COMPAKATIVE STUDY OF SCOMBROID FLSHES. 423 



Imt Ijfcouiiug luort' soarco iu tlu; uoiiluni juid southern puis. A few stnigglors 

 are sometimes fouud ou tlie coast of Hokkaido. This sixicits euters the Inland 

 Sefl. and bays iu the siKiwniug season. It becomes very lean after spawning ; but 

 recovers its fattiuess alrt^ndy in autumn. In summer and autimjn the fish is 

 often foimd near the surfiice, it leaps out of the water, but in the cold montlis 

 it lives near the bottom. At the flood-tide the fish is more active and is 

 said to piusue small fish violently, often tearing drift nets with force. Thus 

 fishenutu of some villages of Nagasaki-ken an- said to use the drift net for 

 this fish at the time of the ebb-tide t^ul}-. 



A fishery expert in Kagawa-ken estimated tlie number of ova spawned 

 fi-oni an adult fish in a S(>nson to 1« 550,000—870,000. 



Li the migKitiuu to tht^ Inhmd Sea the male fish is more numerous at 

 the beginning of the season ; but the female fish predominates near the close of 

 the season. At this time the female fish may easily be distinguished fiv>m tJu? 

 male by the thick and swollen abdomen. 



Caught with troll- or hand-lines, set-nets, drift nets, seines, pound-nets 

 etc. I/jug lines are seldom used, ns the fish are not easily inducexi by dead 

 or inactive baits. When emjx)uuded in p)und nets at night the fish seem to 

 tiy to escjipe tirrough the meshes at the bottom. 



In the Inland Sea ti'oUcrs expect good catches within the two houis before 

 sind after the ebb-tide, especially at dawn. In this sea the fish feeds principal- 

 ly on the sand-eel. 



A jaw bone of this fish was found in a sheU-mound in Chiba-ken, which 

 proves that the pre'liistoric people in om- Islands also caught tliis fish. However 

 the fisheiy of this fish seems to have developed very slowly. The name is not 

 mentioned in very old literature, such as the " Yengishiki " and the " Man- 

 yoshyu ", though many other common kinds of fish are enumerated. 



Late in November, 1902, a fisherman of Niihama, Yehime-ken, caught 

 alxiut fifty adult sawam with drift-nets. This untimely catch caused much 

 ;istouishment. Generally adult sawara leave the Inland Sea soon after spawn- 

 ing, latest at the end of June. 



From a recent iuquiiy of the Experimental Fisht!iy Station of Kagawa- 

 kon, it liecame clear tliat tliis species comes to the luljind Sejx again iu 

 autumn, though not so abundant as in spring. However, it is thought 



