294 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



little doubt that it represents the mature condition only of Miigil dobitla, Gth. ; a species that is 

 better known in its half-grown or immature state, in Brisbane as the mangrove mullet, in the 

 Sydney market as the hard-gut mullet, and finally in Victoria and Tasmania as the sand mullet. 

 A personal acquaintance with this fish under these separate titles in the several colonies named 

 has confirmed the author in the opinion here expressed. How far north the sea mullet continues 

 its migrations is a subject that has not yet been satisfactorily decided. The author has, how- 

 ever, met with the species among the coral islets of the Barrier, to the north of Cooktown, 

 in the month of September. The northern mullet, Mitgil ivaigiensis, Q. & G., the tantail 

 mullet, M. compressus, Gth., Miigil uasutiis, M. splendens, M. pcronii, M. longimanus, and half-a- 

 dozen other species whose names are recorded in the supplementary list, are indigenous to 

 Queensland waters, and all are of more or less commercial value. A member of the genus 

 Myxus, M. clongnfns, Gth., which differs from Mugil in the possession of fine teeth in the 

 upper jaw, is also a native of Queensland. It, however, rarely measures a foot in length, and 

 is but little esteemed for food. The canning for future use, and for export, of the super- 

 abundant supplies of grey mullet, has been successfully inaugurated in the adjacent Colony of 

 New South Wales, and is worthy of attention in Queensland. The mangrove- or sea-mullet, 

 Mugil dobula, is apparently the species most easily accessible and best adapted for this purpose. 



The small family group of the Fistularidae, customarily intercalated between the mullets and 

 the Labrids, is represented in Queensland waters by a species, Fistitlaria serrata, Guv., which is 

 not unfrequently included among the many varieties supplied to the Cooktown market. It has 

 the elongate cylindrical shape of a garfish, but possesses a remarkably long tubular snout, of 

 which the small mouth occupies the anterior termination only, while an attenuate thread-like fila- 

 ment is developed from the centre of the tail. In life, the colours are somewhat brilliant, con- 

 sisting of an olive-green ground, variegated with ultramarine-blue stripes and spots. It grows to 

 a length of two or three feet and is good eating, but it is not sufficiently abundant to become a 

 common article of diet. While more abundant in the northern waters, this species has been ob- 

 tained by the author among the coral lagoons of Lady Elliot Island, the most southern true coral 

 island in the Great Barrier system ; and it is also occasionally captured in Moreton Bay. A 

 representation of this singular form, popularly known as the tobacco-pipe fish, is given on Plate 

 XLV., Fig. 5. 



The family of the Labridae, embracing the brilliant-hued wrasses and parrot fishes, does not 

 include many species that are customarily placed on the market. One exceptional species, 

 however, the so-called blue groper of the Sydney market, Cossyphiis Gouldii, Rich., attains to a 

 weight of thirty pounds, and takes rank among the most esteemed food fishes of New South 

 Wales. Two allied species, Cossyphus latro and C. aurifer, De V., have been reported from 

 Moreton Bay. The genus Odax, typified by the so-called "stranger" of the Sydney and Melbourne 

 fish markets, is likewise represented by a Queensland species, that has been described by De 



