720 ON SOME AUSTIiALIAN EhEOTiUSX., 



and concise definition of certain forms, wliich are proljably dis- 

 tributed over the length and breadth of our faunic region, must 

 l)e held to outweigh in importance the risk of unnecessarily 

 increasing the synonymy. 



The only paper dealing with tlie divisions of the genus Eleotrit^ 



as accepted by Australian authors— to which I haxe access is 



the " Review of the Gobiidce of North America," by Professors 

 Jordan and Eigenmann,* and I am unable to identify any of the 

 five species described ]:)elow with the genera there characterised. 



Though somewhat irrelevant to the subject matter of this 

 paper, as set forth in its heading, a short account of the fish life 

 to be met with in the waterholes near Sydney — everywhere 

 favourite haunts of the fishes of this subfamily — will be both 

 interesting and instructive, as a proof of the vast capabilities 

 which even a small and to all appearance most unpromising 

 puddle may possess towards elucidating some of the problems of 

 our fresh-water fauna ; and the fact of the discovery of so 

 brilliantly coloured yet undescribed a species as Carassiojys lotiyi, 

 within so short a distance of the metropolis, speaks for itself as 

 to the possibilities dependent on a S3'stematic examination of the 

 waterholes and overflow ponds in the more remote parts of the 

 Colonies, while it is a tangible demonstration of the culpable 

 ignorance which prevails among us in regard to the many curious 

 and interesting forms of animal life which inhabit our streams 

 and ponds. 



I shall make, therefore, no further apology for interpolating 

 here the following account of a collecting ti-ip made b}^ me last 

 April in company with Mr. J. D. Grant, Inspector of Fisheries, 

 to the Liverpool district, and which produced I'esults (jiiite 

 unexpected by me. 



This visit was paid, by invitation, on the 2-l:th of last April to 

 the Hon. Wm. Long's estate of Chipping Norton, and was under- 

 taken principally with the object of obtaining examples of a 



* Proc. U. S. Nat. Miis. ix. 1SS6, p. 477; for a copy of this excelloait 

 paper I am indebted to the courtesy of the authors. 



