OF FISHES. 
221 
MACKEREL. 
The Mackerel is usually about one foot 
in length, or more ; the body is thick, firm, 
and fleshy, but slender towards the tail ; the 
snout sharp, and the tail forked : the back is 
ofa lovely green colour, beautifully speckled, 
or, as it were, painted with black strokes; 
lire belly is of a silver colour ; it has small 
scales; it is very voracious, greedily swal- 
lowing down whatever fish comes in its 
way, that it can master. They swim in 
large shoals, and are taken in great numbers 
in the months of May and June. When 
taken out of the water they die almost imme- 
diately, and very soon become putrid. The 
Mackerel has a white film over its eyes in 
the fall of the year, which continues to 
grow during the winter; but they uniformly 
cast it as the summer approaches. 
