156 NEW SOUTH WALES . 



the leap is yearly increased. In the Hoharion Mercury of July 6, 

 1878, we read an account from Messrs. Allport and Read, of the 

 capture of a splendid female salmon 20 lbs. in weight, 2 feet 1 1 inches 

 long by 20| inches in girth. It was taken in a spawning bed in the 

 River Plenty, with a view of obtaining ova for hatching ; but she had 

 parted with most of the spawn, and only about 1,000 eggs could be 

 obtained. The male fish on the same rid weighed 14 lbs. 



The " Crucian carp" [Carassius t7?«?gam^ is now abundant everywhere about 

 Sydney. The gold-fish (Carassms auratus) is also completely acclimatized ; 

 and in Tasmania they have in addition the perch of European rivers 

 {Perca fluvlalllis) and the gudgeon (Goblo fluvlat'dis). Tliese are all the 

 fishes which have been introduced from other countries ; but a little has 

 also been done in the transfer of the fishes of the fresh waters of one part of the 

 country to another. One species of the Murray cod was many years ago introduced 

 into Lake George by the late Sir Terence Aubrey Murray, with the most astonish- 

 ing success ; the lake and all the creeks running into it are now fully stocked with 

 cod of large size and of excessive fatness — the "marami,'' which abounds there 

 forming their principal food. The Wollondilly River and Mulwarree Ponds near 

 Goulburn have more recently been sujiplied with the young cod from Lake George, 

 and it is said that the increase of the fish in these rivers has been most rapid and 

 satisfactory. There can be no doubt that the transfer from one part of the country 

 to another of the best of our frcsh-Avater fishes is a much more sensible and feasible 

 proceeding than the introduction with much trouble and at great expense of some 

 of the most useless fishes of the European rivers. Old associations, however 

 natural, connected with the names of gudgeon, carp, perch, &c., should not induce 

 us to stock our rivers or fish-ponds with such inferior fishes. But it is quite possible 

 to go too far even in the better direction of the transfer of our western fishes 

 to our eastern waters. The Murray cod, as before observed, is a most destruc- 

 tive fish, swallowing up everything that comes in its way, not excepting its own 

 species ; and its introduction into new waters might result in the final destruction 

 of other kinds. Some caution, therefore, should be used in the introduction of 

 such a formidable fish ; more particularly when from the same near source we can 

 get supplied with fish of much better cpiality and less destructive tendencies. We 

 allude to the fishes known in the Murrumbidgee as the "golden perch" and 

 " silver bream " — -the Kaakaalain and Kotiher;/ of the aborigines — the Ctennolates 

 auratus and Thera-pon rkhardsoni of the ichthyologist. For the purposes of food 

 and all other objects to be attained by the stocking with good fish of our eastern 

 rivers and fish-ponds, these fishes are infinitely superior to the cod, and their ova 

 can be obtained for transport with ease.— R.R.C. 



The colonists of Victoria and New South Wales have been over and 

 over again recommended to introduce the Gourami (Osphromenus ol/ax), 

 belonging to a family of fishes (Labarynthici) which have a kind of 

 supernumerary gill in a cavity to itself which enables the fish to live 

 for some time out of the water. In the accessory branchial cavity there 

 is lodged a laminated organ which evidently has the function of assist- 

 ing in the oxygenization of the blood. This accounts for the ease with 

 which some can be acclimatized and transferred from pond to pond. The 

 climbing perch which ascends trees belongs to this family. They 

 are all cyprinoid fresh-water fishes belonging to the equatorial 

 zone. The Gourami is reported to be one of the best flavoured 

 ifresh-water fishes in the East Indian Archipelago. Its original home is 

 •Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and several other islands, but it has been tran- 

 sported to Penang, the Mauritius, and even South America, and success- 

 fully acclimatized. It is very tenacious of life, and will eat anything 

 and soon becomes very tame. It attains the size of a large turbot. A 

 second, but much smaller species, 0. trichopterus, is kept like the gold- 

 fish, for ornament. Its colours are of every hue, metallic in lustre, and of 

 great beauty, but it is a very pugnacious fish. 



