The Hijldry of A MIMA L & 
245 
part, Is fmooth; the tongue alfo is fmooth, and it is whitifh, and in part loofe on the 
under fide; % 
The lateral line is nearer the back than the belly; it Is not perfectly ftraight, but 
fiexuous, and is placed a great deal above the line of the mufcles; the fcales are very 
fmall; they are whitifh, and are placed in an imbricated manner, and adhere ex- 
treame firmly to the fkin : the belly and fides below the line are of a fine filvery 
white ; from the line to the back there are a number of elegant, broad, oblique, fiexu¬ 
ous lines, of a bluifh, a greenifh, and a black colour; and the fpaees between thefe 
are of a filvery hue, with a ftrong caft of an elegant bluifh-green : the outer fkin of 
this fifh is thick, and the inner one extreamly thin, and fcarce Separable from the 
tnufcular flefh ; yet the whole colouring of the fifh, ftrong and elegant as it is, is lodged, 
not in the outer, but in this inner fkin. 
The petftoral fins are blackifh, and are placed on the fides, nearer to the back than 
to the bread: ; they have each twenty rays : the ventral fins are white, and are placed 
very near one another ; they fiand at a little more diftance from the head than the 
pedtoral ones, and have each fix rays': the back fins are two larger, the one not £ar> 
from the head; this has. alfo twelve rays; the other is fituated at the very extre¬ 
mity of the back, and has eleven or twelve rays: there is a furrow in the back, be¬ 
hind the firft fin ; behind the latter there ftand feveral fmall pinnules $ the firft of 
thefe has only pne ray, but that is very ramofe ; the others have two rays each : 
thefe pinnules are connected to one another by a low membrane, and they are alfo con¬ 
nected, by a continuation of the fame membrane, to the hinder fin of the back, fo 
that they may, in fome degree, be called only a continuation of that fin : the pinna 
ani is whitifh, and has thirteen rays; and the anus is much nearer to the head than to 
the tail: the tail is of the form of a crefcent, and is fupported by feventeen rays, and 
there are on each fide two eminences juft at the tail. The ufual fize of the mackarel 
is about a foot, but is fometimes confiderably larger : mackarel of twenty inches are 
fometimes met with, but they are rare: the vertebras are large, oblong, and are only 
twenty-one in number: the ribs are long, and are but flightly affixed to the vertebrae; 
they are eleven or twelve. , 
This fpeci.es is very frequent about our own fhores; the antients were well acquaint¬ 
ed with it. Ariftotle, /Elian, Athenaeus, and Oppian call it ; and from them 
the Latins, in general. Scomber and Scombrus; the Neapolitans call it Lacerto; the 
Spaniards, Carallo; we, the Mackarel. 
Scomber pinnulis 0B0 vel novem in extremo dorfo , fulco ad 
pinnas vent rales. 
The Scomber , with eight or nine pinnules on the hinder pari 
of the backy and a furrow at the belly fns. 
Xij e 
STumf. 
This has very much the fhape and general figure of our common mackarel, but it 
grows to feven feet long : the he^d is large and fomewhat comprefled ; the eyes are 
large ; the upper and lower jaw are both of the fame length : the teeth are nunierous; 
the jaws, the palate, and the bones in the fauces, are all covered with them : there are 
two large fins on the back, each of which has fourteen rays: the pectoral fins are mo¬ 
derately large, and have each thirty-four rays; the ventral fins have only fix rays each ; 
the pinna ani has thirteen; behind the hinder back fin there are eight or nine, and 
fometimes' teri-Jfmall pinnules, like thofe of the common mackarel, on the back ; and 
there are-eight fmaller ones over-againft them on the belly. 
The back of this fifh is rounded ; the fides are flefliy and prominent, and the belly 
alfo is fo,me what rounded : the lateral line is not perfectly ftraight: it runs nearer the 
belly than the back ; the tail is very forked ; the belly and fides are of a fine filvery 
white up to the lateral line'; above that they have an elegant variety of colouring; 
and the back is dufky or blackifh, with a fine ftrong tinge of green in fome lights. 
This fpecies is frequent in the Mediterranean ; it is eaten frefh in great abundance, 
and a much larger quantity is pickled in the manner of herrings, and lent to the feve¬ 
ral ports of the Mediterranean, where it is a confiderable article of commerce : the an- 
. tients wqre well acquainted with it. . Ariftotle, /Elian, Athenaeus, and Oppian call it 
©Uw^^ and from them the Latin writers, Thunnus and Thynnus, and fome Thin- 
ntts: they have., however, from accidental varieties of the fifh, defcribed it under 
R r r other 
