TROUT OVA AND SALMON UMBLA OVA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1990, 16 May 1868, Page 5

TROUT OVA AND SALMON UMBLA OVA.

The following is the report of the SubCointnittce of the Acclimatisation Hociety, appointed to superintend the receiving and transh'prnent of the ova. A Committee, consisting of Messrs Carrick, Eccles, and Muriuon,- and Capt. Boyd, wcru appointed by the Council of the Otago Acclimatisation Society, to suporvi»e tho necessary preparations for tho reception of the ova of "brovm-trout and chwtkr om/»v (miXino utnLta) to bo placed at tho <lis o«al of the Society by tho Provincial Government, upon tho arrival of tiie Celestial Queen, from London, tho anno vessel conveying to the Provincial Government of Otngo a large quantity of. salmon ova, and a few boxes of tho ova of salmon trout.

The first step taken by tho Committee was to ascertain the temperature of the water in tho various streams in tho neighborhood of Duncdin, aa they were leal t<> understand, upon refer; iiig to tho wall-known authorities upon pisciculture {Messra Buckbuvd and. Francis) that if tho temperature exceeded 50deg. Cslironbeit, tho result) -nugbi. bo fatal to the succesJif ul hatching of tho ova; and efforts v/«re therefore maile to il scover houiq ttrcam, whero tho temperature would bo several degrees lower than that already indicated, aad which might not reasonably be expected to rise at this 8-jiison iri tho year, vise r-r-tho latter tiul of April and beginning of May (which niouthß corrctsp<iad to October aiieLJSovettsber in England) an hij^jt as 50deg. The Committee wore Bitcoeßsfrtl in obtaining {Mirnii'ssiou from Capt. Boyd, tv conduct tlv» es[X;rimcnt ui>on a stream which flows, through a deep wooded.iiult ou his property. Alter a series of experiments, it w s ancertainod that the water-of this stream maintained an even temperature o£ 4'hlei> , which is fonr or five decrees lowur than tliat ci my of the neighboring, creo.;*a. In conducting those experiment*, tlso C->mrr>i;too-. m<de use of an i»f>tfnmea»t which h$A been, recently compared, with tho standard thermometer belonging to *ao-. Geological Hurvey Dop<rtmeat in "Wellington, aid tho cwtactions wcro obtained upon ' application to.the Uepsvtnwnt. Mr ClfFord v the SocietyX Manager, who, i« tin* meat>,v time, bait bc.w prep&riiig this hatchingboxc^, !iltc», &0.,. at onco comiut-nus.! prepar.-iti.Giw ' for lirii^iiig »l a nunpl.1 "f »tcr to ih ■ «ito ' Axutl uiHJji <or ])lacin.g the l"os(ia. 1 hcso latter, siic"m nurubtir, in li^fedvith xinf, and cov6Kti-\vUn * Ud of lht» a-'unc mut-iii, i*crfor^tid ;-thoir ilitnenstona beu'.g i>iu.v I«:i lony, one fuot \ride, and ona foot sd rtepb. In cjsich, fit them was placo«l a q^iaaUiy of cavcl, which, bail h. en car*i Jly <;Icauu 1 and bulled. . Thtsy were \>\wA »v *»'<• pvi'-iliel rowa, , t.'icro bei«i' throe, luxe, in each r.*w, in- ;! ciinin^ slightly so that a »entlo flaw fit ; w.frr cdu'il \vaa through th j»? fran the QlUsts. Th&ra are four of tboso. Hicy arc > o-imposoci of etoat earthcjjwaro pi;>es, about ( «ghGMc}»B?&iJj«nelw, w4wo fi)Mw?tft

