390 MONOGRAPH OF THE AUSTRALIAN MARSIPOBRANCHII, 



Zealand waters, determining the species found there as G-ray's 

 chilensis, in which identification also I am not prepared to follow 

 him; he also records under the same name a Lamprey from 

 " Swan River," but whether this is the Avell known river of West 

 Australia or some other does not appear [see ji. 419). In the 

 following year the same author described a new species of Geotria 

 from Tasmania as (t. allporti, a proceeding which appears 

 unnecessary. 



With this description the history of the Australasian Lampreys 

 as species, so far as exotic writers are concerned, ceases, with the 

 exception of two notices by Dr. Klunzinger of the occurrence of 

 Mordacia mordax in the estuary of the Murray in 1873, and of 

 Geotria australis as far west as King George's Sound in 1880. 



With the cessation of outside interest in our Lampreys and 

 the conclusion of the British Museum Catalogue, an unwonted 

 and most gratifying activity on the subject of our fishes began to 

 be manifested by Australian writers, and among the rest the 

 Lampreys came in for their full share of attention. 



The year 1872 is memorable for the production of two impor- 

 tant essays, one of these being " The Fishes of New Zealand " by 

 Capt. Hutton, to which was appended a short account of the 

 edible species from the pen of Dr. Hector; the other, and in 

 many respects the more important of the two, was contributed by 

 Count Castelnau to the Proceedings of the Zoological and 

 Acclimatisation Society of Victoria under the title of "A Contri- 

 bution to the Ichthyology of Australia." Both these authors, 

 and indeed all subsequent Australasian writers, accept Dr. 

 Giinther's synonymy without comment or protest. 



In the first essay alluded to only Giinther's Geotria chilensis* 

 is mentioned, his description being copied direct from that author's 

 work, with the addition of certain rivers specially referred to as 

 Vjeing frequented hj that species. And, as it must be done sooner 

 or later, I may as well take this opportunity of entering a strong 



* G. australis was added to the New Zealand fauna in the following year 

 by Capt. Hutton. 



