THE SILURUS GLANIS. 177 



parts of Australia to Europe, would not have been so 

 chimerical, if the persons who entertained it had only 

 been able to fix upon such a fish. But the ichthyology 

 of Australia is at present in its infancy, only a small 

 proportion of the species being known, much less their 

 habits. Not less than five different kinds of fish, as 

 distinct as perch, burbot, and pike, were brought over 

 under the name of " Murray Cod." The promoters of 

 the experiment of introducing the salmon into Australia 

 do not appear to be aware that they have there al- 

 ready salnaonoids as nearly akin to the European 

 kinds as we can expect in two countries so remote 

 from each other. As long as our knowledge of Aus- 

 tralian fish is so incomplete, I cannot believe that the 

 time has arrived when we may look for successful 

 additions to our fauna from the Southern Hemisphere. 

 Thus we ought to limit ourselves to the fresh- 

 water fish of temperate Europe and America, but it 

 is surprising how small is the number of such kinds 

 which are not naturally indigenous to Great Britain. 

 For leaving aside valueless fish, we find that all the 

 genera occurring in Europe and North America 

 salmons, salmon-trouts, trouts, chars, vendaces (Core- 

 goni, whitings), perches, burbots, eels, etc. are repre- 

 sented in Great Britain, so that the forms found on 

 the Continent and in North America can be considered 

 as merely local races, which, if they could be trans- 

 planted, might deteriorate, or at all events yield no 



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