THE MACKEREL. 



549 



pursued by the dolphin or bonito, the wide quivering jfins are able to 

 sustain it in the air for a limited period. 



This fish has often been confounded by voyagers with the true flying 

 fish (Exoccetus), which belongs to an entirely different order. 



The important though not very large family of the Scomberidse 



contains many 

 species that are 

 almost invalu- 

 able as food, and 

 others that are 

 beautiful in form 

 and interesting in 

 habits. 



Our first ex- 

 ample of these 

 fishes is the 

 Mackerel, so 

 well known for 

 the exceeding 

 beauty of its 

 colors and the 

 peculiar flavor 

 of its flesh. 

 This is one of 



the species that are forced by the irresistible impulse of instinct to 

 migrate in vast shoals at certain times of the year, directing their 

 course toward the shores, and as a general rule frequenting the same 

 or neighboring localities from year to year. 



This fish is taken both by nets and lines, the nets being of two kinds, 

 one called the drift-net, and the other the seine. The drift-net is, as its 

 name implies, allowed to be drifted out with the tide, and is suspended 

 along a cord called the drift-rope. The whole length of one of these 

 nets when shot is sometimes a mile and a half, these enormous dimen- 

 sions being attained by attaching a number of nets together at the ends. 

 Each of these nets is one hundred and twenty feet long and twenty feet 

 deep, and along the upper edge is fastened a series of cork floats. When 

 the net is to be shot a large buoy is attached to the end of the drift- 

 rope, the buoy is thrown overboard, and the sails set. As the boat 

 dashes away from the spot, the nets, which have already been attached 

 to the drift-rope, are thrown successively overboard, until all the nets 

 are paid out and hang in the water like a net wall. The strain of the 

 buoy at one end of the drift-rope and the boat at the other keeps the 

 rope straight and the net upright. 



As the Mackerel come swimming along they are arrested by the net, 



The Flying Gurnard {Daclylopterus volitans). 



