1 Fes., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 135 
The Gourami has been introduced into India, and the hon. secretary of the 
Nilgiri Game Association told me that it had been a great success. I believe 
that it is quite common in Jaya. 
C, D. says— 
It is said that the Gourami may beinferior from a sportsman’s point of view, 
but otherwise is by far the more important fish, and could in a few weeks be 
established by transporting a couple hundred live fish, which should prove 
neither very difficult nor costly. 
The Gourami is supposed to have spread from Cochin China, which is given 
as its native habitat, and where, existing in a wildstate, it is found up to 100 1b. 
in weight. In other countries the fish domesticated, and, being kept in 
captivity, is usually marketed before it is 12 lb. in weight—when, no doubt, 
it proves better eating and is more profitable than when larger. Many consider 
the Gourami the finest of all fish. The flesh is of a pale-straw colour, firm, 
flaky, and very delicious. 
The fish is said to be very tenacious of life, being generally taken to the 
market alive, and if not sold returned to the water. It is described as being 
very hardy and growing fast—mainly a vegetable feeder, but eating any form 
of waste food. Any one with a pond in his garden can keep the fish, and a 
scoop net is only necessary when one is wanted for dinner. A writer says 
that it would be difficult to find a new industry which would yield such satis- 
factory results to anyone who owns water, such as a pond or lagoon, as the 
cultivation of Gourami. For the above facts I am mainly indebted to Mr. D. 
O’Connor, a Queensland authority on pisciculture. 
The scientific name of the Gourami is Osphromenus olfax nobilis. Besides 
being so commonly found in Mauritius as well as Java, it has been established 
in many other parts, and is found in the tanks of Calcutta, Madras, and the 
Nilgiris, where it attains 20 1b. or more in weight, and is considered ‘excellent 
eating when kept in clean water. 
Dr. Watt, writing a few years ago, says that there the Government of 
India were considering the introduction of a Fisheries Bill, to remedy the 
wholesale destruction of fish, by preventing fish-poisoning, regulating the size 
of net fish, guarding the mouths of irrigation canals against the entrance of 
fish, levying a tax on the use of fishing implements, &e. 
It is said that the Seind fresh-water fisheries in 1882-3 yielded a revenuo 
of 92,541 rupees; and in Burma, in 1883, i2 to 18 (over £100,000) lacs of 
rupees were netted—and these instances are given as arguments in favour of 
the introduction of a Fisheries Act into other provinces of India, and why not 
also into Ceylon? © 
We read that Mr. D. O’Connor lately arrived in London with four speci- 
mens of the Ceratodus peculiar to Queensland, which he succeeded in keeping 
alive. ‘Two were purchased by the London Zoological Society for £90, and |e 
was offered £100 if he delivered the other two alive at the Jardin des Plantes, 
Paris.* 
Mr. O’Connor has determined that on his way back to Queensland he will 
bring living Gourami from Jaya or Mauritius, as he considers that Queensland 
waters are eminently suited to the habits of the fish, which he expects to very 
easily acclimatise. The Mauritius Government were inquiring after Sinhalese 
cattle a little time ago: why should not the Ceylon Government see about 
getting over some of the Mauritius fish ? 
* Mr, O’Connor was successful in landing his fish alive in Paris.—Kd. Q.4.J. 
