SPANISH MACKAREL. 79 



which it is known to fishermen. In the memory of many- 

 persons 'this species has not unlVequently been caught in nets 

 in Cornwall; where alone hitherto it has been found with us, 

 and sometimes to the number of three or four hundred at a 

 time, in the summer or autumn; but for several years it has 

 become much more rare. 



It appears to be widely sj^read in the ocean; for besides the 

 Mediterranean it is also found on the coasts of America; but 

 its specific habits are little known. I have formerly been told 

 of its having taken the hook, but no certain instance of this 

 has fallen within my own observation. For the table it is much 

 below our Common Mackarel. 



The example described measured in length fourteen inches 

 and a half, the figure round and plump, in girth six inches 

 and a half near the pectoral fins; the thickness of shape being 

 carried backward to the tail more than in the Common 

 Mackarel. The head bulky, eye large, an inch and an eighth 

 from the snout; mouth large, jaws equal, teeth small, tongue 

 moveable and pointed. From the snout to the pectoral fin 

 three inches and a half. Rays of the gill membrane concealed; 

 lateral line at first slightly descending, then straight. Some 

 scales on the superior portion of the gill-cover; and on the 

 body more visible than in the Common Mackarel. First dorsal 

 fin in a chink, seven rays counted, the first shortest, second 

 and third of equal length. In counting the finlets I numbered 

 the second dorsal and anal among them as six in number, 

 these first-named fins being low; tail forked, and at its origin 

 doubly keeled; vent prominent. The colour a dark blue on 

 the back, with waved stripes, but fewer and more obscure than 

 in the Common Mackarel; a row of large dark s^^ots from the 

 pectoral fin to the tail; sides and belly thickly covered with 

 smaller dusky spots. The tail, gill-covers and sides, and behind 

 the eye, bright yellow. 



Another example, from which our lower figure on the plate 

 is taken, I find to differ in so many particulars, and those not 

 of markings only, that I have been led to suppose it not 

 improbable to be a difierent species; but I prefer leaving this for 

 further observation, and proceed to point out its characters, 

 without being able to give anything of its history beyond the 

 fact that it was a male, with the milt not much enlarged on 



