186 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



VI. THE MACKEREL FAMILY. 

 SCOMBERIDA. 



This interesting family is one of the most nu- 

 merous of Osseous Fishes, after the Perches, its 

 described species amounting to upwards of 320. 

 Many of them crowd the surface of the ocean, 

 especially in warm latitudes, and their range is 

 most extensive. Ten genera, as above noted, visit 

 the British shores ; and sixteen genera, or one- 

 twentieth of the whole, have been discovered on the 

 North American coast. Some inhabit only the mid- 

 dle longitudes of the Atlantic, and there pursue the 

 Flying-fish, as Dr. Richardson has well remarked, 

 over the vast wastes, as the herds of Wolves do the 

 Bison on the prairies of America. When con- 



