212 I III-: HISTORY OF THE FISH. 



breeds in the sea. In the " Scotia " report I have shown that these two families are Salmonoids 

 related to the Osmeridae, and their marine origin may be regarded as certain. Like the northern 

 Salmonoids, they are establishing themselves in fresh water, and it is interesting to note that Galaxias 

 occurs at the Cape and even New Caledonia, where, like the Trout of Algeria, it remains as the witness 

 of a glacial epoch." 



A study of the life history of G. attenuatus makes it apparent that the species need not have 

 occurred in its present specific form during that period prior to Tertiary times, in which land-connection 

 is considered by some writers to have persisted between New Zealand, Antarctica and Australia ; or 

 even as late as the Miocene, in which the land-connections between New Zealand, Antarctica, and 

 South America are supposed to have broken down. For it appears that the larval G. attenuatus is 

 capable of a transoceanic migration, and has within a comparatively recent date been distributed 

 to its various habitats by Antarctic currents. 



In New Zealand the larval form enters into the category of edible fishes as White-bait, the Maori 

 term for the species at this stage being Inauga. The ancient Maori was a thorough naturalist, and 

 much that has been unravelled by Europeans during the last fifty years was known to him centuries 

 ago. Best (1903, p. 77) has given the Maori version of the migrations of the Inanga in the Bay of 

 Plenty district, but as the story is told in the quaint mytho-poetical manner peculiar to the Maori, 

 I have extracted only the essential parts in the following note : — 



On the nights Turn, 16th, and Rakau-nui, 17th, of the ninth month of the Maori year (the middle 

 of February to the middle of March), the Inauga begin to migrate to Wainui (the ocean). There are 

 three migrations, the second taking place during the Autumn, and the third when a star known as 

 Takero is seen, the migration being known by that name. The Inauga produce their young in salt 

 water, and leave them there to be dashed about by the waves. In the months Matahi (June to July) 

 and Marauroa (July to August), the Hiwi (another name for the parent fish) return to fresh water ; 

 but not yet the young. People see them returning, and observe they are thin and light. Then the 

 nets and pots are set at the weirs, and great numbers are taken. The young ones do not come up 

 the rivers until the fourth month of the Maori year (the middle of September to the middle of October). 



Evidently the Ngai Tahu (South Island Tribe) also recognised three separate migrations of the 

 Minnow, as I have recently been informed by Mr. Best that this tribe applies the term Matuaiwi to 

 the second migration of the Hiwi. 



The following account of the return journey of the Minnow in the Clutha River at Otago has 

 been supplied to me by Mr. H. Beattie, who relates the story as he had it from an old native : — " They 

 return up the river in long columns, leaving the water at its mouth white with spawn. Mata was 

 the name of the very young Inanka (or Inauga), and they were caught with Kaka (nets) sometimes a 

 chain long. A lagoon near Waikouaiti was called Mata-I uai:ka because the Maoris caught very small 

 inanga there." I may here add that the tidal reach of the Clutha River is about twelve miles inland, 

 and that this record of the Minnow spawning at the mouth of the river is refuted by all experienced 

 fishermen who have fished in the tidal estuaries of our larger rivers. 



The inanga enter a river only at full tide ; immediately the tide commences to ebb they disappear 

 either up stream or back to the ocean. During September, 1918, while visiting Paxemata, seventeen 

 miles north of Wellington, I noticed a shoal of semi-transparent fishes entering a small stream from 

 a lagoon which is partly detached from the sea, and making their way up against the current. I 

 followed the shoal for some distance, and later was fortunate in securing a specimen which proved 

 to be an immature example of G ataxias attenuatus. I was informed by a resident that a month later 

 much larger shoals run up stream, most of which are eaten by the eels and trout. 



