10 MEMOmS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



marine relatives. And the variation is apt to be greatly accentuated when the 

 particular fish under review leads, as in this case, both a fresh-water and a brack- 

 water existence. 



Reproduciion: — During the late autumn and early winter months the 

 Bass drop gradually down, from the upper reaches of the rivers and the quiet 

 billabongs, where they make their home during the greater part of the year, to the 

 estuaries, and finally to the purer waters of the open bay off the mouths of their 

 home streams. Here they shed their spawn during June, July, and August, the 

 season being proportionally 'later the further we proceed north. The ova are 

 pelagic, and the fry, such as escape their numerous enemies, quickly work their 

 way up stream to seek the safer sanctuary of still lagune and billabong. 



Uses, etc.: — ^^The Royal Commission on the Fisheries of New South Wales 

 (1880) reported of this species — "It is a very delicious fish, but never attains a 

 great size and is perhaps of more value for the sport it affords to the amateur 

 fisherman than as an article of food." While, in the light of our present-day 

 knowledge, much of this estimate of the Bass ' value is liable to provoke a smile, 

 Tenison Woods, from whose work the above quotation is taken, gives as interesting 

 an account of its habits and qualities as a sporting fish as any of his successors — 

 or more so. He writes — ' ' The perch affords good sport to anglers. It loves quiet, 

 shady, and deep holes in the rivers, but when the tide is flowing it may be caught 

 in the stream. It is very voracious. In winter the bait is a small mullet or 

 herring, or better still one of the large grubs that bore into trees. In the early 

 spring months it will take a moth readily, either sunk or on the surface. The 

 artificial salmon fly is also a splendid bait for trolling at this time. When moths 

 are scarce a frog is a good bait at night. It must be fastened so that it can swim 

 or, if dead, must be played upon the water to simulate a swimming frog. No 

 perch can resist that bait at night. In summer grasshoppers, especially that 

 known as the ' Percher, ' a red species, are good bait, but the best is a black house- 

 cricket or an earthworm. This is a very attractive bait, and if the perch are in a 

 pool, the lines are no sooner down than the bait is taken. For the rest of the year 

 a prawn is the best bait, that is when crickets cannot be got. The bait should be 

 at least four feet from the float. In landing the fish great care should be used, as 

 the mouth is weak and is easily torn away." These simple instructions appeal 

 mightily to me, some of them are so deliciously Waltonian in their touch, as for 

 instance "if the perch are in a pool," etc. 



Stead contributes the following information regarding its capture for the 

 markets: — "The Estuary Perch is a familiar object to most people in the States 

 of New South Wales and Victoria at least, as a few are generally to be seen 

 amongst the fish in every fishmonger's stall. Particularly is this so after heavy 

 freshets in our coastal rivers and during the winter months. After heavy rains 

 have fallen on the watershed of, say, one of our coastal rivers, there is in a short 

 time a superabundance of fresh water, heavily charged with' silt and often 

 decayed vegetable matter in the tidal portions of the river; and this has the 

 effect of driving out to the lower and cleaner estuaries or harbour waters, most of 



