202 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Art. XIII. — Notes on Sea -fishes. 



By Geo. M. Thomson, F.L.S. 



[^Ilcad before the Otcujo Institute, 10th November, 1891.'] 



The late Mr. W. Arthur, a former member and president of 

 this Institute, when secretary of the Otago Acchmatisation 

 Society, prepared a somewhat elaborate form, which he sup- 

 plied to a few enthusiastic friends and correspondents, such as 

 the late Captain Hayward of Catlin's Eiver, Mr. Sutherland 

 of Milford Sound, and others, in which he got them to record 

 all the fish caught by them, with sundry particulars as to 

 contents of stomach, condition of ova, &c. On his death, all 

 his papers dealing with this subject were handed over to me, 

 as I had shown some little interest in the work, and had made 

 a few suggestions which Mr. Arthur thought worthy of 

 adoption. It seemed to me advisable to widen, if possible, the 

 scope of these observations, and with this object in view I 

 wrote to Mr. Lewis H. Wilson, of the Marine Department, a 

 gentleman who takes much interest in the sea-fish of this 

 colony, and asked his co-operation. Mr. Wilson obtained 

 printed forms drawn up somewhat on the lines of those pre- 

 pared by Mr. Arthur, and issued them, through the department, 

 to all the principal lighthouse-keepers on the coast. These 

 forms have been filled in more or less regularly for some years 

 past — many necessarily in a very perfunctory way — and dupli- 

 cates have been forwarded to me. From these the following 

 notes have been compiled and condensed. A considerable 

 proportion of the returns sent in contain no new information 

 whatever. On the other hand, some of the recorders have un- 

 doubtedly been stimulated to exercise their observational 

 powers to a gratifying extent, and there can be little doubt 

 that in time, and wdth better direction, — which I hope will be 

 forthcoming, — we shall obtain from the lighthouse-keepers of 

 this coast — one of the most intelligent bodies of men in the 

 public service — a mass of observations which will prove to be 

 of very considerable scientific value. Already I have obtained 

 from some of these correspondents many species of Crustacea 

 (fish-parasites and others) which I could hardly have got in 

 any other way. 



The returns tabulated by me in this paper, including those 

 obtained by Mr. Arthur, cover a period extending from 1884 to 

 the present time. Their examination and summarisation have 

 produced only a very small addition to our existing knowledge 

 — an amount, indeed, which may seem out of all proportion 



