BY' ALLAN R, MC GVLLOCH. 5^]| 



Freshwater Hardy head," which, curiously enough, 

 considering its abundance, has, apparently, hitherto escaped 

 description, is one of the commonest fishes in the Western 

 waters of New South Wales — I may go farther than that, 

 and say throughout the whole of the Murray River Drainage 

 Area. I have collected it from billabongs and lagoons on 

 the Murray River and have seen it in the Mitta Mlitta, 

 and other Victorian feeders of the Murray. It has also 

 been sent to me in a collection from the lower Murray 

 in South Australia. I have taken it in the warrumbools 

 and small waterholes of the country north of the Upper 

 Barwon, not f)a,r ft-om the Queensland border, and have 

 taken or observed it in Lake Narran, in several places on 

 the Barwon and the Darling (old CoHymungool Station, 

 CoUarenebri, Calmundi Station, Walget, Barooma, Brew- 

 arrina, and Bourke), in Tarrion Creek and the Dry Bogan, 

 ill, the Bogan proper (at Nyngaai), the Macqu.arie, the 

 Cudgegong (at Rawden and above at an altitude of about 

 2,500 feet), the Lachlan, the Murrumbidgee (at several 

 places on the plains and also in the vicinity of Cooma 

 at an altitude of about 2,500 feet), Yanko Creek, Edward's^ 

 or Kyalite River and the Wakool, 



*'I have found it equally abundant in such widely- 

 separated places and at such varying altitudes as Munga- 

 barina, near Albury, Rawden near Rylstone, and the 

 Upper Barwon. It may be mentioned that in one haul 

 of the net, at a small waterhole near the junction of the 

 Namoi and the Barwon, I took several thousands of this 

 species from f-3 inches in length, with a net only 30 feet 

 long by 4 feet deep. In the flowing rivers and larger 

 lagoons it is found principally in the shallows along the 

 banks, and in the clearer waters is seen moving in small 

 schools. 



" Adults commonly attain a length of two or three 

 inches, and exceptionally four inches. The spawning 

 season is during the warmer months, and the egg, which 

 s an adhesive demersal one, is relatively large. It 

 subsists upon the small aquatic insects and crustaceans 

 which occur in prodigious numbers in most of the waters 

 of the Murray Drainage Area." 



