68 EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



are mucli longer tbau those of the dorsal, and their outer margin is truncate ; 

 the last ray is attached to the pedicle by a short membrane : ventral slightly 

 euneate, reaching to or beyond the vent ; the spine strong, equal in length 

 to the last anal spine ; the second ray the longest, 1'40-1'50 in the length 

 o£ the head ; the inner ray firmly attached along half" its length to the 

 abdomen : pectoral rounded, the middle rays the longest, a little longer than 

 the ventral: caudal rounded, the least height of its pedicle 320 in the height 

 of the body. Head scaleless. Lateral line with from twenty six to thirty 

 raised tubes. 



Colors. — Brown, irregularly marbled with black, which sometimes takes the 

 form of broad vertical bands, and frequently with yellow spots and blotches ; 

 a chestnut spot frequently present on the vertex : all the fins mottled with 

 grey and black ; a large black spot always present in front of the middle of 

 the spinous dorsal. 



The Bullrout deserves a place in this work, firstly because it is as a fact 

 an edible fish, its flesh being firm and of an excellent flavor, and secondly 

 because though originally a marine form it has taken to a brackish and 

 purely fresh water existence, having ascended and colonised many of our 

 rivers far beyond the influence of the tide ; for instance, they are found in 

 the Nepean above the falls at Norton's Basin, which though but a few 

 feet in height, would prove an insurmountable barrier to such a fish as this ; 

 they also occur above the weir on the Parramatta River. 



So far as our personal knowledge at present goes the range of this species is 

 limited to the rivers draining the eastern watershed of the colony with their 

 estuaries, between the Parramatta and the Upper Macleay, from both which 

 rivers we have handled specimens; the collectors employed by the scientists 

 of the Challenger Expedition have, however, obtained specimens from the 

 Mary River, Q., and we may, therefore, conclude that it is distributed 

 through all the rivers discharging into the seas of eastern Australia. 



It is by no means the " very ugly " fish Tenison Woods calls it ; on the 

 contrary, the different shades of yellow and brown and black are generally 

 so beautifully blended in fresh examples as to make it a strikingly handsome 

 fish ; the fry of an inch long and under are very pretty little fishes, their 

 colors being bright yellow blotched with dark brown. " There are two 

 remarkable peculiarities about this fish," continues Tenison AVoods, " one 

 is that it emits a loud and harsh grunting noise when it is caught, so 

 that if by chance it takes a bait, the fisherman knows what he has got 

 by the noise before he brings his fish to the surface of the water. When 

 out of the water the noise of the Bullrout is loudest." If this be correct 

 it affords a more simple and probable explanation of the vernacular name, 

 than the suggestion of its being " a corruption of some native name" 

 advanced by that author. The second peculiarity, he says, is " that the 

 spines about the head are venomous, and inflict most painful stings." No 

 doubt any such wound would cause pain, but the state of the sufferer's 

 health, his nervousness, and his belief in the superstition of its poisonous 

 qualities are all factors, which must be taken into consideration. Personally 

 the writer has been "stung" on many occasions, both by the allied Fortescue 

 — which is Centropogon australis, not Pentarofje marmorata, this latter fish 

 being so rare in Port Jackson that we have never seen a recent specimen — 

 and by the British Weever {Trachiuus ripern) and never felt any more 

 inconvenience than would result from a similar stab of a knife. The fact is 

 the wound is merely a deeply punctured and viciously inflicted one, without 

 any venomous properties whatever. 



They attain to a length of nine inches. 



