360 FISHES. 



for mackerel, but never when sailing under canvas, though 

 there is of course no reason why fish of habits so closely 

 resembling those of the mackerel should not be taken in 

 this fashion. The scad is known to the Italians as 

 cantatore (the singer), owing to a peculiar grunting which, 

 like the gurnards, it is said to utter when removed from 

 the water. I must confess never to have noticed this 

 myself, but it seems a matter of common observation. 

 This fish may be distinguished by its long, low, dorsal fin, 

 as well as by the bony plates along the lateral line. In 

 colour, it is bluish grey above, white beneath. As food 

 it is not to be recommended. It is still more capricious 

 in its wanderings than the mackerel. During the early 

 days of July in the present year (1897), tens of thou- 

 sands were netted off Bournemouth (locally confused with 

 pilchards), where they are often not seen for years to- 

 gether. My boatman took one this August (1897) off 

 Mevagissey, weighing close on 3 Ibs. 



With the exception perhaps of the wonderful remora, 

 few fish have been the theme of more downright nonsense 

 than that other friend and ally of the shark, 

 the Pilot-fish. As in the former case, we find 

 all, or apparently all, the advantage on the side of the 

 weaker, though, as these arrangements are generally mutual 

 throughout vertebrate and invertebrate nature, man not 

 excepted, it is probable that the shark derives some 

 advantage that has so far escaped our notice. The well- 

 seasoned story about the pilot warning the shark against 

 the snare of the baited hook is as incredible as its 

 fondness, alleged of old, for sailors in danger of running 

 aground. I have myself seen a 20 -foot shark hooked the 

 moment after one of its two attendant pilots had swum 

 round the hook. This was in about 17 S., and the bait 

 was the half of a smaller shark that I had caught a few 

 moments before. The pilot made a leisurely survey of the 

 bait, found it apparently not to its own taste, and the 



