94 Kershaw, Additions to the Fish Fauna of Victoria. [septen^ber' 



Victoria, there is good reason to assume it was taken in Victorian 

 waters. 



The species was founded on an imperfect specimen ii^ 

 inches long, obtained in the Sydney Fish Market, and taken by 

 tlie trawl net in 70 fathoms of water off Port Jackson. A 

 good series was subsequently obtained by the Thetis trawling 

 expedition off the New South Wales coast, from which the 

 species was re-described, and an excellent figure given by Mr. 

 E. R. Waite,* then Zoologist of the Australian Museum, Sydney. 



In his " Edible Fishes of New South Wales " (1908), Stead 

 also figures a specimen of this fish under the vernacular name 

 of the Short Boar Fish. Still more recently Waite f has been 

 able to extend the range of the species to New Zealand waters, 

 a single example being taken in the Bay of Plenty during the 

 New Zealand Government trawling expedition in 1907. 



Family CARANOID^. 



Naucrates ductor, Linn. 



Pilot Fish. 

 Linn., Syst. Nat. (loth ed.), 1758, p. 295. 

 Day, Fish. India, p. 229 (1878-88), pi. li. {a), fig. 2. 



This well-known and widely distributed fish has apparently 

 not been previously recorded from the Victorian coast, though 

 from its peculiar habit of accompanying large sharks, and even 

 ships, it is probably a fairly frequent visitor. 



It is distributed throughout the temperate and tropical 

 regions, and has been recorded from several parts of Australia, 

 as well as Tasmania. 



The usual length is from nine to twelve inches, and it is said 

 to attain a length of two feet. 



In 1901 a large specimen of the Leathery Turtle, Sphargis 

 coriacca, entered Corio Bay, at Geelong, and was accompanied 

 by numbers of Pilot Pish. The turtle was captured by some 

 local fishermen, together with over a dozen of the fish, and 

 afterwards exhibited in that city, where I had an opportunity 

 of examining them. Again, in May, 1902, the large Basking 

 Shark, Ceiorhinus maximiis, which was captured in Hobson's 

 Bay, and is now in the Museum collection, was noticed to be 

 accompanied by a number of these interesting fishes. In 

 March of last year a specimen, measuring nine inches in length, 

 was caught by an angler at Frankston, and forwarded to the 

 Museum for identification, and a few days later another was 

 captured at the same spot. 



When fresh the fish was of a beautiful dark blue colour, 

 paler below, the lower half of the body tinged with golden. 



* Mem. Aust. Mas., iv. (1859), p. 114, pi. xxvi. 

 ■j- Rec. Canterb. Mus., i., No. 3 (191 1), p. 216. 



