BY WILLIAM MACLEAY, F.L.S. 413 



When " the Mullet are in " to use the expression of those who 

 are on the watch for them, considerable activity is shown amon^ 

 the fishermen, but the benefit they derive from the bountiful 

 prof tision of these visitors is so limited, that I have known boat- 

 loads of the finest fish thrown away, because they were not worth 

 the trouble of conveying to market. Beyond the consumption of 

 the fresh fish in the city, no means have yet been devised for 

 utilizing this great food supply. The roes no doubt are eagerly 

 bought up and salted, and a few of the fish themselves are salted 

 and smoked, but the salting process is I think anything but 

 a success. 



The object of these migrations being the search for spawning 

 grounds, the shoals after entering the harbour at once seem to 

 search every creek and cranny for the suitable conditions. In 

 this harbour no doubt the mud flats up the Parramatta Piver are 

 the favourite spots for the deposition of the spawn, but the 

 following note which I made a few days ago, would seem to 

 indicate that almost any muddy beach will suit their 2)urpose. 



•' On the 16th of October, 1879, large shoals of very small fish 

 were seen alongside the boat jetty at Elizabeth Bay. Two of 

 them were captured in a butterfly net by Mr. Masters. They 

 proved to be the young of Jlugil grandis, and were respectively 

 16 and 18 lines in length. As the time of spawning is never 

 later than May, and as these fish could not have been more than 

 a day or two old, the inference is that the spawn had remained 

 in the mud near that spot during the winter, and until the 

 increasing heat of spring had caused the ova to germinate." 



Among the niany and prolific breeding grounds of this Mullet, 

 there is none more important than George's Piver, and if no other 

 objections existed to the proposal of damming that river for the 

 purpose of providing Sydney with water, the closing up of such an 

 extent of the favourite spawning ground of this most valuable fish, 

 would of itself, be a sufficient ground of objection. 



