64 NEW SOUTH WALES 



" I suppose this was from the overpowering numbers. There does not 

 appear to be so many here on this coast, or in its harbours and bays, but 

 they are numerous and migrate the same as they do on the coast of 

 England ; here, however, they are better disseminated, and do not move 

 in column when they depart. At some seasons they are more plentiful 

 than at others, like other fishes, and this well applies to Australia. 



" In the whole of this family of fishes care should be taken when they 

 are eaten. I recollect many times catching mackerel, and those for use 

 I had their heads cut oS immediately, and the body inverted in a bucket 

 of water to bleed well, and no ill effects ever arose from eating them. 

 At another time we were out for the night towards Manly Cove, and an 

 immense quantity of mackerel were caught. The moon partly shone on 

 them, and which produced a chemical change in their composition. Not 

 only was the party in charge of the vessel made sick by eating them, 

 but to whomsoever he presented them ashore they were made violently 

 sick after partaking of them, although the man was cautioned about 

 their then condition through the moon. 



" The king-fish has also been the means, through this agency, of 

 cavising violent pains in the head, the face purple, and nausea of the 

 stomach, and many instances of sickness and pains can be recorded, yet 

 the people will not be sufficiently careful — they chance it. 



" These fishes are excellent when fresh caught, but they will not stand 

 long either the sun or the moon. They become flaccid and dangerous as 

 food, and even as bait they are soft. When perfectly fresh they require 

 a little more cooking than is usual with other fishes, and at the same 

 time care should be taken that they are quite clean. It was thought at 

 one time that the danger lay in the back-bone — it was consequently 

 removed ; others again thought it was that they were not divested at 

 once of their entrails. All these experiments have been tried without 

 effect. Of the fishes Scombrida' (which comprise those fishes just named, 

 and also the bonito and the albicore, often caught at sea), decomposition, 

 together with a chemical change, sets in at once, by the agency or 

 through the influence of the moon, after which it is dangerous to eat 

 them." 



The Bonito. 



The bonito here referred to (Thynnus jyelamys) is occasionally seen 

 ofi" our coasts, and also the king-fish of the West Indies Elacate nigra. 

 We may also include the Remora or sucking-fish, in which the spinous 

 dorsal fin is modified into an adhesive disk, occupying the upper side of 

 the head and neck. It fastens on the shark and like the pilot-fish 

 {Naucrates cluctor) accompanies this predaceous fish in its rambles. 

 They are both occasionally seen in Port Jackson. 



VIII.-Fam. TRACHINID^. 



Body elongate, low, naked, or scaly; teeth, small, conical ; one or two 

 dorsal fins, the sjpinous portion shorter and much less developed than the 

 soft ; anal, spinous and soft portions alike, no finlets ; ventrals with one 

 spine and five rays ; ten or more abdominal and more than fourteen 

 caudal vertebra?. 



