NOTES ON THE NEW ZEALAND FROST-FISH. 2389 
NOTES ON THE NEW ZEALAND FROST FISH. 
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BY «C;- Ti. ROBSON. 
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Notwithstanding the interest which has from time to time 
been taken by our naturalists in the habits of this beautiful fish, 
the cause of its mysterious landings has yet to be discovered. 
Dr. R. von Lendenfeld’s theory, that it draws at the spawning | 
season into shallow water, and that the reduction of pressure 
causes the air bladder to expand to such an extent as to burst, 
causing the stranding and death of the fish, is, as Mr. W. Arthur 
says in his paper published in the July number of this journal, 
ingenious, but in the writer’s opinion, incorrect. Iam happy to 
be able to confirm Mr. Arthur’s statement that immature speci- 
mens have been obtained, for I have found them of all sizes 
down to three inches in length. It is to be regretted that Mr. 
Arthur’s observations are for the most part second-hand, and 
fishermen’s stories are frequently unreliable. The statement 
that specimens have been obtained when there has been no frost, 
is no doubt correct, as also that the fish has been sometimes 
netted (probably in deep water) during the summer season; but 
that on landing it attempts to bite its tail, and that it feeds on 
sprats which it follows into the surf, I venture to doubt, personal 
observation having led me to conclude that at the time of its 
landing it does not feed on anything. I have opened a great 
number of specimens without finding any food in the stomach, 
except in one instance, when I found a young mullet in the 
mouth of a frost fish at Cape Campbell, at which place many 
female fish with fully developed roes were obtained, but no 
males with milt. The only occasion on which the writer ever 
saw a frost-fish in anything like warm weather, was in March, 
1880, when in Cook’s Strait, near the Brothers rocks, a large 
cormorant was observed in the act of trying to persuade a half- 
grown frost-fish about two feet in length to ascertain by per- 
sonal observation whether his digestive apparatus was in good 
working order. The fish, however, was not of an enquiring 
mind, or he objected to undertake the investigation on 
personal grounds, and urging his objections very forcibly, 
frequently sought to return to the depths of his native 
element, the shag following and persuading him to return 
to the surface, where the dispute continued for a long 
time; till at last the bird, not being able to carry his point on 
sea, proceeded with his friend to the shore, where, no doubt, he 
succeeded in convincing him that the personal investigation soli- 
cited was absolutely necessary. For many years the writer has 
continued, when opportunity served, to observe the habits of the 
frost-fish, with a view to the discovery of a reason of some kind 
for its singular practice of coming on shore during frosty nights. 
A long series of personal observations has convinced him that it is 
not thrown on the land by surf or high tides when in pursuit of 
