GARFISH. 445 



The numbers of the fin-rays are 



D. 17 : P. 13 : V. 6 : A. 22 : C. 15. 



The upper part of the head and back is of a dark greenish 

 blue Mackerel-like tint, becoming lighter towards the sides, 

 which, with the whole of the belly, are silvery white; irides 

 pale yellow, pupil dark blue ; cheeks and operculum brilliant 

 silvery white ; dorsal fin and tail greenish brown ; pectoral, 

 ventral, and anal fins white. The great length of the upper 

 jaw is produced by an elongation of the intermaxillary bones : 

 great flexibility is obtained by ligamentous union ; the gape 

 is extensive, both jaws separating simultaneously ; and this 

 fish probably seizes its prey with quickness and certainty. 



I am indebted to Mr. L. H. J. Tonna, curator of the 

 United Service Museum, for the following account of a mode 

 of fishing for the Belone practised in the Ionian Islands. 



" A small triangular raft is formed of three pieces of bam- 

 boo, each a foot and a half long ; a little thwart is inserted 

 in which a small mast is fixed ; it is then rigged with a 

 latteen sail, shrouds, &c. in imitation of the boats of the 

 country. The fisherman takes his station on a projecting 

 rock, with deep water alongside, and an off-shore breeze, com- 

 mits his little raft to the waves, carrying with it a line of 

 thirty or forty fathoms in length ; a float is fixed at about 

 every fathom, and from each float depends a finer hair-line 

 with a baited hook (shrimps or chopped fish). When the 

 Belone bites, he draws the float down violently once, and then 

 seems quietly to resign himself to his fate. The fisherman 

 therefore waits till ten or twelve are hooked ; he then hawls 

 in his raft, relieves it of its freight, and again launches it for 

 another cruise. The Island of Paxo, twenty miles south of 

 Corfu, is the spot where I saw this mode of fishing em- 

 ployed ; and I once saw a boy catch from fifty to sixty in 

 half an hour. 1 ' 



