CHATTEE XI. 

 SCOMBERWJE. 



TSXvTCiu 6s dfnp€7r€is 'IrdKlav. — So^h. 



rPHE conflicting sentiments of mankind in reference to 

 -*- social intercourse^ are participated in by fish. Some, 

 perfect recluses iu their habits, live in holes, or if they 

 go abroad, keep aloof, like shy John Bull tourists, from all 

 wayfaring fellowship with their kind : others, subgrega- 

 rious in their taste, swim about in small detached par- 

 ties ; whUst a third class, impressed with strong repub- 

 lican tendencies, rove the deep in vast hordes, preferring 

 a pubUc mob-life with all its inconveniences, to either a 

 domestic, or perfectly private one, with a greater liberty 

 of fin. The present group includes members actuated 

 by each of these several propensities, whereof the thunny 

 and mackerel represent the social, and the dory and 

 sword-fish those of anti-social instincts. 



The common reader who looks into any ichthyological 

 work will probably be surprised to find, amidst the many 

 large fish of this section, any of which might seem en- 

 titled to priority of place, the common mackerel stand- 

 ing first on the list. Even in our own race, where other 

 grounds for pre-eminence are more obvious, it cannot 

 be dissembled that stattire always maintained, and still 

 maintains, considerable claims to attention, — height, ccb- 

 teris paribus, adding largely to dignity. We read in- 

 deed in the ' Rosciad' — 



Before great merit all objections fly, 



And Grarriok acting towers to six foot high.; 



but the very terms of the admission show the disadvan- 



