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LUSITANIAN PROVINCE. 



the pike-like Bicuda, or spet of the Mediterranean 



(Sphyrcena vulgaris) ; the Sargo (Sargus Ronde- 

 letii), with teeth resembling the human ; the ele- 

 gantly golden-striped but worthless Salema (Box 

 jSalpa), and the plain-coloured Dobrada (Oblada 

 melanura). The herring and the Alfonsin (Beryx 

 splendens) attain the climax of their season about 

 March or April ; the mackarel in May and June ; 

 but the whole, except the herring, continue through- 

 out most part of the summer and autumn. In 

 May the magnificent Lampris lauta, the beauty of 

 which in the water excites the admiration even of 

 the fishermen, begins to make its occasional ap- 

 pearance in the market ; and what is of far more 

 importance in an economic point of view, the Tunny 

 fishery begins. This last is at its greatest height 

 in June or July ; and to it succeeds the capture of 

 the Gaiado (Thynnus pelamys), which is pursued 

 with such success, that I have sometimes watched 

 a single boat, furnished with scarce half a dozen 

 rods, pulling them in at the rate of three or four 

 a minute. With the Gaiado appears in almost 

 equal plenty, the Coelho, or rabbit-fish (Prometheus 

 atlanticus), and these continue till the close of the 

 summer by the equinoctial rains of October. The 

 winter months of January and February are chiefly 

 characterized by the presence, close along the shores, 

 of the little Guelro (Atherina preshyter), or sand- 

 smelt of Madeira, of the common Madeiran herring, 

 and Sardinha (Glupea sardina ?) ; the two last be- 



