268 FISHES. 



of Mugil, Thynnus, and Exocetus pass up the 

 Mediterranean and return in autumn. With the sun 

 to the Northward, Percoid and Sparroid fishes, Ser- 

 rani, Lampris, &c., aided by that portion of the 

 current which sets in upon the coast of Spain, and 

 thence sweeps round the Bay of Biscay, they ranoe 

 along the soundings, not unfrequently as far as the 

 islands in the British Channel. Some of the same 

 species are found during the opposite season, pene- 

 trating south to beyond the Cape of Good Hope, 

 where they are turned back by the south-east mon- 

 soon and the receding sun, among these the mullet 

 tribes frequenting the Mediterranean are remarkably 

 conspicuous on the south coast of Africa. 



On the eastern shores of America similar pheno- 

 mena occur : the migratory species which as we have 

 seen cross the Atlantic in the track of the gulf weed, 

 recross it atrain by following the same guides or by 

 being carried in the currents already noticed : those 

 which pass to the northward, occasionally visiting 

 the coast of Cornwall ; while such as reach the 

 easternmost point of South America, south of Trini- 

 dad, gradually pass along the coast to the south-west 

 and follow the current which here passes in that di- 

 rection to a much higher latitude, perhaps beyond 

 the Falkland Islands, before the south-west winds 

 and the Austi-al influx of frigid waters fully operate 

 upon it, hence the tropical species of fish, at least 

 during the antarctic summer, spread further south 

 than on the arctic side of the globe, and it appears 

 that the numerous tribes of gadoid fishes, the ge- 

 nera of Murlucius, Blennius, &c., of the Magellanic 

 Straits do not approach so near the warm latitudes, 

 by several degrees, as their corresponding species 

 do on the arctic side, which come down to the De- 

 laware in America, and to the coast of Spain in 

 Europe. It may also be inferred from the absence 

 of the gadoid oenera on the coasts of Van Dieman's 

 Land and New Zealand, that the antartic Pole has no 

 continent nor great island in that direction. 

 To be concluded in our next. 



