s c o 
Greeks and Romans, who established their tunny fisheries, as 
in modern times, on many parts of the Mediterranean coasts, 
where this fish still continues to be taken in great plenty, 
more especially round the island of Sicily. In the British 
seas it is rarely observed in shoals; the individuals which 
occur being rather considered as accidental stragglers. In the 
'Indian ocean this species is said to be seen of an enormous 
size, and to assemble in vast shoals. According to Pliny, 
the fleet of Alexander the Great was impeded in its progress 
by. a shoal of tunnies, and so strongly wedged together, 
that he found it necessary to dispose his ships in battle 
array, in order to force through the opposing phalanx 
of fishes. The tunny fishery is of equal importance to 
the inhabitants of the countries on the Mediterranean 
coasts, as the herring fishery is to those of the more 
northern parts of Europe. The smaller fishes are chiefly 
sold fresh, while the larger are cut to pieces, salted, and bar¬ 
relled up for sale. 
The general colour of the tunny is a dark or dull blue on 
the upper parts, and silvery, with a cast of flesh-colour, on 
the sides and abdomen; the first dorsal fin and the tail are of 
a deep grey, the second, together with the pectoral, ventral, 
anal and spurious fins, yellow; the pectoral fins are of a 
lanceolate shape, and the tail pretty strongly lunated; the 
spurious fins vary in number, in different specimens, and 
consequently can afford no specific mark. 
8. Scomber Cordyla.—In this the spurious fins are ten 
in number; the lateral line is mailed with bony plates.—It 
inhabits the American coasts; the body is compressed and 
broad. 
9. Scomber fulvo-guttatus.— This has a single two-rayed 
spurious fin before the anal.—It is found on the Arabian 
coasts; the body is of a shining pale blue, with golden spots 
at the sides; the crown is hollow before the eyes; the iris is 
golden; from the head to the dorsal fin is a polished, naked, 
.glaucous membrane ; the lateral line is arched at the begin¬ 
ning ; the first dorsal fin, when folded, is hid in a cavity; 
the ventral is approximate; the tail is very widely arched in 
an obtuse angle. 
II.—Fishes without spurious fins. 
10. Scomber glaucus.—The Specific Character of this is, 
that the dorsal spines are recumbent.—It is found chiefly 
near Ascension Island, hence it is named by some naturalists 
Scombra Ascensionis. The second ray of the dorsal fin is 
extremely long. 
11. Scomber speciosus.—Pale golden; bands on the crown 
'oblique; on the body are seven black alternate bands. This 
is found on the coasts of Arabia; the body is oval-lanceo¬ 
late, it has no teeth, above it is brown, beneath pale; the 
scales are small, entire, deciduous; the crown is convex; 
naked, smooth; the iris is silvery and golden on the fore¬ 
part ; the lips are equal, obtuse, the upper one is protractile; 
the gill-covers are of three pieces, the anterior is scaled and 
the posterior naked ; the lateral line nearer the back is 
arched at the beginning, andstraight from the fifth band; the 
"fins are yellow and the tail bifid. 
12. Scomber ferdau.—This is oblong-oval, silvery, with 
golden dots on the sides ; the body is marked with five ob¬ 
solete transverse brown bands. There is a variety of this 
species, of which the pectoral fins are hyaline.—It inhabits 
Arabia; the body above is blueish; the scales are small and 
deciduous. 
13. Scomber ignobilis.—Silvery; the back is blueish ; the 
pectoral and ventral fins are reddish.—It inhabits Arabia; the 
•scales are small and deciduous; before the anal fin there are 
two spines, connected into a spurious fin; the posterior 
spine is twice as large as the first. 
14. Scomber sansum.—Shining silvery, without spots; the 
tail with an elevated equal ridge.—It inhabits Arabia, and very 
much resembles the scomber fulvo-guttatus. The crown has 
branched veins; each jaw with a row of teeth, the upper 
with numerous setaceous ones behind them ; the ventral and 
pectoral fins are white, the rest brown; the dorsal one is 
Vol. XXII. No. 1543. 
