456 TRANSACTIONS OF TJIS 



'G3, Avhen the colony court passed a law that all the profits annu- 

 ally accruing to the colony for fishing with seines, nets, &c., 

 should be devoted towards founding a scliool for the training of 

 youth, and it was established at once, and supported by the pro- 

 ceeds. 



The. Mackerel^ {Scomber Scomber.) — This fish is well known to 

 be, in form, one of the most beautiful among the finny tribe; its 

 colors, when fresh from the sea, are truly splendid. It is sup- 

 posed, like the herring, to be migratory; spending the winter in 

 the northern seas, and visiting the south to deposit its spawn. 

 There are twenty-two species of this fish; the one best known in 

 commerce has a smooth, compressed head, and several spurious 

 fins between the caudal and dorsal fin, and is generally twelve 

 inches long; they have transverse dark blue stripes, richly shaded 

 with a tinge of green, extending from the dorsal fin. The males 

 have black spots on the sides, fading into a yellowish green, that 

 artists find great dijfficulty in imitating. Among edible fishes, the 

 mackerel has, from the remotest antiquity, maintained a very higji 

 rank. It is said, that a Roman consul once paid for a single one, 

 when out of season, $216. 



Their greatest enemy is a fish known as the Tunny, {Scomber 

 T/iynnus,) which follows and devours them voraciously. " Pliny, 

 the naturalist, gives an account of a shoal of tunnies, following a 

 school of mackerel, so vast, that the fleet of Alexander the Great 

 could not maintain its coiu'se through them, until the ships were 

 arranged in battle array, to force the extraordinary aquatic pha- 

 lanx to give way to the conqueror of the world." They are so 

 prolific, that 550,000 ova have been counted in one female. They 

 are voracious feeders, and live on the small fry of other fish. 

 They are in great request as food, but are only in perfection when 

 full of spawn and perfectly fresh. No fish spoil more rapidly 

 than they; in consequence of their being so perishable, the autho- 

 rities in London permit them to be cried through the streets on 

 Sunday. 



I expect to have the following curious fish in my ponds within 

 the next six months : 



The Tench {Cyprimis Tinea) is known as the physician of fish; 

 he is covered by a glutinous slime, that will immediately heal 



