ACCLIMATISATION.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2505, 31 March 1881, Page 2

ACCLIMATISATION.

The Council of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society held an ordinary meeting yesterday. The Secretary intimated that the request of the South Canterbury Society for nets &c. with which to test the salmon fishing at Opihi Gorge would be complied with. A telegram from Wellington stated that permission could not be granted to the Hunt Club to course hares in April. Mr C. J. Tripp, of Orari, wrote complaining that the hares were very destrvctive in his neighborhood, one of his turnip fields presenting the appearance of having been fed off b}" sheep, and stating further that he thought all restrictions to their destruction should be removed. The Secretary said that Mr Tripp should have written to the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society on the matter, seeing that he lived south of Rangitata. He had written to Mr Tripp to that effect. A letter was read from Mr W. Arthur, Secretary to the Otago Acclimatisation Society, in reply to the correspondence published by Dr Chilton, of Timaru, re the destructive propensities of large trout which it was alleged preyed on the young of their species. Mr Arthur urged that the|habits of trout in New Zealand and in Great Britain were very different owing to the difference in climate and other conditions. Their food here was more abundant and their growth far more rapid. He went on to say : —They average from lib to 21b of yearly increase in weight, while the average English trout only reaches -J- of a lb yearly. Then, as to their time of feed, we see something new. In most of our rivers that is in the forenoon and about mid day, when the sun is blazing brightly in a clear blue sky—the very time when insect life is most active, and the supply of surface food most obtainable by the trout. This, I think indicates a perferance for insects on the part of the trout, though they feed at other times also. These last facts all point to this—the probability of our trout feeding on flies, animals, and small fish native to the streams, in preference to the young of their own species, which I may add are much swifter in their movements to elude pursuers than the whitebait or silverfish. And this is just what years of personal observation have proved to be the case—both for male and female trout —at least so far as I have seen. In proof of which I will here insert the following results of actual specimens examined by me : November 30, 1877, male trout river Lee, weight 51b ; contents of stomach—crayfishes, parts of grasshopper and beetle.

December 7, male trout, Shag, 51b 2oz -—remains of one or two minnows.

December 19, male trout, Shag, —part of one small minnow.

January 1.9, 1879, female trout, Lee, 21b—shellfish and cadis bait plentfiul, larvae, leg of crayfish and two stones.

February 8, male trout, Deep Stream, S.flb —crayfish, beetles, flies. February 8, female trout, Deep Stream. 4flb—crayfish, green beetles, and flies’. March 2, female trout, Broad Creek, 241b —cadis bait, larva-, one small shellfish, short bits of grass and rushes.

March 29,1879, female trout Kuriwao l^lb —a few larvae and shellfish. July 25, female trout, Leith, Gib white mucus only (fish died at spawning.

November 14, female trout, Waiwcra, 51b—flies and one or two larva;.

November 28, male trout, Waiwera, 3Jib—crayfish, larvaj.shellftsb, and flies. March 26, 1880, male trout, Deep Stream, 31b—beetles, grasshoppers, and a few small stones.

October 22, female trout, Lee, 1 Alb—large quantity of flies,five large creepers. October 23, female trout, Lee, 3J-lb — flies creepers, shellfish, larvae ; stomach very full.

December 30, female trout Waiwera, 2JII> —crayfish different sizes, very full. February 14, 1881, male trout, Deep Stream, 41b—small trout 4in long. February 11, male trout, Deep Stream, 31b—very full of crickets and grasshoppers