176 SCOMBERID.E. 



of Cork in the south, and probably at many intermediate 

 points. Part of a letter from my friend Mr. Bicheno, resid- 

 ing on the coast of Glamorganshire, is as follows : " On 

 Tuesday, the 29th of July 1834, \ve were visited by im- 

 mense shoals of Scad, or, as they are also called, Horse- 

 Mackerel. They were first observed in the evening ; and 

 the whole sea, as far as we could command it with the eye, 

 seemed in a state of fermentation witli their numbers. Those 

 who stood on some projecting rock, had only to dip their 

 hands into the water, and with a sudden jerk they might 

 throw up three or four. The bathers felt them come against 

 their bodies ; and the sea, looked on from above, appeared 

 one dark mass of fish. Every net was immediately put in 

 requisition ; and those which did not give way from the 

 weight were drawn on shore laden with spoil. One of the 

 party who had a herring-seine with a two inch mesh was the 

 most successful : every mesh held its fish, and formed a wall 

 that swept on the beach all before it. The quantity is very 

 inadequately expressed by numbers, they were caught by 

 cart-loads. As these shoals were passing us for a week, with 

 their heads directed up channel, we had the opportunity of 

 noticing that the feeding time was morning and evening. 

 They were pursuing the fry of the Herring, and I found 

 their stomachs constantly full of them." 



According to Mr. Couch, the Scad " regularly visits the 

 coast of Cornwall and Devon, commonly in scattered quan- 

 tities, but occasionally in considerable schulls. The first 

 appearance of this fish in spring is not until towards the 

 end of April ; they are not abundant before the warmer 

 months of the year, when some may be found on board of 

 every fishing-boat. They are rarely brought to market, and 

 in many places even the fishermen are not in the habit of 

 eating them : in the west of Cornwall, however, they are 

 salted in the same way as Mackerel, and in this state meet 



