EDIBLE FISHES OF QUEENSLAND.— OGILBY. 15 



respectively 216 and 356 mm., under the name Datnia amhigua, the specific name 

 being suggested by his uncertainty as to which genus, Datnia or Dides, the fish 

 should more properly be referred. These examples are said to have been 

 collected in "Western Australia" by Sir George Gray, but there is apparently 

 some error as to the alleged locality since, so far as is known at the present day, 

 the species does not occur under natural conditions in any part of the great 

 western State, the rivers of South- Western Queensland being, so far as I can 

 ascertain, the limit of its range in that direction. Fifteen years after the 

 publication of Richardson's description Giinther (1) removed the species to the 

 genus Dules, giving in the British Museum Catalogue of Fishes a very 

 inadequate account of it, doubtless owing to the fact that he only had the 

 original dried specimens to work on. After an interval of a few years he obtained, 

 through the agency of Mr. Gerard Krefi't, a 300 mm. example from the 

 Macquarie Eiver, New South Wales, preserved in liquor, and not at first 

 recognizing its identity with Richardson's fish, proposed for it the new generic 

 and specific names of Ctenolates macquari&nsis which, having in the meanwhile 

 realized its true relationship, he subsequently altered to Ctenolates amUguus, 

 which name remained in general use until towards the close of last century. 

 Gill, however, had previously recognized the necessity of separating the 

 Australian fish from both Datnia and Dules, and proposed the generic name 

 Plectroplites for its reception. This name was rejected by Dr. Boulenger in his 

 account of the serranoid fishes for the good and sufficient reason that at first it 

 appeared as a typonym only, without any indication of the characters upon 

 which it was based. But Boulenger unfortunately overlooked the fact that in the 

 following year Gill published a diagnosis of his genus which, though short, was 

 amply sufficient to establish the validity of the name, so that it is now generally 

 referred to as Plectroplites amhiguus. Count Castelnau then took a hand in 

 building up a synonymy for our " j^ellowbelly, " describing it under two new 

 names in the course of three years. In his first essay he calls it the "Murray 

 Golden Perch," and describes it, from large specimens acquired in the 

 Melbourne market, under the name of Dules auratiis, stating that "it appears to 

 be common in the Murray and other rivers of the Riverina, " that it "is much 

 esteemed for the table," and that "it often weighs five and sometimes seven 

 pounds." He notes its similarity to the "Dules amhiguus of Richardson and 

 Giinther, ' ' but considers that the difference of ' ' one ray less in the anal and also 

 less scales on the lateral line" Avarrants him in separating it from that species. 

 I think, however, that most writers will agree with McCoy that "these 

 differences, which induced Count Castelnau to propose a new specific name, are 

 unimportant." His next attempt, in which he describes a 480 mm. specimen, 

 also from the Murray River, as Dides fiavesce7is, is equally futile. 



Reproduction: — In 1893 I wrote in regard to this phase of the life history 

 of the Yellowbell}^ — "These important considerations in the economy of our 

 freshwater fishes will never be properly understood until a competent officer shall 

 be appointed by the Government to report fully on these and all other matters 



