154 
SCOMBERIDiE. MACKARELS. 
PLAIN BONITO. Avxis valqaris, Cuvier who pronounces 
it to be Scomber bisus of Rafinesqne, and S. rocliei o f 
Risso, Ichthyologie, p. 165. Yarrell’s Brit. Fishes, 2nd. 
edition, vol. 1, p. 160. 
By the older Naturalists this species was confounded with 
two or three others under the general name of Tunnv. I* 
is of such rare occurrence in the British seas as not to have 
been recorded in the first edition of Mr. Yarrell’s work. 
I wo specimens afterwards came into the possession of that 
Gentleman from Yarmouth. A third specimen was taken 
in a mackarel sean at Looe in June, 1843, and came into 
the hands of Mr. Clement Jackson ; to whom I am indebted 
tor a characteristic outline of its form. 
A second Cornish specimen was taken near Penzance in 
a mackarel sean, in the beginning of July 1844 : and of it I 
received the following description, from Mr. Richard Quiller 
Couch, into whose hands it came. Length eighteen and 
a halt inches, girth behind the first dorsal fin eleven and a 
halt inches. Viewed laterally it has a resemblance to the 
mackarel, but is more plump, and the tail seems proportion* 
ally smaller. From the point of the lower jaw to the 
margin ot the gillcovcrs four and a half inches : both jaws 
pointed; mouth small, teeth small and fine. Eye large* 
an inch from the snout. First dorsal five inches from the 
snout, placed in a fissure which hides it when closed : its 
bn i ays somewhat spinons, the first two longest and closely 
united; from first to second dorsal six inches; the latter 
crescent shaped, fail lunated, (he vertebras nearly reaching 
its edge. Ventral fin resembling the second dorsal; finlets 
eight above, seven below. Pectoral fin small, stout, in a 
sulcus on the side ; its origin immediately behind the gill' 
covers, and anterior of the line of origin of the first dorsal. 
Abdominal fins short, stout, lying in a sulcus: and as the 
sulcus is common to both fins they appear as if lying beneath 
a scale ; round which and reaching to the gillcovers is a 
patch of scale-covered surface, or cuirass, which two inches 
behind the extent ol the pectorals contracts into the lateral 
line, and being marked in its length by the appearance of 
stitches, passes on to the tail. The scales on other parts 
of the body beside the cuirass are less distinctly marked, and 
smooth. The general colour dark blueish, the back dis- 
tinctly, though obscurely marbled, the lines running loDgi' 
tudinally, with oceilated spots. 
L. 9, 7. P.21. V. 6. A. 8. C. 15. 
Mr. Yarrell’s figure is represented plain : that of Cuvier 
ornamented. 1 
