B ONI TOES AND TUNNIES. 
2I 5 
Riggs, that there are a thousand barrels in one of the schools, shows how 
exceedingly abundant they must be. 
Capt. N. E. Atwood, of Provincetown, Mass., the veteran fisherman- 
ichthyologist, has examined the specimens, and is satisfied that they 
belong to the same species with a fish which he found abundant in the 
Azores in 1840, when, led by the reports of Cape Cod whalers, he went to 
these islands in search of the Mackerel, the mackerel fishing being poor at 
home. No Mackerel were found except the Frigate Mackerel. Reports 
in 1887, concerning this occurrence of Mackerel in the Eastern Atlantic 
are very probably inspired by the presence of this fish. 
The Horse Mackerel, so-called, Orcynus thynnus , is the most important 
of the Tunnies, the “ Ton ” or “ Tuna” of the Mediterranean, and the 
“ Tunny ’ ’ of English-speaking people. 
The distribution of this fish corresponds more closely with that of the 
ordinary species of the Atlantic, since it occurs not only in the Mediter¬ 
ranean and the Western Atlantic north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but 
also on the coast of Europe to the Loffoden Islands, latitude 69°. 
Of this fish, as found in American waters, our naturalists have not much 
to say, the species, although abundant at certain seasons of the year off 
particular parts of the coast, being not a very familiar one to our writers. 
They seem to be rather a northern fish, and are said by Storer to make 
their first appearance on our shores about Provincetown early in June, 
remaining until October. Of late years they seem to be increasing in 
abundance northward, becoming more and more common during the 
summer season at Newfoundland. 
In 1878 Capt. Henry Webb, of Milk Island, near Gloucester, harpooned 
and killed thirty of these monsters, weighing in the aggregate at least 
thirty thousand pounds. They had entered his pound in pursuit of small 
fish, cutting without difficulty through the netting. One had his stomach 
full of small mackerel. 
According to Capt. Atwood, on their first appearance in Massachusetts 
Bay they are very poor, but by the beginning of September become quite 
fat and are very much hunted for the oil, the head and belly especially 
furnishing sometimes as many as twenty gallons. They are harpooned 
on the surface of the water, much like the Sword-fish. 
The early traditions of this fish in Massachusetts Bay speak of them as 
being sometimes so tame as to take food from the hand ; but they have 
