GEN. AUXIS. THE PLAIN BONITO. 199 



a drift-net in July, at which time the roe was 

 abundant. In this locality it rarely takes the bait, 

 and is too wary to be often captured in a net. 



Gen. XXIV. Auxis. — This genus has the corse- 

 let and the pectoral fins the same as in the previous 

 one; but the dorsal fins are apart, as in the genus 

 Scomber; it has but one representative in the British 

 seas, which is 



(Sp.47.) A.vulgaris. The Plain Bonito. (PL XII.) 

 The trivial names of this fish we owe to the authors 

 of L'Hist. Nat. des Poissons and to Mr. Yarrell, the 

 latter gentleman remarking, " I have called it the 

 Plain Bonito on account of its plain and uniform 

 colour, as contrasted with the Striped and Belted 

 Bonitoes." To this gentleman we are also indebted 

 for its introduction into the British Fauna. In the 

 month of June 1839, two specimens of this hand- 

 some mackerel-like Bonito were received at Bil- 

 lingsgate from the coast of Norfolk, near Yarmouth, 

 where they had no doubt been caught in the 

 mackerel-nets; both of these found their way to 

 Mr. Yarrell, owing to the well-known interest he 

 takes in the history of British fishes, a fit compli- 

 ment, we may remark, to his steady and meritori- 

 ous exertions. One of these specimens measured 

 eighteen inches in length and eleven inches and a 

 half in circumference behind the first dorsal, the 

 body in form being nearly cylindrical. The back 

 was irregularly mottled with two shades of indigo 

 blue, the belly silvery white, the corselet somewhat 

 darker than the abdomen, or greyish white ; the fins 



