200 LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



although the fresh fish is rarely used in the United States, the fish canned is imported 

 from Mediterranean ports. 



In the waters of the United States, the tunny is chiefly caught by harpooning, and 

 is rarely cajjtured in nets. Indeed, special nets have to be provided for it, as, on ac- 

 count of its form and vigor, it readily breaks through ordinary ones. Capt. Atwood 

 has told us that " when they strike a net, they go right through it, and when they go 

 through, the hole immediately becomes round, but the fishermen do not dread them 

 much, because they do the net so little injury, for the hole that they cut can be mend- 

 ed in about five minutes." In the Mediterranean, however, special nets are provided, 

 and the tunny is the object of a fishery of prime importance. One mode of cap- 

 turing them has been described in a very graphic manner by Professor Quatrefages, 

 and a transcript of his account will doubtless be welcome. 



" The most formidable means devised for capturing this unfortunate fish is undoubt- 

 edly the madrague, which is said to have been first employed by the inhabitants of 

 Martigues. . . . The madrague is an actual park, with its walks and alleys all termi- 

 nating in ,1 vast labyrinth, composed of chambers which open into one another, and 

 all of which lead to the chamber of death, or the corpon, which is situated at the ex- 

 tremity of the structure. This vast enclosure, the walls of which sometimes extend 

 upwards of three miles, is both secured and raised bj^ means of immense lines and 

 nets weighted with stones, supported by cork buoys, and secured with anchors in such 

 a manner as to resist the most violent storms to which it would be exposed during the 

 usual fishing season. It may easily be conceived that the materials constituting an 

 apparatus of this kind are of enormous size and bulk ; on this account, a steamboat is 

 chartered every j'ear to convey the entire ap])nratus from Palermo to Favignana. The 

 arm of the sea which lies between this island and Le\'anyo is peculiarly well adapted 

 for the establishment of a tonnarn, as the Sicilians call it, and the right of fishing in 

 this locality alone is valued at 60,000 francs." 



On one occasion Professor Quatrefages went on the steamboat to the fishing- 

 grounds. By the break of day all the craft for miles around were to be seen con- 

 verging toward the same point, and in a short time they surrounded and enclosed " a 

 space of about one hundred square feet. 



" Between 500 and 600 tunnies, impelled from chamber to chamber by the valves 

 which close behind them, have at length reached the last compartment, or the chamber 

 of death. This enclosure is provided with a movable floor formed of netting, which 

 can be raised from tlse bottom to the surface of the water by means of ropes. All 

 night long, men have been laboring to lift the huge apjsaratus, little by little, and now 

 each of its margins rests ujson the sides formed by the boats. Facing us is the pro- 

 prietor of the fishery, surrounded by his staff, and by a charming group of ladies who 

 have come from Palermo to witness the spectacle which is about to be exhibited. To 

 the right and to the left are stationed the two principal boats, which convey the band 

 of fishermen. These boats, which are entirely eni])ty, lie ready to receive their cargo ; 

 the only thing that breaks the even line of their decks being a long beam, which 

 passes from one extremity to the other, and lca-\'es a narrow sort of gangway on the 

 edge of the boat, where stand at least two hundred fishermen, who have come, in some 

 cases, from a distance of more than fifty miles to take part in this exciting sport. 

 Half naked, with deeply bronzed limbs, these athletic men stand side by side, all 

 awaiting with the same eager impatience the moment of action. Their eyes are 

 sparkling beneath their scarlet Phrygian caps ; their hands are grasping the imple- 



