GEN. THYNNUS. THE TUNNY. 195 



in drift-nets ; but even then it is only one at a time 

 and at considerable intervals. It is in no estima- 

 tion as food. 



Gen. XXIII. Thynnus. — This genus is charac- 

 terised by a kind of corselet round the neck and 

 thorax, formed by scales larger and coarser than 

 those of the rest of the body ; the sides of the tail 

 have a cartilaginous keel, and the anterior dorsal is 

 prolonged almost to the posterior one. 



(Sp. 45.) Th. vulgaris. (PI. XI.) The Tunny, 

 though only an occasional visitor of the British shores, 

 is as important an object of pursuit in the Mediter- 

 ranean, as the Mackerel or Plerring among our- 

 selves, or the Cod at Newfoundland. It appears to 

 have been more frequently observed on the Scottish 

 coast than the English. Mr. Pennant remarks, " They 

 frequent our coasts, but not in shoals as in the Me- 

 diterranean : they are not uncommon in the lochs 

 of the West of Scotland, where they come in pur- 

 suit of Herrings, and often, during the night, strike 

 into the nets and do considerable damage. One was 

 taken," adds this Naturalist, " when I was at Inve- 

 rary, in 1769, which was seven feet nine inches 

 long, and weighed 460 lbs." Dr. Scouler mentions 

 (Loudon's Mag., vi.) that one was taken nearly op- 

 posite Greenock, in the herring- nets, which measured 

 nine feet in length, in July ] 831 ; and within the last 

 few weeks, a beautiful specimen, also Scotch, 8 feet 

 long and 5 feet 6 inches in circumference, has been 

 added to the Collection in the Edinburgh University 

 Museum. The flesh of this fish was dressed, and 



