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No. 18. Dr. Hectoe to the Hon. the Colonial Seceetaet. Sib,— Colonial Museum, Wellington, Bth February, 1877. I have the honor to report the receipt of the case of white-fish ova, referred to in Mr. Creighton's letter of the 3rd January, and to inform you, that in accordance with your instructions, it was sent on to the Secretary of the Acclimatization Society, to whom I telegraphed, so that he might take delivery of it at Lyttelton. Prom Professor Baird's letter of the 22nd December, it appears that this case contains 125,000 ova, or one-half the total number that were ordered, and that the remainder is to follow by next mail steamer. I opened the outer case and ascertained that there was a sufficient quantity of ice round the inner box to maintain the ova at a low temperature until they reached the hatching-ponds, and so far as I can judge the shipment has been successfully conducted up to this point. As the rearing of the young fish will be attended with some difficulty, and require different treatment from that adopted for the young salmon and trout, I have extracted the information in the enclosed memorandum for the guidance of those who conduct the experiment, chiefly from the Eeports of the United States Fisheries Commissioners. I have, &c, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. James Hectoe.

Enclosure in No. 18. Memorandum respecting the American Salmon and "White-fish, recently introduced into New Zealand. 1. Califobnian Salmon {Salmo quinnat, Richardson.) This fish has been placed in the sub-genus (Oncorhynclius), which differs from the true Salmo, in having more rays in the anal fin. In habits and general form it closely resembles the Salmo salar of the Atlantic, and it is probably identical with the North Pacific salmon, Salmo (Oncorhgnchus) lycaodon of Pallas (Grunther, vol. vi., p. 155). The most important difference from the Atlantic salmon is its endurance of much higher temperatures at the period of spawning, as the eggs are matured in the summer and hatched in the autumn of a mild climate, instead of being developed during a rigorous winter, and hatched out in spring. The Californian salmon spends the greater part of its life in the sea, and especially frequents deep-water inlets. There are three " runs " of this salmon up the rivers in each year —the first is in spring, during March and April, when the prime fish, of largest size and best quality, after frequenting the estuaries in large numbers during the winter months, start up the rivers, the full-grown fish working up to the source of the streams, where they spawn in July and August. So far as yet observed, the adult fish all die after spawning, and never return to the sea. In August there is a second run of fish up the rivers, but at this season they are of inferior quality. The third run is of smaller-sized fish, in the month of October, just before the winter sets in. There are no salmon in the rivers during the winter months from November to March, at which season they are caught in the sea. The young fish hatch out m October, after sixty days' immersion when the water has an average temperature of 48° to 50° P., but after forty-eight days' with an average temperature of 58° to 60°. It has not been ascertained where the young fish spend the winter months. It is an important fact that in ascending to the breeding-place the gravid fish must frequently pass through river water having a temperate of over 76°. The average size of the full-grown salmon in the Sacramento Eiver and its tributaries is about 20 lbs. weight, but fish weighing from 40 lbs. to 50 lbs. are not uncommon. It is a large handsome fish, with silvery scales, and a deeper body and less delicate look than the salmon of Europe, but in quality as food they are quite equal to it. When in prime order their flesh is firm, sweet, rich, juicy and high coloured. As a game fish they are active and powerful, and are freely caught with hook and line in salt and brackish water. In fresh water the best bait is salmon roe, but they also give good sport with the artificial fly. The climate of the upper tributaries of the Sacramento Eiver, where the best salmon-fishing in California is found, closely approaches to that of the New Zealand, mountain vallies. The winters are mild, a very little snow falling occasionally with the rains. The days in summer and autumn are hot, but the nights are cool, there being a great range of temperature in the twenty-four hours. Thus, in September (corresponding to March in New Zealand) the thermometer has been known to rise from 55° at sunrise to 100° at noon. The foregoing observations indicate the Salmo quinnat to be well adapted for thriving in the seas and rivers of New Zealand, and the success which has attended the recent shipment of ova shows that a few large importations would, in the course of a few years, thoroughly stock our waters, and introduce a lasting and remunerative industry, as it is from this species that the chief supply of preserved salmon is now manufactured. The consumption of this article in New Zealand and the Australian Colonies in one year, as shown by the import returns for 1875, was very large, the New Zealand share having a value of £10,000. The business of canning on the Pacific Coast has now reached enormous dimensions. In 1875, 16,000,000 lbs. of canned fish was prepared for exportation, and last year seventeen cannaries were at work, though not fully employed, owing, however, to a deficient supply of fish, and not to any falling off in the demand. 2. White-fish. The species of white-fish, the ova of which are now being imported, is the Coregonus albus, the most valuable of a large number of species of that genus, which are distributed throughout the fresh-water lakes and streams of the Northern Hemisphere between latitude 46° and the Arctic Circle. 2—H. 14.