BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 405 



at the May meeting of the local Linnean Society; this specimen, 

 which is in the Macleay collection at the Sydney University, was 

 obtained from the IsTepean River, near Camden, but though eflorts 

 have since been made to obtain other examples in the same dis- 

 trict they have hitherto resulted in failure. 



Additional and reliable evidence of its presence in the 

 Hawkesbury watershed has, however, been afforded by Mr. J. P. 

 Hill, of the University, who informs me that a friend of his is 

 acquainted with this Lamprey and has caught it in the Wollon- 

 dilly by the following ingenious method : — a pickle bottle is 

 baited with a piece of raw meat and, a string having been tied 

 round its neck, is sunk in a likely spot; the animals enter the 

 bottle to feed, and on pei'ceiving the motion consequent on its 

 periodical withdrawal, attach themselves thereto by means of the 

 suctoi'ial disk, and are found enclosed when the bottle is drawn 

 out vtpon the bank. 



There can be little doubt that its presence has been overlooked 

 in the southern rivers of New South Wales, such as the Towamba, 

 Bega, Clyde, Shoalhaven, and others, and that when opportunity 

 has been afforded for a thorough investigation of the fresh-water 

 fauna of the colony, this and many other species which are now 

 considered rare will be found to be comparatively plentiful. 



The earliest published record of the occurrence of this Lamprey 

 on the mainland is that of Dr. Klunzinger in 1872 [Arch.f. 

 liatur. p. Jf.5), and consists of the curt notice " Mordacia mordax, 

 Rich. Murray River. 12 Cm." We learn by a note [I.e. p. 17) 

 that all the species sent to Klunzinger from the Murray River 

 were taken near its mouth, and this therefore is the most westerly 

 point from which I have been able to ascertain its presence. 



During the same year in which Klunzinger's paper appeared Count 

 Castelnau contributed to the Proceedings of the Zoological and 

 Acclimatisation Society of Victoria a moi'e full and interesting 

 account of this Lamprey than any of his predecessors; his examples 

 were collected in the lower portion of the Yarra, where he considered 

 them to be common. He remarks that " their motions are very 

 rapid; they are very voracious and pursue any object in the water, 



