396 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 
abundance of the species on the coast of Spain. The name was intro- 
duced into the United States by the early English colonists, who, on 
reaching America found a great variety of fishes in the waters of the 
newly-discovered continent. Some of the species were entirely new to 
them, whiie others resembled to a greater or less extent the species with 
which they were familiar in their early homes. To all of these figh they 
must assign names, and it was very natural for the colonists to apply to 
them the names of the European species which they most nearly re- 
sembled. 
Those settling on the New England coast found a species of mackerel 
which was very similar in its general appearance tothe Scomber colias, 
and they at once gave toit the name Spanish mackerel, supposing it to 
be the common English species. In fact, so close was the resemblance 
that, until recently, most naturalists have considered the two species 
identical, though they are now generally acknowledged to be distinct. 
The colonists settling in the Middle and Southern States, where the 
species already mentioned was not found, applied the term Spanish 
mackerel to the Cybium maculatum; and it has, by many, been com- 
monly applied to the other members of the genus, namely, the C. regale 
and the C. cabella. 
The name, however, does not properly belong to either of the last- 
named fishes, for the adults of these species are usually known as “cero,” 
“king-fish,” or “ horse-mackerel,” though in localities where the C. macu- 
latum is taken the fishermen apply the term alike to all small fishes of 
the genus, few, if any, owing to the marked similarity in their general 
appearance, recognizing the difference between them. Even here, how- 
ever, the difference is recognized in the larger individuals, and the name 
is changed accordingly. 
The Northern species continued to be abundant along the New Eng- 
land coast up to 1855, when it entirely disappeared {rom our shores, and 
not a single individual is known to have been taken from that date until 
the summer of 1879, when the United States Fish Commission secured 
several specimens off Provincetown, Mass.* Since the disappearance of 
the New England species the Cybium maculatum has practically enjoyed 
* We find the following in the Fisherman’s Memorial and Record Book, which gives 
an idea of the abundance of the species in Massachusetts Bay in the early part of the 
present century: 
“Tn 1812 a large school of Spanish mackerel visited this bay, and so plenty and nu- 
merous were they that they woull bite readily at the bare hook, and seize upon 
small bits of line hanging from the vessel. Standing-room boats were then mostly in 
use, holding from 15 to 20 tons. These rooms held from 15 to 20 barrels, and the crews 
would catch them full in a few hours. Mr. Timothy Rogers, at Rowe’s Bank [at 
Gloucester, Mass.], bought most of these mackerel fresh, after being dressed, at 2 
cents per pound, salting them in his buildings, and the business, which lasted two 
months, was a lively one. These mackerel did not continue on this coast but .a few 
years, and have now almost entirely disappeared. There were a few caught with the 
other mackerel as late as 1825, since which time it is very rare to see one during the 
entire season.”—(Fisherman’s Memorial and Record Book, p. 61.) 