carefully cleaned gravel. Above these war placed a Bmdl c stern, in which ka coakt bo placed, for th-i purpose of reducing tha temperature. The water was then brought in through zinc piping, cuca■«»! in sacking, from a dam formed upon a strwatnict led oil* from the mxin creek Those props rations were completed eoina time before tho arriv.il of tlio Celestial Queen, which readied l'ort Chalmers?, atter a lengthy p.iss.ago of 107 days from London, ou .Saturday, the 2nd May. Her actual passage, hiwevvr, was completed, n 07 days, as she did not leave the Cliauucl until the 27th January. Mr Curricle, the-Jf-»n Secretary to the Snsisty, and .Mr Clifford, proceeded va. board <so,-«n after she* dropped her anchor. It wrie found, oa opening the icehouse, that a considerable quantity of the ieo had molted, a.::<\ many ot tho* boxes containing lhoovAW^ruol-ficrvcd"lyingon; their B'deu or turned over, as it fhsy had been,disturbed by the rolling of tin-. vessel. The boxen containing the trout and fitlmo rnvMrn ova were placed oa board a row boat at 10 p.m., along with a good snpp'y of ice. Tho boat let at once fur Dunediu ; and the jetty at Pelichet lixy wig reached at 12 \">on Sunday morning. Upon arrival, the boxes, which were on haudbarrows, and covered with blankets and ice. were conw.-y.ui with all despatch to the hatching poudi, wUichwere reached alvjut three and svh>lf lioura from tho time of leaving Port ( ha inors. Dofore i-rocueding to open tho b'txos, it was resolved to red ;co the tcnincrature of tha stream by placing blocks* of icoiii thoevsk-rn. About 7 a.ru., when the tempornturc in the ripplo boxes stood at -JOdeg , the boxes were opened ; and h!r Clillor I, assisted by Mr C. K. Turton, proc-odcil to dopusit tho ova in tho bed of gravel prepared for them, :tnd this piocem was coutiuued until about uoou of tlm

yntne day. Tiqut Ova- -Of those, there wre four boxes, sujijMistd to contain, in all, 1500 o\r*, On opening each box, there wna a white cobwebby- coking mouldiness covering tlio top of the moos. On removing the iiions, a good, many of tho ova were found adhering t<> K^ther in bunches of two and lhn:e up to a dozen or more, in such cases, tho ova were no-irly always bad. On the other, livid, nix is lated form, as a rule, pnuicnted a favorable appearance. Out of tho four boxes, tho number of ova, supposed to bo possibly good, were aa follows :— No. 1 H'.l ova Do 2 1*22 do Do 'A 10-i do Do 4 50 do .'i2o ova in all. These appa~ontly living ones-wem dc.posilcd in one liatfihing box, and the remaining ■ v.v, except such as were actually in adeca^etl stale, were distributed through other two b-jxea. In shaking tho mos.*, it. should l«. added, tho beat looking ova liceame readily detached, and in several of the ova tho eyes of the Huh were plainly visible. Ova which appeared to bo decidedly bail, adhered to tho inoßs. Tlio&o latter were deposited in. the ndjr>ining creek.

•Sai.mo (I.mhi.a Ova.—Seven boxes wcro received, supposed to contain IK Oil ova in all. In each box 'he moss, which in parts wax muddy, ap|>aart*d to have been vackvd muck tighter than was tho c:i-e in tho boxesi conta'iiing t>:e trout ova ; and depressions weia oliHerveil on the moss au if caused byknuckleu. Several lend shells, of which some were alive, wero found ii^the mows. All theso boxetf, when ojM;ned, smulled unpli'ft'-.ftntly, and one especially so. The moss did not app«ar to bo bo fresh as that in the trout ova boxes. The ova not only touched, but were covcrinif each other -in some places two or three thick: —looking like a mass in thecentro, not being distributed, as wero tho trout ova. Kjually over the surface of tho mons. Tliokc ov* which presented a favorable appearance, were found by thomsolvffli. In a few instincea tlio eyes of the lish were viiible. Thoio ov» which gecmed to Ikj very bid, were found a<3herinj( together jyeneraily by gclatinou» matter, in in.inseß of ftomo two or threo inches wide, of some hundred or more ova. Ira. cob r, some of these ova were dark brown, some yellow, like the yoko of hard boiled egg, and others opaque white—nearly all mashed and soft, and smelling badly. Tho bist looking out of tho seven lxixeo, whiclt amouutfld only to 203 ova in all, wcro dc~ positwl in oue ripple box ; while tha remainder wero distributed through other twe* boxes.

