REPORT ON THE SHORE FISHES. 31 



Southern and Middle Queensland, and the fishes enumerated here were obtained chiefly 

 during an excursion made by Sir W. Thomson.^ All the species ol)tained are known to 

 enter freely brackish and fresh water. 



' [There seemed to us, from what we heard at Sydney, to be a chance of making valuable additions to the know- 

 ledge of the natural history of South-East Australia, by examining carefully the fauna of some of the rivers. Those in 

 which Ceratodus had lately been discovered had the greatest interest for us, for we hoped that, besides getting a good 

 supply of Geratodics in all stages, we might by effective netting and other means find some additional forms of the 

 Dipnoi. 



Accordingly a little party, consisting of Lieutenant (now Commander) Aldrich, who afterwards commanded the 

 sledge which ran westwards from the "Alert's " winter quarters along the coast of Grinnel's Lund, Mr Murray, and myself, 

 with Pearcey and a couple of blue-jackets in attendance, was organised to go to Brisbane during the stay of the ship at 

 Sydney, with the view of pushing on, if time permitted, to the upper reaches of the Mary or the Burnet. 



We got information and introductions from Dr Bennett, Mr HiU, and others. We prepared a stock of trammel nets, 

 lines, and other fishing appliances, a box of dynamite cartridges, fowling pieces, and collecting gear of all kinds, and we 

 arranged to leave Sydney by the " City of Brisbane " on Tuesday the 29th of April 1874 ; the vessel was, however, detained 

 by bad weather till the 4th of May. We am^^ed at Brisbane on the morning of the 7th. An intimation of our intended 

 trip bad preceded us, and we found a kind invitation from the Marquis of Normanby to Government House awaiting 

 lis at the club, of which we had already been made honorary members. 



We stayed a few days at Brisbane seeing all that was to be seen. The governor's A.D.C. tried to make 

 arrangements to send us on to Gympie in carriages, but we found it more convenient to go by a coasting steamer to 

 Maryburgh. The departure of the " Lady Bowen," the regular trading packet, was hurried to give us more time, and 

 on Sunday the 10th we were steaming past a monotonous undulating coast-line, the low hills crowned with dusky woods 

 of sombre gum-trees, past Fraser Island, one of the districts given up entirely to the natives, many of whom we saw in 

 the distance, with a fine walk and gait, but absolutely unclothed. We were disappointed that none of them swam off 

 to the steamer as they often do. 



We reached Maryburgh on the morning of the 11th, and introduced ourselves to Mr Sheridan, the Collector of 

 Customs, to whom we had been referred by Lord Normanby. We found Mr Sheridan a most pleasant companion, and 

 a man of great intelligence and considerable special knowledge of natural science. He most kindly placed himself at 

 our disposal during our stay, and he afterwards took the trouble to collect and send home to us a valuable collection of 

 such species as we had not an opportunity of procuring in sufficient quantity during our short visit. 



We went on in the evening in a couple of buggies through the bush of scattered gum-trees, to a little group of 

 wooden shanties called Tiaro, about twenty miles above Maryburgh, on a pretty bend of the river Mary, wUh a good 

 long stretch of open river, succeeded by some irregular rapids and deep pools, and overhanging woods farther up. The 

 influence of the tide was slightly felt for a considerable distance beyond Tiaro, and some of the fishes had consequently 

 an estuarine character. 



We got the loan of a boat from a contractor who was deepening the river a little below Tiaro for the Queensland 

 Government, and on the following day we were joined by Mr Sheridan with his boat and servant. We heard on all 

 hands that the Barramunda (the native name for Geratodus) was to be found occasionally in the neighbourhood, and we 

 determined to spend the short time at our disposal in exploring the fauna of the river for a few miles up stream. 



Lieutenant Aldrich and Mr Murray, with our escort and one or two natives whom we had secured, camped a little 

 way up the river, and Mr Sheridan and 1, as the seniors of the party, slept at Tiaro, rowing up the river in the morning, 

 and usually reaching the camping-ground in time to supply the materials of stew for luncheon, of cockatoos, waUaby, 

 ducks, &c., which we had shot by the way. For about ten days the river was fished day and night with net and rod, 

 and fishes of several species were taken in large numbers, but we found no trace of Ceratodus or of any allied form. 

 We had taken ^vith us a number of powerful dynamite cartridges, and these were thro■^^^l, with a few feet of Bickford's 

 fuse attached, into the deeper pools, and in a minute or so a shock like a blow from a heavy wooden mallet was felt on 

 the bottom of the boat, one could see a slight rise on the surface of the water, and perhaps a hundred fishes of different 

 sorts and sizes rose to the surface and fioated on their backs or sides. Those we required were taken into the boat -nith 

 a landing-net, and the rest recovered from their shock in a few minutes and swam away. The number of individual 

 fishes taken in this way was very large, but it is somewhat singular that Ceratodus never occurred among them. At the 

 end of about ten days three specimens of Ceratodus were taken, one by Lieutenant Aldrich with hook and bait, and two 

 others afterwards, one by a native. 



As our leave of absence was nearly exhausted, we now returned to Maryburgh, and after waiting for a few days to 

 catch a return steamer, we rejoined the Challenger at Sydney. 



