COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SCOMBROID FISHES. 
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nearly straight, boundary of the rectum indistinct. Pylorus descending with a 
few longitudinal folds inside, and rather narrow. 
Liver consists of three slender lobes, of which the two lateral lobes are 
very long and nearly equal in length, while the middle one is short. 
Myotomes are strongly folded, so that in the cross-section of the lateral 
muscle we count nearly as many rings as in the same of tunnies. The 
median wedge-shaped portion of the lateral muscle is reddish, and the red 
portion becomes thicker towards the tail. On the surface of the last myotome 
we cannot find a tendon. 
Skeleton porous and rather weak, and much resembling to the type of 
the Cybiidae. The vertebrae of the caudal peduncle are provided with lateral 
keels, each of which is divided into two, anterior and posterior portions. Two 
auxiliary intermuscular bones are found on the exoccipital, —one on the dorsal 
wall of the foramen magnum, the other a little forward. At the dorsal part 
of the clavicle the anterior pointed process is widely separated from the 
posterior lamellar part. 
Grows to a length of about 80 cm and to a weight of 1.5-3.0 kg. 
Flesh is rather soft, and inferior in quality. Generally this species is not 
specially sought after, except in Kyushyu, but is caught as an adjunct in 
fisheries of the mackerel, bonitos, scuds, etc. It is said that in Kyushyu a 
few pound-nets are specially built for the capture of this species. 
This species lives rather near the surface of the coastal waters, and some¬ 
times makes large shoals. It bites eagerly on a bait, natural or artificial, 
hence it is easily caught with trolling lines. 
Found in the southern parts of our waters, both on the Pacific as well 
as on the Japan Sea coast, especially abundant in Kyushyu. Many years 
ago, an immature example was caught in a drag-seine on the Pacific coast of 
Aomori-ken. The Hawaiian species of Sarda seems to be the same as the 
Japanese species, but the Californian seems to belong to the Chilian species. 
Many authors have confounded this species with an allied species from the 
Pacific coast of South America ; but the difference between them is quite 
evident. As Schlegel rightly remarked, the pectorals are smaller in Sarda 
orientalis, and not only these fins but the other fins are also smaller. Moreover 
the number of gill-rakers is 9 -j- 17 in Sarda chilensis, and the number of 
