BONITOES AND TUNNIES. 207 



The Bonito does not appear to have Ix^en abundant in former years ; it 

 attracted but little attention in our waters before i860, although it was 

 alluded to in 1815 by Mitchill, in 1842 by DeKay, and in 1856 by Gill ; 

 none of these authors, however, regarded it as a common form, or cited 

 any considerable number of instances of its presence. 



A note from Prof. J. Hammond Trumbull states: "This fish used to 

 be quite common, in some years, in the Stonington market. I have a 

 note of a considerable number in market July 22, 1842, their first appear- 

 ance for the season." 



Storer remarked in 1846: "This species, called by the fishermen in 

 Boston market the 'Skipjack,' and by those at the extremity of Cape 

 Cod the ' Bonito,' is very rarely met Avith in Massachusetts Bay. It is 

 occasionally taken at Provincetown, and even at Lynn. At some seasons 

 it is frequently caught at Martha's Vineyard with trailing bait." 



One of these fishes is a marvel of beauty and strength. Every line in 

 its contour is suggestive of swift motion. The head is shaped like a 

 minie bullet, the jaws fit together so tightly that a knife-edge could 

 scarcely pass between, the eyes are hard, smooth, their surfaces on a per- 

 fect level with the adjoining surfaces. The shoulders are heavy and 

 strong, the contours of the powerful masses of muscle gently and evenly 

 merging into. the straighter lines in which the contour of the body slopes 

 back to the tail. The dorsal fin is placed in a groove into which it is 

 received, like the blade of a clasp knife in its handle. The pectoral and 

 ventral fins also fit into depressions in the sides of the fish. Above and 

 below, on the posterior third of the body, are placed the little finlets, each 

 a little rudder with independent motions of its own, by which the course 

 of the fish may be readily steered. The tail itself is a crescent-shaped 

 oar, without flesh, almost without scales, composed of bundles of ravs 

 flexible, yet almost as hard as ivory. A single sweep of this powerful oar 

 doubtless suffices to propel the Bonito a hundred yards, for the polished 

 surfaces of its body can off"er little resistance to the water. I have seen 

 a common dolphin swimming round and round a steamship, advancin"- at 

 the rate of twelve knots an hour, the effort being hardly perceptible. The 

 wild duck is said to fly seventy miles in an hour. Who can calculate the 

 speed of the Bonito? It might be done by the aid of the electrical con- 

 trivances by which is calculated the initial velocity of a projectile. The 

 Bon i toes in our sounds to-day may have been passing Cape Colony, or 

 the Land of Fire, day before yesterday. 