After tlw ova had boon deposited, the bedir of ffravel wo.c covered with piceß of filat<; which had been well cleaned. Tho Managerhas sinco endeavored to remove any.dead ova from tho hatching boxen, which happened t<* be in contact with apparently living ones. Tho Committee anticipate that the quantity of ico they have obtained will be sufficient to maintain a temperature of 'lOilog. ii»the ripplo boxes for uome days.to come.— Report tf Mr Cmitokd, Manager:— Received—2 oysters, 4 boxes brown trout, 7 do salmon umb'ln, 12 I'orkinß fowl's eggs, a. quantity of ice —per Celestial Queen. On opening the boxes .containing, tho trout ova, the inma wa a found to bo quita dry, of a brown color, and covered; with a cobwabby mouklincus. On liftingup tho moss, a very largo quantity of. the ova was closely adhering together in. small lots, and generally of a ili'ty oqaqnu whito color. On gently shaking the moss L was enablwl to detach some of tho ova having a more healthy appearance j but tho most: healthy looking were a few that were found, entirely «f para to from the. rest,, and nearest tho outsido of tho boxes. These were at onco placed in tho first; hatching-box. Tho others were then placed in water to endeavor to Keparato themy which was partly successful,, tho beat of which wero placed in the next box, and the remainder in tbelast. On, opening tho boxes containing tho tt*hn» nmb-la ova, tho-moss did nofc reach to within, from an inch and a-half to two incVs of the lids, and had the appearance of having sunk down; it also-lay in little hollows. It was worse in color than in th« trewt box«», very dirty, and bad the samOt monldly appearance. On Kfttnjj the iujhs, tho ova was. nearly all adhering closely..together in omsmrisa ; antt in the contrft ttf the boxen, too ova wnst«o or three deep, sony! beiag-qujto rotten. Most of tbo boxcahid a moat offen-iva smell, nnd from the general ap~ traarAitcjh one is led tr,,tbinlj the jtimi intMt have bc«n pressed into a concave i'nrm, bo thnt the ova would naturally f^ll.to the cfiii tt& of the box. I Tore again, tljo ova that was'antirely detaahed wrw in the I*st condition, like the 6rouh I treated il exactly as I did the trout, but was los f-ii-tuuat.: in. ! being aWe to separate )', ns after bcin^ honra i;» water, thero-wuro solid matr.oxof fr.omo.io> inch to six, inches across. The . <|:f' illt''ty' placed in tlie liafohini; boxoa 0» >t a\iy Uopsff could bo aatertaia-.-d for {and ivj.a thcas arsrdouutful),w,ero .*— Trout. 32i); SrJmo urobla, *13. I ha.\-o endeavored to carry ont, in c\«ry retpeca, Mr YouVb instrtic'ions to Sir I)**Lin, undbufrn* placing tho ova in tbfl \iowt, the toimjpraturo of tho water, was iuiltt-wl to 40, and*lias ronaincl so Qvcr since, ex:o;* o» tho nifilit of. the sth, wh"n.<w,itbiut ice) >c I hav-e nothint? torci^rt a B to ih.e .l-velojy. m*nt of the fish, nrJ; b«i»g aM« to sea any p'ian»c lam also "Jitf to say tS*t J|> to the Usent, I do n*. W«»y of «ho »>-*t* o»* tcpouiiag opwm?, or OvawS »'it Ils oi faa~

Tho fowl's ejrg* were pl.vd m follows:-—G to Mr J. A. Kwta; 3to Mr.WliiUOftw; 3.t0 ilr Chan. Ciw>t.