MACKERELS. 
119 
! tacle, and never fails to attract a great number 
I of interested spectators ; while it is at the same 
[ time one of the principal amusements of the 
I more opulent inhabitants of Sicily, and one of 
the most important branches of the commerce of 
j that beautiful island. Louis XIII., who was 
present at a tunny-capture of this kind at Mar- 
seilles, was often afterwards heard to declare that 
nothing in his whole progress through the southern 
parts of his dominions had so entertained him as 
the Madrague of Morgion. 
2. Xiphiana. These have most of the charac- 
ters of the preceding group, but the bones of the 
1 upper jaw are greatly lengthened, so as to form 
I a long straight sword, with sharp edges. The 
I gills are not divided into a multitude of filaments, 
I resembling a comb, as in most other fishes, but 
! consist of two large parallel lamince on each side, 
with a netted surface. The ventral fins are either 
i wanting, or consist of one or two inflexible bones. 
There is, properly speaking, only one dorsal, 
which is high and * long ; but the middle part 
becomes so worn away in the course of growth, 
I that only the two extremities are left in old speci- 
mens, looking like two dorsals. Six species are 
I enumerated in this group, constituting no fewer 
I than five genera ; they are all fishes of large size, 
familiarly known as Sword-fishes, and range the 
I oceans and great inland seas, all round the globe, 
I from the equator to the polar regions. 
One species of this sub-family, the common 
i Sword-fish, {Xiphias gladius, Linn.) has been 
j rather frequently caught on our own coasts ; and 
there is an instance on record of a blow from the 
formidable weapon of one having been fatal to 
