MACKEREL. 123 



is over, they retire into the deepest parts of the lake, and are 

 but rarely caught." 



It may be observed farther, that as there is scarcely a 

 month throughout the year in which the fishes of some one 

 or more species are not brought within the reach of man by 

 the operation of the imperative law of nature referred to, a 

 constant succession of wholesome food is thus spread before 

 him, which, in the first instance, costs him little beyond 

 the exercise of his ingenuity and labour to obtain. 



On the coast of Ireland, the Mackerel is taken from the 

 county of Kerry in the Avest, along the southern shore, 

 eastward to Cork and Waterford ; from thence northward to 

 Antrim, and north-west to Londonderry and Donegal. Dr. 

 M'Culloch says it visits some of the lochs of the Western 

 Islands, but is not considered very abundant. On the 

 Cornish coast, this fish in some seasons occurs as early as 

 the month of March, and appears to be pursuing a course 

 from west to east. They are plentiful on the Devonshire 

 coast, and swarm in West Bay about June. On the 

 Hampshire and Sussex coast, particularly the latter, they 

 arrive as early as March ; and sometimes, as will be shown, 

 even in February : and the earlier in the year the fisher- 

 men go to look for them, the farther from the shore do 

 they seek for and find them. Duhamel says the Mackerel 

 are caught earlier at Dunkirk than at Dieppe or Havre : 

 up our own eastern coast, hoAvever, the fishing is later. 

 The fishermen of LoAvestoffe and Yarmouth gain their 

 great harvest from the Mackerel in May and June. Mr. 

 Neill says they occur in the Forth at the end of summer ; 

 and Mr. Low, in his Fauna Orcadensis, states that they 

 do not make their appearance there till the last week in 

 July or the first Aveek in August. 



The Mackerel spawns in June ; and, according to Bloch, 



