G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 263 



more than one tenth of the kinds of fishes actually existing. 

 12 A, September 28, 1871, 434. 



THEORY OF THE SALMON-FLY. 



In reply to the question, Why does the salmon follow the 

 artificial fly, and what -does it take it to be ? Dr. Giinther, 

 the well-known ichthyologist, says that if we catch a prawn 

 (one of the principal articles of food of salmon) in the sea, 

 swimming in jerks, we at once observe that by means of the 

 rod we impart to the fly the peculiar motion of the prawn, 

 while the iridescence of the real creature is reproduced by 

 the colors of the fly, which must vary according to the phys- 

 ical changes of the sky and water. No two things can be 

 more unlike than a prawn and a dry, artificial fly ; yet, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Giinther, no two things are more alike than a 

 swimming prawn and that same fly in the water, worked by 

 a skillful hand. 



CAPTURE OF HORSE MACKEREL IX BUZZARD'S BAY.. 



A somewhat interesting capture was made during the past 

 summer in one of the fish-pounds in Buzzard's Bay, near 

 Wood's Hole, Massachusetts, the strange visitor being a spec- 

 imen of the tunny, Orcynus secundidor salts, sometimes call- 

 ed horse mackerel and albicore in this country. The speci- 

 men measured nine feet in length, and weighed five hundred 

 pounds, although frequently found weighing five hundred, or 

 even a thousand pounds more than this. 



The horse mackerel is not an unusual visitor to the eastern 

 coast of the New England States, and is found as far north at 

 least as the Bay of Fundy, where, and especially about Prov- 

 incetown, it is sometimes harpooned in considerable numbers. 

 It very rarely comes within the bays on our coast, the indi- 

 vidual in question being the only one that has been captured 

 within the memory of the fishermen in Buzzard's Bay. The 

 specimen has been skinned, and will, it is understood, be ex- 

 hibited in due time as one of the treasures of the National 

 Museum at Washington. 



The flesh of the horse mackerel is of excellent quality, be- 

 ing more like butcher's meat than like fish, and closely re- 

 sembling tender pork in color and texture. It is, however, 

 much less valued as food in the United States than in Eu- 



