62 J^EW SOUTH WALES 



They are caught very often with a line in April, in about three fathoms 

 water in the harbour. The bait used is a small silvery piece of the side 

 of a fish. 



I have Ccaught the dory at several places with the line and hook, and the 

 moment it was dropped into the boat the mouth was pushed out to an enormous 

 degree, as if indignant at the treatment it received. Singular to observe, I caught 

 with the net a dory in Botany Bay at the time we were trawling for turbot. The 

 dory has been long known, and when the currency of the Colony was in Mexican 

 coin it was called a '"dollar fish," and Avas esteemed a fine fish either as fried or 

 Ijoiled ; but it is a rare fish, and may be considered a good one, though not from 

 that cause. 



I don't know how to describe the dory of the Colony ; it is not a migratory 

 fish, as we hear of it only now and then. It must be here, as Mr. Couch calls it 

 elsewhere, a wanderer, following the fry of other fishes, on which, together with 

 shrimps, it lives. The John Dory is known by name as well as any fish in the 

 Colony from the scriptural allusion, and is easily identified from its peculiar mai'k 

 on either side ; that of this Colony bears all the characteristics, and those which I 

 have handled weigh about 4 to 5 lbs. — E. Hill. 



The Dory is of too greedy a temperament to like the short commons imposed 

 upon those overgrown communities called slioals ; he lives therefore very much to 

 himself, frequenting such rocky sites as afford a safe retreat and an abundant 

 supply of small fish. — Badham's Ancient and Modern Fish Tattle. 



The families Strom ateid.e, Coryph.enid.'E (Dolphins), and NoMEiDiE 

 need not delay us, as they are of no economic value to Australia. 



VII.-Fam. SCOMBRID^. 



Bod}^ oblong, scarcely compressed, nalced, or with small scales, eye 

 lateral, dentition well developed. No bony stay for the operculum. 

 Two dorsal fins with (generally) finlets besides. Yentrals thoracic, with 

 one spine and five rays. More than ten abdominal and more than 

 fourteen caudal vertebrte. 



This is the Mackerel family composed of ocean fishes of prey found 

 in all temperate and tropical latitudes. They form, says Giinther, one of 

 four families of fishes most useful to man, the others being the Herring, 

 the Cod, and the Salmon families. Their muscles receive a greater 

 number of blood-vessels and nerves than other fishes, and are of a colour 

 more like those of birds and mammals, and the temperature of the blood 

 is warmer than other fishes by several degrees. Seven species are known 

 of the genus Scomber, of which each coast seems to have its peculiar 

 variety. It is distinguished by the feeble spines of the dorsal and the 

 rows of little finlets behind the doi'sal and anal, scales very small, and 

 equally covering the whole body. Teeth small. Two short ridges on 

 each side of the caudal fin. 



The Mackerel.* 



With reference to our species, Scomber antarcticus, of Castelnau, Prof- 

 M'Coy says that he cannot on comparison find the slightest difference 

 between the Hobson's Bay and Mediterranean specimens. This would 

 make our species S. jjiieuniatophori's, De la Eoche. It occurs rarely in 

 Hobson's Bay, and generally in the month of June, and then in con- 

 siderable numbers. 



* An excellent figure of this fish, which is extremely like the Eui'opean 

 Mackerel, will' be found in Prof. M'Coy's Prodrom. Zool. Vict., plate 28. 



