MEMOIRS OF TEE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 
72 
Messrs. Stevens and Colclough it goes by the name of “Nikkie Long Cod/ 7 usually 
abbreviated to “Nikkie,” in the Warwick District. I have been unable to 
ascertain any aboriginal name for the fish. From these I have selected 
“Slippery” as the most suitable and certainly the most expressive title, for the 
fish is very difficult to handle, being covered with a thick slime, which, according 
to Mr. Stevens, is very difficult to remove from the hands, and has a peculiar and 
disagreeable odor. 
Variation : — With regard to the comparative length of the head and body, 
on which McCoy — overlooking the fact that Richardson's description was drawn 
up from a dried skin and is, for that reason, liable to inaccuracy — lays so much 
stress, a comparison of my specimens with the tables given by McCoy and 
Johnston (1) shows that both the Victorian and Tasmanian examples, referred 
to therein, overlap those of Queensland at each end, as may be seen by the 
following : — 
Locality. 
Specimens 
examined. 
Length in 
millim. 
Variation. 
Authority. 
Yarra, Vic. 
North Esk, Tas. 
3 
125 to 635 
4-2 to 4-9 
McCoy 
7 
133 to 273 
4-0 to 4*9 
Johnston 
Condamine, Q. 
10 
110 to 235 
4*4 to 4*8 
Ogilby 
If there be anyone who still holds the opinion that more than one species 
of Gadopsis exists, the above table should, I think, convince him to the contrary. 
The other character, on which McCoy places some reliance, namely, the number 
of dorsal spines, is, when examined, found to be equally fallible. Richardson 
computed them at 10, Gunther at 10 or 11, Caste In au at "12, McCoy at 10 to 12 
( gibbosus and gracilis ), Steindachner at 10 (fuse us), Ogilby (2) at 10 to 13. 
Queensland specimens, therefore, show the minimum variation as yet ascertained, 
i.e., 8 (2) 9 (1) 10 (7). The western form of Gadopsis has apparently a more 
slender body and fewer dorsal spines than its south-eastern prototype, but there 
is no difference between it and specimens obtained in the lower reaches of 
the Murray. Nor must we forget that the fishes, which have been recorded 
from the Murrumbidgee (Macleay), Bell (Ogilby), Macquarie and Namoi 
(McCulloch), Tumut, Gwydir, and other watersheds (Stead), and now from 
the Condamine, are primarily descended from the Snowy River stock by way of 
the Upper Murrumbidgee. These colonists have ever instinctively chosen those 
affluents which have their source in the higher table-lands, and which, owing to 
the different conditions of life, of food, and of environment, have increasingly 
altered in external appearance the further they have drawn away from their 
parent base. After taking into consideration all the varying conditions under 
which they live, and analyzing all the available literature on the subject, I cannot 
see any reason to alter my opinion, expressed twenty years ago, that — “ This 
