and Paleontology of Victoria. 183 
Acclimatization Society of Victoria to introduce the salmon and 
other good British fish into the waters of the colony, indepen- 
dently of the scientific interest of the experiment. Large English 
trout are now in considerable numbers, from ova imported, 
packed in ice, by our Victorian Acclimatization Society, acting 
in conjunction with the Tasmanian government. Not only were 
numbers of parr hatched in the Victorian and Tasmanian rivers 
from the salmon-ova imported in this way, but there is now in 
the Exhibition one caught a few weeks ago in the Tamar River, 
about ten inches in length, which has lost the marks of the 
parr, and assumed the bright silvery aspect of the migratory 
stage of development, or “ grilse.” This is a great success for 
acclimatization and pisciculture, and shows that none of the 
insuperable difficulties which were supposed in England to bar 
our success with the Salmonide really exist, but that food and 
climate, and quality of water of such of our rivers as flow all 
the year, are sufficiently suitable to permit of success. 
The cartilaginous fishes are supposed to be so abundant here 
as greatly to diminish the chance of the acclimatized salmon 
returning in safety from the sea; but I do not think they are 
as numerous as in Britain. 
The Callorhynchus antarctica, or Southern Chimera, is com- 
mon near Portland, at short distances from the shore; and all 
round our coast the Port-Jackson shark, or “ bulldog shark,” 
as it is called by the colonists (Cestracion (Heterodontus) Philippi), 
is not uncommon. The most beautiful and curious of our sharks 
is that called “ carpet shark ”’ by the colonists—the Crossorhinus 
barbatus. The largest of our sharks, the “ black-finned shark ” 
(Carcharias melanopterus), is so rare that I have seen only one 
specimen (fifteen feet long), from Hobson’s Bay. The European 
“hammer-headed shark” (Sphyrnias zygena) is not very uncom- 
mon. But, what is very curious, we find the common English 
“tope” (Galeus canus) common in the bay; and, more extra- 
ordinary still, the common English “‘ smooth- hound ” (Mustelus 
vulgaris) is the commonest dogfish or small shark of our coast, 
occurring in great numbers in Hobson’s Bay, undistinguishable 
from Cornish specimens. The large Odontaspis taurus 1s, per- 
haps our commonest large and very destructive species, al- 
though the Indian Heptranchus indicus is not uncommon also. 
Another large shark, perfectly identical with the English species, 
is the “angelfish” (Squatina vulgaris), not very uncommon. 
Intermediate between the sharks and rays we have the tentacu- 
lated “ sawfish ” (Pristiophorus cirratus) in abundance, and the 
rare Trigonorhina fasciata. These, with one or two rays (Raja 
Lemprieri &c.), two large “sting rays” (Zrygon), and a rare 
Cephaloptera, are the chief predaceous Chondropterygil, One 
