EDIBLE PISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 19 



height of the body is three and two fifths in the length without the caudal, 

 or almost exactly the same as that given by Castelnau, as distinctive of 

 O. mitclielU. These four characters may, therefore, be at once set aside as 

 valueless, while the other two, on which that author relies, namely, the 

 greater breadth of the head, and the more rounded opercle, are of too trivial 

 a nature on which to found even a variety. Fresh water fishes, on account 

 of the diverse character of their surroundings, are much more liable to 

 variation than those which inhabit an element not so subject to sudden 

 changes ; greater care should, therefoi'e, be taken in separating on variable 

 characters forms belonging to the selfsame area of distribution. The loss 

 of Castelnau's types of Australian Fishes is most iinfortuuate, since that 

 erratic scientist's descriptions are frequently remarkable for the ingenuity 

 with which the more important characters are entirely omitted, and trivial 

 or secondary characters brought forward into prominence. 



The Oligonos gihhiceps of Macleay, the type of which — in the Sydney 

 University Museum — we have been enabled to examine, appears to be merely 

 a stunted Alpine form of 0. macquariensis. 



According to Macleay the Murray cod, or as it might with more regard to 

 correctness be designated the " Cod-Perch," is known to the aborigines of the 

 Murrumbidgee by the name of " Kookoobul," while Tenison Woods men- 

 tions that those of the Lower Murray call it " Pundy." 



The ova are deposited during the summer months, the statements of trust- 

 worthy observers varying between November and January even in the same 

 district. Opinions also vary as to the place selected for the deposition of 

 the ova, one observer reporting that " he has seen the fish, as he believed, 

 actually depositing the spawn, one fish, the female doubtless, moving along 

 the bottom of the water, forming a furrow in the sand wdth its chin, while 

 another fish (the male) closely followed in its wake ; " another observer, how- 

 ever, states that he " never saw the fishes spawning, but had often found, 

 what he believed to be the spawn attached to logs, and he affirms that he can 

 discriminate perfectly between the spawn of the Cod and the other Percid 

 Fishes of the Murrumbidgee." (Eep. Eoy. Comm.) ; the latter theory is 

 probably the correct one. 



As food this fine species ranks as high as any purely freshwater fish of 

 either hemisphere, medium- sized examples being more delicate than very 

 large ones, which are coarse and tasteless. Their voracity is very great, no 

 living thing, whether beast, bird, reptile, batrachian, fish or crustacean, which 

 it can overpower, coming amiss to it ; for this reason, they ai'e very easily 

 captured by almost any bait, care being taken to use sufficiently strong tackle, 

 as the fish is enormously powerful and fights fiercely for liberty. 



The true habitat of the Cod is the Murray river and its tributaries, but it 

 is also found in some of the northern coastal rivers of the Colony, though 

 whether introduced thereto or not does not seem to be accurately known; but 

 judging from other Murray Percid fishes whose range is almost or entirely 

 limited to that river system, such as Ctenolatcs and Macquaria, it is probable 

 that such is the case, nevertheless the Murray Kiver system, and that of the 

 Hichmond and Clarence District approximate so closely at their sources that 

 it is quite possible that during exceptionally heavy floods the fishes of one 

 system may be able to pass over into the other. The same species is also 

 found in the Mary River, Queensland. To other localities it has been 

 introduced with more or less success, as in Lake George, to which it was 

 transplanted by Sir Terence Murray many years ago, where it has increased 

 and thriven well, although some twelve years ago it was threatened with 

 extermination owing to the poisonous water from the Currawang copper 



