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Sir James Hector said the specimen was received on 10th December, and was submitted for examination by Mr. J. R. Macdonald, hon. secretary of the Nelson Acclimatisation Society, who wrote that it was supposed to be the young of some true salmon turned out in the Motueka River two years ago, their length being then from 4 in. to 11 in. and their age two years, and that they had been reared from the eggs in the Nelson ponds. Some apparently similar fish have been caught in the Maitai River, in Nelson, which is thirty miles distant from the Motueka River, alongside of which are the breeding-ponds of the Nelson society. The specimen was in bad condition. The spirit used was too strong, and the delicate scales were stripped. It was the nearest approach to the smolt of the true salmon he had seen, except a few from Whanganui. It was desirable that good specimens should be preserved next November, when these fish might probably reappear, and perhaps also a run of grilse later on in the season. Specimens for examination should be most carefully handled, and at once wrapped in butter-cloth that had been soaked in a 5-per-cent. solution of formalin, and packed lightly in a jar or kerosene-tin containing a similar solution reduced to 3 per cent. Total length of specimen submitted, 14 in.; of head, 3 in.; of gill-opening, 2in. Anal rays, 10 (the Californian salmon has 14); L.L., 108; L.T., 2/2 2/8. Opercular spots, 4. Covered with pearly-white scales, with a few minute black × spots. Back fins, black; belly fins, white. Ray formula: B, 11; D, 11; A, 10; P, 13; V, 9.

A beautiful specimen, sent by Mr. W. Timperley, of Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, of the coral lichen, with which the ground in the beech forests of that district is densely covered.