BY THOMAS ILLIDGE. 



43 



and has not the same beautiful transparence as at first — the 

 germ being of a greener tint and now resembhng a small green 

 pea. About the fourth day the ovum is more egg-shaped and 

 the inside germ is also lengthened out a little bit. About the 

 seventh day a dark curved line is visible from nearly the centre 

 of the germ to the outer edge, and the germ has become more 

 oval and has increased in length to -^^ of an inch. From about 

 the ninth day, when the embryo shows the first symptoms of 

 life, a further six days elapse before it is ready to emerge — each 

 motion of the embryo increasing the centre space. During this 

 time the embryo has grown to nearly the length of the egg. 

 After the embryo protrudes its head through the outer covering 

 of the egg, a further period of three or four days elapses before 

 its final release. After its release, the creature is not, to the 

 naked eye, very much like a fish but resembles a small green 

 grub without head or legs and is somewhat oval in shape. It is, 

 at this stage, of a green colour and -^ of an inch long. It does 

 not, even now, exhibit many symptoms of life, but occasionally 

 will give a jerk which sends it upwards into the water, wriggling 

 about for two or three seconds, and then falling to the bottom 

 apparently dead. Here it lies, hour after hour, without any 

 visible motion or sign of life. By the fourth day the creature is 

 half-an-inch long and still very inactive, continuing to lie at the 

 bottom on its side. It does not feed up to this stage, but exists 

 on the nutriment contained in an external envelope supplied by 

 Nature for that purpose. 



The eggs of the Ceratodus have many enemies, amongst 

 which may be placed the shrimp which pulls the egg to pieces 

 and devours the germ ; and in places where the larva of the 

 mosquito exist the egg is speedily destroyed. The young fish, 

 on the first and for several days after emerging from the egg> 

 are so entirely helpless that they must be consumed in great 

 numbers by other small fish and by shrimps ; consequently, a 

 very small proportion attain maturity. 



A remarkable fact in connection with Ceratodus is that the 

 smaller sizes, say under three or four pounds in weight, are very 

 rare, and even with a fine net cannot be obtained. I have been 

 on the Burnett, as I previously stated, for six years and have 



