1839.] REPTILES AND FISH. 247 



computed at 5,000,000. The average annual increase is no 

 far from forty per cent. The wool obtained is of the bes. 

 quality; the finer varieties being equal to the best Spanish 

 and averaging two and a half pounds to each animal. Shoe 

 are apt to stray, as well as the horned cattle, though the 

 are kept in flocks, and watched by shepherds, either nativ 

 or convicts ; but they do not return to a wild state, as the 

 are soon cut off by the ferocious dingo, or native dog. 



Reptiles are abundant. There are twenty-three know 

 genera, twenty-one of which are peculiar to this countn 

 There are two or three varieties of turtles, and about t.h 

 same number of alligators. Lizards and snakes are nume 

 ous, and some of them are exceedingly venomous. The Ian 

 lizards, or guanas, and the crimson-sided snake, are of e\ 

 traordinary beauty, but their bite is deadly. The black, th 

 diamond, and the whip snake, and the deaf adder, are als 

 poisonous ; and as it is not easy to distinguish them whe 

 curled up amid the tufts of grass, it is sometimes dangerou 

 to frequent the places where they abound, on foot. Sand- 

 leeches, or blood-suckers, are quite common, and are mucii 

 dreaded on account of their bite, as the wound always ulcer- 

 ates, and is very painful. 



The bays and inlets along the Australian coast, and th< 

 adjacent islands, are favorite places of resort for cetaceou> 

 animals ; and the whale fishery is annually increasing in im- 

 portance. All the surrounding waters and the rivers aboun 

 in fish. The largest of the edible varieties is said to be th 

 river perch, or rock, specimens of which have been taken in 

 the Murray and Morrumbidgee rivers, weighing from one 

 hundred to one hundred and twenty pounds. Besides thi- 

 species, there are barracoota, native salmon, flat-head, trum- 

 peter, crawfish, rock oysters, muscles, and cockles, all in greu; 

 plenty. Sharks, of different varieties, are numerous along 

 the shores, and are frequently found a great distance up the 

 riv-rs. The smallest of the species is called Watts' shark. 

 and is remarkable for having the mouth near the extremity 



