THE SPANISH MACKEREL. 93 



one-fourth under full size, in Belfast market, to which they had been 

 brought from some of the 'northern Highland lochs of Scotland ; but I 

 have not any record of the occurrence of this fish on the Irish coast so 

 early in the season. 



When at Newcastle (County Down) on 2nd September, 1836, I made 

 the following note : — " Mackerel have only been taken at Newcastle 

 within the last fortnight, although 10 miles southward they were caught 

 a month before. This diflerence in time (I am informed by jNIr. G. Hy- 

 land) is annually observed." 



The modes of capture of the mackerel have been described in Smith's 

 "Waterford, and Maxwell's Wild Sports (the description contained in 

 the latter work having been considered by Mr. Yarrell worthy of a place 

 in his Avork on British Fishes) ; but the following extract from Dr. Ball's 

 lecture, already quoted, will sufficiently inform the readers as to the 

 means usually employed : — 



" The mackerel is taken in various ways, one of which is very attractive to the 

 amateur. It is fishing, while under a smart sail, with a line and single hook ; 

 the bait may be anything bright, such as a bit of red ribbon. The first fish 

 caught will supply a more attractive one, called a lashing, being a narrow band 

 cut from the silvery part near the tail of the fish. They are also taken by boys 

 who fish from the rocks with a rude apparatus consisting of a pole, a piece 

 of rope-yarn, with an appended fly, made of a crooked nail, with a white 

 feather and red worsted attached, but the greatest numbers are caught in drift- 

 nets."* 



In the months of July and August, 1850, mackerel were unusually 

 abundant on the North-East coast, and great numbers were taken in Bel- 

 fast Bay, Strangford Lough, and at Newcastle. On the 24th August, 26 

 boats were employed in fishing between Greypoint and C'rawfordsburn 

 (Belfast Bay), and with great success. Twenty-nine dozen were taken by 

 one boat, and the others captured smaller numbers, varying down to 12 

 dozen each. One of the fishermen at Newcastle (James Hill) informed 

 me that 4 men in his boat took 100 dozen in 8 hours — i. e. 1 hours in 

 the morning and 4 in the afternoon. Another crew of 3 men were said 

 to have caught 35 dozen in the course of one morning. The bait gener- 

 ally used was a piece cut from the side of a freshly-caught mackerel, but 

 I knew one instance of the spotted gunnel {3Iiirmioides f/uttata) being 

 used successfully. 



When in pursuit of herring-fry swimming at the surface, mackerel are 

 said to cause the semblance of a heavy shower upon the water. 



The SrANisn Mackerel, Scomher macvlatus, Couch. 



In the Annals of Nat. Hist. (vol. vii. p. 479) I published the following 

 note relative to this species. I have not been able to obtain more de- 

 finite information respecting it : — 



" Scomher mandatiis. Couch ? Spanish Mackerel. Mr. McCalla, having 

 mentioned the occurrence of this fish on the coast of Conncmara, replied to my 

 queries as follows : — ' The fish which I consider to be tliis, is found with the 

 mackerel, and, in some seasons, not uncommonly. It is known by the name of 

 Spanish Mackerel, which was no doubt first a])plied to it here by the coast- 

 guard, many of whom have been in the navy. I have not seen any specimens 

 of S. 7naculatus this year (18 10), but on carefully looking to the characters given 

 by Couch (Jenyns's Manual) am of opinion that it is the above species. I 



* " A novel and successful bait recently used, is about two inches of the stem 

 of a tobacco pipe, put on the line down to the hook." — R. Ball. 



