114 MEMOIES OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



" cochy-y-bondhu,' and had excellent sport. They fought a rushing battle, and 

 did not give in until practically dead. When playing in the water, or when freshlj- 

 caught, Silver Perch frequently make a snorting sound which has earned for them 

 the vernacular name ' Grunter.' 



" At spawning time. Silver Perch congregate in deep water under high banks, 

 selecting a spot dimpled with eddies, where they usually remain within a few feet 

 of the surface. Their eggs are demersal, and adhere to submerged roots and rushes, 

 etc. In November, 1914, while sitting quietly on a bank near Darlington Point on 

 the Murrumbidgee River, chance rewarded me w^th some Uttle insight into their 

 breeding-habits. A shoal of between fifty and seventy Silver Perch was playing 

 in a series of eddies under a precipitous bank where the water was perhaps ten or 

 twelve feet deep. Some were feeding at the surface, while others swam about, appa- 

 rently aimlessly ; a section of the shoal, comprising most of the larger fish, remained 

 in a central position. It being well known that the majority of the larger l.sh of 

 any species are females I assumed those in the centre to be s])awning females, while 

 the smaller fish swimming around them wtne ripe males. Suddenly, as though pre- 

 concerted, all the fish swam rapidly to the centre, splashing the water in all directions, 

 and becoming hidden for an instant by its disturbed surface. Next moment the 

 water around and below them assumed a white opaque tiage, as though a bucket 

 of milk had been thrown in ; this was clearly due to the extrusion of the milt of the 

 male fishes. This operation was repeated five or six times at intervals of about twenty 

 or thirty minutes while I watched, but soon after sundown the fish disappeared." 



THERAPON HUMERALIS Ogilby. 

 Therapon humeralis Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, xxiv, 1899, p. 177 ; Waite, Rec. Austr. 

 Mus., vi, 1905, p. 62, pi. ix. 



D. xii-xiii 11 ; A. iii 10. Between eighty and ninety series of scales between 

 the origin of the lateral line and the hypural joint, and fourteen to fifteen between 

 the lateral fine and the middle of the spinous doisal. Depth 2-8-2-9 in the length 

 to the hypural ; head 3-3 in the same. Eye a little shorter than the snout, 0-7-3-8 in 

 the head. Longest dorsal spine much longer than the raj^s, 1-6- 1 -7 in the head ; the 

 last shorter than the penultimate. Second anal spine a little longer than the third, 

 but shorter than the anterior rays. 



Upper surface of cranium with prominent ridges. Lower preopercular spine 

 enlarged, but not projecting beyond the ojaercular lobe. Preoperculum armed with 

 strong spines which are enlarged at the angle. Teeth in a band in each jaw, the outer 

 row enlarged, conical, not cardiform ; vomer and palatines toothless. Gill-rakers 

 moderately elongate and numerous. 



A broad dark shoulder-spot. Body Avith four dark cross-bars, the first incom- 

 plete, below the anterior doisal spines, and the last on the cauda) pedum; le. Some 

 dark bars and spots below and behind the eye. Soft dorsal, anal, and caudal fins 

 with dark spots. 



Loc. : — Houtmans Abrolhos, Western Austraha ; marine. 



THERAPON (DATNIA) INTERRUPTUS Macleay. 

 (Plate X, fig. 2.) 

 Therapon interruptus Macleay, Proc. Linn. Sue. N. cs. VVc^l. s, viii, 1883, p. 258. 



TAPIROID GRUNTER 

 D. xii 10 ; A. iii 8 ; V. i 5 ; P. 1-13 ; 0. 17. 51-52 series of scales between 

 the origin of the lateral fine and the hypural joint counted below the lateral fine, and 

 64-55 above it ; 6-7^ between the lateral fine and the middle of the spinous dorsal. 



