NATURAL HISTORY. 
625 
where it attains a length of eight or ten inches, with a breadth 
of six or seven ; as it ascends the rivers it gradually diminishes 
in size, until at a distance of two hundred miles up the Wan- 
ganui, it is not more than two inches long, by one-and-a-half 
broad. 
The Dory also belongs to New Zealand, but is very rarely 
captured. 
The Koiro, conger eel, (fam. anguilliformes ,) attains a 
length of about five feet, it is much esteemed by the natives. 
The Fam. Lophobranchii contains several varieties of the 
pipe fish, the most remarkable of these is the Hippocampus, 
which is frequently met with, and attains a length of ten, 
and sometimes even fifteen inches. 
The Para, (fam. tcenioides,) is a long narrow fish, shaped 
like a broad sword, from three to five feet long, this is never 
taken by the seine or hook ; it is only obtained after a sharp 
frost, being then drifted on the shore ; it most probably 
swims near the surface, and is thus so benumbed as to be 
unable to resist the force of the tide ; the natives early in 
the morning visit the shores, and frequently obtain a con- 
siderable number of them. 
A large fish, most probably a Lophotes (Matawa ?) rib- 
bon fish, thrown up on the Nelson coast, was described 
by Mr. Travers as having a small head only ten inches in 
length, and a body fifteen feet long tapering to the tail, its 
greatest thickness being but four inches, having only one 
dorsal fin extending its entire length, and no caudal one, 
but terminating in a point ; it had large spines on the back 
apparently hollow, at intervals below them six air chambers 
about one-third of an inch in diameter, from the lower lip 
were bright red barbules sixteen inches long and rigid. 
Of the Fam. Plectognathi there are three species : Tetraodon 
Hamiltoni, the Monacanthus parika, and the Diadona globulas. 
Kopuawai, Koputaratara, Papati and Totara, all these are 
descriptive names, implying that it is covered with sharp 
spines, and is inflated ; this singular fish is frequently cast up 
on the shore, and sometimes of a large size. 
Fam. Sguamipennes, Chcetodon, ( Arara ) ; its dorsal, ventral, 
