98 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



as Lake Macquarie, whence consignments frequently find their way to the 

 Sydney markets, that it becomes a tolerably well known fish. Northward from 

 thence it increases rapidly in numbers and importance as a food fish, and on the 

 coasts of Northern New South Wales and Queensland it is abundant, though 

 curiously enough Kent makes no mention of either it or its congeners in his 

 chapters on Queensland rood-fishes. On the South Queensland Coast it is common 

 at all seasons, but especially during the winter months, when large shoals of them 

 accompany the vast schools of sea mullet (Mugil cephalus) at that time skirting 

 our shores on the way to their breeding grounds, though unlike them the swallow- 

 tails shown no indications of spawning. The association in fact seems to be 

 purely fortuitous, or it may be simply caused by a certain similarity of habit, 

 which induces two species so dissimilar in their mode of life to herd together 

 for mutual protection. Personally we have collected the species at Coolangatta. 

 Southport, Moreton Hay, and Great Sandy Strait, but further north we only 

 know of it from hearsay, no example having been included in any collection, 

 nor did it once occur during the cruises of the " Endeavour." Macleay (1881) 

 records it from " Torres Straits (Chevert Expedition)," but this is palpably a 

 mistake, the Chevert examples having, as previously stated, been taken at the 

 Percy Islands. Without an examination of the specimen it is impossible to 

 determine to which species Macleay 's Port Moresby fish belongs, since McCulloch 

 {loc. cit.) records the occurrence of the true T. bailloni at Murray Island, this 

 being the only authentic Queensland locality at present known to us. Turning 

 westward to the Archipelago we find that it was unknown to Cantor, while 

 Bleeker only obtained it at Java, whence it had been sent previously by Kuhl and 

 van Hasselt to Paris, as reported by Valenciennes under the name T. oblongus. 

 The British Museum possesses an example from Sumatra; Day. however, failed 

 to obtain it at the Andamans, but records it as common on both sides of the 

 Indian Peninsula, while Boulenger subsequently increased its western range as 

 far as Maskat on the Persian Gulf. Taken altogether the distribution of the 

 species as sketched out above is unsatisfactory, for the immense hiatus between 

 India and Eastern Australia, denoting an area which has been so thoroughly 

 exploited, can not be regarded as having been satisfactorily filled, nor can the 

 cause be satisfactorily accounted for. 



Dimensions: — The usual size of specimens seen in the Brisbane markets 

 may average from 300 to 350 millim., but we have seen a specimen taken in 

 Nerang Creek which measured 525 millim., and Day records a Canara specimen 

 of 560, but these sizes are, we imagine, unusual in this species. 



Illustration: — Our figure is taken from a magnificent example, measuring 

 328 millim., and captured at Mud Island, Moreton Bay, by Mr. T. Jolliffe, to 

 whose liberality we are indebted for the specimen. 



