MACKERELS. 119 



tacle, and never fails to attract a great number 

 of interested spectators ; while it is at the same 

 time one of the principal amusements of the 

 more opulent inhabitants of Sicily, and one of 

 the most important branches of the commerce of 

 that beautiful island. Louis XIII., who was 

 present at a tunny-capture of this kind at Mar- 

 seilles, was often afterwards heard to declare that 

 nothing in his whole progress through the southern 

 parts of his dominions had so entertained him as 

 the Madrague of Morgion. 



2. Xiphiana. These have most of the charac- 

 ters of the preceding group, but the bones of the 

 upper jaw are greatly lengthened, so as to form 

 a long straight sword, with sharp edges. The 

 gills are not divided into a multitude of filaments, 

 resembling a comb, as in most other fishes, but 

 consist of two large parallel lamince on each side, 

 with a netted surface. The ventral fins are either 

 wanting, or consist of one or two inflexible bones. 

 There is, properly speaking, only one dorsal, 

 which is high and long ; but the middle part 

 becomes so worn away in the course of growth, 

 that only the two extremities are left in old speci- 

 mens, looking like two dorsals. Six species are 

 enumerated in this group, constituting no fewer 

 than five genera ; they are all fishes of large size, 

 familiarly known as Sword-fishes, and range the 

 oceans and great inland seas, all round the globe, 

 from the equator to the polar regions. , 



One species of this sub-family, the common 

 Sword-fish, (Xiphias gladius, Linn.) has been 

 rather frequently caught on our own coasts ; and 

 there is an instance on record of a blow from the 

 formidable weapon of one having been fatal to 



