FISH ACCLIMATISATION IN QUEENSLAND. 



By D. O'CONNOR. 



[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, November 7, 1896.] 



Queensland offers a wonderfully extensive and suitable field for 

 the operations of the fish acclimatiser. She possesses some very 

 fine rivers, many of which are, however, remarkably poor, both 

 in variety, in quantity, and in quality of the finny tribe. 



Hitherto nothing has been done or even attempted towards 

 stocking any of our rivers, and yet the work may be 

 accomplished easily and without incurring any great expense. 



Our earliest attention should be given to the magnificent 

 stream that flows through our city. 



The first fish we should deal with is Lates cakarifer. It is 

 known ni the Norman River as Barramundi, in the Pioneer as 

 the Palmer, and in the Fitzroy as the Giant Perch. It was 

 first known as the Palmer. This multiplicity of names 

 for one and the same fish is, to say the least, confusing, 

 as is also the equally objectionable application of one 

 name to several varieties of fish — for instance, Barramundi, by 

 which name the Ceratodus is known on the Mary River, the 

 Palmer in the Norman, and Osteoglossum Leichhardti in the Upper 

 Dawson. It is to this last-mentioned fish, which was discovered 

 by the ill-fated Leichhardt, that the name was first applied, to 

 which it properly belongs, and by which it should be retained. 

 By whatever name Lates cakarifer is known, it is everywhere 

 regarded as a table fish of the highest excellence. As a 

 sportsman's fish it is unrivalled by any fish in Australia. If 

 size may be regarded as a recommendation, the specimen before 

 you speaks for itself ; it measures 4ft. Sin. in length, 2ft. Sin. 

 in girth, and must have weighed over 501bs. This is said to be 

 the proper time to transfer the Palmer to the Brisbane. The 

 work should be undertaken without further delay. The next 



