SNAPPING MACKEREL. 157 
CHAPTEE Xn. 
SNAPPING MACKEREL. 
Temnodon Saltator. — One of the gayest, merriest, live- 
liest, little fish that chases and devours those smaller 
than himself, and is chased and devoured by such as are 
larger, is the Snapping Mackerel, the young of the pre- 
vious species, but individualized from the voracity with 
which he snaps at the live or dead bait. He is a beau- 
tiful, silver-sided little fellow, weighing from an ounce 
to half a pound, and makes his appearance in immense 
numbers along our coast in the latter part of September 
or fore part of October. 
" Whence he comes, 
Whither he goes, 
Nobody cares 
And nobody knows." 
He must have just arrived, however, from the parents' 
spawning ground, his diminutive size proving that he has 
not been long out of the shell. He roams about, at first 
in small numbers, but soon increasing to multitudes, and 
gives active chase to the minnow and speariug, that may 
be seen momentarily springing out of water in their 
frantic efi'orts to escape his charges. He lurks in the 
foaming water of a mill-tail or sluiceway, or in the eddy- 
ing current of the receding tide, watching for his prey 
