OCCASIONAL NOTES. 3038 
sometimes found in the stomachs of cod caught far out at sea, which makes 
the finding of it on the shore of a fresh-water loch rather interesting.— 
J. T. Garrtiock (Prospect House, Lerwick). 
ScoMBER PUNCTATUS ON THE Cornish Coast.—On the 21st of April 
I received from my kind friend Mr. Matthias Dunn, of Mevagissey, a 
beautiful and fresh example of Couch’s ‘‘ Dotted Mackarel,” a most welcome 
addition to my collectiou of British fishes, as I have long been desirous of 
investigating the different species. Pennant (1776) and Fleming (1828) 
only record the “Common Mackarel” from the British Isles; Turton (1807) 
adds the “Spanish Mackarel,” Scomber colias, which is also included by 
Jenyns (1835), Yarrell, White (1851), and Thompson (1856), the three 
last authors considering Scomber maculatus, Couch, the same as S. colias. 
Couch, however, recorded both the forms admitted by his predecessors, 
and also the “‘ Dotted” and the “Scribbled” Mackarels. Dr. Giinther, in 
his ‘ Catalogue of Fishes’ (1860), places the ‘‘ Dotted Mackarel,” Scomber 
punctatus, as a doubtful species on which he offers no opinion, while Couch’s 
S. scriptus had not been described at that time. Couch’s example of 
“ Dotted Mackarel” was a female, 152 inches long, taken in Cornwall, 
July, 1848; it is said to have differed from the common form in that “ the 
jaws were more decidedly of equal length,” the sides and belly more distinctly 
scaled, no air-bladder. His ‘‘ Scribbled Mackarel,” of which he obtained 
three examples, were also deficient in air-bladders, while a rise was noted 
as existing at the snout and another at the occiput, and the lateral line was 
stated to be smooth, not zigzag. The chief difference seems to have been 
in the colours. It must be remarked that the ‘‘ Spanish Mackarel” 
possesses an air-bladder, although Couch could not find it, while he likewise 
stated it to be absent both in his “ Dotted” and “Scribbled” species. Sir 
John Richardson, when editing the third edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Fishes,’ 
admitted the ** Dotted Mackarel,” but doubted if further anatomical investi- 
vation would or would not permit of its being retained as a distinct species. 
The example I have received is a female in which the ova are not quite 
ripe ; it possesses twelve spines in its first, and one spine and eleven rays 
in its second, dorsal fin, and also five finlets; its anal has one spine, eleven 
rays, and five finlets—no air-bladder. Having no air-bladder, it cannot be 
the Spanish Mackarel or the Mediterranean Scomber pneumatophorus, 
leaving for consideration whether it may be a variety of the Common 
Mackarel. In the number of its rays and scales, and also in its proportions, 
it is identical with the Common Mackarel, except being slightly wider 
between the eyes. This, however, is liable to variation, as I have lately 
received two American examples from the Cambridge Museum, Massa- 
chusetts, in which I perceive the interorbital width intermediate between 
