20 THE INLAND WATERS FISHERIES. 



curiosity, being, according to Professor M'Coy, a type 

 between the thorny-finned and soft-finned fishes. It is a mud 

 fish generally obtained by emptying waterholes when made 

 low by the summer heat. It is rich and oily, but a good 

 table fish, and is readily caught with a line. 



The catfish, belonging to the genus SiluridcB, is abundant 

 in the back waters and lagoons in the western country. It 

 is claimed to be an excellent fish, and is in great request in 

 those localities where other species are scarce. It is fat and 

 eel-like in flavour, but its appearance is not by any means 

 inviting. When full grown it averages 2 feet in length. 



■ The bony bream {chatoessiis ^nchardsonii), a fish of the 

 herring tribe, is found in the western rivers. It is called 

 Ka-i-ra by the Murrumbidgee natives. It appears at times 

 in immense shoals. It is a handsome fair-sized fish, but 

 owing to numberless bones it contains it is not utilised for 

 food purposes. Another species of this fish (C. erebi) forms 

 in its season one of the principal articles of food of the 

 aboriginals on the Darling. A peculiar feature in connec- 

 tion with its use is that the young women are not allowed 

 to partake of it from a belief that if they did all the fishes 

 would die. It is also placed on the tops of graves from 

 superstitious ideas. These statements are offered for what 

 they may be worth. In making them it is projoer to say 

 that the late Sir William Macleay considered they had no 

 foundation in fact. Apropos of this legend, if such it be, 

 the writer is induced to record what is positively asserted to 

 be a fact in connection with the Murrumbidgee Cod — it is 

 that they carry the picture of the tree under which they were 

 spawned; and the following is given as the method of opening 

 the fish to obtain the vicAv of the oak, gum, or other object 

 near to which the fish, being operated upon, began its 

 existence. Lay the fish on his port or left side, that is with 

 his back fin towards the right hand, then cut from the tail 

 close along the backbone as far as the first rib, cut the first 

 rib through, but be careful not to disturb a very thin trans- 

 parent skin, something like tissue paper. If nfecessary, 

 spring a few more of the ribs and pull the fish asunder, the 

 picture of the tree will then be exposed in the skin on which, 

 if carefully removed and spread on a sheet of 2)a2)cr it will be 

 more plainly seen. The writer has not yet verified this 

 statement — possibly some curious reader may be inclined 

 himself to test its correctness by experiment. 



