156 NEW SOUTH WALES 
the leap is yearly increased. In the Hobarton Merewry of July 6, 
1878, we read an account from Messrs. Allport and Read, of the 
capture of a splendid female salmon 20 lbs. in weight, 2 feet 11 inches 
long by 204 inches in girth. It was taken in a spawning bed in the 
River Plenty, with a view of obtaining ova for hatching; but she had 
parted with most of the spawn, and only about 1,000 eggs could be 
obtained. The male fish on the same rid weighed 14 lbs. 
The “Crucian carp” (Carassius vulgaris) is now abundant everywhere about 
Sydney. The gold-fish (Carassius auratus) is also completely acclimatized ; 
and in Tasmania they have in addition the perch of European rivers 
(Perca fluviatilis) and the gudgeon (Gobio fluviatilis) These are all the 
fishes which have been introduced from other countries; but a little has 
also been done in the transfer of the fishes of the fresh waters of one part of the 
country to another. One species of the Murray cod was many years ago introduced 
into Lake George by the late Sir Terence Aubrey Murray, with the most astonish- 
ing success ; the lake and all the creeks running into it are now fully stocked with 
cod of large size and of excessive fatness—the ‘‘marami,” which abounds there 
forming their principal food. The Wollondilly River and Mulwarree Ponds near 
Goulburn have more recently been supplied-with the young cod from Lake George, 
and it is said that the increase of the fish in these rivers has been most rapid and 
satisfactory. There can be no doubt that the transfer from one part of the country 
to another of the best of our fresh-water fishes is a much more sensible and feasible 
proceeding than the introduction with much trouble and at great expense of some 
of the most useless fishes of the European rivers. Old associations, however 
natural, connected with the names of gudgeon, carp, perch, &c., should not induce 
us to stock our rivers or fish-ponds with such inferior fishes. But it is quite possible 
to go too far even in the better direction of the transfer of our western fishes 
to our eastern waters. The Murray cod, as before observed, is a most destruc- 
tive fish, swallowing up everything that comes in its way, not excepting its own 
species ; and its introduction into new waters might result in the final destruction 
of other kinds. Some caution, therefore, should be used in the introduction of 
such a formidable fish ; more particularly when from the same near source we can 
get supplied with fish of much better quality and less destructive tendencies. We 
allude to the fishes known in the Murrumbidgee as the ‘‘ golden perch” and 
‘‘silver bream”—the Kaakaalain and Koubery of the aborigines—the Ctennolates 
-auratus and Therapon richardsoni of the ichthyologist. For the purposes of food 
and all other objects to be attained by the akg with good fish of our eastern 
rivers and fish-ponds, these fishes are infinitely superior to the cod, and their ova 
an be obtained for transport with ease.—R.R.C. 
The colonists of Victoria and New South Wales have been over and 
over again recommended to introduce the Gourami (Osphromenus olfaa), 
belonging to a family of fishes (Labarynthici) which have. a kind of 
‘supernumerary gill in a cavity to itself which enables the fish to live 
for some time out of the water. In the accessory branchial cavity there 
is lodged a laminated organ which evidently has the function of assist- 
‘ing in the oxygenization of the blood. This accounts for the ease with 
which some can be acclimatized and transferred from pond to pond. The 
climbing perch which ascends trees belongs to this family. They 
are all cyprinoid fresh-water fishes belonging to the equatorial 
zone. The Gourami is reported to be one of the best flavoured 
fresh-water fishes in the East Indian Archipelago. Its original home is 
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and several other islands, but it has been tran- 
sported to Penang, the Mauritius, and even South America, and success- 
fully acclimatized. It is very tenacious of life, and will eat anything 
and soon becomes very tame. _ It attains the size of alarge turbot. A 
second, but much smaller species, O. trichopterus, is kept like the gold- 
fish, for ornament. Its colours are of every hue, metallic in lustre, and of 
great beauty, but it is a very pugnacious fish. 
