Mair. — Notes on Fish, in the Piako. 319 



2. Gala.vias. — The New Zealand minnow, often wrongly 

 named ''smelt." There are probably several species, but the 

 young fry of G. attenuatus is undoubtedly the most common 

 kind of whitebait in the market. It is the little fish that is 

 scooped up with fine-meshed nets on the turn of the tide in 

 the Grey, Hokitika, Buller, and most of the larger rivers in 

 New Zealand. 



Art. XXXVIII. — Notes on Fish found in the Piako River. 

 By Captain G. Mair, N.Z.C. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 4th August, 1902.} 



While visiting Pokatunawhenua, a native settlement about 

 three miles up the Piako Biver, in March last, I found a party 

 of natives catching large quantities of different kinds of fish in 

 what they call a taraiva. Some stout manuka poles are put 

 up in the channel where the current takes a straight run. 

 The two sets of poles are from 20 ft. to 25 ft. apart, and as 

 soon as the tide commences to ebb a funnel-shaped net is 

 fastened in the opening, the lower edge being pinned down 

 to the bottom by long poles with forks on them, and the top 

 edge of the net is fastened to a bar tied from one set of stakes 

 to the other. If the tide be favourable, it is necessarv to 

 take the fish out every quarter of an hour, and this is done 

 by lifting the long tapering end of the net and emptying the 

 contents into a canoe. As soon as the ebb has ceased and the 

 flood tide comes up the net is simply turned inside out, and 

 so the process goes on till sufficient fish are caught to occupy 

 all hands in cleaning and drying, then the net is lifted for 

 several days. 



Assisted by a native lad, I twice lifted the net in about 

 three-quarters of an hour, with the following result : 581 

 eels, from 1 ft. to 4 ft. in length, the largest the size of one's 

 arm ; eight dozen flounders, of various sizes ; large numbers 

 of aua or kataha (Agonostoma forsteri) ; about 601b. or 701b. 

 weight of pilchard or mohimohi (Clupea sagax), two varieties ; 

 a few snapper, mullet, and kahawai ; and hundreds of young 

 red-cod, rarii {Lotella Bacchus), and what I believe are the 

 young rock-cod, or kokopu or rawaru (Percis colias). The 

 red-cod were from 3 in. to 4 in. in length, and the rawaru, or, 

 as the natives here call them, " toitoi " or " panepane," from 

 2 in. to 6 in. long. Very large quantities of a kind of white- 

 bait were also caught at the same time. 



