ABOUT THE TUNNY. 



101 



tion of them, and of the methods adopted for their cap- 

 ture, in the order in which they are here put forward. 



The TUNNY (Scomber thynnus) has been called the "fish 

 of many names ; " an appellation it will be considered to 

 have deserved by readers familiar with the old zoologists, 

 who designated it, according to their individual fancies, 

 thynnis, pelamys, sarda, auxis, xanthias, triton, thusites, 

 ckeladonias, melandrya, synodon, and the like. Its now 







THE TUNNY. 



accepted name of " tuimy " comes from the Greek 

 through the Latin tkynnus, and may be traced to the verb 

 6vw, "to bound furiously;" in allusion, perhaps, to the 

 violent motions of the fish when persecuted by its parasite, 

 the marine oestrus, a kind of bot-fly, or parasitical insect. 

 The tunny is distinguished from the mackerel by the 

 following characteristics : Its first dorsal fin continues to 

 its second, while in the mackerel an interval occurs be- 



