88 NEW SOUTH WALES 



and there would have been no difficulty with proper appliances in pre- 

 serving hundreds of tons of these finest of all sardines (Macleay, Proc. 

 Linn. Soc. N.SW., 1st vol. p. 351). 



Etrtmieus jacksoniensis, Macleay, Distinguished by the absence of 

 compression or serration on the abdomen, and the position of the ventral 

 fin quite behind the dorsal. Only one species is known. It is also 

 called Maray, and is said to pass northwards in enormous shoals every 

 winter, like all the other herrings of our coasts. It is very good eating. 



Flops. Upper jaw shorter than the lower, abdomen rounded, an 

 osseous throat-plate, scales small. A very beautiful fish, rarely taken 

 in Port Jackson, as it is strictly speaking tropical. It is not much in 

 request for food. 



Mecjalojis, distinguished by its larger scales. One species, M. 

 cyprinoides, about a foot long, is found in the Hawkesbury, but has a 

 very large range. Dr. Cantor says of this fish, or of one very closely 

 allied, that notwithstanding the numerous fine bones, the species is valued 

 for the flavour, and is multiplied rapidly in tanks and fattened for use. 

 " Fishes of Malacca," p. 289. 



Chanos. Mouth small, toothless, abdomen flat, gill membranes 

 entirely united, scales small. 



C. salmo7ieus. A uniformly silvery fish, which is the most highly 

 jirized of all the herring family in consequence of its excellent flavour. 

 It is reared in tanks in India, and reaches a length of about 2 feet. 

 " If a little of the enterprise exhibited in the efforts that have been 

 made to introduce the salmon into our rivers were expended upon the 

 cultivation of this fish, in our coast rivers north of the Clarence, the 

 result, I venture to say, would be more satisfactory." Macleay. 



EEL FAMILY, MUR^NIDiE. 



Body elongate, cylindrical or band-shaped, naked or with rudimentary 

 scales ; vent a great distance from head, no ventral fins, vertical fins 

 absent or confluent or separated by the projecting tip of the tail. Sides 

 of the upper jaw formed by the tooth-bearing maxillaries, the fore part 

 by the intermaxillary, which is more or less coalescent with the vomer 

 and ethmoid. Humeral arch not attached to the skull ; stomach with a 

 blind sac, no appendages. Spread over almost all fresh waters and seas 

 of the tropics and temperate zones, some descending to great depths. In 

 the majority the branchial openings are wide slits, in the true Murcence 

 they are narrow. — G.S.F. 



The EeL 



(Plate XXXIX.) 



Eels are caught in tolerable abundance at times on all parts of the coast, but 

 their capture is only accidental when seeking for other fish — such a thing as fish- 

 ing for eels being unknown to our fishermen. There are four specimens of good 

 size and quality. The common eel {AngulUa aiistralls), really a fresh-water fish, 

 but descending to the sea at certain periods to spawn, The " sea eel," or " silver 

 eel " [Murcenesox bagio), a very fine fish, and never common. The air-bladder in 

 this species is of very great length, and is probably of value for isinglass. The 



