20 SCOMBRHXE. 



ously clouded, on the upper parts, with brown and blue 

 bands, while the under parts are silvery white and highly 

 polished, and he adds that a blue stripe runs along under 

 the lateral line. The branchiostegous membrane and the 

 first dorsal are black, the pectoral fins azure-coloured 

 the purity of the colours and elegant form of the fish 

 rendering it a very beautiful object. 



The British Scomberoid to which the Pelamid has the 

 nearest resemblance in external form is the Belted 

 Bonito, which has been detected in our seas by Mr. 

 Couch alone : but that Thynnus has shorter teeth, and 

 only thirteen spinous rays, in the first dorsal. In the 

 Forfarshire specimen the following is the formula of the 

 rays 



Br. 7: D. 21 1 + 13 viii.: A. 4 + 12 vi.: P. 24: V. 1 + 5: C. 21 20. 



The spinous rays of the first dorsal are slender, and 

 the third is the tallest, while the first is not above a 

 sixth or a seventh part shorter. The figure shows the 

 form of the fin, and how it falls off posteriorly. There 

 is, perhaps, a short incumbent ray on the base of the 

 second dorsal spine, but its existence cannot be proved 

 without dissection, and it may be that the spine is merely 

 thickened at the base. The numbers of the detached 

 finlets behind the dorsal and anal vary with the age of 

 the fish in the Scomberoids, the membrane being more 

 continuous in the young, and including more of them. 

 Four slender, graduated, jointless rays commence the 

 anal. The pectoral is triangular, and when in repose, 

 fits into a depression of the corselet. Its tip, when laid 

 back, just passes the eighth ray of the first dorsal: and 

 the ventrals, which also recline in a cutaneous depression, 

 have their origin opposite to the base of the first pec- 

 toral ray. The corselet composed of scales, larger and 



