74 



FISHES OF AUSTRALIA. 



mud, there being a special apparatus, formed by a modifi- 

 cation of the pharynx, for the purpose of filtering out, to 

 a great extent, the coarser particles or matter that is unfit 

 for food. This filtering apparatus prevents the passage of 

 foreign bodies, both into the stomach and through the gill- 

 openings. In feeding, these fishes project the more-or-less 

 telescopic mouth, taking a mouthful of mud or sand, or of 

 both combined, as the case may be ; and, after having worked 

 it about for some time between the pharyngeal bones, they 

 eject the rougher or more unsuitable portions. The hinder 

 portion of the stomach is worthy of mention, inasmuch as ;t 

 is modified to form a kind of strong muscular gizzard, 

 which is almost globular, and which suggests somewhat that 

 organ in birds. Anyone who has gutted a Mullet must have 

 noticed this peculiar-looking organ. 



Fig. '11. SKA Mn.i.KT 



(loljula). 



Of about 100 known species of the Grey Mullets, nearly 

 a quarter at least inhabit the coasts or streams of Aus- 

 tralia ; some of them growing to a large size. From an 

 economic point of view, our Mullets are of the greatest 

 importance; and, they are likely to be of still-greater im- 

 portance to us in the near future. As it would be quite 

 impossible within the limits of our little volume to speak 

 upon even half of the Australian forms, I must content 

 myself with a reference to some of the more important ones. 

 These are, at present, as follows: The Sea Mullet 

 (Mugil dobula), the Flat-tail Mullet (Mugil peronii), 

 the Diamond-scaled Mullet (Mugil waigiensis), the Sand 

 Mullet (Myxus elongatus), and the Yellow-eye Mullet 

 (Agonostomus forstcri}. Let it be at once remembered that 

 each of these, as in so many other fishes, is known by at least 



