MACKERELS. 
115 
Nothing is recorded of the habits of this fish ; 
but its fiesh is said to be as excellent, as its ap- 
pearance is brilliant. 
Family IX. Scombrid^e. 
{Mackerels.') 
This is a very important Family, not only on 
account of the number of species included in it, 
which is very great, but also because of the value 
of many of them as food; the great abundance 
of some, and their gregarious habits, rendering 
them suitable subjects for extensive fisheries. 
The body is commonly ovate, with a tendency 
to compression, sometimes becoming very thin 
and high ; the scales are remarkably small, some- 
times almost invisible ; the bones of the head 
have only the ordinary development, and the gill- 
covers are not armed with spinous projections. 
The body is smooth, but the back is often armed 
with prickles ; the fins are strongly developed, 
and indicate the power of swimming to be pos- 
sessed in a high degree ; the pectorals are gene- 
rally long, narrow, and pointed ; there are two 
dorsals, the first containing bony rays, which are 
often greatly lengthened ; the second composed 
of soft rays, and frequently divided into a number 
of small finlets, as is also the anal; the caudal 
is in general greatly produced vertically, and 
deeply forked. 
The Family before us is one of the most ex- 
tensive in the whole Class; in this respect it is 
exceeded only by the Carps and the Perches, and 
just equalled by the Wrasses. In Prince Bona- 
