214 FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 



Description. — Length twenty-nine inches ; round ; close behind 

 the pectoral fin twenty inches ; head conical, ending in a point at 

 the nose ; under jaw projecting ; teeth few and small ; tongue flat 

 and thin ; nostrils obscure, not in a depression ; from the nose to 

 the eye two and a half inches ; gill-covers of two plates ; body 

 round to the vent; from thence tapering to the tail; near the tail de- 

 pressed ; lateral line at first descending and waved, becoming straight 

 opposite the anal fin, from thence ascending and terminating in an 

 elevated ridge, with another above and below the lateral line near 

 the tail. Eye elevated ; round ; iris silvery ; from the nose to the 

 pectoral fin eight and three-quarter inches; the fin pointed; four 

 inches long ; received into a depression ; first dorsal fin seven inches 

 long, four inches high, lodged in a groove ; the first two rays stout ; 

 the others low; the body is most solid opposite the second dorsal, 

 which fin and the anal are falcate ; tail divided and slender ; ven- 

 tral fins in a depression : colour, a fine steel-blue, darker on the 

 back; sides dusky; whitish below. Behind the pectoral fins is a 

 bright triangular section of the surface, from which begin four dark 

 lines, that extend along each side of the belly to the tail ; scales few 

 like the mackerel. Number of fin rays — 



D. 15 — 1 + 12, VIII. ; P. 27 ; V. 1 + 5 ; A. 2 + 12, VII ; C. 35. 



This fish was taken in a drift-net off the coast of Corn- 

 wall in July, at which time the roe was abundant. It had 

 no air-bladder ; intestines simple ; the muscle the colour of 

 beef, greatly charged with blood. It rarely takes a bait, 

 and is too wary to be often taken in a net. The above 

 description is taken from Mr Yarrell's work, on the autho- 

 rity of Mr Couch, in consequence of not possessing myself 

 a specimen of this fish. It has been found once in the 

 Firth of Forth, on the authority of Mr Charles Stewart, 

 Elem. Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 363. Ur Scouler states that a 

 specimen was found in the Firth of Clyde in July 1832, and 

 which is now in the Andersonian Museum in Glasgow. 

 " The food of the bonito is fish, small cuttles, testaceous 

 animals, and marine vegetables. Its flesh is considered dry, 

 and by some even disagreeable. " 



The Thynnus vulgaris differs from the present fish in 



