116 



NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



By kind permission of Lieutenant H. E. Shackleton, the Pre- 

 sident exhibited a collection of mollusca dredged by the zoologists 

 of the Antarctic Expedition, in 20-80 fathoms off Cape Eoyds. 



Mr. David G. Stead exhibited some specimens of a small fresh- 

 water perch, Therapon unicolor, Giintli., from an artesian well at 

 Corella, in the north-west of New South Wales. The evidence 

 forthcoming seemed to justify the belief that the fishes had come 

 up the bore with the escaping water; and that they, therefore, 

 furnished argument for the existence, at a great depth, of an 

 underground channel connecting with the surface-waters at some 

 point. The bore (" Corella No. 1 ") is 943 feet deep. Some 

 of the fishes had empty eye-sockets, and others protruding 

 eyes. Those that possessed the latter had just the appearance of 

 deep-sea fishes, which, having suddenly come to the surface, had 

 become affected by the internal gases expanding and getting 

 behind the eyes. Some, which had not the eyes bulging in their 

 present condition, showed distinct signs that this had previously 

 taken place, the eye being sunken and loose-looking. When the 

 bulged eyes were submitted to pressure, they immediately 

 collapsed. In some, one side showed an almost normal eye, while 

 the other exhibited a smooth, empty eye-socket. In cases like 

 the latter, the eye had, apparently, suddenly burst, the lens being 

 thrown out, and the remains of the eye had simply "dried up"; a 

 smooth skin (without any signs of a lesion) then lining the socket. 

 The opinion was expressed that these fishes did not live, breed, 

 and " have their being " in subterranean depths, but that they 

 had o-ot into the artesian water by some subterranean channel 

 ivithin the lifetime of each individual, and, in some cases, fairly 

 recently. Therapon unicolor, even as a normal surface-fish, had 

 a highly remarkable distribution in Australia, finding its way 

 into the most unlikely places by, at present, unknown means. A 

 knowledge of the spawning-habits would probably throw some- 

 light on this, but at present nothing is known. 



