68 Zoological Society : — 



Body and tail as in H. nigrescens ; belly flat ; tail moderate, not 

 distinct from trunk; head not distinct from neck, depressed, rounded ; 

 rostral moderate ; anterior frontals broad, hinder edges just touching 

 the nostril ; posterior frontals much larger, rounded behind ; vertical 

 moderate, six-sided, very broad ; occipitals rather narrow, elongate, 

 much forked and pointed behind ; one anterior, two posterior ocu- 

 lars ; superciliaries and eyes small ; pupil elliptical, erect ; six upper 

 labials, third and fourth touching the eye. Upper part of posterior 

 half of tail covered with large hexagonal scales ; sides and beneath 

 yellowish white ; crown and a vertebral line running from the neck 

 to the tip of the tail black. 



Hub. North-eas£ Australia, neighbourhood of Rockhampton. 



Notes on Australian Freshwater Fishes, and Descrip- 

 tions OF Four New Species. By Gerard Krefft. 



The scanty knowledge which we possess of the fishes inhabiting 

 our freshwater streams has induced me to pay some attention to this 

 subject ; and I now furnish a list of species of the several rivers 

 from which I have received specimens. To begin with our imme- 

 diate neighbourhood, I find that up to the present time not more 

 than four species have been captured in the streams emptying into 

 Port Jackson and Botany Bay : — namely, Eleotris australis, sp. nor. ; 

 Wlugil dobula, Gthr.; Anguilla australis. Rich.; and Galaxiasscriba. 

 These four species we find in almost every stream, swamp, and 

 lagoon, Galaxias scriba even in old wells or other water-holes on 

 the top of hills, which have no connexion with any of the running 

 streams. Anguilla australis is also frequently found in detached 

 pools of water ; whilst Eleotris australis frequents the clearer stream- 

 lets. I have never had an opportunity of examining the creeks which 

 are situated upon the north shore of Poic Jackson, nor have I ever 

 received specimens captured there ; but I have reason to believe that, 

 besides the four kinds of fish mentioned, there exists a larger fresh- 

 water species, commonly called '* Perch," probably a Therapon, 

 which is not found in the salt water of the harbour. 



With regard to the fishes of the Nepean or Hawkesbury, its tri- 

 butaries, and the swamps and lagoons with which this river is occa- 

 sionally connected during high floods, I am enabled to give a better 

 account. I have drawn the seine in the Hawkesbury between 

 Windsor and Richmond, about fifty miles from its mouth, where the 

 water is as fresh as that of any mountain-stream ; and the result was, 

 at a haul, about 200 so-called '* Mullets " (two species, Mugil dobula, 

 Gthr., and Mugil compressus, Gthr.), two "Eels" {Anguilla aus- 

 tralis. Rich.), a "Perch" {Lates colonorum, Gthr., Ann. N. H. 

 1863, xi. p. 114), and a "Rock Cod" (Dertropogon robustus, Gthr.). 

 How this last fish managed to go so far up a freshwater river I could 

 not understand. It has all the appearance of a true sea-fish ; and 

 yet I took it subsequently much further up the river, between the 

 mountains, whilst I have also received two specimens captured with 



