FISH OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 437 



the distribution of marine animals." * And as a rule 

 all the best table fish are found in cold water: the 

 inferior quality of the fish in tropical seas is generally 

 admitted. 



Also, the fish found in the Northern Hemisphere 

 are generally far superior, as table fish, to those in 

 the Southern Hemisphere; and so far as is at present 

 known, this will be found to apply equally both to 

 the salt and fresh water fish. Mr. Hursthouse for 

 instance states that in the case of New Zealand 

 " Billingsgate could show a dozen good fish for New 

 Zealand's one. Indeed in my (Mr. H.'s) opinion there 

 are not six good table fish to be found in all the seas 

 south of the equator." f Now New Zealand, we can 

 say from personal knowledge, has the best fish of any 

 of our Australian colonies; magnificent oysters for 

 instance are very plentiful in the South Island. The 

 fish at the Cape of Good Hope are in like manner, 

 with one or two exceptions, of very inferior quality. 



As regards the numbers of different sorts of fish 

 thus far known to exist, it may be interesting to state 

 on the authority of the Encyclopedia Britannica, that 

 there are of 



Fresh water fishes, total number of species known 2270 

 Sea water fishes 3587 



Grand total of species . . . . 5857 

 The science of Ichthyology is however very imper- 

 fect, and this list must be considered as a provisional 



* See " General Conclusions " in Introduction to the Report on the 

 Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger, Vol. i. (p. 48 

 of Introduction). 



j- New Zealand, the Britain of the South, by Charles Hursthouse, p. 78. 



Encycl. Brit., 9th edit., Vol. xii., p. 670 (Article "Ichthyology";. 



