206 Transactions. — Zoology, 



Ocean towards the south pole, but which is separated from the east coast 

 of Otago by a cold northerly littoral current. As the boundaries of these 

 currents fluctuate a good deal according to the season and direction of the 

 winds, a deviation of the warm southerly stream towards Otago at the time 

 of the migration of the sprat woukl account for their occasional appearance 

 as well as their disappearance. At present, however, there is not much 

 more known of the great currents of the South Pacific Ocean, than of the 

 habits of this little herring itself. 



Note. 



Since the above was read, a good deal of interesting information not 

 previously ascertained by me, has been kindly placed at my disposal rela- 

 tive to above species. It is from Mr. P. F. Stoddart and Mr. Cosgrove. 

 Mr. Stoddart says: "For years prior to 1875, when I was living near 

 Moeraki, the sprat visited the Fish Eeef regularly from March till May in 

 incredible numbers, which were easily seen by us while fishing there, as 

 they came close under our boat. They always disappeared on the approach 

 of cold weather. The red cod which we caught on the reef were often 

 found to be stuffed full of sprats, — indeed they were sticking out of their 

 mouths." The Fish Eeef lies about three miles off shore. 



In a subsequent letter from the same gentleman, he adds : — " I have 

 made enquiries about the sprats. Captain Liddle (who has been fishing at 

 Moeraki for the last fifteen years) says, they are there every year in any 

 quantity, about the reefs a mile from the shore. They begin to appear 

 about January, but are most plentiful in March and April. On two occa- 

 sions during that period they came inshore, into Moeraki Bay, in dense 

 masses, as they did also at Oamaru and Timaru. He could give me no 

 information which way the shoal travels, as they seem to be all over the 

 sea ; and accounts for their going close inshore, sometimes in dense masses, 

 to other fish pursuing them. 



" Mr. Leggatt, who used to have the landing service at Port Moeraki 

 and is now in Ckristchurch, also knows the fish very well and remembers his 

 boys getting buckets full, left among the holes in the rocks by the ebb-tide, 

 some four or five years ago. Captain Liddle says, that with a hoop-net, 

 which he sinks a few feet at the stern of the boat and then throwing over 

 some food, he can catch any quantity any year. There were plenty at 

 Moeraki at the same time (May, 1882) these shoals were in Oamaru Bay, 

 but they did not come close in the same." 



Mr. Cosgrove writes me : — " It makes its appearance on the east coast 

 of the Otago Peninsula in the month of November and remains off the 

 coast of the South Island throughout the season, which is, so far as I 

 can gather from searching enquiries and from personal observation, from 



