Zoology.'] 



NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. 



\_Fialies. 



To show the singular variabiHty of the fin rays in this species, I 

 subjoin particulars of six specimens in the National Museum, all 

 about the same size, and agreeing in other respects : — 



The species of Pseudophysis are distinguished from those of the 

 very similar genus Lotella by the outer teeth being no larger than 

 those of the inner rows. 



This fish, not having been figui-ed before, may " point a moral and 

 adorn a tale" apropos of the utihty of having our colonial fishes 

 accurately figm-ed and described for reference. I was called upon 

 soon after arriving in the colony to assist at a grand chnner in the 

 old Criterion Hotel of " merchants, bankers, and others," who had 

 been brought together to taste this fish, to satisfy themselves it was 

 a real Newfoundland cod, a bank of which had been discovered ra 

 Victorian waters by fishermen — practical men — who proposed to 

 give the assembled gentlemen and their friends the opportunity of 

 subscribing so many thousands for a fleet of boats, so many thou- 

 sands for curing establishments on land, so much to the discoverers, 

 &c., to form a cod-fishing company. The small size of the cooked 

 fish and its inferior flavor was explained by the discoverers having 

 been so ill provided that they could only catch a few very young 

 ones. The statistics of the Newfoundland cod fisheries were quoted 

 to show the great profit which wovdd arise from this investment, 

 and all went well, until one of the guests, who shall be nameless, 

 earned great unpopularity by giving some reason for believing that 

 the samples, 16 or 17 inches long, were not young, but adult ; and 

 referring to the title of Sam Slick's new book at the tune, " How 

 many Fins has a Cod ? " showed that, as the real cod had three 



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