180 RIVER FISH. 



the length of the fish. Those I examined were 

 of a yellowish-green colour, covered with irre- 

 gular black spots, with a silvery abdomen. They 

 are named by the colonists, " river cod ;" and 

 by the aborigines, "Mewuruk."* In the sto- 

 mach of this fish I frequently found shell-fish, of 

 the genus Unto, in an entire state. The larger 

 kind of these shells the natives of the Tumat 

 country call " Nargun ;" and the smaller, usually 

 found in rivulets or creeks, " Pindaquin, or 

 Bucki." Occasionally half-digested masses of 

 green caterpillars, and other insects, were also 

 found in the stomach of this fish. In the Tumat 

 country, varieties of the " river cod," are called 

 by the natives Bewuck, Mungee, &c. Another 

 fish of the family of perches is also caught in the 

 Yas, Murrumbidgee, and other large rivers in 

 the colony : it is called the " perch" by the colo- 

 nists, and " Kupe" by the natives. I preserved 

 a specimen, caught in the Murrumbidgee, mea- 

 suring seventeen inches in length, and six inches 

 at its greatest breadth, containing a fine roe : 



* The aborigines are expert fishermen ; and I have seen 

 them capture a number of fish, when Europeans trying near 

 them have not had even a nibble. About the Fish river, the 

 aborigines have a novel manner of fishing — by placing a bait 

 at the end of a spear, when the water is clear, and on the 

 fish approaching, they transfix it with much expertness. 



