-244 3 T 5 * Hifioty of ANIMALS* 
back is convex, and the Tides are rounded 3 the roftrum is continued into a very long 
prominence, of the figure of a fword, of a bony ftru&ure, and fharp at the point 3 
the lower jaw is acute, and of a fomewhat triangular figure3 the opening of the mouth 
is not large; there are no teeth in it: there is but one back fin, but it is of a great 
length, reaching nearly from the head to the tail 3 it is loweft in the middle, and has 
forty-one rays, of which the twenty-five middle ones are very fhort: the pedoral fins 
Hand low, and have feventeen rays each 3 there are no belly fins: the pinna ani is 
lowed: in the middle, and has fifteen rays: the tail is extreamly forked, or rather it is 
very deeply lunated : on each fide, toward the tail, there is a great longitudinal emi¬ 
nence, and the anus is fituated very near the tail: there are five or fix cartilages, with 
rough furfaces on each fide of the jaws, which ferve in the place of teeth. 
This is frequently met with in the American Seas, and in thofe of Tome other parts 
of the world 3 it was well known to the antients. Ariftotle calls it Xiphias 5 and 
Athenasus, Oppian, and iElian ufe the fame name; the Latins hence call it alfo Xi¬ 
phias ; and Tome of them, Ziphius and Zifius; Gefner calls it Xiphius, id eft, Gla¬ 
dius pifcis j Jonfton, Xiphius five Gladius; Ray and Willughby, Xiphius pifcis* Lati- 
nis Gladius; and many other writers, fimply, Gladius 3 the Italians call it pefce Spada 3 
and the Genoele, Emperador. 
SCOMBER. 
H E tail of the Scomber is extreamly forked, fo as to reprefent the figure of a 
J[ crefcent: there are, on each fide, one or more eminences in a longitudinal di¬ 
rection, near the tail: there are on the back, in Tome fpecies, only two fins 3 in others 
there are, befide thefe, a great number of extreamly fmall ones toward the tail, as 
well on the upper as the under part: the branchioftege membrane contains feven 1 len¬ 
der bones; the uppermoft of thefe is in great part covered by the operculutn of the 
gills. 
Scomber pinnulis quinque in extremo dorfo, fpina brevi ad 
anum . CDe 
!The Scomber , with five pinnules at the extremity of the bach , 
and a fpine at the anus . 
The head of the Mackarel is large, and of a comprefied figure: the body is alfo 
fomewhat comprefied, but the Tides are flefhy and prominent, or rounded; the back 
is throughout convex, and the belly is alfo convex, but lefs To than the back: from 
the ventral fins to the tail the body grows gradually fmaller and narrower, but juft above 
the tail it is round \ the mouth is wide j the jaws are, when the mouth is ftiut, exact¬ 
ly of the fame length ; but, when it is open, the lower appears fomewhat the longeft : 
the roftrum or anterior part of the head is fubacute 5 the upper part of the head is 
plane, fmooth, and blackifh : the noftrils have a double aperture, and are placed 
nearer to the eyes than the extremity of the head3 the anterior foramen of each is 
round, open, and confpicuous j the pofterior is placed at a confiderable diftance from 
this, gnd is a kind of tranfverfe fifiure, and ufually is fhut: both have a large cavity 
within the head, with which they communicate. 
The eyes are large, and placed at a diftance on the fides of the head j the pupil is 
round, and the iris is of a mixt filvery, greenifh, and blackifh colour ; they are naked 
in the middle, but, both before and behind, they are covered with a fkin or film. 
The coverings of the gills are large, and of a filvery colour, and in the hinder part 
they do not terminate either in a round or acute extremity, but in a kind of ftraight 
line : the apertures of the gills are very large : the teeth are very numerous and fharp 3 
there is a fingle feries of them on the verge of each jaw, and there are alfo two longi¬ 
tudinal lines, one on each fide, at the edges of the palate, in each of which there 
are two rows of teeth of the fame kind : there are alfo, in the upper part of the fau¬ 
ces, four bones of an oblong figure, all of which are extreamly thick fet with teeth 3 
the hinder pair of thefe are much the largeft 5 there are, on the lower part of the 
fauces alfo, two bones of an oblong figure, which are covered with teeth, but they 
are lefs rigid than the foregoing : the palate in the middle, and on it’s whole anterior 
part, 
1 
