BONITO. 141 



this species has not, that I am aware, been taken on the shores 

 of this country. 



The Bonito is very similar to the Tunny in form, but is 

 much smaller, seldom exceeding thirty inches in length. It 

 inhabits the ocean, and is one of those species so well known 

 to voyagers when within the tropics for the amusement they 

 afford by their pursuit of the Flying Fish. Their attempts, 

 however, to secure these unfortunate victims, sometimes lead 

 to their own destruction. Sailors frequently amuse them- 

 selves by catching the Bonito with a hook fastened to a 

 piece of lead shaped like the body of a small fish, to which a 

 pair of wings made of feathers are attached, to give it the 

 appearance of a Flying Fish. The food of the Bonito is fish, ' 

 small cuttles, testaceous animals, and even marine vegetables. 

 Though eaten with avidity by those who have been pre- 

 viously confined to salt provisions, the flesh has been consi- 

 dered dry, and by some even said to be disagreeable. 



This fish is subject to several sorts of intestinal worms. 



A specimen obtained by Mr. Couch on the Cornish coast 

 " was twenty-nine inches long, and twenty inches round close 

 behind the pectoral fins : head conical, ending in a point at 

 the nose ; under jaw projecting; teeth few and small; tongue 

 flat and thin ; nostrils obscure, not in a depression ; from the 

 nose to the eye two and a half inches ; gill-covers of two 

 plates. Body round to the vent, from thence tapering to 

 the tail ; near the tail depressed ; lateral line at first descend- 

 ing and waved, becoming straight opposite the anal fin, from 

 thence ascending and terminating in an elevated ridge, with 

 another above and below the lateral line near the tail. Eye 

 elevated, round ; iris silvery : from the nose to the pectoral 

 fin eight and three-quarter inches, the fin pointed, four 

 inches long, received into a depression. First dorsal fin 

 seven inches long, four inches high, lodged in a groove; the 



