999 WAITE 
Of all the fishes taken, economic or otherwise, this was the 
most ubiquitous species secured. After passing the Otago 
Peninsula, it was represented in every haul of the net with but 
few exceptions, and some of these Stations are charted as 
‘“net fouled’’ when no fishes of any kind were obtained. It was 
taken at the Chatham and Pitt Islands by means of set nets and 
hand lines. Not only was it so freely distributed but occasionally 
it was taken in enormous numbers; 1000 examples were counted 
in one haul, while a more careful census made at another 
Station, revealed 1650 specimens. 
Operations conducted during the period of the extended 
charter shows that it is generally distributed over the area 
traversed, and as I with others have hooked it in the Sounds of 
the West Coast, it may be said to frequent the whole of the New 
Zealand seas. 
Family SPARIDA. 
PAGROSOMUS Gill, 1893. 
PAGROSOMUS AURATUS Forster. 
SCHNAPPER. 
_Labrus auratus Forster, in Bloch and Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 
1801, p. 266. 
Stations.9, 71, 72, 73, 74, 15, 76; 77, 78, 80, 8, 83; 84,°35," 86, 
ella cts teey GONE), Bar eeei ess lo. 
The Schnapper is regarded as a northern species in New 
Zealand waters, and Hector writes: ‘‘The Schnapper is not 
reported to occur south of the Kaikoura Peninsula.’’ It was 
therefore with considerable surprise that a single example was 
found included in the catch at Station 9, made off the mouth 
of the Clutha River, south of Otago, in 15-50 fathoms. This 
record is the more remarkable when, as the trawler records 
show, it was not again taken until the net was dragged outside 
Wellington Harbour, whence it was secured at almost every 
subsequent haul, the extremes of depths being 11 to 105 fathoms. 
In the introduction I referred to the plenitude of Schnapper 
in the Bay of Plenty, and wrote (p. 54): ‘‘Large hauls of 
Schnapper were made, and so great was their buoyancy when 
drawn from the deep water that they not only brought the net 
and its contents to the surface, but, in addition, supported the 
weight of Mr. Alward, our chief engineer, who jumped boldly 
on to the net. It was some time before the fish slipped away 