SCO 821 
black on the upper edge; the anal and caudal are yellow on 
the lower edge. 
15. Scomber albus.—White; sides and tail yellow.—This 
inhabits the Red Sea; the body is lanceolate, covered with 
fixed scales; before the anal fin there are two spines con¬ 
nected into a small fin; the hinder spine is the longer. 
16. Scomber falcatus.—Body rhomboidal; the second 
dorsal and anal fins are falcate.—This species is found in the 
Red Sea; the body is half as long again as it is broad ; it is 
smooth, silvery, and the upper part is brown ; the scales are 
thin, fixed, elevated at the tip ; under the skin in the middle 
of the back are a few spines reaching to the dorsal fin, arid 
before them a strong horizontal spine turned forwards and 
sometimes hidden under the skin, and before the anal fin are 
two spines. 
17. Scomber filamentosus.—The breast of this is naked ; 
the second dorsal and anal fins are filamentous.—It inhabits 
Sumatra; the body is silvery ; above it is blueish ; the scales 
are small and fixed. 
III.—The spurious fins connected. 
18. Scomber trachurus, the scad, or horse mackarel.—The 
dorsal spine is recumbent; the lateral line prickly.—This fish 
inhabits the European, American and Pacific Seas, and is 
from four inches to two feet long ; the body is silvery ; the 
front and back is of a mixed green and blue colour; the fish 
is long, compressed, and covered with thin, round, soft 
scales; the flesh is eatable, but tough. It is found frequently 
on our own coasts. 
19. Scomber hippos.—Gill-covers with a black spot on 
the hind-part; the posterior dorsal fin is red; the ventral and 
anal are yellow.—This species inhabits Carolina and Ota- 
heite. The teeth are in one row, the two front ones are 
larger; the lateral line bends very much; it is somewhat 
spiny or mailed as it approaches the tail; the dorsal fin is 
red ; the ventral and anal are yellow. 
20. Scomber chrysurus, or yellow-tailed mackarel.—The 
spurious fins are of a pale yellow, the mouth is without 
teeth. It inhabits Carolina; the spines before the anal fin are 
remote. 
21. Scomber amia.—The last ray of the posterior dorsal 
fin is the longer. 
22. Scomber pelagicus.—The spurious fins and dorsal, in 
this species are connected into one. 
SCOMBRERA, or more properly Escombrera, a small 
island in the Mediterranean, at the entrance of the harbour of 
Carthagena, in Spain. 
SCOMM, s. A buffoon. A word out of use, and un¬ 
worthy of revival. —The scomtns, or buffoons of quality, 
are wolvish in conversation. & Estrange .— [Of this use of 
the word Dr. Johnson has taken no notice.] A mock; a 
flout; a jeer.—His vain ostentation is worthily scoffed with 
[the] scomme of the orator. Fotherby. 
SCONCE, s. [sckantse, Teut. from schantsen, to fortify; 
s/cansa, Su. Goth, the same.] A fort; a bulwark. 
Honesty, in a young heart, doth prove 
But a weak sconce against insulting love. Fanshaw. 
Such fellows are perfect in the great commanders’ names, 
and they will learn you by rote where services were done; 
at such and such a sconce, at such a breach. Shahspeare .— 
The head • perhaps as being the acropolis, or citadel of the 
body. A low word. —Why does he suffer this rude knave 
now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and 
will not tell him of his action of battery ? Sha/cspeare. —A 
pensile candlestick, generally with a looking-glass to reflect 
the light. Dr. Johnson. —This is probably borrowed from 
the old usage of the word : “ Sconse, a little lantern.” 
Barret. A sconce is still the Lancashire term for a lantern. 
Golden sconces hang upon the walls, 
To light the costly suppers and the balls. Dry den. 
A fixed seat, or shelf; so used in the north of England. 
A mulct, or fine. 
9 Z To 
