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f 
THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 103 
Taking ancther example, Struthidea cmmerea, which. 
Campbell calls the ‘‘Grey Jumper” in one place, and in 
other speaks of it as the ‘“‘Apostle Bird’; in ‘Birds of Aus- 
tralia’’ it is termed the “Grey Jumper,”’ and neither in 
letterpress nor index does the reader find the name ‘Twelve 
Apostles,’’ “Apostle Bird,’’ or “Happy Family.” By one 
or other of these appellations it is known to bushmen and 
settlers all over Australia, and it is so designated by North, 
_ while in the Birds Protection Act, New South Wales, it is 
listed as ‘‘12-Apostles’? or “Happy Family,’’ without ally 
scientific name being given. 
There is plenty of room for improvement in some of our 
bird names,’ such as the “Log Runners,’’? which are in no 
way distinctive, but old-established and widely-used verna- 
cular names which have the merit of being appropriate, might 
be left in peace by the modern birdman, with advantage alike 
to the student and the public at large. 
ABSTRACT OF PAPER “OV THE NEED FOR MORE 
UNIFORMITY IN THE VERNACULAR NAMES OF 
AUSTRALIAN HDIBLE FISHES,” 
By David G. Stead, of the Department of Fisheries, 
New South Wales. 
In this paper the author draws attention to the almost 
complete absence of any system in the application of common 
names to our edible fishes, a state of matters which is re- 
sponsible for species of widely different relationships being” 
grouped under one common terminal name, even in the 
waters of an individual State, and under the same name in 
several of the States or in New Zealand. On the other hand, 
one species of food-fish distributed throughout the waters of 
each State is frequently known and recognised officially under 
a differnt name in each place. A number of instances of 
each group are given to illustrate the matter, and from a 
study of these it is apparent that this diversity of nomencla- 
ture is a serious stumbling-block in the path of Australian 
fisheries knowledge, as it is clear that the people-at-large 
throughout these lands—when they read of the occurrence 
of any particular fish—picture to themselves the species 
known to them locally under that name. The Jewfish of 
New South Wales is the Kingfish of Victoria and the Butter- 
fish of South Australia; the Kingfish of New South Wales 
being the Yellowtail of Victoria. The Yellowtail of New 
South Wales is, of course, to be numbered usually among 
the very small fry, while the Yellowtail of Victoria reaches 
often a length of 6 feet, with a weight up to 100 lbs. The 
