634 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
the Black Sea. The Romans attached great value to certain parts of 
this fish, as the head and the lower part of the belly. The neigh- 
bouring parts were in little esteem with them. They cut them into 
pieces and preserved them in vases filled with salt. They are now 
preserved with oil and salt, before being cooked ; this preparation is 
im great request at Cette, Montpellier, and Marseilles. With a pot of 
marine tunny, preserved in the vinegar of Lunel, a household is 
pretty well prepared for any event. 
The Bonita (Zhynnus pelamys) is not unlike the mackerel in 
shape, but less compressed, and upwards of twenty-five to thirty 
Fig. 398.—The Mackerel (Scomber scombrus). 
inches long ; it is a fish of considerable size, celebrated by its pursuit 
in great shoals of the flying-fish (Zxoceetus volitans). It is occasionally 
found on our coast, but only as an accidental visitor, for its true 
home is the Tropics. It is a beautiful fish of a fine blue colour, with 
short pectoral fins and four longitudinal’ bands on each side of the 
belly. It is easily harpooned from the dolphin-striker, and appears 
to have some power of generating electricity. Any one grasping the 
living fish is violently shaken as in palsy, so much so that the most 
resolute son of Neptune cannot control his speech ; every attempt 
culminates in an unintelligible spasmodic sputter. The instant 
the Bonita is dropped, the muscles resume their ordinary action. 
The Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) Fig. 398, is too well known to 
require minute description. Who has not admired these fishes, with 
their steel-blue back, and changing iridescent sides of gold and 
