EDIBLE PISHES OP NEW SOUTH WALES. 179 



the lono^est branched dorsal ray : caudal forked, the least height of the 

 pedicle 3'60 in the height of the body. Scales pitted and feebly carinated, 

 each with a low vertical basal ridge : a triangular scale, about equal in length 

 to the diameter of the orbit, above the insertion of the ventral ; abdominal 

 scutes well developed, seventeen in front and thirteen behind the origin of the 

 ventral. Gillrakers short, fine, and closely set, eighty five on the lower limb 

 of the outer branchial arch, the longest one third of the diameter of the eye. 



Colors. — Silvery, the back with a bluish tinge ; head with a golden gloss 

 tip of the ventrals dusky. 



Except that in the only fresh sjoecimen which we have been able to obtain 

 while engaged on this work, there are sis branchiostegal rays, and that the 

 ventral fins are situated beneath, not in front of the anterior dorsal rays, 

 we should have unhesitatingly placed Castelnau's species as synonymous 

 with G. erehi, but until we have the opportunity of examining a series of 

 authenticated examples from the rivers of JSfew South Wales we conceive it 

 to be in the best interests of the science to keep them provisionally distinct. 



None of the authors who have written of this species make any mention 

 of its breeding habits, and we are, therefore, left entirely in the dark as to 

 this important function. These fishes are only taken by net, and, though 

 well flavored, are but little used by the white population on account of the 

 excessive number of bones contained by them. Castelnau, however, remarks 

 that it is much esteemed in the Melbourne market, where it sells at a high 

 price, but is very scarce. Blandowski states that the Murray lliver Aborigines 

 call it " Manur" ; and adds that it " leaps frequently out of the water, and 

 is easily caught by its elongated ray in thin, fine nets laid by the natives 

 horizontally on the water. * * * In June and July it is considered a 

 delicacy by the natives and forms their principal food during these two 

 months." Macleay says : — "The name in the Wooradjerie language" (that 

 of the Murrumbidgee Aboriginals) " is 'Ka-ee-ra' ; it is not common, and is 

 considered too bony to be an article of food. I never tasted it but once, 

 and then I found that, though the flavor was delicate enough, it was such 

 a mass of bones as to make it useless as an article of food." 



This species, in the restricted sense in whicli we are here keeping it, is a 

 native of the Murray Eiver and its tributaries. 



It grows to a length of sixteen inches. 



Group II.— CLUPEINA. 



Upper jaw not overlapping the lower. Abdomen serrated. 



Genus II.— CLUPEA. 



Chipea, sp. Artedi, Clen. Pise. 1738. 

 Glupea, Cuvier, Eegne Anim. 



Branchiostegals five to ten : pseudobranchia? well developed. Body com- 

 pressed, oblong or somewhat elongated, with the abdominal serrature extend- 

 ing forward into the thoracic region. Mouth anterior or antei-o-superior, 

 the cleft small or of moderate width ; upper jaw not projecting beyond the 

 lower. Eyes with free adipose lids. Teeth, when present, rudimentary or 

 deciduous. Dorsal fin situated opposite to the ventrals : anal of moderate 

 extent, with less than thirty rays : caudal forked. Scales of large, moderate, 

 or rarely of small size. Pyloric appendages in large, moderate, or small 

 numbers. 



Geoc/rapliical distribution. — Cosmopolitan ; many species entering, and 

 Borne residing in, fresh water. 



