THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8267, 22 October 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1906.

Dr J. W. Barrett waa greatly surprised when on visiting Oharleville, in Queensland, in August laut, be aaugbt in a basin fed by artesian bores a number of flab quite distinct in speoies from those found in Queensland rivers. These Huh bad only been found iu Oharleville, which ia 400 miles from the coast, since aiteaian bores were pot down for irrigation purposes. Dr Barrett forwarded speoimens of the fish to Professor Baldwin Spencer, of Mel-i bourne University, who determined them as Therafni truttaceus, fish common in tbe streams of the Lake Eyre basin, and fouud in several places in Central Australia by one of the exploring expeditions. Tbe fish somawhat resemble mullet and the speoimens taken from Oharleville were quite normal. The ques« tion is, bow did the flsb [get tfiere. Prom Lake Eyre to Oiiarieville is 450 miles in a straight line. There is no reliuble information as to tbo way in which Nature stocks isolated ponds with fish and frogtf. These forms of life reach such places, but bow they do so is not clear. It is, however, Known from actual observation that shellfish and animals may be carried by birds, either attached to their feet or feathers, or else tangled in water weed or lumps of mud,' and' It is surmised that in the case of the appearance of the strange flab in the artificial lake at Oharleville, birds must have carried the spawn on their webbed

feet or iu their feathers. There is said to be do evidence that fish exist in artesian waty below the surface. Quite as remarkable as the appear, anoe of fish in artesian drains and ponds is the sudden J burst out of swampy vegetation in diattio's where such vegetation has not been previously known. Thus almost as soon as channels are formed rushes spring up and attain luxuriant growth. In many places the channels become lined with vegetation, which looks as if it were artificially planted. Doubtless, seeds, spores, and Bah spawn are carried from place to place in the mud which attaches itself to the feet of web-footed birds and waders—birds aooustcmed to make long journeys overland in search of 'pastures new.' The Oharleville case has ceitaiuly considerable interest as a practicable illustration of Nature's methods of spreading animal life through a Continent.