AUSTRALIAN FISHES 107 



minnow, but with sea-tackle, and big worms or 

 pieces of meat as bait. Sometimes .they require a 

 good deal of downright hauling to get them to 

 land, as they often exceed 50 lbs. in weight, lOO lbs. 

 being about the maximum. They are also netted, 

 and sent down to the cities alive in tanks, arriving 

 in prime condition. 



In the long reaches of still water, hemmed in by 

 living walls of delicate silvery mimosa and deep 

 green wattle-trees, these giant perch delight to 

 swim, not in company, but solitary and idly (for 

 they are lazy fish), or, for a change, in some little 

 current of water, or, like their English cousins, in 

 a back eddy of a river, where, after rains, the water 

 ripples merrily over the rocky bottom ; and, when 

 the water fails, and leaves even the Murray very 

 low, the cod readily accommodate themselves to 

 the confinement of any deep water-hole that may 

 happen to be left. 



So much is this fish appreciated in Australia, 

 that from the Murray alone, fifty tons' weight have 

 been taken in one year. Why the efforts to accli- 

 matise it in England should have failed is surpris- 

 ing, for our rivers and climate are suitable for it, 

 and, except pike, the cod would have no enemies 

 to contend with. 



Next in importance as a food fish is another 



