io8 



NA TURE 



[July 2%, 1892 



not sleep with anything like comfort, since the slightest pressure 

 woke me up. The final result was that I did not see the 

 slightest trace of any Ceratodus eggs, though, had they been 

 there, there is no doubt but that we should have found them. 

 I then sent one of my boys down the river for some miles to see 

 if there were any more weeds, but there were none to be seen. 

 Just at this juncture I heard of some blacks, but on trying to 

 secure them foun.i that they were anticipating a "muster"' 

 on one of the neighbouring stations, and were not to be 

 procured. Seeing no prospect of getting what I wanted, and 

 being none the better for my exposure to the sun, I went into 

 Gayndah. 



Here I may, perhaps, say something as to some conclusions 

 I had come to with regard to the habits of Ceratodus. With 

 the exception of the brief account given by Mr. Caldwell as to 

 the laying of its eggs on weed, and the curious amphibian-like 

 embryos, we know little about the natural history of the animal. 

 As before said, it is confined to two Queensland rivers — the 

 Mary and the Burnett, and my experience is limited to the latter. 

 Firstly, with regard to the animal's name. The Dipnoi have two 

 popular names — "lung fishes" and "mud fishes" — the latter 

 given to them because, in the case of Protopterus, the animal may 

 live for a part of the year in mud. The Ceratodus is not known 

 locally by either of these names ; it is, however, sometimes called 

 the " barramundi " and sometimes ihe "salmon.' The first of 

 these is, however, really that of a true osseous fish {Osteoglosstun 

 leichardtii), which lives chiefly in the Dawson and Fitzroy Rivers, 

 further north than the Burnett. The second is a fanciful name, 

 given on account of the very pink-coloured flesh of the animal. 

 Beyond this there is no resemblance whatever between the real 

 and the so-called Burnett "salmon." Mr. Saville Kent, in his 

 report on fishes ro the Queen-land Government, states that 

 Ceratodus is a valuable food fish. This is a curious mistake. 

 Its flesh is very oily, coarse, and disagreeable, and it is but 

 rarely eaten, and then only bv Chinese and those who can 

 afford nothing better. There is thus, I am thankful to feel, not 

 much fear that so interesting an animal will become rapidly 

 exterminated. 



Now, as to its method of life. Ceratodus is a big fish, and may 

 reach the length of six feet, and even more. I believe the largest 

 ever caught weighed eighty-seven pounds. It is always to be met 

 with in the deep pools, and not in the shallow waters, and it is 

 important to notice that these pools are many of them of con- 

 siderable extent, some more than a mile long. In the hottest 

 summer they contain a good supply of water, and thus, though 

 occasionally a Ceratodus may, of course, find its way into a 

 shallow pool which gets dried up, normally no such thing hap- 

 pens, and the animal passes its whole life in water. The usual 

 idea is that the lung is of service to the animal, as in the case 

 of Protopterus, when the waters practically dry up. I very 

 much doubt if Ceratodus ever makes for itself a mud cocoon, as 

 Protopterus does. It may possibly, but very rarely, bury 

 itself in mud, but the fishermen with whom I spoke, and who 

 were perfectly well acquainted with the animal, knew nothing 

 of its ever doing this. On the contrary, I fancy that the 

 lung is of at least as great service to the beast during the wet 

 weather as during the dry season — and probably even of 

 greater. 



Normally, then, we may say that Ceratodus never leaves the 

 water. If by any chance it gets out of the water it is perfectly 

 helpless. You may put one close to the edge and there it lies 

 passively. Its weak limbs are quite incapable of sustaining the 

 weight of the body. Nor can it live out of the water, unless 

 kept constantly damp, for more than a very few hours— not, in- 

 deed, so long as the jew-fish from the same river. In the water, 

 however, it constantly uses its lung. Sitting by the stream when 

 all is quiet in the evening, you can hear a diminutive kind of 

 spouting going on, the animal at intervals rising to the surface 

 and expiring and inspirmg air much as a minute whale might 

 do. Out of the water, too, it doe-; not open and shut its gill 

 flaps like an ordinary fish, but they remain tightly shut, and the 

 animal opens and closes its mouth, to all appearances breathing 

 like one of the higher forms. 



If we consider the environment of the Ceratodus we shall see 

 that there are two special and constantly recurring conditions 

 under which a lung would be useful to it. 



