FISH AND FISHERIES. 103 
O. mitchelli, Castelnau, differs from the above in having the head much 
broader and the eye considerably larger, it being one-sixth the length of 
the head, the upper jaw longer than the lower, the operculum more 
rounded, and the caudal fin a little longer. The height of the body is 
also three times and a third in the length without the caudal, instead 
of four times and a-half, as in the other species, and the upper profile 
ig more convex. It occurs in all western rivers, but 0. macquariensis 
is found in a few of the eastern rivers to the north of Sydney. The 
colour of O. mitchelli is a livid grey, entirely cdvered with small ‘round 
obscure spots. The fishermen call this the Murray Perch, to distinguish. 
it from the Cod. The smaller specimens are more spotted. 
Both fishes are of the same voracious character, devouring every fish or animal 
of any kind which their enormous mouths can compass. They are both excellent 
fishes for the table, and have been known to reach a weight of 120 lbs. The youn 
fish are found at the very head of the streams, the old ones generally lower down 
in the deep reaches of the rivers ; and it is said that, like all other fishes, they have 
periods of migration, appearing to ascend the streams in summer and to descend 
them in winter. Very little art is required in the capture of these fish—a strong 
line, a large hook, and a lump of beef for bait are all the requirements necessary. 
The spawning season isin midsummer, Mr. F. A. Tompson, of Wagga Wagga, 
making the time about November, and Mr. Warren, a fisherman at the same place, 
positively affirming it to be January, and in this view Mr. Leitch and others 
coincide. Mr. F, A. Tompson has seen the fish, as he believed, actually deposit- 
ing the spawn—one fish, the female doubtless, moving along the bottom of the 
water, forming a furrow in the sand with its chin, while another fish (the male) 
closely followed in its wake. Mr. Warren never saw the fishes spawning, but had 
often found what he believed to be the spawn attached to logs, and he affirms that 
he can discriminate perfectly between the spawn of the cod and the other percoid. 
fishes of the Murrumbidgee.—R.R.C. 
The Golden Perch. 
The Golden Perch or Yellow-belly represents two species of 
Ctenolates, C..ambiguus, and C. christyi, a species described by Count 
Castelnau, from the Edwards River. The first of these is common in 
all the rivers and lagoons of the interior. It is a very rich and delicate 
fish, and attains a weight of 7 lbs. or. more; its time and manner of 
spawning is the same as the cod. The spawn is believed to be hatched 
in a fortnight after deposition. When fresh this fish is coloured very 
beautifully. The body is of a magnificent green, the sides and behind 
the dorsal, the upper parts of the body, are rich golden. The head is a 
beautiful mixture of green, purple, yellow, and scarlet, with fine golden 
tinges ; the belly is white, the dorsal fin purplish green, anal scarlet, 
with its base yellow and its end purple, pectorals scarlet at their base, 
and. yellow in their second half; the. eye is purple, with an interior 
white ring. These colours are subject to great variation, and the belly 
is sometimes red. The young fish have little of the fine hues of the 
adult, and they are much more elongate. The head is purple, and the 
dorsal fin is grey, bordered with black. 
In C. christyt the upper parts are brownish purple, and the lower 
white. Itis very rare. It must be mentioned that Ginther and Castel- 
nau place these fishes in the genus Dules. The main distinction from 
Oligorus appears to be that the scales are small and strongly ctenoid, 
the spines in the dorsal are ten in number, and the preorbital and pre- 
operculum are finely serrated with small denticulations on the lower 
