152 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.—CLASS IV. PISCES. 
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purpose of “depositing their spawn, and they subsist, in great part, upon 
the fry of the later spawners, as those again live upon theirs, which is a 
beautiful adaptation, whereby the immense surplus of one family of fish 
adequately supplies the wants of another.” 
The genus Scomber is separated into several sub-genera. They are the 
Gempylus, whose ventral fins are scarcely perceptible; the Cybiwm, found 
in the warm parts of both oceans, some species of very large size; the 
Souda, common in the Black Sea and Mediterranean; the Awa?’s, found on 
the Mediterranean, of a fine blue on the back, with oblique blackish lines, 
and the flesh deep red. A West Indian species attains an extremely large 
size; Orcynus, with long pectoral fins, blackish back, and silvery belly, 
visits, during the summer, the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean in 
numerous shoals. But the following sub-genus is the chief of the tribe. 
Tuynnus.— The Tunny. This celebrated fish has a soft corselet of 
large scales on the thorax, a cartilaginous keel between the crests and 
the sides of the tail, and the first dorsal approaching the second. It abounds 
in the Mediterranean, where it is often found from fifteen to eighteen feet 
in length. It is captured in vast numbers, and constitutes an essential 
article of food. The flesh is as solid as that of the sturgeon, but is much 
more finely flavored. Pennant affirms that he saw one killed in 1769 which 
weighed four hundred and sixty pounds. 
Tunny-catching, according to Mr. Yarrell, is a very important business 
in the Mediterranean. He says, “In May and June, the adult fish rove 
along the coast in large shoals and triangular array. They are extremely 
timid, and easily induced to take a new, and apparently an open, course, in 
order to avoid any suspected danger. But the fishermen take advantage of 
this peculiarity for their destruction by placing a lookout or sentinel on some 
elevated spot, who makes the signal that the shoal of Tunnies is approach- 
ing, and points out the direction in which it will come. Immediately a great 
number of boats set off, range themselves in a curved line, and, joining their 
nets, form an enclosure, which alarms the fish, while the fishermen, drawing 
closer and closer, and adding fresh nets, still continue driving the Tunnies 
towards the shore, where they are ultimately killed with poles. 
“But the grandest mode of catching the Tunny is by means of the French 
madrague, or, as the Italians call it, tonnaro. Series of long and deep nets, 
fixed vertically by corks at their upper edges, and with lead and stones at the 
bottom, are kept in a particular position by anchors, so as to form an en- 
closure parallel to the coast, sometimes extending an Italian mile in length ; 
this is divided into several chambers by nets placed across, leaving narrow 
openings on the land side. The Tunnies pass between the coast and the 
tonnaro; when arrived at the end, they are stopped by one of the ecross- 
