MACKEREL. 139 



then taken in abundance ; but so soon as the spawning is 

 over, they retire into the deepest parts of the lake, and are 

 but rarely caught." 



It may be observed farther, that, as there is scarcely a 

 month throughout the year in which the fishes of some one or 

 more species are not brought within the reach of man by the 

 operation of the imperative law of nature referred to, a con- 

 stant succession of wholesome food is thus spread before him, 

 which, in the first instance, costs him but little beyond the 

 exercise of his ingenuity and labour to obtain. 



On the coast of Ireland, the Mackerel is taken from the 

 county of Kerry in the west, along the southern shore, east- 

 ward to Cork and Waterford ; from thence northward to An- 

 trim, and north-west to Londonderry and Donegal. Dr. 

 M'Cullock says it visits some of the lochs of the Western 

 Islands, but is not considered very abundant. On the 

 Cornish coast, this fish in some seasons occurs as early as the 

 month of March, and appears to be pursuing a course from 

 west to east. They are plentiful on the Devonshire coast, 

 and swarm in West Bay about June. On the Hampshire 

 and Sussex coast, particularly the latter, they arrive as early 

 as March ; and sometimes, as will be shown, even in Fe- 

 bruary : and the earlier in the year the fishermen go to look 

 for them, the farther from the shore do they seek for and 

 find them. Duhamel says the Mackerel are caught earlier at 

 Dunkirk than at Dieppe, or Havre : up our own eastern 

 coast, however, the fishing is later. The fishermen of Lowe- 

 stoffe and Yarmouth gain their great harvest from the Mac- 

 kerel in May and June. Mr. Neill says they occur in the 

 Forth at the end of summer ; and Mr. Low, in his Fauna 

 Orcadensis, states that they do not make their appearance 

 there till the last week in July or the first week in August. 



The Mackerel spawns in June ; and, according to Bloch, 

 five hundred and forty thousand ova have been counted in 



