FISH AND FISHERIES. 109 



of Galaxias," says Mr. Macleay, " are numerous, but so much alike, that 

 it is, looking at their distribution, moi'e than probable that they are one 

 and all only permanent local varieties of the same fish. 



"But the chief intei-est attached to these fishes is in their distribution. 

 They are found only in the rivers of Southern Chili, Magellan Straits, 

 the Falkland Islands, Tasmania, New Zealand, and those parts of Aus- 

 tralia where the rivers take their rise in the Snowy Mountains or in cold 

 elevated table-lands ; so that in fact we find this singular fish in all the 

 lands which extend into the colder regions of the Southern Pacific and 

 nowhere else. The deduction from this singular fact is very plain. At 

 one period, — probably veiy remote even in a geological sense, — the area 

 of land above the sea in the antarctic regions must have been very much 

 in excess of what it is at present, at all events sufiiciently extended to 

 admit of some kind of continuity across the whole width of the Pacific 

 between the southern extremity of South America and Australia. 

 There is no other way of accountmg for the appearance of these fishes 

 in such widely different localities." 



The subject thus suggested is a very large one, and is worthy of 

 attention in connection with the whole of the Australian fauna. The 

 agency of birds in transporting ova must not, moreover, be lost sight of, 

 though there are difiiculties in the way of that explanation as well. It 

 should be mentioned, moreover, that some of our Australian freshwater 

 mollusca have a very wide range in the Pacific, while the marine 

 molluscan fauna is comparatively restricted. The spread of ova by 

 means of birds is the usual way of accounting for this. 



The Australian Grayling. 



Though not a fish of New South Wales, it may be as well to mention 

 here the Australian Grayling, which in character, habits, and the manner 

 of its capture is almost identical with the English fish of that name. 

 In shape there is some difference between the two fish. The local 

 Grayling is smaller, of a more uniform thickness, and with a less promi- 

 nent back-fin ; but it possesses strongly the peculiar Grayling odour. 

 A newly-caught fish smells exactly like a dish of fresh-sliced cucumber. 

 It is widely distributed in Victoria, and very abundant in all the fresh- 

 water streams of Tasmania. It is the only native fish which affords any 

 sport to the fly-fisher ; but it prefers a red worm, and can be best taken 

 with the coarsest tackle. It seldom exceeds a pound in weight. As it 

 has a well marked adipose fin it was referred to the Salmonidce, but it 

 is now placed in the family Haplocliitonidce, a group of fresh-water fishes 

 which represents the Salmonoids in the Southern Hemisphere. Only two 

 genera are known, viz. : — 1. Hcvplochiton, fresh-water fishes, abundant 

 in the lakes and streams near the Straits of Magellan, coasts of Chili 

 and the Falkland Isles. It has the general habit of Trout, but Avithout 

 scales. 2. Prototroctes, with the habit of Corregonus, scaly and with 

 minute teeth. The Australian Grayling, which used to be known as 

 Thymallus australis, belongs to this genus, and is called Prototroctes 

 marcena. In Melbourne it goes by the name of the Yarra Herring. 

 There is another species in New Zealand. 



