76 



in enormous slioals off our coasts during the latter end of 

 the summer, preparatory to seeking its spawning beds in the 

 shallower parts of our hays and estuaries. In its adult state 

 this is the name applied to it by the residents of New South 

 Wales and Queensland, the immature fish, prior to its first 

 visit to the open sea, being known in the southern colony by 

 the name of " Hardgut Mullet," in the northern by the 

 appropriate one of " Mangrove Mullet " ; in Victoria and 

 Tas'nania it has somehow contracted the name of " Sand 

 Mullet," a title which is by no means suitable, as during the 

 short time when it is engaged in spawning it shows a decided 

 preference for mud banks at the mouths of rivers over the 

 more open sandy beaches, and the remainder of its life is 

 passed out at sea. This fine species attains to a length of 

 650 millimeters, and a weight of ten pounds or even more. 



As this mullet has been confused by Mr. Johnston and 

 others with Mugil oeur, the following differences between the 

 two fishes may appropriately be mentioned here. In dohula 

 the head is proportionately smaller, the body deeper, the eye 

 larger, the jaws are without trace of teeth, and the scales are 

 cycloid. The two last characters serve by themselves to 

 distinguish the two species, as in oe?/r the teeth are " distinct 

 in both jaws " (Day, Fishes of India), and the " scales of the 

 trunk are more regularly ctenoid " (Kner, Voyage " Novara"). 



The mistake has no doubt been partly caused by Macleay's 

 assertion that Prof. Kner " announces it," i.e., cephaloius, " as 

 a Port Jackson fish." This is quite incorrect ; that author 

 records specimens obtained by the collectors of the " Novara '* 

 from Java, Manilla, and New Holland, the latter term being 

 used throughout the whole work as synonymous with Aus- 

 tralia. 



The most southerly latitude to which I can with any 

 certainty refer oenr is that of the Mary Eiver, Queensland, 

 where it was obtained by the naturalists of the " Challenger." 

 From the ctenoid character of the lepidosis and the presence 

 of teeth I should judge that Mucjil oeur was more habitually 

 a denizen of fresh and brackish waters than Muqil dohula. 



Myxus. 



Myxus, Glinther, Catal. Fish. iii. p. 466, 1861. 



Body oblong, compressed ; head moderate, the snout 

 pointed and somewhat depressed ; mouth small and trans- 

 verse, the lips thin ; premaxillaries narrow, protractile ; 

 maxillary not bent downwards posteriorly, almost entirely 

 hidden beneath the preorbital, which considerably overlaps it 

 posteriorly, without supplemental bone ; lower lip included, 

 the dentary bones of the lower jaw obtusangular in front. 



