BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 419 



Uses:- That these Lampreys were a common and favourite 

 article of food among the Maoris we gather from the New Zea- 

 land writers; Sherrin tells us that " they are greatly esteemed by 

 the Natives, who call them Piharau and used to pot them in large 

 quantities. Maori chiefs, as well as Henry I., have died from a 

 surfeit of Lampreys, the chiefs having the pick of large catches 

 of all kinds of fish set apart for them." 



Further on he writes : — " It is necessary to bear the construction 

 of the mouth of the Lamprey in mind to understand what the 

 Natives mean when they say they see them ' sucking their way 

 up a waterfall in streams in hundreds at a time.' When thus 

 found a net is placed at the foot of the fall, and the fish being 

 detached fall into the net and are thus captured. They are also 

 often found in their eel-weirs. They ascend the Waikato (and 

 probably other rivers) when the whitebait is also ascending. If 

 cooked in a hangi they have to be eaten with care, and a certain 

 fluid they contain, the Natives say, must be expressed, or its effect 

 will be similar to that induced by the eating of a certain kind of 

 shark — the loss of the gourmand's skin. Cooked as Europeans 

 would cook them, this apprehension would not be entertained." 



Dr. Hector also writes : — " Most of the New Zealand rivers are 

 visited early in summer by shoals of Lampreys, which are stated 

 to be excessively delicate and well flavoured." 



At the time this was written the occurrence of Geotria australis 

 in New Zealand was unknown, nevertheless as the statement was 

 based on hearsay evidence it must be taken as -referring to both 

 species. 



Distribution : — Coasts and rivers of Victoria, South Aus- 

 tralia, Tasmania, and New Zealand; 1 AVest Australia. 



In New Zealand the Whanganui, Waikato, and Raiwaka 

 Rivers are specially referred to; the species inhabits, therefore, 

 both the North and the South Islands. 



I have placed a note of interrogation against the West Aus- 

 tralian disti'ibution usually accorded to this species on the strength 

 of the British Museum Catalogue, in which it is recorded from 

 " Swan River;" though without douljt the West Australian 



