314 Transactions. — Zoology. 



of acclimatising the European salmon and trout, and, as ex- 

 perience has since shown, successfully. It is vulgarly also 

 called the ' Yarra herring,' and is the Prototroctes murana." 



This description applies to the New Zealand upokororo, 

 except that it does not possess the " cucumber smell," which, 

 however, is as strongly marked in our other and proper native 

 Salmonoid (Retropinna) as it is in the English smelt (Osmerus 

 eperlanus). The upokororo appears to inhabit clear running 

 streams in all parts of the colony, and I believe that the 

 large fish locally called " trout," which were sometimes cast 

 up on the beaches of the great inland lakes of Otago in the 

 early days before trout were introduced, also belong to this 

 species. 



From all accounts they probably reached 6 lb. or 8 lb. in 

 weight, but the usual size of this fish is under 1 lb. weight, 

 and from 10 in. to 12 in. in length ; and I have seen no speci- 

 mens less than 7 in., and certainly none in the semi-larval 

 stage of whitebait. 



At certain seasons they assemble in the streams in im- 

 mense shoals, and the fact of their being often seen near the 

 mouths of rivers has given rise to the idea that the upokororo 

 is a sea-going fish that enters the fresh water for the purpose 

 of spawning. In my former account of this fish I adopted 

 this view, and quoted a statement to the same effect by Mr. 

 W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S. ; but further inquiry leads me to 

 think that these fish are constantly resident in the fresh 

 water, and that' their annual migration does not extend 

 beyond the commencement of the brackish water. 



The fishermen on the rivers of the West Coast who 

 supply the large townships with fish obtained chiefly in the 

 salt and brackish water within the river bars appear to be 

 very confident that the "grayling," as they term it, does not 

 enter the salt water ; and on the same subject I have the 

 following note from Mr. C. Hursthouse, of Taranaki : "The 

 upokororo, which you describe as a sea- visiting fish, is not 

 such here. I made its esteemed acquaintance years ago in 

 our little belle riviere Waiwaikaiho. Natives, however, told 

 us that it is solely an inhabitant of fresh water, that it 

 spawns high up in the streams, and that, though always 

 present in the pools along their courses, they come down in- 

 great numbers during floods. The only one ever found here 

 in salt water was a dead one picked up at the mouth of the 

 Henui after a heavy spate. Our most skilful brother of the 

 rod, Mr. J. H. Smith, who, as shown by his diary, caught 

 last year 1,152 of these fish in fifty-eight fishing-days, taking 

 in one day ninety-three, thinks that upokororo would no more 

 voluntarily get into salt water than into hot water. Here, 

 with our rude tackle, they do not rise at the artificial fly, but 



