16 THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LTNNEAN SOCIETY 



spawn of some fish float on the surface of the water, and the 

 viscous matter in which the ova are enveloped would in that case 

 inevitably cause some of them to adhere to the feathers of a bird 

 swimming on the surface. I have observed too that after a heavy 

 fall of rain following a dry season, wild ducks of all kinds will 

 in one night entirely desert the rivers and lagoons to which they 

 have been for months confined, and seek " fresh fields and pastures 

 new" in the newly filled ponds, dams, and lakes of the back 

 country. It is a matter of almost certainty then, that, if it be 

 the spawning season of any species of fish whose spawn floats on 

 the surface of the water, ducks or other waterfowl will carry the 

 ova with them, and if the distance be not too great the transfer 

 will take place without desiccation or destruction of vitality. 



The three specimens sent me by Mr. Campbell are evidently 

 young fish (about 4 inches long), and are I have no doubt of the 

 same species as is found in the waters of the Gwydir, and of 

 several others of the northern rivers of New South Wales, and of 

 southern Queensland — Therapon unicolor Gunther, Catalogue 

 of Fishes, Brit. Mus., Vol I., page 277. 



The Rev. J. B. Tenison- Woods observed that the sudden appear- 

 ance of fish in surface water derived from rain was a matter well 

 worth the attention of naturalists. In the south eastern district of 

 S. Australia there is a small fish named lap-lap by the natives, 

 which does not appear to have been described. It abounds in the 

 swamps of that extensive district, where there are no watercourses 

 properly speaking, but where the swamps drain from one to 

 another in very wet seasons as the country is a dead level and in 

 no place more than 300 feet above the sea. In this district there 

 are extensive tracts of desert, with here and there grassy patches 

 and swamps of water to which the sheep are taken to depasture 

 in the winter. In summer these swamps are dried and ihe sheep 

 are withdrawn to the home stations often 20 to 40 miles away. 

 Tie remembered in 1861 having crossed one of the desert places 

 with a companion at the close of summer. They had ventured 

 to make a short cut overland by the aid of some very heavy rains 

 which had fallen during the same week. In crossing by an 



