116 ACANTHOPTERYGII. SCOMBRID^. 



parte's recent Conspectus, four hundred and nine- 

 teen species are assigned to the Family, as we 

 shall consider it, including the Sword-fishes and 

 the Dorados, of which that zoologist constitutes 

 separate Families. The whole of this vast assem- 

 blage are marine, (with the exception of one or 

 two obscure species inhabiting the Asiatic rivers), 

 and many of them properly pelagic, roving the 

 ocean far from land. They are found in all seas. 



We shall enumerate the characters of the sub- 

 ordinate groups, or sub-families, into which this 

 great host is distributed, and notice a few par- 

 ticulars of the most interesting species. These 

 groups are six in number. 



1. Scomhrina. The body is rather lengthened 

 than oval, smooth, clothed with minute scales ; 

 two dorsal fins are present, the second as well as 

 the anal cut, for the greater part of its length, 

 into small equidistant finlets, reaching to the cau- 

 dal ; the caudal is very high and deepl}^ forked ; 

 the jaws are nearly equal in length, not furnished 

 with fleshy lips. Between one sixth and one 

 seventh of the total number of species in the 

 Family are contained in this section, which are 

 scattered over the whole ocean. Besides our 

 beautiful and valuable Mackerel, of which we 

 shall presently speak, we find placed here the 

 Genus Thynnus, (Cuv.) including the swift, vigor- 

 ous, warm-blooded Bonitos of the tropics, the 

 pursuers of the little Flying-fishes, and the noble 

 Tunny of the Mediterranean. Specimens of all 

 these are occasionally taken on the British shores. 



The flesh of the Tunny (Thynnus vulgaris, 

 Cuv.) is firm, wholesome, and highly esteemed ; 

 and as the fish attains the length of from fifteen 



