634 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



the Black Sea. The Romans Attached great value to certain parts of 

 this fish, as the head and the lower part of the belly. The neigh- 

 bouring parts were in little esteem with them. They cut them into 

 pieces and preserved them in vases filled with salt. They are now 

 preserved with oil and salt, before being cooked ; this preparation is 

 in great request at Cette, Montpellier, and Marseilles. With a pot of 

 marine tunny, preserved in the vinegar of Lunel, a household is 

 pretty well prepared for any event. 



The Bonita (Ihynnus pdamys) is not unlike the mackerel in 

 shape, but less compressed, and upwards of twenty-five to thirty 



Fig. 398. The Mackerel (.Scomber scombrus). 



inches long it is a fish of considerable size, celebrated by its pursuit 

 in great shoals of the flying-fish (Exoccetas volitans]. It is occasionally 

 found on our coast, but only as an accidental visitor, for its true 

 home is the Tropics. It is a beautiful fish of a fine blue colour, with 

 short pectoral fins and four longitudinal bands on each side of the 

 belly. It is easily harpooned from the dolphin-striker, and appears 

 to have some power of generating electricity. Any one grasping the 

 living fish is violently shaken as in palsy, so much so that the most 

 resolute son of Neptune cannot control his speech ; every attempt 

 culminates in an unintelligible spasmodic sputter. The instant 

 the Bonita is dropped, the muscles resume their ordinary action. 



The Mackerel (Scomber scombrus] Fig. 398, is too well known to 

 require minute description. Who has not admired these fishes, with 

 their steel-blue back, and changing iridescent sides of gold and 



