116 ACANTHOPTERYGII. — SCOMBRID^. | 
parte’s recent Conspectus, four hundred and nine- I 
teen species are assigned to the Family, as we 1 
shall consider it, including the Sword-fishes and | 
the Dorados, of which that zoologist constitutes j 
separate Families. The whole of this vast assem- \ 
hlage are marine, (with the exception of one or 
two obscure species inhabiting the Asiatic rivers), 
and many of them properly pelagic, roving the 
ocean far from land. They are found in all seas. i. 
We shall enumerate the characters of the sub- \j 
ordinate groups, or sub-families, into which this jj 
great host is distributed, and notice a few par- I: 
ticulars of the most interesting species. These 
groups are six in number, 
1 . Scombrina. The body is rather lengthened 
than oval, smooth, clothed with minute scales; 
two dorsal fins are present, the second as well as 
the anal cut, for the greater part of its length, 
into small equidistant finlets, reaching to the cau- 
dal ; the caudal is very high and deepl}^ forked ; | 
the jaws are nearly equal in length, not furnished j 
with fieshy lips. Between one sixth and one ! 
seventh of the total number of species in the : 
Family are contained in this section, which are 
scattered over the whole ocean. Besides our 
beautiful and valuable Mackerel, of which we ' 
shall presently speak, we find placed here the 
Genus Thynnus, (Cuv.) including the swift, vigor- 
ous, warm-blooded Bonitos of the tropics, the > 
pursuers of the little Flying-fishes, and the noble i 
Tunny of the Mediterranean. Specimens of all 1 
these are occasionally taken on the British shores. 5 
The flesh of the Tunny (Thynnus vulgaris, 
Cuv.) is firm, wholesome, and highly esteemed ; 
and as the fish attains the length of from fifteen 
