BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 431 
ANALYSIS OF SPECIES OF SCOMBER. 
a. Air-bladder wanting (Scomber). 
b. Dorsal spines, 11 or 12; skull with inconspicuous parallel ridges; subopercle 
somewhat triangular; posterior border of eye not covered by radiating 
scales; top of head without translucent area; about 15 or 20 small black 
specks or mucous pores at base of preopercle, generally arranged in a single 
row ; upper part of body of a dark blue color, shading into green ; the back 
and the sides to some distance below the lateral line are marked with about 
35 dark wavy stripes; gill-covers and maxillary banes silvery ; belly whitish ; 
a longitudinal groove connecting dorsals ; first dorsal about as high as long, 
and when unexpanded is almost wholly concealed in a groove at its base ; the 
height of second dorsal is about one-third its length; both dorsals margined 
with white; head 3 in body, to base of caudal; depth, 3£; D. xi, 12-v ; 
A. 12-v Scombrus, 1. 
aa. Air-bladder present, small. (Pneumatophorus Jordan & Gilbert.) 
c. Dorsal spines, 9 or 10; skull perceptibly ridged, but ridges not parallel; sub- 
opercle rather more elliptical than triangular ; posterior border of eye covered 
with large radiating scales; top of head with a large translucent area; 
more than 20 black specks or mucous pores on base of preopercle, generally 
arranged in more than one row ; dark blue above, with a shading of light 
green ; about 30 dark wavy streaks passing down the sides to just below the 
lateral line; sides with soiled mottlings and dusky spots; belly and gill- 
covers silvery; no longitudinal groove connecting dorsals; first dorsal 
higher than long, with the last spines short and weak ; second dorsal twice 
as long as high ; head 3 in body to base of caudal ; depth, 3£; D. ix or x, 
12-v ; A. i, 12-v Colias, 2. 
1. SCOMBER SCOMBRUS. 
(The Common Mackerel.) 
Scomber scombrus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, 297, 1758 (after Artedi: and of the 
copyists); Cuv. & Yal., viii, 6, 1831 (Mediterranean); Steindachner, Ichthv. 
Berichte, v, 1, 1868 (Spanish coast); Gill, Cat. Fish. East Coast, Rept. U. 
S. Fish Com., 802, 1872; Baird, Rept. U. S. Fish Com., 825, 1872 (Wood’s 
Holl); Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 25, 1879 (Bergen, Norway); Bean, Proc. 
U. S. Nat. Mus., 88, 1880 (Wood’s Holl; Portland, Me.; no description); 
Goode, Fish and Fisheries, 95, 1881 ; Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 
44, 1881; Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 592, 594, 1882 (doubtfully 
reported from Santa Barbara, Cal.); Jordan & Gilbert, Synop. Fish. N. A., 
424, 1883; Stearns, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 124, 1883 (Triangle Harbor, Lab- 
rador); Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Auim., 281, pi. 91, 1884 (Provincetown, 
Mass.). 
Scomber scomber, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., xii, 492, 1766; Briinnich, Ichthy. Massil., 68, 
1768; Bloch, Ichthyol., taf. 54; Bloch & Schneider, 24, 1801 (Baltic); Giin- 
ther, ii, 357, 1860 (Lisbon, mouth Thames). 
Scomber vernalis Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. So’c. New York, i, 423, 1815 (Sandy 
Hook); Cuv. & Yal., viii, 48, 1831 (after Mitchill) ; Storer, Fish. Mass., 41, 
1839 (Boston) ; De Kay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 101, pi. 12, f. 34, 1842 (New 
York) ; Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass., 132, 1867 (Long Point). 
Habitat.— -Temperate seas; north to Norway and Labrador; south to 
the Mediterranean and Santa Barbara. The specimens examined by 
us are from Wood’s Holl and the Washington Market. 
Etymology : (rx6p.fi poq^ the mackerel. 
