The Scyphophori, Haplomi, and Xenomi 205 
of the Antarctic continent. Dr. Boulenger * has recently 
shown that Galaxias lives freely in salt water, a fact sufficient 
* Dr. Boulenger (Nature, Nov. 27, 1902) has the following note on Galaxias: 
“Most text-books and papers discussing geographical distribution have made 
much of the range of a genus of small fishes, somewhat resembling trout, the 
Galaxias, commonly described as true fresh-water forms, which have long been 
known from the extreme south of South America, New Zealand, Tasmania, 
and southern Australia. The discovery, within the last few years, of a species 
of the same genus in fresh water near Cape Town, whence it had previously 
been described as a loach by F. de Castelnau, has added to the interest, and 
has been adduced as a further argument in support of the former existence 
of an Antarctic continent. In alluding to this discovery when discussing the 
distribution of African fresh-water fishes in the introduction to my work 
“Les Poissons du Bassin du Congo,’ in 1901, I observed that, contrary to the 
prevailing notion, all species of Galaxias are not confined to fresh water, and 
that the fact of some living both in the sea and in rivers suffices to explain 
the curious distribution of the genus; pointing out that in all probability 
these fishes were formerly more widely distributed in the seas south of the 
tropic of Capricorn, and that certain species, adapting themselves entirely to 
fresh-water life, have become localized at the distant points where they are 
now known to exist. Although as recently as October last the distinguished 
American ichthyologist D. S. Jordan wrote (Science, xiv, p. 20): ‘We know 
nothing of the power of Galaxias to survive submergence in salt water, if 
carried in a marine current’; it is an established fact, ascertained some years 
ago by F. E. Clarke in New Zealand and by R. Vallentin in the Falkland Islands, 
that Galaxias attenuatus lives also in the sea. In New Zealand it periodically 
descends to the sea, where it spawns, from January to March, and returns 
from March to May. In accordance with these marine habits, this species 
has a much wider range than any of the others, being known from Chile, Pata- 
gonia, Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, New Zealand, Tasmania, and 
southern Australia. 
“T now wish to draw attention to a communication made by Captain F. W. 
Hutton in the last number of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 
(xxxiv, p. 198), ‘On a Marine Galaxias from the Auckland Islands.’ This 
fish, named Galaxias bollansi, was taken out of the mouth of a specimen of 
Merganser australis during the collection excursion to the southern islands 
of New Zealand made in January, 1901, by His Excellency the Earl of Ran- 
furly. 
“Tt is hoped that by giving greater publicity to these discoveries the family 
Galaxiide will no longer be included among those strictly confined to fresh 
waters, and that students of the geographical distribution of animals will 
be furnished with a clue to a problem that has so often been discussed on 
insufficient data. As observed by Jordan (J. c.), ‘all anomalies in distribu- 
tion cease to be such when the facts necessary to understand them are at 
hand.’ 
“Of the fresh-water species of Galaxias, eight are known from New Zealand 
and the neighboring islands, seven from New South Wales, three or four from 
south Australia, one from west Australia, two from Tasmania, seven from South 
America, from Chile southwards, and one from the Cape of Good Hope.” 
