132 
ACANTHOPTERYGII. — SCOMBRIDiE. 
fish is now taken, even on some parts of our own 
coast, in every month of the year. It is probable 
that the Mackerel inhabits almost the whole of 
the European seas ; and the law of Nature, which 
obliges them and many others to visit the shal- 
lower water of the shores at a particular season, 
appears to be one of those wise and bountiful 
provisions of the Creator, by which, not only is 
the species perpetuated with the greatest cer- 
tainty, but a large portion ^of the parent animals 
are thus brought within the reach of man ; who 
but for the action of this law, would be deprived 
of many of those species most valuable to him 
as food. For the Mackerel, dispersed over the 
immense surface of the deep, no effective fishery 
could be carried on ; but, approaching the shore 
as they do, from all directions, and roving along 
the coast, collected in immense shoals, myriads 
are caught, which yet form but a very small 
portion compared with the millions that escape. 
It may be observed, farther, that, as there is 
scarcely a month throughout the year, in which 
the fishes of some one or more species are not 
brought within the reach of man, by the opera- 
tion of the imperative law of Nature referred to, 
a constant succession of wholesome food is thus 
spread before him, which, in the first instance, 
costs him but little beyond the exercise of his 
ingenuity and labour to obtain.”^ 
It is said of the Char, a beautiful member of 
the Salmon family inhabiting our mountain lakes, 
and the fact is cited by the distinguished zoo- 
logist last mentioned, in confirmation of this 
hypothesis, that when it spawns, it is seen in the 
* British Fishes, i. 138. 
