78 



SPANISH MACKAREL. 



There appears much reason for believing that this species 

 of Mackarel is the same with a fish described by Rondeletius, 

 under the name of Colias, and of which as a principal character 

 he remarks that its back is marked with lines, as in the Common 

 Mackarel; but with the difference, that they are much less 

 numerous, and do not descend so far towards the lateral line; 

 and also that there are many dark spots, which he leaves 

 uncertain whether they are on the back along or among the 

 waved lines, or below on the belly. Willoughby describes the 

 same fish, (p. 182;) but without appearing to copy he only 

 translates the words of Rondeletius, with the understanding, 

 however, that the spots are on the back in company with the 

 lines; although in both these writers the figures are represented 

 as without any spots. It is Risso who adds the mention of 

 brown spots along the belly. This want of precision in the 

 above-mentioned authors may leave it in doubt whether the 

 fish mentioned by them be the same with that one called by 

 Cornish fishermen the Spanish Mackarel, or another which we 

 shall introduce to the reader as the Dotted Mackarel; but the 

 mention of waved lines on the back causes us to lean to the 

 former opinion, which is the same that has been adopted 

 generally by naturalists. Rondeletius informs us he had seen 

 it on the coast of France, but that it was more common in 

 Spain; a circumstance which may account for the name by 



