aooordlng to the theory of the ancients; but it does not serve to deny 

 that there may be tuna irhioh, instead of approaching Spain, enter the 

 Mediterranean, whether to spawn or not^ ind also 8 that there are no 

 important tuna fisheries on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, on this 

 aide of Gibraltar (De Buen); that the tuna oannot o-roroome the thermal 

 and saline barrier from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean (De Buen)i, 

 whioh is an a^ priori supposition^ or better^ which would be the explana- 

 tion of a fact, if the fact were demonstratedo 



None of these is a proof p and I insist on the affirmation because, 

 in spite of their inoonsistenoyp the attempt is made to gire them the 

 weight of proofp even against direct and incontrovertible evidence, such 

 as that of the hooks,, Such arguments prove nothing against the possi*- 

 bility of a spawning immigration of tuna; nothing is known concerning 

 the non-spawning tuna, 



4) Incidentally I will point out that hooks from North Spain found 

 in tuna of the largest size, taken in the Mediterranean, permit one to 

 deduce that the waters fronting the Cantabrian coast are visited by 

 numerous large tuna, although all that are actually caught in those 

 regions are tuna of small siee for the most part (15-30 kgD)o This 

 might perhaps be of interest to the fishermeno 



The large number of North Spanish hooks recovered in recent years 

 is evidently related to the fact that both the hooks used for tuna in 

 the Gulf of Gascony and those used for "bonito* (a fish whioh has quite 

 a great importance there) are relatively small and attached to lines of 

 little strength, and therefore they are easily torn off by the large 

 tuna. 



5) Bj. "t^ftPS of hooks it has been possible to ascertain the presence 

 of Thunnus thynnus in the Azores, where^ as far as I know^ it had not 



yet been recordedo — Of the five species of tuna existing at the AzoreSj, 

 the most common are Th. obesus Lowe (called "albacora" there ^ "patudo" at 

 Madeira, and " tuna" in the Canary ISo) and The pelaays Co Vo (" bonito"* * 

 in the Azores, " gaiado* at Madeirap and " bonito in the Canary IsTJI 

 Fairly frequent, although less so than the preceding is Thunnus thynnus Lo 

 (" rabgo* * in the Azores, " rabilho* at Madeira „ and " patudo" in the Canary 

 IsTJI Tho albacorat liowe (" peixe de galha k re" in the Azores, "albacora* 

 at Madeira, and " raMl * in the Canary Iso )o is rare^^ Very rare is 

 2JXt alalonga C voador* at Madeira, "barrilote" in the Canary Iso )» 



IT 



In the Canary Is, there exists another species vriliich is similar but 

 with the second dorsal and cmal fins less developed, called "pez de 

 ley. " It is not certain whether it is a case of two distinct 

 species or of different stages of development of the same species, 

 the " pez de ley" being smaller than the " rabilo " And thus it is 

 even onoertain vrtiich of the two forms corresponds exactly to 

 Th, albacora. 



