72.'^ ox SOME AUSTRALIAN ELEOTRINJE, 



Zcaliuul. No less than fifteen years pl■e^•iously, however, Dr. 

 iStcimlachner, in a jiaper entitled "Zur Fischfauna Aon Port. 

 Jackson in Australien " {Sitzb. Ak. Wie.n, liii. i. 1866, p. 460), had. 

 recorded the species; again, no further mention of the species is 

 made in Macleay's Supplement (i<?(?4)5 though during the previous 

 year Johnston's " Catalogue of the Eishes of Tasmania " {Proc. 

 Roy. Soc. Tas. ISS^!) had been published, at p. 62 of which the 

 author states that it is " found in the various estuaries of Tas- 

 mania at certain periods of the year." Personally I have caught 

 these fishes in the stream which flows from the dam of the Parra- 

 niatta water supply; in the Nepean River at Menangle; in the 

 Prospect Reservoir, where they swarm in almost incredible 

 numbers, and, as above mentioned, in the watershed of the 

 George's River; it may, therefoi'e, be inferred that Retrojnnna 

 is an inhabitant of most of our coastal waters, though its exact 

 northward and southward extension has yet to be determined. 

 On the latter I am enabled, however, to throw some light, as a 

 small example is present among some fishes forwarded to me by 

 Mr. James A. Kershaw, and the notice accompanying the speci- 

 men runs thus — "Pj^ramid Hill (about 150 miles from Melbourne 

 and north of Bendigo)"; this extension of range, though in itself 

 an interesting addition to our meagre knowledge of the species, 

 is much less important than the fact — of which I have reliable 

 information — that the section of country in which Pyramid Hill 

 stands drains into the Murray River, and that, therefore, in one 

 district at least Hef/rophnm has succeeded in crossing the Dividing 

 Range. 



It was in the deep pool that we expected to catch the Mullets 

 for which we were especially in search, and though, for the 

 reasons given above, we were unsuccessful on this occasion, thei-e 

 can be no doubt that the species is MikjU breciceps, Steindachner, 

 a very handsome Mullet, remarkable for its small head and 

 entirely confined to fresh water, which I subsequently found to be 

 comaidii in tlic upper waters of the jSTepean River at Menangle;* 



* A full account of this species will be given in a paper on the Austialian 

 Miif/ilido- now in course of preparation. 



