2 :new south wales 



work ill the Colony, both in public institutions and in private libraries. 

 Besides this, the Hon. W. Macleay has published a complete Catalogue 

 of Australian Fishes, and thus all that science has done can be easily 

 and thoroughly known. This catalogue adds more than GOO to the 

 number of known Australian species, which is now about 1,150. 



It is not intended in this essay to give a detailed desci'iption of all 

 our fishes, but merely figures and descriptions of the more common 

 ones, or those useful kinds which employ the industry of our fishermen 

 and fill our markets. Such information will be added as to the habits 

 and mode of capture as will be useful either to the professional fisher- 

 man or the sportsman. All that is known of our fishing-grounds will 

 be given too. This, with any knowledge that we have of the economical 

 uses of our fishes, with our fishing laws, and all the statistics available, 

 will it is hoped make this essay a complete handbook of our New South 

 Wales Fisheries. 



Literature. — First of all it may be useful to state what has been 

 hitherto done in this direction. In 1870 Mr. Alex. Oliver published, in 

 the " Industrial Progress of the Colony," a paper on the Fishei-ies of 

 New South Wales. In 1874 the late Mr. Edward Smith Hill wrote a 

 series of fourteen articles for the Sydney Mail, entitled " Fishes of and 

 Fishing in New South Wales." These are most interesting and valuable, 

 and will be often referred to in this essay. In 1877 there was d,n 

 Oyster Commission appointed for N. S. Wales, which published a 

 report. Besides these works and the Report of 1880 ali^eady referred 

 to, there are the special writings on the subject of Australian Fishes 

 by Count F. de Castelnau, published either in the Journal of the 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales or in the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society of Victoria for 1872 and 1873. There were also two 

 scarcely less valuable or extensive essays published in the official reports 

 of the Victorian Intercolonial Exhibitions for 1873 and 1876. The 

 work of the Hon. W. Macleay has been already referred to ; but it may 

 be mentioned that, though appearing first in the Proceedings of the 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, it was also published separately 

 in two volumes for private circulation. Finally, there is an edition of the 

 new Fisheries Act by A. Oliver. No other original writers need be men- 

 tioned, because the works of Cuvier and Valenciennes, Sir John P^ichard- 

 son, and Dr. Giinther have no special reference to Australia, and the 

 Australian fishes described in them occur casually. It is necessary to 

 state, however, that no complete knowledge of any species can be obtained 

 without reference to the great Catalogue of Fishes by Dr. A. C. L. G. 

 Giinther, F.B.S., published in eight volumes by the Trustees of the 

 British Museum, or the same author's work on the Study of Fishes, 

 which is an augmented reprint of his article on Ichthyology in the ninth 

 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 



Definition. — It will be necessary first of all to state what is a fish. 

 Some readers will be surprised, if not amused, at such an idea. As if 

 everybody did not know what a fish is. Yet a fish has peculiarities 

 which very few know, therefore a valuable inci-ease to our knowledge 

 will be gained by the definition. A fish is a vertebrate animal living 

 in water, and breathing water by means of gills. It has cold red 

 blood, but circulated by means of a heart with only two chambers, a 

 ventricle and an anti-chamber or auricle or bulb. The limbs when 



