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11th January, 1896 (Russell). —Fish specially caught by Mr. Saunders on shoals at Paroa, in outside waters, not in inlets or bays that receive or communicate with large freshwater creek 3 or rivers. The take was made by a gill-net of 4 in. mesh, surrounding a shoal in open water. Seven dozen were caught and brought to Russell. Of these, fifty fish were selected for examination— thirty-three were females and seventeen males. Twenty-eight of the female fish were in ripe roe, the spawn escaping freely on handling the fish and sinking rapidly in a bucket of pure sea-water. The roes weighed 10 oz. to 12 oz., and by a rough estimate contained 500,000 eggs each fish. The boat was smeared with the bright yellow roe. The other seven female fish were of smaller size, and the ovaries were undeveloped. The whole of the male fish, twenty-one in number out of eighty-four, and easily distinguished from the females, were examined. Seven were fully developed, and shedding milt; six were fully developed, but the sac was intact, and the pair of milts weighed 3 oz. to 4 oz. The remaining eight were quite undeveloped, the milt organ being like a long slender thread. Several of the mature fish were examined in detail. The lengths varied from 18-5 in. to 19'7in. This includes the caudal fin when closed, the middle ray of which is 1-5 in., and the outer rays 3f in. The weight varied from 32 oz. to 35 oz. Roes weighed from 9 oz. to 12 oz. the pair. Height through centre of eye, I*6 in.; snout from centre of eye, I' 2 in.; width between orbits, from upper edge, 1-9 in.; width of gape, 1-3 in.; depth of gape, 1-7 in.; length of gape, 2-3 in.; length of head, 3-5 in.; greatest depth of body (at halfdistance between ventrals and vent), 4-5 in.; snout to first dorsal, 6-5 in.; length of base of first dorsal, l'Bin.; second dorsal, commencing at free snout, 12-5 in.; snout to ventral, 6'sin.; snout to anal, 13 in.; length of base of anal, 2 in.; lateral line, 43 scales; transverse line, 15 scales. Head blunt but pointed, and convex above, compressed beneath. Eyelids were developed, with slit narrow and vertical. Eight lines of lateral pores. All females clean gut, and stomach empty; quite fat. This fish seems to be different from those examined at Mr. Empson's factory. 10th January, 1896. — John Dunning : Has fished mullet in the Bay of Islands for the last twenty years. Kanae are not scarcer than formerly, but they move about more, and are more disturbed up to the Waikari, on account of the coal wharf at Opua. Used to get the best fishing in that part of the harbour. At this time of most years the fish are not very large up there, only 20 oz. or thereabouts, and 15 in. long, with the roe just starting to swell at the end of January. The fish come in occasionally all the year round, and in October and November generally some very large fish come up the river, even to 7 lb. weight. Never saw any roes in them. Think the present close season is of no service. Recommends that the use of all nets larger than 3f in. mesh should be forbidden for four months in the year, but that 3f in. mesh nets might be used all the year round. This would not harm the fish-supply, and would provide for the local markets. Believes he has seen the large mullet spawning in the deep channels of the Waikari branch in the month of March, in eleven fathoms, and when the water is salt. Bth January, 1896 (Hokianga Heads). — Mr. John Webster, who has had very long experience, thinks a close season for mullet cannot be fixed for Hokianga. The fish swarm outside at some periods of the year, especially in winter, when the wind is easterly or off the land, but comparatively few enter the harbour. Two years ago, at Christmas time, during a westerly gale, enormous quantities of what was thought to be mullet-spawn was cast up on the beaches in the lower harbour, and lay for several days in long ridges, until they decayed. Therefore he believes the spawn is shed in the open sea. Mature mullet are never seen inside the harbour. They are only found outside, and are occasionally caught in the nets used by the Natives ; but the bulk of the fish which they catch are fat and in prime condition. When they go fishing the kanae are in solid shoals. Considers there is no necessity for regulating the mullet or other fishing in Hokianga. The velocity of the tidal current in the channels, except at slack water, sufficiently controls the fishing. Note. —At Hardiman's, at the North Head, the fishermen said the kanae were very abundant, but only since the last few days; before that there were none, but they are either too large or too small for the 3 in. mesh net they were using. A cast was taken, and only three fish obtained. They were 14 in. long and 14 oz. in weight. The lateral line had forty-six scales. They were very deep in the body, and sleek-sided. They were foul fish, the stomach and intestines being filled with slimy mud, and the abdominal cavity flaccid and dirty. There was no trace of reproductive organs, but I concluded they were spent female fish, from the membrane shreds and the condition of the post anal orifice. 9th January, 1896.—At Hoeriki, forty miles up the Hokianga Inlet, and where the river entering that branch has a marked influence on the tide, though the flood-water is still salt, I observed the kanae leaping up freely at 5 a.m., and captured two. They were female fish, one 17 in. long and 23 oz. in weight, and the other 14-5 in. long and 18 oz. in weight. They were both in prime condition, and very fat. The ovaries were not in the least developed, being 2^-in. in length and Jin. broad, of a pale transparent livid tint, and no sign of segmentation. These fish belonged to the variety known as the outside mullet, as they had broad flat heads with intensely black-blue back, and forty-six scales in the lateral line. 15th January, 1896. —In the Auckland market I saw only a few mullet, and very bad they were, spent females, and quite unfit for food. 16th January, 1896 (Helensville). — Mr. Petrie, a fisherman, had just returned from his first fishing trip since the 20th December. Although at this end of the Kaipara there is no close season he does not fish, as his only market is the Auckland fish-supply, and he finds that it does not pay in the hot season. His first haul was 60 dozen, and among them were no full-roe fish. They were all fat, and in good condition. Another haul of 60 dozen, which I examined, were all very fine fat fish, but the roes were not developed. He has seen many more fat fish than is usual at this season where he fishes, near Shelly Bay. 18th January, 1896 (Rangiora).—Up the Otamatea set a net (3Jin. mesh) in the river on flood-tide. Caught twenty-one female fish, all in prime condition, 15 in. to 18 in. length, and from 18 oz, to 24 oz. in weight. Only four of the lot had the ovaries in the least degree enlarged.