papers that a mackerel of six or even eight pounds weight 

 has been caught, but in every instance in which I have 

 been able to make inquiries the fish has turned out to 

 belong to an allied species the short finned tunny which 

 sometimes herds with the mackerel. 



There is one fact about the personal history of this fish, 

 which I will mention although I know I do it at the risk of 

 having my veracity suspected ; but I narrate only what I 

 have seen over and over again, have repeatedly shown to 

 my friends, and am prepared to show in the cases of two 

 fish out of three, to any one of you who will call on me at 

 Penzance and go out and catch mackerel with me. The 

 mackerel, like the turbot, requires, and has, enormous 

 muscular power at the tail to give the fail-fin its full 

 advantages. In the turbot the fishermen recognise this 

 fact and say that the turbot has a "second heart," and, as 

 soon as they can, after they have caught one, they, at least 

 in our parts, " bleed it," that is, make an incision on the 

 line of the lateral line on the white near the tail, which cuts 

 into this "second heart," and from which the fish bleeds 

 freely. They have an impression that it whitens the white. 

 Now, for my mackerel. The strongest and most muscular 

 fish are those which wander about by themselves, and take 

 surface bait, and it is on these only that my experiment 

 has been tried. Take one of these immediately it comes 

 into your boat, and, at once, without injuring it more than 

 is necessary, prepare it for the gridiron just as your cook 

 would, and lay it on the deck of the boat. In a short time 

 a muscular action will develop itself in the tail, and 

 the disembowelled fish will turn a clear summersault, some- 

 times two, and occasionally three, and will then become 

 quiet after a convulsion in which every fin vibrates. Like 

 many other discoveries this one was made by accident ; but I 