In the wet season the tributary creeks, dry in summer, become 

 transformed into roaring torrents, and when once you have seen 

 the great sandbanks along the river bed and the dry sandy 

 country through which the creeks pass, you can easily recognize 



NO. II 87, VOL. 46] 



what a vast quantity of sand must be brought down during the 

 course often of a very few days, and how thick the water must 

 become with fine particles. On the other hand, during the hot 

 season there suddenly grow with enormous rapidity great 

 quantities of water weeds. The river is then at its lowest and 

 the decaying vegetable matter will often render the water foul. 

 Under either of these conditions you can see that the possession 

 of an organ enabling the animal to remain in its natural element 

 and yet breathe air directly will be of great advantage to it. It is 

 the shallower pools especially which become chocked with 

 weeds, and since normally the Ceratodus lives in the deeper 

 pools, in which is the purer water, it \<, I think, very probable 

 that the flood season, when the water is disagreeably full of sand 

 and mud, is the time when the lung is of greatest service. 



In Gayndah I learned that Dr. Sicmen was camped out some 

 forty miles up country, where the Auburn and Bowen Rivers 

 join the Burnett, close to one another. Accordingly I made up 

 my mind to go up the river, both to see him and to search for 

 weed. The difficulty was ho.v to get there. However, I met 

 with a friend in the person of Mr. Bailey, proprietor of the 

 Queensland Hotel, who, at considerable inconvenience to himself, 

 promised to see me through the difficulty ; and, taking one of 

 my boys with me, we left Gayndah early one morning, before 

 4 a.m. 



The country was extremely dry and sandy, with poor gum 

 trees, and every now and then a patch of brigalow. By 10.30 

 we reached a wayside accommodation house, and then in the 

 heat of the day we started off along a most miserable track 

 across country as utterly uninteresting and monotonous as can 

 well be imagined. We had two good dogs with us, and the only 

 break in the monotony was when they put up a big " iguana." 

 Most were much too quick for them, but one they got hold of, 

 and it » as wonderful to see how they stuck to him without getting 

 within reach of his mouth. When all was over I slung him over 

 a dead trunk, to get his head on the way back. However, when 

 we came back he was not perfectly fresh, and was left behind. 

 By 4 o'clock we had crossed the Bowen River and pitched our 

 camp about a mde beyond. Then I walked on to Dr. Siemen's 

 camp. !My ad\ent was announced by the yelping of sundry 

 mongrels, the property of a small camp of blacks. On these 

 animals I kept a sharp look-out. Dr. Siemen I found living in 

 comparative luxury, and from him I received a most cordial 

 welcome. VVe spent the evening most pleasantly talking over 

 matters of common scientific interest. Three of his blacks came 

 in with a few Echidnas. I learnt from him that he had been no 

 more successful than myself in procuring Ceratodus eggs — that, in 

 fact, they had not begun to spawn yet. Unlike myself, how- 

 ever, he was able to stay there until they did spawn, and most 

 generously offered to procure certain material for me. There 

 was a small amount of weed in the river but not a trace of an 

 Cjjg. On cutting open the body of a " salmon " I found the 

 spawn inside, looking very similar, indeed, to that of a frog, 

 each separate egg being black in colour at one pole. It was 

 evidently not yet quite ripe for laying. The season when Mr. 

 Caldwell got his eggs in September seems to have been an 

 exceptional one as regards the temperature and amount of weed 

 in th-^river. There had been no big flood for some time pre- 

 viously to his visit, so that the river was full of weed and every- 

 thing was favourable for the depositing of spawn. This season, 

 as luck would have it, the warm weather started rather late and 

 the weeds had been largely washed away by heavy floods, the 

 river at the end of September being comparatively high. I 

 think it safe to say that, granted the presence of eggs, they could 

 be got by " whites " just as well as by " blacks." Any collector 

 going at the right time and not frightened of tiring and tedious work 

 could get them for himself now that the manner of spawning has 

 once been ascertained. Each egg, surrounded by a little gelatinous 

 capsule, is laid on weed, but I think, from what I heard with 

 regard to Mr. Caldwell's methods, that he found it necessary to 

 spend a very considerable time in the neighbourhood of the river 

 whilst the embryos were slowly developing, as they were not easily 

 and safely carried about. The next day Dr. Sieinen and I spent 

 together with, I trust, mutual enjoyment — at all events, to my- 

 self it was one of the pleasantest days I spent in Queensland. 

 I did a small amount of collecting, but it was far too dry and 

 sandy to get anything in the way of worms. Down by the river 

 I came across a black woman and pickaninny fishing, but they 

 were frightened when I spoke to them, and fled. There were 

 large numbers of Danais erippus, and of a beautiful species of 

 Acrasa with transparent wings. Late in the afternoon I at- 



