362 PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. [SCOMBER. 



covers, and sides, and behind the eye, bright yellow. From the Mack- 

 arel, which it resembles, this fish differs in the markings of the head, 

 longer snout, larger eye and gape, longer head, and in having scales on 

 the anterior gill-covers : the body is not nearly so much attenuated pos- 

 teriorly ; the ventral fins are sharp and slender, those of the Mackarel 

 wider and more blunt : in the former, the pectorals lie close to the body ; 

 in the latter, they stand off; in the latter, also, is a large angular plate, 

 the point directed backward, close above the pectoral fins, which does not 

 exist in the Spanish Mackarel." COUCH. 



The above species will probably prove to be the S. Colias of Cuvier 

 and Valenciennes, which is found in the Mediterranean, and is remark- 

 ably distinguished from the S. Scomber by having a swimming bladder. 

 For the present, however, I have thought it proper to retain the name 

 given to it by Mr. Couch, and to annex his description. This gentleman 

 observes that it is scarce, but that some are taken every year off the coast 

 of Cornwall. It attains the weight of four or five pounds, but is in no 

 estimation as food. It is called by the fishermen Spanish Mackarel. 



(5.) S. Colias, Turt. Brit. Faun. p. 100. sp. 76. 



Under this name Turton speaks of a species which is " found frequently 

 in the Weirs about Swansea, and which very much resembles the Common 

 Mackarel, except in size, which seldom exceeds six or seven inches in 

 length. Its colours are much richer, and it does not appear to come in 

 shoals." Whether this be any thing more than the young state of one of 

 the foregoing species can only be determined by a closer examination of its 

 characters. 



(2. THYNNUS, Cuv.) 



36. S. Thynnus, Linn. {Common Tunny.) Nine 

 spurious finlets above and below : pectorals falcate ; con- 

 tained five times and a half in the entire length. 



S. Thynnus, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 493. Block, Ichth. pi. 55. 

 Don. Brit. Pish. vol. i. pi. 5. Flem. Brit. An. p. 218. Thynnus 

 vulgaris, Cuv. et Val. Poiss. torn. vni. p. 42. pi. 210. Tunny- 

 Fish, Will. Hist. Pise. p. 176. tab. M. 1. f. 3. Tunny, Penn. 

 Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 266. pi. 52. Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 134. 

 Le 'Thon commun, Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. p. 197. 



LENGTH. From three to seven feet ; sometimes more. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) General form resembling that of the Mackarel, 

 but thicker in proportion to its length, and shorter in the snout : head a 

 little less than one-fourth of the entire length ; profile slightly convex ; 

 lower jaw a little longer than the upper ; each with a single row of small 

 sharp teeth, slightly curving inwards and backwards ; about forty on each 

 side above and below ; a few fine teeth like velvet also on the palatines 

 and fore part of the vomer : diameter of the eye one-seventh the length 

 of the head: cheeks covered with long narrow pointed scales, which 

 cause them to appear wrinkled: gill-covers, as well as all the rest of 

 the head, naked : lateral line irregularly and slightly flexuous, marked 

 throughout its length by large scales similar to those which form the 

 corselet: pectorals sickle- shaped, contained five times and a half in the 

 whole length: ventrals scarcely more than half as long: first dorsal 

 commencing nearly in a line with the base of the pectorals, rising from 

 a groove, and extending nearly to the second; first spine longest; the 

 others decreasing rapidly to the sixth, afterwards more slowly : second 



