896 ESOCID.E. 



water. At last, the pursuer springs after them, usually 

 across their course ; and again they all disappear together. 

 Amidst such multitudes for more than twenty thousand 

 have been judged to be out of the water together some 

 must fall a prey to the enemy ; but as many hunt in com- 

 pany, it may be long before the pursuit is abandoned. 

 From inspection, we should scarcely judge the fish to be 

 capable of such considerable flights ; for the fins, though nu- 

 merous, are small, and the pectorals far from large though 

 the angle of their articulation is well fitted to raise the fish 

 by the direction of their motions to the surface ; the force of 

 its spring must therefore be chiefly ascribed to the tail and 

 finlets. It rarely takes a bait ; and when this has happened, 

 the boat has been under sail, the men fishing with a lask, or 

 slice of Mackerel made to imitate a living bait.* The 

 Skipper has not been commonly taken since the drift fish- 

 ermen began the practice of sinking their nets a fathom or 

 two beneath the surface a circumstance which marks the 

 depth to which they swim ; but before this, it was usual to 

 take them, sometimes to the amount of a few hundreds, at 

 almost every shoot of the Pilchard nets." 



The specimen from which the representation and descrip- 

 tion here given were taken, measured fourteen inches and 

 three quarters ; the head and jaws three inches and three 

 quarters; of this, the narrow portion of the jaws, which 

 curved slightly upwards towards the point, was about equal 

 to the length of the other parts of the head ; the lower jaw 

 the longest : the body elongated, but considerably deeper 

 for its length than that of the Garfish ; the length of the 

 jaws and head compared to the whole length of the fish, as 

 one to four ; the depth of the body two inches, or, as com- 

 pared to the whole length, as two to seven. Pectoral fins 

 * See pages 128 and 129. 



