416 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Vast shoals of Mackarel visit our coasts, and myriads are 

 taken by fishermen both by nets and with lines. The line of 

 nets frequently exceeds a mile in extent, and of course the num- 

 ber of fish contained in this enormous net must be beyond all 

 calculation. On several occasions, the meshes of the net were 

 completely choked up by fish hanging by their gills, and the net 

 acted like a dredge, sweeping up myriads more fish in a solid 

 mass. In 1808, the whole net and its cargo sunk, and were 

 lost to the too successful fishermen. 



The profits of the fishery vary exceedingly ; sometimes the 

 boats will hardly take a single mackarel, and at other times, 

 or even in different spots, the draught of fish will nearly fill the 

 boat. In 1834, one boat sold in one night nearly one hundred 

 pounds' worth of mackarel. 



The fish require to be used soon after they are taken out of 

 the water, as the flesh is very tender, and easily injured by ex- 

 posure to the air, or by carriage to any great distance. 



When the fishermen employ the line for the capture of the 

 mackarel, the hook is baited with a strip cut from. a dead mack- 

 arel, and is suffered to trail overboard. The fish bite eagerly 

 at this cannibal kind of bait, and are frequently taken by bait- 

 ing the hook with a strip of scarlet leather or cloth. 



THYNNUS. (Gr. Qvvvo?, a Timny.) 



Thynnus, the Tunny. 



The TUNNY is a tolerably large fish, averaging four feet in 

 length, and is very common in the Mediterranean. Large 

 fisheries are established during May and June, at which 



