Friday a few more fish made their appearance there were then about two hundred ova in the boxes, but a large portion of these may be expected to go bad.