28 SEA-FISH. 
surface-swimmers, the larger relatives of the present 
species. Nothing, we are told, can be perfect on this 
earth, but I have always thought that the mackerel 
would take some beating. Its shape is elegant, 
its colouring (zof judged from the fishmonger’s 
slab) superb, and its action in the water as gallant 
as that of any fish, as it will sheer to right and 
left as long as it has breath. The fact of its life 
history that most concerns the angler is its periodic 
inshoring, when, from May until early in August, 
it is caught on whiffing-lines near the surface, and 
often within a stone’s throw of the beach ; later, 
or earlier, in the year, it must be sought further 
out on ground-lines. The so-called ‘“ mackerel- 
midge” are not, as some have stated, the young of 
mackerel, but the fry of the rocklings, our smallest 
gadoids ; and they are named after the mackerel 
for much the same reason as that which rules the 
specific name (fzscatorum) of the lugworm, to 
denote an affection that recalls that of the Sand- 
wich islanders who love their European friends, 
especially when roasted. Bournemouth Bay is 
usually visited by hundreds of thousands of small 
and flabby mackerel late in June. They are caught 
by the leisurely seaners from Poole, and generally 
attract a number of thresher sharks into those quiet 
waters. 
There seems to be some doubt as to the precise 
Mullet, Number of species of grey mullet found on 
Grey our coasts; indeed Mr. Cunningham hints 
in his latest work at the possibility of only one. I 
am of opinion, however, that thereare at any rate two, 
the thick-lipped and thin-lipped, and I know them 
both well from the Mediterranean, where they are 
common. These fish have no tecth, but their diges- 
