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MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 
yet never crosses to the eastern watershed ; and the converse proposition applies 
to the Eel. 
Dimensions : — In Northern Tasmania Johnston, on hearsay evidence, writes 
of a 10-lb. specimen, but continues that 3 or 4 lb. is a more usual size ; Harrison, 
however, has known of a patriarch that turned the scale at 12 lb., and states 
that some years ago a 7-lb. fish was not uncommon, while even now a 6-pounder 
does not provoke sarcastic comment. In the coastal rivers of Eastern Victoria 
they grow to a weight of about 4 lb., but are much smaller in the Upper Snowy 
and the Murray and Darling Watersheds. On this point let Stead speak for 
himself : — “ Though I have seen some very large examples from Southern Victorian 
and Tasmanian rivers, my experience of the species in New South Wales waters 
is that it is uniformly small — comparatively speaking. A fish of 15 inches in 
length is a very large one, though I have heard on good authority of examples 
up to 18 inches long being taken in the Macquarie. The usual 4 ’ large ’ ones, 
taken by anglers in the Cudgegong at Rhylstone, Cudgegong, or Mudgee, do not 
exceed 12 inches in length, and the average barely exceeds the present lawful 
length, 9 inches. In lowlands proper the fish appears to be very small.” All 
this fits in thoroughly with our experience in Queensland, where Colclough 
gives its maximum weight at 4 oz. and Stevens its length to 8 in. ; the largest 
which I have seen measured just over 10 inches. There is no published record of 
the dimensions to which it attains in South Australia. 
Conclusion : — Nothing further now remains to write than the pleasing 
duty of acknowledging our indebtedness and conveying our thanks to those 
gentlemen — Dr. E. C f Stirling, Messrs. J. Hirst Stevens, Matthew T. Colclough, 
Allan R. McCulloch, Charles Iledley, C. II. Harrison, and David G. Stead for 
their kindly and helpful interest in this attempt to bring our knowledge of this 
most interesting and curious fish up to date. 
