104 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
Length, 9°5. Of head, 2°4. 
Fin rays, D. 12.12 +v; P.19; V.1.5; A.1.12+ v3; C. 208. 
In the autumnal months, this species appears in great numbers on our coast. Dr. Mitchill 
mentions the autumns of 1781 and 1813, as years in which they were particularly numerous. 
In the early part of November, 1828, they were also very abundant, and many persons were 
poisoned by eating them. They are scarcely distinguishable from the preceding, and hence 
Richardson and Storer have regarded them merely as the young of that species. From the 
considerations noted above, I prefer, with Cuvier, to regard it as a distinct species. 
It ranges from the shores of New-York, and (if there is no mistake in the locality) even 
from Canada to the coast of Brazil. 
THE SPANISH MACKEREL. 
ScoMBER COLIAS, 
PLATE XI. FIG. 33. 
Le Maquereau colias. Cuv. et Vat. Hist. des Poiss. Vol. 8, p. 39, pl. 209. 
S. colias, Spanish Mackerel. StToRER, Report Fishes of Mass. p. 45. 
Characteristics. Large. Numerous greyish brown spots distributed along the sides. Length 
one to two feet. 
Description. Body cylindrical, robust. Head considerably flattened above. Eyes large. 
Nostrils double ; the posterior vertical, and just in advance of the eye. Scales rather larger 
about the pectoral region. Tongue pointed. Jaws equal, with from sixty to seventy small 
teeth on each side of the jaws. 
The first dorsal fin transparent ; its second ray longer than the first, the tips of all project- 
ing beyond the membrane. Second dorsal considerably excavated on its margin. Five dorsal 
finlets. Pectorals pointed, and just beneath the lateral line. Ventrals elongated, slightly in 
advance of the first dorsal, but posterior to the base of the pectorals. Anal with a small spine 
in front, opposite to the posterior half of the second dorsal; behind this, five finlets. Caudal 
fin deeply forked, with two lateral carine at the side. 
Color. Above light green, with numerous contiguous beautifully undulating darker green 
lines passing down the sides, and just crossing the lateral line. Beneath dull bluish, with 
large, distant, circular or oblong oval brown blotches distributed irregularly on the sides. 
Abdomen light-colored, with cupreous reflections. Opercles cupreous and silvery. 
Length, 11:0. Head, 2°5. 
Fin rays, D. 9.12 ++ v3; P.19; V.5; A1.12+v; C.174. 
I have seen this fine species in the New-York market, in the months of August and Sep- 
tember, nearly two feet long. They were not, however, common. They had been taken in 
a seine in the harbor. On the southern coast, they are taken with a hook attached to a short 
