EDIBLE FISHES OF QUEENSLAND.— OGILBY. 
97 
of body 2-92, 2*58; of upper eaudal lobe to same 2-37, 2-15; of anal lobe to same 
2-82, 2-21. We think, nevertheless, that 7’. relax should also be reduced to a 
synonym of T. botla. 
JJses:—Jn 1893 we wrote — ‘‘As a table fisli they cannot be highly recom- 
mended, neverlheless Ihey are by no means unpalatable when eaten perfectly 
fresh/’ Personally we hav(‘ nothing lo add to this verdict, but we have met 
with several persons who consider it an excellent fish; it should, liowever, be 
served boiled with a rich brown or oyster sauce. >Stea<l nmiarks — As au edible 
fish it is of considerabh' value, and as it is very j^leasing to tlie eye, its import- 
ance in our future fisheries should be very much gnjater than at pn'sent.^^ From 
the sportsman’s viewpoint it is a somewhat negligible quantity, the irregularity 
of its movemoTits making its caplun' a matter of pure accident; still surf-fishers 
after bream occasionally meet with it and find that once liooked with a light rod 
and fim^ tac-kle, the swallowtail with its rapid juovemeuts and sudden twists and 
turns is no mean antagonist, but is capabh^ of calling forth the very highest 
powers of our most experitmeed anglers. 
Food : — The greater ))art of their food, as ascertained by dissection^ 
consists of small fishes and the fry of lai'ger ones, with which are often mingled 
small swimming crabs and squid. 
Hamje : — From the Persian Gulf through the Seas of India eastward to 
the Malay Archipelago; tlumce northward to Formosa, where it Avas collected at 
Tainan by Dr. Hans Saut(‘r, though it appears to have so far (‘luded the vigilance 
of Philipi)ine col]ect(H's. To tlu^ (‘astward we recorded it as long as twenty four 
years ago from liord Ilowt' Island, whimee a speciimm was sent lo th(' Australian, 
^luseum by Mr. T. R. hady. Our knowhalge as to ils distribution on the 
Australian Goast is extremely unsatisfactory; IMacdeay does not mention it at 
all, but as he merely coi)ied Giinther in all things piodaining to fishes, it is 
probable that his records of T. bailUoii should be credited to this species. All 
the trustworlliy continental reeoi-ds of T. bofla come from Eastern Australia, 
with the single exception of a si>ecimen captured at Bernier Island. W.A., as 
noted by .McCulhadi. The earliesl Australian rta'ord of this species, by a name 
■which umiuestionably belongs lo it, was published by the writer in 1893; but if 
we are light in considering that Alleyne and Macleay’s Percy Islands record and 
that of Castelnau from Jhirt Jackson, both as 7’. bailloni, as well as Gunther’s 
T. coppiiu/eri, also from the Percy Islands, actually api)ly to tliis fish, our claim 
has been thrii'c antedated by many years. Our ret'ord, Iiowcvto’, had the merit 
of fixing ilefinitely the sou1h-(‘astern range of the “ dart,” as the species is 
knoATO in the Sydney markets, at Pori Jackson, AA'here. howeA'er. it -was looln^d 
upon more or less as a straggler. But since then Stead informs us of its occur- 
rence in Botany Bay, a few miles further south, where “ during the Avinter of 
1907 several baskets, of 75 lb. w(‘ig]it apiece, were taken at one haul.” This, 
however, is a most ninisuai occurrence, and it is not until we get as far north 
G 
