ON CEEATODUS FOSTERI : BY THOMAS ILLIDGE. 41 



free will, and that the fish made its way back to the river. This 

 is quite contrary to my experience, which I may say should be 

 considered fairly extensive — extending, as it does, over a six 

 years' residence on the Burnett, during which I have secured 

 numbers of fish for scientific purposes. The Ceratodus has no 

 power in its flappers or tail sufficient to move ita weighty body. 

 After capture it is really the quietest fish I have ever seen. It 

 makes but a very feeble attempt to escape, and after a few 

 struggles lies quite helpless. In a cool damp place it will live 

 for several hours out of the water, but if left exposed to the sun 

 it dies very quickly and its large scales speedily become sunburnt 

 and assume a reddish-brown colour. 



When caught the Ceratodus is of a greenish -brown appear- 

 ance on the back and a slatey color on the belly, but shortly after 

 capture a great change is noticed and the fish becomes very 

 prettily colored with red, pink and violet hues on the abdominal 

 parts. All these pretty hues disappear after death. The scales 

 are covered with a fine oily substance which makes it very 

 difficult to hold the fish in one's hands ; it is not a dirty slime 

 like that of an eel, but more like the finest filtered oil which does 

 not adhere to the hands. This oil, I fancy, is exuded from the 

 head or from glands under the scales through perforations. 



The fish is reported to attain a larger size, but so far as my 

 experience shows, the largest I have captured, or seen, weighed 

 tw^enty-seven pounds and the smallest four pounds. One which 

 I did not capture (as it broke my line) appeared to me to be of 

 extra size, but most anglers fancy they lose their finest fish 

 when it escapes. 



The best bait for Ceratodus is the Shrimp, which is plenti- 

 ful in the Burnett ; but it will also take snails, worms and moss. 

 The Ceratodus is, for the most part, a vegetarian and eats moss, 

 grass which has fallen into the water, and the seed-pods of the 

 Eucalyptus. It will even gnaw the bark from the trees growing 

 in the water, for it has strong teeth — two incisors on the upper 

 jaw and strong molars on both upper and lower. These molars 

 are not loose but form part of the jaw-bones. 



A peculiar noise is made by the Ceratodus, somewhat re- 

 sembling the grunt of a pig. The noise is sometimes made when 



