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GENERAL AND CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS 

 ON THE FISHES OF TASMANIA. 



In submitting to the Fellows of this Society my observa- 

 tions upon the Fishes of Tasmania, I am especially reminded 

 of the valuable labours of the late Mr. Morton Allport 

 in this direction, and of the loss which Ichthyology has 

 sustained by his untimely death. Not only had he laboured 

 zealously and successfully in all matters relating to the 

 acclimatisation of the European Salnionhlce and other fishes, 

 but, in addition, he had at much pains during a number of 

 years collected many of our indigenous fishes and forwarded 

 them to Dr. Giinther, of the British Museum, with his 

 observations. A few of those forwarded by him were after- 

 wards described by Dr. Giinther as new to science, and a 

 still larger number, although already known and described, 

 were reported for the first time to include Tasmania in their 

 distribution. In this way he materially extended our know- 

 ledge of the indigenous fishes, and so increased the known 

 list from about 100 to 142 species. These were recorded by 

 him in a MS. Catalogue, which the Council of this Society 

 kindly placed at my disposal when they learned that I was 

 independently engaged on a similar work. Unfortunately 

 with respect to this Catalogue, there are no notes or obser- 

 vations of any kind regarding the fishes themselves ; and if 

 no other records exist, the greater part of the knowledge 

 which he gained by his many years of patient study has 

 been lost to science. 



It is right that I should here also mention how much we 

 are indebted to Mr. T. J. Lempriere, who was the first 

 Tasmanian naturalist who formed an extensive collection of 

 fishes. His collection was described by Dr. Richardson, 

 and afterwards published in the Journal of the Zoological 

 Societv in the year 1839, and reprinted in the Tasmanian 

 Journal, vol. I, p. 59-65 ; 99-108. 



My own labours in connection with the fishes of Tasmania 

 only extend over the last six years, but during that period I 

 have devoted much of my time to their investigation. The 

 branch of study Mhich especially occupied my mind has 

 been one that had already ensjaged my attention in respect 

 of the land and fresh-water siiells of this Island, — viz., 

 habits and variability. Like some species of our land 



