138 SCAD. 



taken in July, tliat they have been sold at the rate of sixpence 

 the hundred, (of one hundred and twenty fish.) 



Full-grown Scads are for the most part solitary, and swim 

 low in the water, where they take a bait freely, but much less 

 frequently when the boat is under sail. On some occasions, 

 however, they gather into vast multitudes, and pursue their 

 prey, especially the Launce, with such reckless impetuosity that 

 considerable numbers of them are thrust upon the shore. On 

 one occasion, in the Mount's Bay in Cornwall, ten thousand 

 were brought together within the compass of a ground-sean; 

 and on another occasion upwards of twenty thousand were 

 taken, and at the same time, as evening advanced, men, women, 

 and children rushed into the sea and grasped the fish with 

 their hands, amidst the shouts of spectators who had assembled 

 to see the sport. The prize indeed is not of great value, for 

 this fish is not held in estimation for the table; but it is not 

 distasteful to every palate. Lacepede speaks well of it, and in 

 the west of Cornwall and Scilly Islands, as also in the north 

 of Ireland, where it is called the Crake Herring, they are 

 salted like other fish, and preserved dry for use in the 

 winter, when rough weather may have shut up all access to 

 the sea for fishing. 



The Scad grows to about a foot in length, the general form 

 moderately compressed; jaws equal, with small teeth; eyes 

 large. Body more slender towards the tail. Lateral line bent 

 down opposite the expanded portion of the second dorsal fin, 

 armed with plates through its length, which rise into a ridge 

 as it approaches the tail; the middle of each plate with a 

 point directed backward, their number liable to vary. The 

 first dorsal fin with eiafht firm ravs, of which the third is the 

 longest; before this fin a recumbent spine, the point directed 

 forward. Second dorsal close to the first: it and the anal wider 

 at their origin, narrower in their course, ending near the tail, 

 which is forked. Pectoral fin pointed, reaching to the curve of 

 the lateral line. A small fin, with two short rays, in front of 

 the anal, in a depression. Ventral fins a little behind the root 

 of the pectorals. Colour of the back dusky green, with tints 

 of blue, and a couple of obsolete lines of yellow; the belly 

 lighter, with shades of blue, green, and red; on the borders of 

 the gill-covers a dark spot. 



