448 ESOCID.E. 



they all disappear together. Amidst such multitudes for 

 more than twenty thousand have been judged to be out of 

 the water together some must fall a prey to the enemy ; 

 but as many hunt in company, it may be long before the 

 pursuit is abandoned. From inspection, we should scarcely 

 judge the fish to be capable of such considerable flights, for 

 the fins, though numerous, are small, and the pectorals far 

 from large though the angle of their articulation is well 

 fitted to raise the fish by the direction of their motions to the 

 surface ; the force of its spring must therefore be chiefly 

 ascribed to the tail and finlets. It rarely takes a bait ; and 

 when this has happened, the boat has been under sail, the 

 men fishing with a lask, or slice of Mackerel made to imitate 

 a living bait.* The Skipper has not been commonly taken 

 since the drift fishermen began the practice of sinking their 

 nets a fathom or two beneath the surface a circumstance 

 which marks the depth to which they swim ; but before this, 

 it was usual to take them, sometimes to the amount of a few 

 hundreds, at almost every shoot of the Pilchard nets." 



The specimen from which the representation and descrip- 

 tion here given were taken, measured fourteen inches and 

 three quarters ; the head and jaws three inches and three 

 quarters ; of this, the narrow portion of the jaws, which 

 curved slightly upwards towards the point, was about equal 

 to .the length of the other parts of the head ; the lower jaw 

 the longest : the body elongated, but considerably deeper 

 for its length than that of the Garfish ; the length of the 

 jaws and head compared to the whole length of the fish, as 

 one to four ; the depth of the body two inches, or, as com- 

 pared to the whole length, as two to seven. Pectoral fins 

 small ; a keel-like edge, commencing on each side in a line 

 with the lower edge of the gill-cover, passes the whole length 

 of the body ; the space between these lines not wider than 



* See pages 145, 6, and 7. 



