170 EDIBLE EISHES OP NEW SOUTH WALES. 



sea with tbeir long filaments waving about until they meet with some object 

 to which they can attach themselves ; or they may serve to bind together 

 large numbers of eggs into one mass and fix such to some suitable substance." 



Like all predacious forms, which swim high in the water with great velo- 

 city, necessitating great muscular exertion, these fishes are very voracious, and 

 their digestion being equally rapid they are among the worst enemies of all 

 such species as they are able to swallow; nor, according to reliable authorities 

 do they hesitate to attack much larger fishes than they could by any means 

 make a meal of, since the conformation of their jaws would prevent them 

 tearing the body of their victim to pieces ; as an instance Day relates, fide 

 Clogg, Zoologist, June 1874, p. 4160, how a Salmon, Peal was entirely 

 transfixed by a Grarfish {Helone vulgaris) through the thickest part of the 

 body. As a rule the specimens which we have examined have the stomach 

 empty, but in some cases small fishes were found. 



In the report of the Royal Commission the statement is made, and sub- 

 sequently reiterated by Tenison Woods and others that the Long Tom will 

 not take a bait ; this may be the case, but such abnegation would be entirely 

 subversive of the nature and known habits of the genus, and there can be 

 little doubt that if whiffing — as practiced for Mackerel, Yellowtail, and the 

 Tasraanian Barracouta, and Kingfish {Thyrsi fes) — were indulged in when 

 Long Toms were about, many would be caught and good sport would result 

 to the amateur fishermen, with the addition to the meiiii of a firm and well 

 flavored, though rather dry fish ; it is hardly necessary to say that the 

 color of the backbone, which is bright green both before and after cooking, 

 does not in any way affect the wholesomeness of the flesh. This peculiarity 

 is apparently common to most of, if not all, the species of Belone. 



The slender Long Tom has not been recorded as yet beyond the limits of 

 New South Wales, for though Saville Kent states that eight species occur 

 on the Queensland coast, he considers that Belone depressa, Poey, is the 

 common Moreton Bay form, the " remaining species being most abundantly 

 represented in the intertropical zone," which could hardly be the case with 

 so common a New South Wales fish. 



They attain to a length of three feet. 



BELONE MACLEATANA. 



Belone gracilis, Macleay, Catal. Austr. Eish. ii. p. 179, 1881 {not Lowe 



nor ScldegeT) . 

 Belone macleayana, Ogiiby, Catal. N. S. Wales Eish. p. 53, 18SG. 



Stout Long Tom. 



Plate XLI. 

 B. xiii. D. 20-21. A. 19-21. Y. 6 P. 13-14. C. 15. Vert. 52/28. 



Length of head3-33-3-50, of caudal fin 10-00-10-50, height of body 1300- 

 15-75 in the total length : breadth of body 1-00-1-33 in its height. Eye 

 rather small, its diameter one third of the postorbital portion of the head, 

 from 6'50-6-90 in the distance between its anterior margin and the extremity 

 of the upper jaw, and from 1-33-1-66 in the interorbital space, which is flat. 

 Preorbital elongate and curved, its height 2-00-2-(iO in its length. Maxilla 

 expanded behind but with an acute postero-inferior angle, its posterior two 

 thirds completely concealed by the preorbital. and reaching to beneath the 

 anterior two thirds of the orbit. Lower jaw the longer. Upper surface of 



