254 LIFE-HISTORY OF NEOCERATODUS FORSTERI 



for the purpose, was instrumental in transferring 

 many living specimens from the Mary to the Enoggera, 

 Condamine and Logan Rivers : it is very likely that both 

 sexes were taken to each spot, for recent examination 

 of fifty Ceratodus shewed that there were tA^ace as many 

 males as females : in am^ bunch of five specimens both 

 sexes would occur. There is no doubt that the fish sur- 

 vived and thrived in their new abode, as specimens have 

 been caught twenty years later. 



Nevertheless, I am of opinion that that method Avill 

 not suffice to prevent the extinction, and pro})ose the follow- 

 ing scheme. Let a suitable lagoon be constructed and 

 stocked with a dozen fish : so arranged that the fish could 

 be caught in September, the spawning season, transferred 

 to a hatchery and there stripped of their ova. if that be 

 possible with Ceratodus ; the young fish reared \intil a 

 year old and then liberated in weedy rivers. A pond, 

 circular in shape, as large as possible, constructed pre- 

 ferably by excavation, bricks and cement, with abrupt 

 walls ; one half to be four feet in depth and planted with 

 Vallisneria and Hydrilla, and one half twelve feet deep. 

 Preparatory to catching the fish any that might be in the 

 weedy portion could be made to go into the deep water 

 by poking a long stick into the weeds : by means of a 

 frame, the width and dex)th of the deep portion, covered 

 with wire netting and lowered into the Mater at the 

 junction of the shallop- with the deep par+ and carried 

 towards the end, the fish would be imprisoned : if the 

 extreme end Avere made narrow and shallow the fish could 

 be more easily captured. If it were found that Ceratodus 

 was a fish that could not be stripped of its ova, it Avould 

 be advisable to construct a small pond, the same absolutely 

 protected in every way from insects, into which the fish 

 oould be transferred during the spawning season ; the 

 ova could be obtained and hatched in aquaria if that were 

 considered advisable. Failing for want of funds to get 

 the scheme as outlined carried out, I would recommend 

 that a small hatchery be arranged and some one sent to 

 Miva on the Mary River, in September, to procure ova. 



Ceratodus spawns in weed beds in still water close 

 to the edge of the river during September and October, 

 in water two to four feet in depth ; the ova are eaten by the 



